How much do you think CH robinsons profit margin is?
 

You might be a little shocked:

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/773qpmu.html

Some others:

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/774qpmu.html

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/s_qpmu.html

and most shocking:

http://biz.yahoo.com/p/120conameu.html

The average profit margin of oil and gas companies is at 9.6%. Meaning if they sold you gas or diesel for 9.6% less then pump price, they'd break even.

I believe that number showing "absolute net". After all expenses, including 6-7 figures CEO salaries, dividends,....etc. I might be wrong tho... :roll:

Who cares if they make a profit..... If you do not like the rate of the load offered, either negotiate it higher or don't haul it. Pretty simple.

Well apparently some people do care. Some people think there should be a "cap" on each load they haul.

The same idiots who do not know how to be a businessman first, steering wheel holder second.

Do you want your freight rates capped or do you want the ability to make as much as you can.....

Sorry I forgot your a Canadian and need government hand-holding to go through day to day life... :roll:

I think you mistake me for a socialist. The reason I posted this was because some people(not me) want to cap what a broker can make off each load. But if they're only making 5%............

You do the math.

I'm VERY pro-capitalist. I do not want the government to do anything with our current situation. If someone cannot survive in our current environment, THEY are doing something wrong, not the brokers.

There is this magical word in the english dictionary. It's called "NO".

Yesterday on XM 171 "trucking business and beyond"(a FANTASTIC show!) a guy called in and bitched because he hauled a load where the broker made 26% and he only made 80 CPM or so. He was livid.

Kevin Rutherford asked him, well if he knew how much the broker made, why did he haul it?

The guy had no answer.

I don't know when those are from but those numbers sure don't match any of the financials I've seen. Last time I looked, CHR's profit margin on trucking operations was near 20% and UPS wasn't losing money. My guess is maybe those numbers represent the CHANGE in profit margin, not profit margin itself.

There are times when I have a problem with some brokers profiteering or taking advantage of a situation in a particular part of the country. However, it is my choice as to whether I will take the cheap load that broker offers or find something which is profitable. I refuse to take a load that isn't profitable. If an owner operator isn't getting the rate he needs to be profitable then he needs to look at how he is running his business, not how much the broker is making. You don't have to take a cheap load. You can find the better paying loads, but it can sometimes take a lot of work. It may require you to either sit for a day or so or deadhead out of a bad area. Some of these cheaper freight areas are finding it more difficult to find trucks to haul their freight. I know because I am getting calls from them and they are offering higher rates. If you are one of those people who can't sit long enough to find a good paying load and think that you need to keep the wheels rolling in order to make a profit, then you may be in the wrong of the business. Perhaps you would do better as a company driver rather than an owner operator or independent. If you take the cheap loads and then complain about it, then you have no reason to complain about the cheap rates. You made a choice. When we make choices, then we should be willing to accept responsibility for the decisions we make. No one forces you to take cheap loads, just as they don't force you to take good paying loads. It is your decision and responsibility. So don't complain when you lose money when you are the one who decided to take the unprofitable load.

In business we learn to adapt to changes in the marketplace if we are to be successful.

LOL.

As far as the transportation business is concerned, I might argue that there's more hand holding by the US gov't than the CDN gov't.
1. US brokers need broker authority.
2. They have to post a bond.
No such hand holding up here. But then we needn't let facts get in the way of a good slur.

As for the other hand holding that you may be referring to, yes we have what's left of a (tax) funded healthcare system. And I'm told that we have a good education system although I can't see why.

And the more time I spend in the good ol' USA, the more I think a little socialism may be a good thing after all. I'm simply not used to seeing so many obese, toothless, coughing, poor, uneducated, limping people. This is America? Land of the free? What a joke.

I guess the idea is to keep them poor so they have no choice but to join the military? They're not "forced" to join, but in a way they are. Kinda like communist Russia when you think about it.

But hey, they all got a flag tho.

:cry:

Sad to say but I'm starting to think these types of people are beginning to outnumber the productive people. The dumbing down of America continues.............

I think the people you describe are the result of socialism and too much government than the lack of socialism. Before we had so much government interference we seemed to be more active and better educated. The net result was a more informed and healthier citizen. Educated and informed people do not normally accept socialism. Socialism takes away freedom. It has never worked in any society where it has been tried. People lack focus and become lazy under socialism. Socialism takes away the responsibility we have for ourselves. Freedom requires us to be responsible for ourselves and our families. Socialism puts the responsibility on the government. We already have socialism in the U.S. An uneducated populace doesn't understand what that entails. Socialism and apathy is killing this country.

Ya know, for an "old guy " .... your kinda smart. :wink:

Gee, thanks Ridge Runner.......I think. :?

