[jd112488]

we are busy...gotta deliver them christmas packages. i get me rug. run and then some. my run will go year round, never misses a day. glad i do not depend on that great hourly pay and gotta be home everyday pay that everyone was talking up a few months ago.

[GMAN]

I don't know of anyone who is not slow. Most do more sitting between loads this time of year. The slow economy isn't helping. Lower rates and less freight mean that more trucks are sitting than at other times of the year.

[ct77]

Usually HHG slows down in winter around the holidays but this year business has been very good same miles as during the summer. I guess everybody is relocating looking for work.

[nctrucker1]

I haul garbage from transfer stations to the landfill in 53' trailers. We are working lots of hours, paid by the load, steady work, but not busy like the summer and spring.

[nctrucker1]

GMAN-It really burns me up that the drivers are having hard times, while upper management at the trucking companies are trying to decide how they are going to spend their year end bonus they earned during the year by screwing the drivers out of money.

[dobry4u]

Originally Posted by nctrucker1

I haul garbage from transfer stations to the landfill in 53' trailers. We are working lots of hours, paid by the load, steady work, but not busy like the summer and spring.

I would think it would pick up this week for a bit, given this is the biggest trash time of year!!!!!

[GMAN]

Originally Posted by nctrucker1

GMAN-It really burns me up that the drivers are having hard times, while upper management at the trucking companies are trying to decide how they are going to spend their year end bonus they earned during the year by screwing the drivers out of money.

I don't know what you mean about upper level management trying to decide how they are going to spend their year end bonus or how they are screwing the drivers out of money. It isn't only drivers who are having a difficult time with the current economy. I don't know of anyone who isn't having some difficulties right now. Some are hurting more than others.

[marcel27208]

things are kinda slow here at schneider, im still getting a few high paying loads, but alot right now arent paying enough...............

[DaveP]

I deadheaded back to Northwest Alabama from Effingham, IL on Christmas Eve...empty.

After the last two weeks (mostly sitting empty) I'm going to sit here at the house till they call me....(and nobody mentioned anything about a time to head to B'ham)

I've got plenty to do around the house anyway.

[Windwalker]

I was just reading an article this evening, there are a number of companies that are not expected to exist any longer by the end of 2009. Among them are Chrysler and Rite-Aid. AIG, Fannie Mae, Freedy Mac... A couple of them were companies I've delivered to in the past. But, the article stated that they are hundreds of billions of dollars in the red. Sort of makes me wonder just how many millions of dollars their CEOs have been collecting. Companies have gone under in the past, but I don't recall this many, this large, since the great depression. For those of you that have been sitting at a truck stop, waiting for a load, I wish I had some really good answers. But, if I had them for you, I would also have them for myself, and I may need them before long, myself too. Even the food industry gets slow these days. Sure, we all gotta eat... That's not the issue. It 's more a matter of what can we afford to eat. Working for a bakery that makes bread would be far better than working for one that makes pasteries. These days, the bread would have a more reliable market.

In past years, loads coming out of the CT, NY, and NJ area were always good. The past several months, dispatch has not been sending me into Jersey because they could not find return loads there. I certainly don't mind staying from that area, but as an economic indicator, it's worse than usual. A bad time to year, and an unusually bad year besides.

So, this past week, I've been on vacation, and I get to find out just how much slower it is this week when the sun comes up in the morning. I may get another day or two at home before I get a load out. Sort of thinking that I may have to use my computer to start writing books and give Stephen King competition.