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I work for one of their competitors and I can empathize with them. My thoughts goes to all the employees and their families. The Freight business is collapsing

I work for one of their competitors and I can empathize with them. My thoughts goes to all the employees and their families. The Freight business is collapsing after an unrealistic high during the pandemic. Since April 2022, revenue per load has decreased to about 70%, this means less ways to generate a profit under the same headcount. We also saw a decrease in volume as companies overstocked and consumer spending has shrunk to less than 50% of what it used to be. Just add it all up and you see why so many companies are collapsing, carriers and brokers alike. Though market.

monero-xmr 3y ago
I think Flock Freight will be the next shutdown. Rough industry.
- extr 3y ago
  Took an interview with them last year. Glad I didn't proceed.
Workaccount2 3y ago
This just made me realize that things are back in stock regularly again. I suppose it happened slowly so I didn't notice, but shortages seem to be totally gone and things are back to 2019 stock levels.
- h2odragon 3y ago
  The shelves may have stuff one them, but there's like 4 bags of each of 6 brands, instead of 24 brands.
- hshsbs84848 3y ago
  Not everything, cars still have super long wait times if you buy new Especially hybrid or PHEV
h2odragon 3y ago
> consumer spending has shrunk to less than 50% of what it used to be and you're in a position to be concerned with the accuracy of your numbers, i assume. CNN Tuesday: "US retail sales rose in September for the sixth-straight month" https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/economy/retail-sales-september/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/economy/retail-sales-septembe... ... id be interested in your thoughts on the apparent conflict of viewpoint there.
- habitue 3y ago
  These seem consistent with each other: During the pandemic and boom consumer spending was at X ("what it used to be") Then it dropped a ton, though in recent months it's been increasing month over month. In fact, it's all the way back up to 50% of what it used to be!
- thegginthesky 3y ago
  Like the sibling comment has said. But what we saw during the peak was crazy, and some investors and execs thought it would last. At least in regards to what pertains FTL freight, we saw a drop of tougjly 50% in volumes as consumer spending is down when compared to pandemic height. I am pretry sure there will be a seasonal trend upwards, but no where in the way it was before. If you are in the industry, you can easily check how much cargo is moving around. Maybe by November-December it will be less than a 50% drop, but expect it to return by kid January-February.
gumballindie 3y ago
> consumer spending has shrunk Part of the reason being that workers have been ordered back to offices, meaning a significant portion of their income is spent on commute and eating out. Crazy how damaging rto is to everything around us.
- umeshunni 3y ago
  Most of the reason is that asset prices (and thus wealth has shrunk), inflation is higher, so people are buying less and there's no Fed dropping money from helicopters.
  - gumballindie 3y ago
    Indeed, but add travel expenses and the cost of living in crowded cities and eating expensive food and you’ve got a cashflow crisis. Remote work is the single biggest economic boost the economy can get without the government printing money. Not to mention higher productivity.
mardifoufs 3y ago
It's weird since prices haven't really changed for customers. I thought freight going down by 70% would have an impact on pricing but I guess it was a smaller part of the total price than I originally would've believed?

monero-xmr 3y ago

I think Flock Freight will be the next shutdown. Rough industry.

extr 3y ago
Took an interview with them last year. Glad I didn't proceed.

Workaccount2 3y ago

This just made me realize that things are back in stock regularly again. I suppose it happened slowly so I didn't notice, but shortages seem to be totally gone and things are back to 2019 stock levels.

h2odragon 3y ago
The shelves may have stuff one them, but there's like 4 bags of each of 6 brands, instead of 24 brands.
hshsbs84848 3y ago
Not everything, cars still have super long wait times if you buy new Especially hybrid or PHEV

h2odragon 3y ago

> consumer spending has shrunk to less than 50% of what it used to be and you're in a position to be concerned with the accuracy of your numbers, i assume. CNN Tuesday: "US retail sales rose in September for the sixth-straight month" https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/economy/retail-sales-september/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/economy/retail-sales-septembe... ... id be interested in your thoughts on the apparent conflict of viewpoint there.

habitue 3y ago
These seem consistent with each other: During the pandemic and boom consumer spending was at X ("what it used to be") Then it dropped a ton, though in recent months it's been increasing month over month. In fact, it's all the way back up to 50% of what it used to be!
thegginthesky 3y ago
Like the sibling comment has said. But what we saw during the peak was crazy, and some investors and execs thought it would last. At least in regards to what pertains FTL freight, we saw a drop of tougjly 50% in volumes as consumer spending is down when compared to pandemic height. I am pretry sure there will be a seasonal trend upwards, but no where in the way it was before. If you are in the industry, you can easily check how much cargo is moving around. Maybe by November-December it will be less than a 50% drop, but expect it to return by kid January-February.

gumballindie 3y ago

> consumer spending has shrunk Part of the reason being that workers have been ordered back to offices, meaning a significant portion of their income is spent on commute and eating out. Crazy how damaging rto is to everything around us.

umeshunni 3y ago
Most of the reason is that asset prices (and thus wealth has shrunk), inflation is higher, so people are buying less and there's no Fed dropping money from helicopters.
- gumballindie 3y ago
  Indeed, but add travel expenses and the cost of living in crowded cities and eating expensive food and you’ve got a cashflow crisis. Remote work is the single biggest economic boost the economy can get without the government printing money. Not to mention higher productivity.

mardifoufs 3y ago

It's weird since prices haven't really changed for customers. I thought freight going down by 70% would have an impact on pricing but I guess it was a smaller part of the total price than I originally would've believed?