I hope you know I joking. :wink: You "get it " , I "get it ", others who have ran or owned a business " get it ". Too bad some think the Goverment needs to step in so they can make a profit. :roll:

Really? Take a look at where the U.S. ranks in terms of education, overall health, and happiness. Then look at the countries above us. Most have a much more socialistic society than ours.

You know that Canadiens should be more appreciative of the USA because we keep the Mexicans south of our northern border. Ah!

A hunnerd kazillion dollars and thirty four cents.

CHR is profitable because they hire talented individuals who are edcuated in house, run a one stop shop from the field to the dinner table. And also started the new year by streamlining John Deer's transportation needs.

http://www.chrobinson.com/tmc/JohnDeerePressRelease.pdf

I am sick and tired of satelite radio. Who pre-screens the credentials of these so called professionals that call in and don't have a clue?

Garbage in = Garbage out.

The problem isn't the callers, it's the hosts!

I heard that moron truckin' bozo say we're in a DEPRESSION.

I don't see any of the socialist countries being happier, better educated or more healthy than in the U.S. I don't see how anyone can be happy when they rely on the benevolence of "Big Brother" for their livelihood. We were all happier when we took care of ourselves without so much interference from the government. Our educational system was much better before we allowed the government and the National Educational Association to become so involved in our schools. We had a much better educated citizenry when we were more involved in the schools as individuals and parents. Before the government decided to raise one group above another in the name of fairness we worked and earned our way to a better life. Those who worked hard found a way to get ahead. The way things are today, were it not for a government handout they would starve, not because they can't provide for themselves, but because they are unwilling to work and get their hands dirty. Socialism gets a foothold when more people rely on the government than private enterprise.

The data doesn't lie. While I'll grant you that happiness is subjective and hard to quantify, education and health are not. Those are easy areas to measure and studies have for years shown that the U.S. trails much of Western Europe and select SE Asian countries in those areas. Perennial top performers are the Scandinavian countries who are further toward the socialist end of the scale than most.

Do you want your freight rates capped or do you want the ability to make as much as you can.....


What does putting a cap on fuel prices have to do with putting a cap on rates?

Mike,I know what you mean. I have also been getting phone calls from some reformed cheap brokers looking for trucks in south TX such as Mcallen or Laredo where rates normally are in the toilet. :lol: I have even been getting phone calls from brokers looking for trucks in FL. :shock: I don't know what legitimate reason a donkeybrain would have to take a load for .80cpm. or 1.20pm. It is all a call and wait game with a lot of brokers right now. The funny thing is that they cover the loads cheap during the week and the same brokers start calling me on a weekend when some of those carriers backed out at the last minute. :lol:

I was in a fairly nice area today.....north of Poughkeepsie...I guess that's considered the Catskills? Lot's of nice cars and beautiful people. It was a nice change from what I normally see. It seems there is a wider separation between haves and have nots in the US than Canada. It seems all of Canada is middle class.

We have had a steady decline in our public school system since about the 1970's. It started when we began busing children out of their neighborhoods close to home and forcing them into schools on the other side of town. It made it more difficult for many parents to get to the school for meetings, pta, etc., and to keep an eye on what was going on in the schools which gave control over to the government.

I don't know that the total healthcare we receive is lower than other parts of the world. We seem to have people clamoring to get into the country for their healthcare. Thousands of Canadians cross the border to get their healthcare in the U.S. The more government gets involved in our healthcare system the lower the quality and more expensive it will become. Additional paper trail costs and testing to protect themselves from lawsuits and compliance with government over regulation may have reduced total care to some segments of the populace. On the other hand, I still believe we have the best healthcare system in the world. Having to deal with unnecessary lawsuits and an over abundance of government mandated paperwork has driven costs through the roof for many people. I think it is the cost rather than the quality of healthcare that has changed. Lawsuits have driven many good doctors out of their specialties, such as in Florida and OBGYN's.

>Thousands of Canadians cross the border to get their healthcare in the U.S.
Yes, Gman. You'll notice I stopped short of praising our system. The Canucks that can afford to be treated in the US tend to pay for their cancer treatments out of their own pocket rather than wait forever to use the "funded" system at home. The Ontario Govt has capped what a doctor can earn so doctors stop taking patients or the doctors just move south. Fewer doctors = longer wait times in Canada. But it still means only the rich can afford US healthcare.

