Had an interesting conversation about load prices with a car hauler today. He told me the first thing he says in every conversation with brokers and dealers is this: "I'm going to need more money."
He said that most of the people he does business with on a regular basis understand what's going on with fuel prices, and a typical reply is-- "OK, what do you need?" Followed by, "OK, I'll call the customer."
He says most guys call right back and tell him OK.
Of course you're wondering-- "What about the guys that don't want to hear about fuel prices?"
He tells them, "Sorry, can't do it for that."
With all the folks that are heading for the exit door, I think that the momentum is going to start shifting in favor of the driver as there are less and less trucks available. Cars will sit for two weeks, three weeks or more on the load boards... brokers will start having to explain the facts of life to their customers. Load prices will start to inch up as brokers play the cat-and-mouse game to find out how efficiently they can price these loads and have them picked up in a timely fashion.
And naturally, the transport companies that prosper will be the ones that don't rely exclusively on load boards for the majority of their billing. The ones that develop long-term business relationships with reputable brokers, dealers, moving companies will not be the ones suffering from selling their service wholesale on a load board while fuel gobbles up half of their revenue.
So... repeat after me...
"I'm going to need more money."
"Sorry, I can't haul your cars for that price."