Are these the ultimate weasel words?
No – just transportation peak and off-peak reality.
Sometimes, outside the arena at the end of the game, there are no cabs.
Sometimes, in rush hour, the bus is full.
Sometimes, during Spring Break, all the seats on all the airplanes have been sold.
Sometimes, there are just no trucks available, where you want them, when you want them.
At Copper Run, we have over 1,000 active carrier files, and another 1,000 that are ready to be activated on a moment’s notice. But, sometimes, there are just no trucks available, where you want, for the price you want. And that is why all of our Fair Price quotations are “subject to availability”.
WHEN DOES THIS HAPPEN?
Winter Storms
Traffic slows to a crawl and highways are sporadically closed.
Shippers and Receivers open late and close early, and the yard is blocked.
Driving speed is cut way back, so drivers run out of hours.
Delays cascade, and the last available truck is stuck behind a snowplow.
Produce Harvest
The demand for trucks to haul fresh produce spikes.
The harvest has to move to market while it is still fresh.
Freight transportation demand and prices soar.
The high prices attract trucks from distant locations, spreading the impact.
There is capacity to move some regular freight, but only at produce-level prices.
Multiple Holidays
Extra days off disrupt the rough choreography of ‘normal’ truck and freight flows.
Plants and warehouses close the day off, and drivers set aside family time at home.
Back-to-back or extended holidays, magnify the disruption.
Freight becomes backlogged, capacity is strained, and some runs are cancelled.
Severe localized capacity shortfalls occur, particularly in northbound lanes.
THERE IS ALWAYS A SOLUTION
While there may be a very large quantity of freight to be moved, and very few trucks to do it, except in cases of total shutdown (which can happen in a winter storm), there is almost always one truck. And one truck is all you need.
If you are willing to pay more for the use of that one truck than anyone else, and you are willing to go high on price before anyone else, then you can have that one truck. If you let us act quickly, we can get it for you.
The question is, do you want it at the price you have to pay to get it? It’s your call.
As crass and as dis-loyal and as ugly as all of this process sounds, it is all part of the workings of the free market system. In the commodity markets, as in the stock and bond and currency markets, prices rise and fall in response to supply and demand. When you get on the wrong side of the curve, it costs you money, sometimes significant money. And available truck capacity is a commodity, and our job is to trade in that market on your behalf.
Copper Run is often able to protect it’s customers from the worst excesses of the market, but not always, and never fully.