Theres a hotel by me in santa fe springs where i drop and hook everymorning and see around 3-5 conway volvos parked there. This morning i saw a brand new T660 painted in conway colors.

 

One of the reasons Conway bought CFI...so they could farm-out line-haul runs. Why pay a man .56 cpm when the shiney wheels will do it for .38? But this may well backfire on them when alot of these guys end up in the ditch...can't drive like an outlaw pulling wiggle-wagons. You need to slow down and be patient...increase your following distance...slow/gradual lane-changes, etc. Different sort of animal and takes some getting used to.[/quote]

It will also backfire as almost all of the "shiney wheels" set will park and wait for chain controls to left before proceeding. This can cause major jams and delays in linehaul flow in the winter time out West.

When you are paid only by the mile spending 1hr chaining the equipment; 2 hrs going over the top and another 30min talking the iron off is a fools proposition.

The company man paid by the hour for his time chaining will get through much more often.

 

So..if these double pullers are paid so well...why did I see just as many of them in the ditch this last week in PA, as I did the dry vans, reefers, flatbeds, and yes tankers? I even saw a NY state snowplow flipped over in the center median on I-84...those guys are surely paid hourly..and well paid at that.

Con-Way bought CFI for their existing infra-structre...for the same reason and in the same manner as FEDEX buying the Viking Group of company's to jump start FEDEX Freight. Con-Way wants to have a foot in the door for the freight that Swift, Knight, and Schneider all chase after. Freight that does not go onto doubles.

 

I have to agree with Orange. I been driving a lot of highways and see a lot of trucks off the road and see just as many if not more Union trucks in a heap. Also notice that usually the Union outfits drive like idiots and noy unusual to see them later in truoble. If they paid so well then why rush? Hourly pay would seem to mean to drive safer.

 

Linehaul drivers at not paid hourly...unless they are delayed by weather, traffic, breakdowns, etc...you know, all the stuff you do for free! Despite what you see, just check the safestat scores of the big LTL carriers versus the big OTR carriers.

I said ONE of the reasons Conway bought CFI was to replace LTL linehaul runs. For a regional LTL carrier like Conway, yes freight can be loaded into 53' trailers. I have seen some O/O CFI trucks pulling Conway doubles...don't know what this Vito guy is talking about.

No, Conway does not want to go after Swift, Knight, and Schnieder freight...most companies are trying to get away from irregular-route truckload. It mostly had to do with getting a larger piece of the import pie.

Trucking is all about finding morons who will work cheaper for longer hours. He who finds the most morons, gets the most freight.

 

An update? Yeah, I see CFI pulling Con-way trailers and vice versa.

Movin on.