At the top end, yes, our system may very well be the best in the world. But in the role of serving society as a whole, our system is nothing to brag about. In the simplest measures of the health of a population, life expectancy and infant mortality, we are no better than middle of the road and trail most of the rest of the industrialized world. As far as education, I don't know what you're using for your metrics. Kids in today's school system generally score higher on standardized testing than in the past. Kids have more access to tougher curricula than in the past. The students that work to get an education can get a better one today than what was available 30 years ago. I'm not saying that there isn't a huge problem but the blame lies at home more than it does in the schools. Parents don't get involved in their kids' schools because they can't or don't want to take the time. We haven't fallen behind in education because we've gotten worse. The rest of the world has just gotten better faster.

There has been a decline in recent years in the level of our educational system since introducing socialism into the mix. Many schools and colleges force students to work in groups for their grades and the grade of the individual is dependent on the efforts of the group as a whole. Members of the group can lower the grade of an individual for nothing more than a personality conflict. Unproductive members can receive the same grade as those who put in the work. Individual effort is discouraged. New college students are often not ready for the college experience and must complete remedial courses to get them up to the minimum college standards. Socialism doesn't work. Innovation rarely comes from a group effort. True innovation usually comes from an individual.

GMAN, maybe those are some experiments being tried in TN, I don't know. But I have dozens of friends working in education in various parts of the country and I'm not that far removed from my own college experience. None of the things you've cited sounds the least bit familiar. And once again, the data doesn't lie. A student heading off to college this fall will have been exposed to a broader curriculum and more advanced studies than the same student 30 years ago...and the kid from Singapore will be further ahead than ours.

Isn't that the same thing? :roll: Restricting somebody's ability to make a profit?

I have friends who are educators and this isn't something that is just happening in Tennessee. The problem these educators have had is that they were forced to pass students even though they were not qualified or done the necessary work. The educational system has been teaching a lot of things other than the basics. When these students get to college some cannot read or do basic math. The main two area where there seems to be a deficit is English and Math. Some of these schools will teach children how to have sex but fail to teach them how to do basic math and properly structure a sentence. I am talking about the public schools, not the private or parochial. If you look at the major socialist countries this is how they seem to gain power. They dumb down the schools and then reteach them according to socialist principals. Hitler, Lenin and Mao all did it in their respective countries.

Tell me how a kid gets a high enough SAT or ACT score to get into college without being able to read or write. There are plenty of kids that don't get a good education, I wouldn't be so quick to blame it on schools. In my experience, you can trace it back to the home...every single time.

You bring up private schools. Ever notice how private schools in general do much better at educating kids and that parents and students compete to gain admittance? Guess how much say the parents and community have over how a private school teaches...zilch. The school and teachers do what they do best and if a student or parent doesn't like it, they're welcome to take a hike. Maybe that's the problem with public schools. Everybody thinks they know how to teach kids better than the teacher :roll:

The single most important factor in how well kids learn, shown time and time again, is class size or teacher to student ratio. The single biggest influence on class size is money. Everybody complains about the schools and yet they all bristle at the notion of paying for them. It's only going to get worse as the Boomers age. We'll have the richest portion of the population thinking they shouldn't have to pay for schools since they don't get any benefit from them.

By the way, you mentioned schools that don't give grades. I only know of a handful of universities that operate this way. And it's not because I'm not aware, there just aren't many that do. Almost every one of those schools is considered and elite liberal arts university and churns out some of the most sought after students in the country. And they're not easy to get into.

I don't think the blame rests solely on the school system. I think it is primarily the parents responsibility to see that their children receive a quality education. The problem is that many parents today don't want to be bothered by having to help their children with homework and meet with teachers. They DEMAND that their child be promoted so that he isn't embarrassed by being held back. They don't want teachers to discipline their little brats. Parents have shucked their responsibility. My mother saw to it that I knew my "ABC's" and could count to "100" before I entered the first grade. I started school when I was 5 years old. I don't recall us having kindergarten or preschool at that time. My mother was always helpful when needed and made sure that we did our part of getting an education. She was always at home when we got there after school. Getting a college education was always expected by my parents. It was never considered an option to not get a good education.

Money won't solve the problem of a poor education. Parents getting involved in their children's lives will help more than anything. We spend more on education today than ever. Schools have gotten away from teaching the basics and replaced it with feel good curriculum. School systems are overladen with beauracracies. Taxes are nearly always raised to benefit education, but those monies are often diverted to other projects. In reality, teachers are pretty well compensated for their time. While the annual salary may seem less to some, keep in mind that these people don't work 12 months out of the year. They usually have summers off along with spring and winter breaks and numerous holidays. There are those within some public school systems who are paid in excess of $50M/year plus all the benefits.

And I don't recall it being me who mentioned not giving grades in some colleges. We live in a competitive world. In the business world we normally measure success by how much money or success we achieve. In school it is our grades. Those who excel earn A's. Those who slide by receive D's or F's. Not everyone is a high achiever.

