Amen on ‘Drilling Deep’: Independent owner-operators took $2,000 haircut last year

Feb 21, 2020 at 08:49 AM CST
And speaking of halves, the two halves of 2019 differed significantly, Amen said. Average net income in the first half of the year was down about $600 from the prior year’s first half. But in the second half, Amen said, the drop was about $1,400. Not all drivers are the same, and Amen said ATBS coached a lot of drivers going into 2019 that “it was going to be a more difficult year.” “Those that made some changes, they actually did just fine,” Amen said. “They had an OK year.” Some of those changes played out in unexpected ways. For example, even though the rates were lower, there was less of a mad dash to drive as many miles as possible to make up the difference. In fact, Amen said, “we saw the lowest recorded miles in our 20 years in business.”

Feb 21, 2020 at 08:49 AM CST

And speaking of halves, the two halves of 2019 differed significantly, Amen said. Average net income in the first half of the year was down about $600 from the prior year’s first half. But in the second half, Amen said, the drop was about $1,400. Not all drivers are the same, and Amen said ATBS coached a lot of drivers going into 2019 that “it was going to be a more difficult year.” “Those that made some changes, they actually did just fine,” Amen said. “They had an OK year.” Some of those changes played out in unexpected ways. For example, even though the rates were lower, there was less of a mad dash to drive as many miles as possible to make up the difference. In fact, Amen said, “we saw the lowest recorded miles in our 20 years in business.”