Freight shipping cost

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tree68

 

 

MP173

Also there is a daily move of coke from Demmler, Pa to US Steel in Gary moving on B156/B157....seems like a daily move anyway.

 

 

Ahhh, the "Coke Express."  It does seem to be a daily move through Deshler.  

Of course, there are the empties going back for "deposit," too.

It's the real thing...

 

Yep.  I believe it's handed of by the Union RR, who picks it up in Clairton.

[greyhounds]

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Most shippers probably don't want to pay the premium for the expedited service.

Well, here it is.  The people in the operating department insist on coming up with reasons why it won’t work instead of trying to figure out how to make it work.

 

OK, just leave the UPS service alone.  It’s worked for years.  No sense messing with it.  But, if UPS will pay for such service why wouldn’t Yellow, FedEx, etc. pay for it?  Go find out.

 

Marketing and market development are glaring weak spots for today’s railroads.  There’s a whole lot of freight out there moving by truck that they could profitably handle.  But the marketing people face continual resistance from the operating people.  I took to calling it the “Non-Operating Department” because their goal seemed to be to not operate trains. 

 

One day they just decided to not run a train that carried UPS.  They didn’t bother to tell anyone.  I took the first phone call from UPS. Good Lord! I have never, before, or since, dealt with anyone that angry. The train was eventually run as UPS had higher up contacts than me.  What kind of idiots would just kill a UPS train?  

 

The good marketing people will leave for other jobs.  Jobs where they don’t have to deal with railroad operating departments.

[zugmann]

I've also heard the other argument.  

 

That The good operating people will leave for other jobs.  Jobs where they don’t have to deal with railroad marketting departments.

 

But I beleive the current problem is the operating philosophies that everyone has to play by today. Even if marketting could secure more customers, operating doesn't have the locomotives, yards, track, or manpower to make it happen.  

 

Start closer to the top. With both operating and marketting, decisions are always made without ever consulting those that actually do the work.  And if we do make suggestions, they are summarily dismissed becuase (I'm guessing) we're just labor. 

 

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greyhounds

 

 

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Most shippers probably don't want to pay the premium for the expedited service.

 

 

Well, here it is.  The people in the operating department insist on coming up with reasons why it won’t work instead of trying to figure out how to make it work.

 

OK, just leave the UPS service alone.  It’s worked for years.  No sense messing with it.  But, if UPS will pay for such service why wouldn’t Yellow, FedEx, etc. pay for it?  Go find out.

 

Marketing and market development are glaring weak spots for today’s railroads.  There’s a whole lot of freight out there moving by truck that they could profitably handle.  But the marketing people face continual resistance from the operating people.  I took to calling it the “Non-Operating Department” because their goal seemed to be to not operate trains. 

 

One day they just decided to not run a train that carried UPS.  They didn’t bother to tell anyone.  I took the first phone call from UPS. Good Lord! I have never, before, or since, dealt with anyone that angry. The train was eventually run as UPS had higher up contacts than me.  What kind of idiots would just kill a UPS train?  

 

The good marketing people will leave for other jobs.  Jobs where they don’t have to deal with railroad operating departments.

 

First, I'm not the "operating department".  Second, all you have to do is look at what UPS charges per package vs what an LTL carrier charges per pallet.  UPS is a premium service.  You need to leave the 1980s because Yellow is only a bit player anymore and has been for years.  

[jeffhergert]

I see a lot of FedEx and Yellow/Roadway trailers on the same Z trains that carry the UPS trailers. Often there are more of the former two than the UPS trailers.  I doubt though that they have the same contract provisions.

We've always heard that UPS has guaranteed delivery times, or there are monetary penalties involved.

Jeff

[MP173]

YRC, while it has issues, is not a bit player.  Yes, the old Yellow and Roadway systems were power houses, but YRC still has 300 LTL terminals.  The Holland and New Penn systems are important regional systems.

