Letter to the Editor: Freight Rates

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

find it very disturbing that shippers, our customers, keep looking toward trucking for their “cost savings.”

Without even thinking about the new changes in the federal hours-of-service rules for drivers — when we don’t really know how they will affect us yet — shippers continue to look at “cost savings” as cutting the amount they spend on transportation.

We in trucking have the same problems that shippers have. We have employees who need raises every year. We have insurance that increases every year, and equipment that increases in cost every year.

If it continues in this direction, eventually there will only be a few big boys left around in trucking. Then they will set the rates to accommodate shippers that will have no choice.

People say this is a matter of “supply and demand.” The supply is dwindling and the demand is growing.

Mike Tharp

I>Vice President

oarder to Boarder Trucking

dinburg, Texas

This letter appeared in the March 1 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.