Heartbreak Express to Downsize?

[cdswans]

In the news, today . .

Traffic World OnLine - Trucking

That will take you to this story. Click the "trucking" link to the left to get the latest on YRC/Yellow, etc.

[AC120]

Sign of the times, unfortunately.

Thanks for the link. TW's always a good source of info. It's been around since the 1930's, maybe longer.

[Copperhead]

Yeah.... just heard on the XM radio this morning that Heartland is downsizing. They claim to be doing it thru attrition instead of laying off anyone. This happens when you grow too fast and then you hit a bump in the road. I am still convinced that the smaller outfits that have a broad customer base (and avoided automotive freight) and work primarily regional are the least affected in all of this. I am with a smaller outfit, and have noticed a little change in the freight, but am still doing quite well. I have run enough this month to have to shut down on hours twice and will have about 13000 miles for the month. And since it is regional, I am able to get by the house a couple of times a week and was only out one weekend. It is tight for everyone, but the well managed outfits will come thru and be in a real nice position when the economy starts moving again.

[PonceDeLeon]

Yeah.... just heard on the XM radio this morning that Heartland is downsizing. They claim to be doing it thru attrition instead of laying off anyone. This happens when you grow too fast and then you hit a bump in the road. I am still convinced that the smaller outfits that have a broad customer base (and avoided automotive freight) and work primarily regional are the least affected in all of this. I am with a smaller outfit, and have noticed a little change in the freight, but am still doing quite well. I have run enough this month to have to shut down on hours twice and will have about 13000 miles for the month. And since it is regional, I am able to get by the house a couple of times a week and was only out one weekend. It is tight for everyone, but the well managed outfits will come thru and be in a real nice position when the economy starts moving again.

Listening to CNBC the other day and an industry analyst was extolling the virtues of Heartland (think he also mentioned Knight), their short/medium hall operating model, and the quality of it's customer base. However, he also stated that the substantial drop in fuel prices stalled the normal "exiting" of marginal companies.

As a general comment, I understand the economy is in a bad shape. But I sure wish the politicians would tone down all the crisis talk and quit trying to engineer our way out of a natural business cycle. By the time most of the stimulus packages kick in, the economy will be doing what it does after a contraction - it will start expanding. The doom and gloom promulgated by the Pols just feeds the consumers fear and results in further belt-tightening.

A reasonable response would be extending UC benefits to a year, make food stamps readily available for the unemployed, provide transitory medical benefits, and eliminate the ridiculous tax that UC recipients have to pay.

I think there is universal agreement that the TARP was a sham, and that a hefty percentage of the foreclosures are due to the "flip and grow rich" crowd.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

[zipy46]

Yeah.... just heard on the XM radio this morning that Heartland is downsizing. They claim to be doing it thru attrition instead of laying off anyone. This happens when you grow too fast and then you hit a bump in the road. I am still convinced that the smaller outfits that have a broad customer base (and avoided automotive freight) and work primarily regional are the least affected in all of this. I am with a smaller outfit, and have noticed a little change in the freight, but am still doing quite well. I have run enough this month to have to shut down on hours twice and will have about 13000 miles for the month. And since it is regional, I am able to get by the house a couple of times a week and was only out one weekend. It is tight for everyone, but the well managed outfits will come thru and be in a real nice position when the economy starts moving again.

Smaller outfits do seem to do better....I am with one now and everything seems to just be chugging along.

I hope to never go back to a 'big' carrier again.

[belpre122]

A reasonable response would be extending UC benefits to a year, make food stamps readily available for the unemployed, provide transitory medical benefits, and eliminate the ridiculous tax that UC recipients have to pay.

How about making food stamps available for those employed within the coolie carrier industry?

$300.00 to $400.00 a week (gross) is definitely not enough to support a family. Especially after you deduct all of the lifestyle essentials such as video games, prostitutes, smokes, gift shop junk, greasy buffets, bootleg porn DVDs, swag tools, 12v electric blankets..............

Maybe Heartless will downsize all the way to no trucks?

[mike3fan]

How about making food stamps available for those employed within the coolie carrier industry?

$300.00 to $400.00 a week (gross) is definitely not enough to support a family. Especially after you deduct all of the lifestyle essentials such as video games, prostitutes, smokes, gift shop junk, greasy buffets, bootleg porn DVDs, swag tools, 12v electric blankets..............

Maybe Heartless will downsize all the way to no trucks?

Yawn.....

[Rev.Vassago]

Yawn.....

Agreed. It's an old, dead subject.