Owner-operators may disappear; long haul in for a big shift…

Owner-operators in long haul trucking may become a thing of the past.

That’s what one trucking industry official predicted recently.

You can read about that in the 4-27-09 online issue of Transport Topics. I did (there’s also a link at the end of this post that may or may not work).

On the heels of my last post in which I predicted the possibility that long haul trucking will see its demise, that and other things he said were interesting to me.

James Hebe, of truck maker Navistar, said that rising fuel and equipment prices and the increase of electronic log books and their possible requirement on all trucks is the big threat to owner-operators.

“This is the death knell of the owner-operators. They can’t survive by running legal.” That’s what Hebe was quoted as saying in an article by Jonathan S. Reiskin, associate news editor for Transport Topics.

I thought that was both candid and profound.

Be they company drivers or owner-operators, most long haul drivers are likely to admit to cheating on log books (if the police are not in earshot). It is not so much greed as it is more a matter of survival. You can’t always get there from here legal. And most drivers experience the reality that the first to get to his or her destination for unloading is the one who gets re-loaded the quickest (although dispatchers and companies sometimes play favorites with some drivers for various reasons).

Drivers will also tell you that if they try to drive legal they find that dispatch is slow in giving them a re-load. Sometimes drivers are not fired, they just find themselves without loads or with fewer miles.

Also, it is not uncommon for trucking companies to speak with forked tongues. On the one side of their mouth the safety department says drive legal. On the other side of their mouth the dispatcher says “do the best you can; we need that load there as fast as you can get it there” (if you know what I mean, wink and a nod).

No one that has never hauled freight, especially the kind with multiple pickups and/or drops, can understand the obstacles long haul drivers go through and the waits and then the unrealistic delivery times and so on.

I know a safety director for a trucking company who is fond of saying about log books: “there are the kind that are legal and there are the kind that will pass audit. I prefer the kind that will pass audit.”

When it is all said in done, though, I have to question why drivers want to let themselves be run ragged (ruin their health), going on four or less hours of real sleep, working for free on loading docks or sitting in a truck waiting because they only get paid per mile (or a waiting time wage or loading/unloading wage that is only sometimes paid and that does not compute to even minimum wage), and working six or seven days per week. The answer is usually that it is the reality you have to face if you want to keep your job. And now with the job shortages and the freight shortages, there is more pressure than ever, I suppose.

Anyway, that article I read (and I suggest you read too) says that long haul will transition into regional and dedicated hauls and more coordination with the railroads via intermodal.

I personally see another variation. Some companies might seek more owner-operators by offering improved pay or settlement packages in order to maitain lower overhead in equipment costs.

Actually, all this might be good news for experienced drivers. I would think it would portend better paying jobs and better working conditions.

I spent 12 years out on the road (that’s not much being as I met a lot of drivers who had been out there for 30, 40, 50 years or more). The last job I had was for a large LTL type carrier (consolidated freight picked up locally and then hauled by line haul between terminals) as a line driver. Their hours were often long, but the pay was excellent (and I was paid for all the time logged in – no reason to cheat on the log book; in fact doing so when you are paid for all work would be counter productive) and working conditions were good, and the company people treated me well.

P.s.

If this link works, you can get that article I referred to by clicking here: http://www.ttnews.com/articles/basetemplate.aspx?storyid=21792

If that does not work, just Google Transport Topics.