You're right, I apologize. I misread your statement.

I absolutely agree with what you're saying about parent involvement.

As far as funding goes. We spend more on education from a gross perspective, but adjusted for inflation on a per pupil basis, spending has declined for the most part. Teacher compensation is subjective. You may think $50,000 is a lot for what teachers do. In my area, someone earning that would be struggling. The fact is that many areas struggle to attract qualified teachers. That's a sure indication that teachers aren't paid enough. If they were, the salary combined with the other perks you mentioned would attract plenty of qualified candidates.

But my original point still remains, a kid that wants to get a good education today can get a better one than what was offered 30 years ago. The problem may lie in the possibility that getting an education doesn't carry the same priority it used to. Therefore, more kids leave the system undereducated. Not because the resources weren't available, but because they didn't take advantage of them.

And the students coming out of the socialist countries still kick our butts, on average :lol:

Someone sent this to me a few months ago and I kept it. You might find it interesting.





Subject: 8th Grade


Only an 8th Grade Education


What it took to get an 8th grade education in 1895...

Remember when grandparents and great-grandparents stated that they
only had an 8th grade education? Well, check this out. Could any of us have
passed the 8th grade in 1895?

This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 in Salina, Kansas, USA
. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley
Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, and reprinted by the Salina
Journal.
8th Grade Final Exam: Salina, KS - 1895

Grammar (Time, one hour)

1 . Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
2. Name the parts of speech and define those that have no
modifications.
3. Define verse, stanza and paragraph
4. What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of
"lie,""play," and "run."
5. Define case; illustrate each case.
6 What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of
punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that
you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.
Arithmetic (Time,1 hour 15 minutes)

1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft. wide. How many
bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3,942 lbs., what is it worth at
50cts/bushel, deducting 1,050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary
levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for
incidentals?
5. Find the cost of 6,720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7
percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 16 ft. long at
$20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance
of which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt
U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)

1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus .
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas .
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton , Bell , Lincoln ,
Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607, 1620, 1800,
1849, 1865.
Orthography (Time, one hour)
[Do we even know what this is??]

1. What is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography,
etymology, syllabication
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: trigraph,
subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters, linguals
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u.'
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e.' Name two
exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word:
bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non, inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and
name the sign that indicates the sound: card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell,
rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences: cite, site, sight,
fane, fain, feign, vane , vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate
pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.
Geography (Time, one hour)

1 What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas ?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia , Odessa , Denver ,
Manitoba , Hecla , Yukon , St. Helena, Juan Fernandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco
..
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give the capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same
latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to
the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give the incl ination of
the earth.

Notice that the exam took FIVE HOURS to complete.

Gives the saying "he only had an 8th grade education" a whole new
meaning, doesn't it?!

That's very interesting Gman....I would have been saying goodbye to my friends and hello "again" to my 8th grade teacher that fall....as I would have failed miserably at that test :D[/b]

It would be interesting to see what the current requirements are for graduation.

Seventeen of the nation's 50 largest cities had high school graduation rates lower than 50 percent, with the lowest graduation rates reported in Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana and Cleveland, Ohio, according to a report released Tuesday.

Nationally, about 70 percent of U.S. students graduate on time with a regular diploma and about 1.2 million students drop out annually.

"When more than 1 million students a year drop out of high school, it's more than a problem, it's a catastrophe," said former Secretary of State Colin Powell, founding chair of the alliance.

Nationally, 62 percent of community college students enroll unprepared for college-level course work, according to a two-year study that began in 2005.

In 2001, nearly one-third of first-year students in the United States were required to take remedial classes.

Does this tell you our education system is failing? Note the increase in 4 years of remedial courses required to enter community college.

It is much easier for students to drop out when the government will send them a check in the form of welfare and provide them with subsidized housing. When I grew up we worked for what we had. We attended school and many went on to college. Some attended vocational school. Some started at minimum wage jobs and worked their way up to a better paying position. Regardless, we all worked and earned our own way. We knew that if we wanted to get ahead we had to either get a decent education or training to be successful.

We have since allowed the government to get more and more involved in our lives and essentially kill our educational system. When people are educated you tend to be more aware. Instead of teaching basics such as arithmetic and English, students are taught how to NOT hurt someone's feelings or how to have sex. The result is a younger, more promiscuous student body than cannot read or properly structure a sentence, much less do basic math. It should be no surprise that these children have the highest rate of STD's and illigitimate births. At a time when these kids should be getting a good education they are having babies and collecting welfare checks. Since little is expected, little is given. Government education has failed these children and parents have also failed them.

There was a time when the U.S. had the best educational system in the world. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.

I think all of us would be keeping you company!!! lol