"..Two months ago, 30,000 truckers at Yellow lost their jobs when one of the nation’s oldest and largest trucking companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Last week, Convoy, the digital freight broker that was supposed to reinvent the wheel and disrupt the trucking industry in a positive way,
also abruptly shuttered its doors.
"These kinds of closings by both freight carriers lay bare the uncertain state of trucking,
an industry that is an indicator of the mood of the consumer and also the beating heart of our economy. "
“In my opinion, this industry is heading in the wrong direction, and when trucking and supply chain freight is heading in the wrong direction, so is the country.
I am just not sure that people understand there is a problem,” said Rick McQuaide, who runs a freight company
in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, as well as in Florida. "
"“The damage started when people went on a spending spree during COVID-19.
The government was giving out cash, and people started ordering things in a way they have never done before,” McQuaide explained. As a result, McQuaide said, new trucks were on the road to meet the consumers’ needs. "
"Beginning last year, that need started to recede when consumers’ spending spree started to ebb, and, as a result, several different things have happened in the industry,
beginning with too many trucks in comparison to the amount of freight that is available."
"That, McQuaide said, hits the truckers and truck companies hard: “The economy is slowing from its frenzy, people aren’t buying anymore,
which means there are more trucks on the road than there are loads, and it’s forcing the rates down.”
"McQuaide said his company’s rates are about 20% lower than last year." (Emphasis Mine)
“In other words, last year, we go from Pittsburgh to Allentown, maybe $1,200. This year, we’re lucky to get $900,” he said,
adding, “You have more truckers fighting for the same loads that exist now, and that’s driving the rates down.”
Truckers are making less than they did in per-mile peak earnings, McQuaide said.
"“Inflation plays a big part of that — at the same time, operating costs are going up.”
McQuaide, who also owns and runs a logistics company that has a series of warehouses holding imports and exports, says the freight recession is real."
“It isn’t just in the trucking world. It is also in air freight and in the rail industries.”
I just don’t know where consumers are going to go. They suggest consumers are still there, but how? Data shows credit card debt is at record levels. Savings rates are dropping, and auto repossessions are at increasingly high levels. Food costs are insane. Rents are crazy. How much longer can the consumer hang on?
Here’s the ongoing dishonest trick all the Deep State government economic bureaus are using. When any given economic statistic report is due, it is reported in the with the most optimistic numbers possible, and then a couple of months later that reported number is “revised downward”. Every single time. So the dishonestly optimistic headline is reported and the always quietly revised downward a couple of months later. It is the ongoing charade.
In all fairness, Pittsburgh to Allentown is about $400 for a truck because of the CROOKED AND CORRUPT Pennsylvania Turnpike - the most expensive toll road IN THE WORLD.
When he says $900 to make that delivery, he’s paying to deliver items. At this point the trucking companies are basically paying to work.