I keep getting told how frieght is slow right now in the se region 9 southern states but i see alot of trucks going up and down the big roads just wonding if its true or just away
to justify all the sitting we do lately
In general, everything is slow. My company is about to lay off some more workers due to no work. We laid off about 40 guys last winter and only brought half of them back, now we are about to lay off 15 more. We are a concrete company(no we aren't the mixer trucks, we are a construction company.) I have been lucky in that I'm working at the owner's farm hauling away scrap equipment and moving dirt piles to fill in gullies.
My husband works for a company with about 200 trucks. His manager in the Indy terminal told him that freight was slowing down due to the economy. All the drivers had less miles. At least he isn't sitting right now though. But he did get home two weekends in a row with at least two days home each weekend. Where as his normal was two weeks out and two days home. I'll see what happens this coming up weekend.
I spent all of last year as a solo before my wife came on the truck as a driver. It was pretty slow but I think it is relative. I had friends who would run there asses off and I would be resetting every other day. I always had hours and was never late. It was just where I was at the time. There are lots of variables. Dispatchers may not like you. Your area may be dead. too many trucks with the company. Planners don't have a clue as to what is going on. I think the term freight is slow is just a general term trucking companies use to make you feel better. Or worse depending on your political beliefs I see just as many trucks going down the road when it is supposedly slow as I do when I am running like crazy. It is what it is. It is trucking! Yet if it is really slow like my company says, then maybe someone should tell recruiting to slow down as we are not in need of new drivers at this time.
We work 12hr shifts here in Sacramento hauling wood products. People aren't buying/building houses so the logs are not being processed. I worked 5 hrs last friday before being told to "fuel and wash then head home chris"