Recession creates a load of problems for truckers - Los Angeles Times
07.01.09
In early December, trucker Joe Rini learned that his own personal recession had just gotten worse. ¶ One of his best clients called about a load of building materials that needed to travel to the Pacific Northwest, Northern California and Colorado -- normally a $4,400 job. Rini offered to do it for $3,400. ¶ But before Rini's truck had arrived to pick up the load, the Cleveland-area customer of more than four years called back. Another trucker had offered to do the job for $400 less. Would Rini match it? ¶ The answer, which was hard to spit out, was no. ¶ "I didn't want to bid that low in the first place," said Rini, speaking from the road as he completed a trip from Ohio to California and Arizona and back to Ohio. "I start down that slope and I'm out of business." ¶ "This has been going on a lot lately. People willing to bid so low just to get anything in their trucks," Rini said. "Finding loads in the areas you need has become a hair-pulling experience." ¶
Source: Los Angeles Times, CA