Hopper load times and cancelled loads

When times get slow shippers and receivers no longer need the truckers as much nor do the care as much. Just the nature of the biz

In the bulk world it gets worse instead of better during peak season. More trucks in line, the elevators, mills can't keep up. Lines and trunks break down. The only thing worse than the hopper IMO is the containers. At least the customers on the hopper side are generally polite and the schedules are flexible (unless you are hauling finish products, and they are the worst about their attitudes and delays). I have a truck that could have delivered yesterday, but the customer in Davenport would not take it. Driver came back today at 11:00 am and still is not even over the pit. Does no good to gripe and complain, just deal with it. I told the driver this morning if it continues in this fashion that I would go and buy another dry van and park the hopper until the rates come back up. With the harvest we are having that may be next year before it comes back. Oh, well it bounces that way sometimes, at least we have other options.

If you're dealing with grain (corn) to the chicken market you can thank (some of) the resellers for the lines. When ABC Chicken buys from DEF (the reseller) and ABC says I need corn DEF in turns calls and tells all the elevators that they bought corn from and tells them that ABC is taking corn. The elevators load the trucks and send them. Three or four trucks from several locations and then you have the line. ABC goes full of corn and now you wait for them to grind off or hope DEF can find another place to go with the corn. Keep in mind that MNO and RST chicken is dealing with the same thing as ABC of being over shipped on corn from DEF.

The other feed stocks are usually managed a little better on space and usage vs. ordering. But then some buyers want to make sure they don't run out so they over order so they know they won't run out.

Breakdowns and weather can play a big part in someone being full. Cold weather and the birds eat more, buyers are taking that into account when ordering feed stock but a bunch of unseasonably warm days in the fall/winter can affect the amount of feed that is required.

The herd of corn trucks that DEF has sent to the feed mills will also make your line/wait longer.

Just my 2 cents.

These are the reasons I bought a step deck. Better rates, no washout, no driving 150 miles out of the way to get a washout just to load the same product. I prefer pulling a hopper to anything I just can't do it anymore. Around NW Mo. There are so many farmers with multiple semis. There are no short haul loads. I made my best money running over 700 mile trips.
Thank you Alfred for all you do to help inform those of us that are trying to make a living. Information is education.

Dustin , what do you think is going to happen when ELD's are mandated and we start demanding pay for every second the computerized log is running ? I hope it turns the industry upside down. We think it is going to grid lock the industry, so we have started a savings fund for if it happens we can sit and wait

I wondered if this wasn't part of the problem. I wonder how they'd like it if I overbooked my truck like they overbook their loads? Well, I have a pretty good idea. But since they have nothing to lose, that will continue to be my problem, not theirs.

My driver and I discussed this just this weekend. It's coming and unfortunately it will be a matter of who can get through that first stage without completely going under. I'm not sure what our strategy will be for weathering the storm but having a strategy will be imperative. Can we afford to park our trucks for a few months while shippers scramble to find trucks? I hope so because I believe that's what it will take. And truthfully, I think the industry is already at that point, ELDs will just be the catalyst that [hopefully] forces shippers to make changes.

I have seen the benefits of ELDs in larger companies. Dispatchers can no longer pretend they don't require drivers to run when they shouldn't be but it comes at a high cost to the driver. I hope that a mandate would have a similar effect on shippers but I'm only cautiously optimistic. I'm concerned that it will instead open the door to big companies simply hiring more drivers and completely pushing out the O/O. Since big companies work in volume, only their drivers will suffer. But who cares about them, right?

They claim a driver shortage now (which seems to me just to be a trucking company's way of saying "we don't pay our drivers enough and can't keep anyone"). I guess that won't be such a problem if O/O are forced to either sign on with a big company or shut down permanently. Suddenly the ELD's will have "cured the driver shortage", although drivers will be making less. And sadly, your average Joe Voter won't be here to back the guys who bring their everything because they're afraid of trucks that they don't understand.

The only way O/O will be able to get back in the game is for rates to go up, detention to be consistently paid, and some actual PLANNING AND SCHEDULING to be done at the shipper/cnee. I hate appointments but if it meant no more than an hour wait and was reasonable (no 36 hours for a 4 hour drive or vice versa) and a little felxible, I'd be ok with it and would be willing to be a little flexible with them on the wait time. It's a give and take but right now it seems that drivers do the giving, shippers do the taking. I hope that ELDs will eventually cause shippers to see these things but my normally optimistic self isn't so optimistic on this one.

In the end, I believe you're right that it will turn the industry on its head but which way it actually goes will be a wait and see. Either way, it will have a dramatic impact on the country and everyone in it. Joe Voter might just reconsider his disdain for that "dangerous trucker" a little too late.

Had a load one time of milo to a dog food plant. Elevator was sending all the trucks they could get. Driver got to plant around 10pm behind a big line of trucks. At 8 am they told him and a couple others they were full and didn't want load. I got on phone. The elevator agreed to pay us for load, and a half rate to bring it back. The dog food plant paid detention of $50 an hour. I give my drivers all of the detention and he got 27% of freight. He was ready to do a load like that every night! Never hurts to ask.

I try not to beat up our customers on ether end, becouse most of the time they are just that both customers. We may hual in to a place and a week/month later we maybe hauling loads out. They don't beat use up when we have trouble. Most of my drivers like to be first in line in morning so they sleep in truck any ways.

Here is our rule if you don't want to pay detention and you operate a crap hole operation. Then we can give up the hours to find out the first time, if you cause us to give up hours again (strike two). We then expect to be paid $6 per mile to go to those places. It is our way of getting paid the detention in advance, some of these places just leave you sitting in the holding area until they are good and ready to load. Last night one of such customers was holding our truck hostage, when we informed them that the driver had been there long enough and he was running out of hours and did not desire to stay at their facility. All of the sudden when our driver got ready to leave they offered to load him and pay us for layover pay. Funny they would rather pay layover pay vs detention. I really don't care what the name for the compensation is as long as they pay it. If not then just leave and bounce to the next load. Being reasonable is when the plant goes down, or the auger jams, or the such. We understand those types of problems and would not want to hold that against a customer, as we would not want to be financially punished when our equipment goes down. Incompetence on the other hand I believe the customer should have to pay for, same holds true with incompetent truckers that fail to do their job, the customer should not have to pay the full amount.

Thank you.
That first load at Mount Plesant the loader told me he could blend enough pure chicken meal with what I was loading to raise the protein level for the customer. Management decided against that ( cost to much). I started pulling a step deck and unless the rates in hopper freight increase drastically I see no reason to come back to hoppers. I started out driving pulling a hopper at 21 and I love it. That was 30 plus years ago. I have pulled just about every trailer type in that time, I'm just not going to do it for free or lose money anymore.
Out of all the loads I have hauled. i deal with waiting very well if there is a line or the plant is broke down, something out of there control, I hauled several loads that paid me well that I was expected to sit around on both ends $900 to go 50 miles but you waited usually on both ends.
Alfred I learn something from you ever time you post, I truly appreciate everything I can learn from all of the people on here that are trying to help all of us become better at business!

I feel like detention should be graduated. Something like 2 hours free, $30/hr for 2-5 hours, $50/hr for 6-10 hours, and $100/hr after 10. It really does little to replace missed loads but it does help ease it some. Really, I don't mind being flexible but I definitely think that right now the carriers are taking the biggest hit. If shippers/cnees were required to pay detention, my assumption is that the next place wouldn't have so many trucks arriving after they are expected. Can you imagine a world where loads weren't cancelled every other day, detention was paid after 2 hours without fail, and loading/unloading was 24h? lol! Maybe then they could actually justify the rates.