My company has been in business since 1903. We've got a total of 64 company drivers and something like 10-15 owner operators. I went in this morning to get my truck loaded and found out that our night dispatcher has been laid off.

After I picked up my load, I had to put my truck in the shop for it's PM. One of the mechanics asked me if I was one of the lucky ones. Not having a clue, I asked what he meant. Not only did they lay off the night dispatch, they also laid off 16 company drivers and cancelled the leases for all owner operators. A couple of the o/o's have been leased to our company for 30+ years.

Also, they said that this is their first EVER layoff since the company was established. It made it through the Depression without a single layoff, and now this.

Ya, it's definitely getting bad...

 

what company is this??

 

How's those knee pads working out for you? :lol:

 

1903?? Dag gum. I wonder how many miles a day you got behind a team of mules. :lol:
Wow. Sorry to hear that. Well, I hope nothing happens to ya, Malaki. Keep us posted.

 

I don't exactly understand why you would get rid of O/O's. Cutting out the help you give them is understandable but dropping them totally? Nursery near me has gotten rid of their company drivers and gone strictly O/O. Owner said it was cheaper for him to get O/O's(which he gives no assistance to) than to pay for a company truck in fuel, mechanics, taxes, a truck payment and still have to pay the driver on top of it.

 

The only reason I could see on dropping the o/o's would be to be able to keep more company drivers running. I dunno.

Company is W.S. Thomas out of Fairmont, WV.

 

Yeah that would keep your company drivers on and moving but it is worse for the company itself than if you kept the O/O's on. Bad for Mal but good for the company(saves them some money) whereas dropping the O/O's, good for Mal, bad for the company. Sux that it's coming to that for companies.

 

It says a lot about the company that they chose to do things the way they did. Either that, or they are seeing an end to the downturn in the forseeable future, and are simply trying to survive until then. It's easy enough to hire on O/O's when the market begins to pick up again.

 

I would say that "down-sizing" is better than closing their doors completely... I've heard of a few that did that too.

For the past year, I've been seeing vehicles loaded with household goods, going north out of here. Not the usual ones either. They look just like pictures from the GREAT DEPRESSION, but the vehicles are much newer. In VA, I've had a couple of them ask me if I could spare some money for gas for them. They were trying to get up to CT and NY and MA, to try to get jobs and start over.

And, about a year ago, they had an article about "TENT CITIES" across the country. There were people that made their way to Reno, NV, hoping to get jobs in a couple of casinos, only to find that the casinos were not hiring either. It's been bad, but it's getting worse. Catapillar is laying off 70,000 just in the US, from what I heard too.

Check my pictures... There's a "SALUTE to the OIL COMPANIES" on there... But, now the oil prices have come down a bit, and when are food prices going to do the same?????

 

Well if I had 65 trucks and 20 O/O but only had enough freight for a total of 60 trucks I think I too would dump the O/O. Why would I want 20 some odd trucks that I own sitting in my yard not making any money? O/O are a cheap way of expanding when freight is easy to get but when there's not enough freight....I dunno, just saying.