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On Trucking

snowingpine.com

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Re: On Trucking

#11

Post by prox »

barry-cotter wrote: post #9
mjevans wrote: post #6

"90% of owner operators fail in their first year - trucking is incredibly cutthroat." Maybe the disruption this market needs is a set of unions rather than just trucking companies. It would be nice if unions were limited such that... E.G. they could not grow to larger than 15% of the workforce for a sector in any single union. Contracts would need to be approved by... some number, lets say 2/3rds of all workers acros…

You have reinvented cartelisation or the trusts in anti-trust. Congratulations on your economic acumen[1]. [1] Sincere praise, not sarcasm.

Are unions in the US the same as Trade Unions in Europe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_Europe

Re: On Trucking

#12

Post by cobertos »

The article mentions that a lot of the trucking spot market takes place on load boards (DAT, Truckstop, etc...)

How did the spot market work before the internet/the proliferation of technological devices? Where did the "pool" of owner operators hang out before the internet? Or was trucking completely unlike it is today?

Re: On Trucking

#13

Post by waiseristy »

cobertos wrote: post #12

The article mentions that a lot of the trucking spot market takes place on load boards (DAT, Truckstop, etc...) How did the spot market work before the internet/the proliferation of technological devices? Where did the "pool" of owner operators hang out before the internet? Or was trucking completely unlike it is today?

They used telephones & personal/professional connections

Re: On Trucking

#14

Post by forgetbook »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #2

Pet peeve: every time I get on the interstate I think they should have driven 90% of the 18-wheelers on to a train. Or at least have tracking software that fines them heavily for leaving the slow lanem

Isn't there a 'last mile' problem that differentiates trucks and rail?

Re: On Trucking

#15

Post by i_am_proteus »

Relevant John McPhee article from a couple of decades ago: https://archive.md/5GIIg

He rode across the country with an owner operator, and he tells the story.

"A true truck has eighteen wheels, or more. From Atlanta and Charlotte to North Powder, Oregon, this was the first time that Ainsworth had so much as tapped his air horn. In three thousand one hundred and ninety miles I rode with him he used it four times. He gave it a light, muted blast to thank a woman in a four-wheeler who helped us make a turn in urban traffic close to our destination, and he used it twice in the Yakima Valley, flirting with a woman who was wearing a bikini. She passed us on I-82, and must have pulled over somewhere, because she passed us again on I-90. She waved both times the horn erupted. She was riding in a convertible and her top was down."

Re: On Trucking

#16

Post by barry-cotter »

prox wrote: post #11
barry-cotter wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have reinvented cartelisation or the trusts in anti-trust. Congratulations on your economic acumen[1]. [1] Sincere praise, not sarcasm.

Are unions in the US the same as Trade Unions in Europe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_unions_in_Europe

Yes and no. So in both cases the aim is to act as a labour cartel to redistribute economic surplus from either consumers, firms or potential competition to insiders. But US labour law makes co-determination illegal. Having a company approved union is forbidden. Cooperation between firm management and union management is forbidden. Everything must be adversarial all the time. In reality like everything else it’s fractally complex. US unions vary from ones like the UAW that are about money and benefits to journalist unions that are more concerned with ideological correctness. There are states where union shops are legal and there are right to work states. In Europe you have let’s strike at the slightest provocation, all the time countries like France, ones where firm management and union management work hand in glove like Germany and countries where unions are close to dead except for state employees like Ireland or Britain.

Re: On Trucking

#17

Post by cobertos »

waiseristy wrote: post #13
cobertos wrote: post #12

The article mentions that a lot of the trucking spot market takes place on load boards (DAT, Truckstop, etc...) How did the spot market work before the internet/the proliferation of technological devices? Where did the "pool" of owner operators hang out before the internet? Or was trucking completely unlike it is today?

They used telephones & personal/professional connections

If they were using telephones, then there were people operating call-in centers for this pool of owner operators? If this was pre-90s, probably not even cell phones but, pay phones/physical phones? And if personal/professional connections, then there were meetings where owner operators get together? How would they schedule time for all of this, or coordinate it?

I'm having a hard time picturing either of these methods. It feels hard to have a large spot market of owner operators without some large broker in the middle, at least pre-cellphones.

Re: On Trucking

#18

Post by UncleEntity »

readthenotes1 wrote: post #2

Pet peeve: every time I get on the interstate I think they should have driven 90% of the 18-wheelers on to a train. Or at least have tracking software that fines them heavily for leaving the slow lanem

Pet peeve: no matter what you do in a truck someone gets mad.

You’re either driving too fast or too slow. You try to stay in the slow lane but catch up to the person going 45 on the interstate who speeds up as soon as you get next to them trapping you in the fast lane until you give them ‘incentive’ to let you back over.

I could go on and on but my government mandated 30 break was over six minutes ago and there’s people to annoy on the two lane highway I get to drive on until Texas.

Re: On Trucking

#19

Post by gnfargbl »

The article claims about 3 million truck tractors on US roads, and puts the cost of each driver at about $65k/year.

Am I correct in naively calculating something like $200B/year on the table for full-self-driving truck technology?

Re: On Trucking

#20

Post by nerdponx »

UncleEntity wrote: post #18
readthenotes1 wrote: post #2

Pet peeve: every time I get on the interstate I think they should have driven 90% of the 18-wheelers on to a train. Or at least have tracking software that fines them heavily for leaving the slow lanem

Pet peeve: no matter what you do in a truck someone gets mad. You’re either driving too fast or too slow. You try to stay in the slow lane but catch up to the person going 45 on the interstate who speeds up as soon as you get next to them trapping you in the fast lane until you give them ‘incentive’ to let you back over. I could go on and on but my government mandated 30 break was over six minutes ago and there’s peo…

People are generally oblivious idiots, but I've also seen some truly insane truck drivers on I-84 in CT, stuff like tailgating people in the left lane at 70+ at night.
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