I see quite a few YRC trailers on premium intermodal trains.  

Years ago Fred Frailey (I believe) had an outstanding article on the tiered pricing/service levels of Santa Fe intermodal trains (perhaps BNSF trains).  It would be of interest to see a followup article, not by Fred as he has retired, but by a knowledgeable reporter.

Amazon is shipping considerable containers now on certain trains...today's CSX Q3 had 38 Amazon containers and 26 UPS trailers/containers.  Didnt see any FedX units.

Does anyone know if the FedX containers handle the Fedx ground parcels, or is that a separate unit competing vs JBH, etc?

Read recently that Amazon will enter than truckload container market.

Ed

[SD60MAC9500]

 

MP173

 

Does anyone know if the FedX containers handle the Fedx ground parcels, or is that a separate unit competing vs JBH, etc?

 

 

They do now. With the consolidation of FedEx's divison's. FedEx Ground now has access to their Multimodal 53's.

 

[greyhounds]

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First, I'm not the "operating department".  Second, all you have to do is look at what UPS charges per package vs what an LTL carrier charges per pallet.  UPS is a premium service.  You need to leave the 1980s because Yellow is only a bit player anymore and has been for years.  

Whoops, there it is.

 

The second level of resistance to rail market development beyond “It Won’t Work” is: “You Don’t Know What You Are Talking About.”

 

I specifically named Yellow and FedEx.  And I got told I’m living in the 1980s because I mentioned Yellow. 

 

Well, FedEx is by far the largest LTL carrier.  (I did cite them.) But, in the year 2020, Yellow was 2^nd.  They just ain’t no “Bit Player.”

 

https://www.ttnews.com/for-hire/ltl/2020

 

And I did say “ETC.”  So, there’d be more customers.

 

People just throw anything they can against the wall, including lies, to stop innovation. They seem to be threatened by it.

 

You give some good railroad marketing folks reliable 24 hour schedules between Chicago and New York (Bergan) and they’ll own that business.

And it doesn’t have to be limited to LTL.  If the train is going, load it up with revenue.  Imports westbound. Steel, meat, breakfast cereal, whatever, eastbound.

 

As to UPS being a “Premium Service.”  That’s a Red Herring.  In a competitive market, and that’s what this is, your competition sets your price.  If they’ll do it for $1.00 you can’t charge $1.05.  If UPS could truck their packages between Chicago and New York for less than the rail charge, that’s what they’d do.

 

It flat out doesn’t matter what UPS charges their customers to move packages. It’s what they pay to move the packages that counts.  It’s the same with every other pound of freight.  There’s a required service level at a price. 

 

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Thank you Jeff and MP173 for correcting me.  Here in the Midwest, the major LTL players seem to be FDX, XPO and Old Dominion.  Holland, R&L and Saia are also up there.  I almost never see YRC.

PS--I know that Holland is owned by YR, but it's operated separately under their regional branch.

[azrail]

YRC has combined a lot of their trucking brands under the Yellow brand.

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It must be sad to have "marketing" as a hobby.

[MP173]

Greyhound:

CSX doesnt offer 24 hour service between Chicago and NJ except for the UPS 1x weekly to meet 4th day service (CA - NYC).  However, they do get close with their premium service trains:

Eastbound:

I4 - Depart Bedford Park 1825

       New Jersey              2200

I10 Dp Bedford Park        0645

      New Jersey               0800

Westbounds:

I3  Dpt New Jersey          0515

     Bedford Park              0700

I9  Dpt New Jersey          2015

     Bedford Park              0100

If i were trying to maximize revenue, I would delay I departure a couple of hours to be able to handle LTL trailers out of Chicago and still have a midnight arrival in NJ.  However, I 4 is usually a massive train as it is, with heavy Amazon containers (today 46).  Real heavy Schneider and JBH plus rail pool containers.  Todays train had 277 containers, almost all domestic.  By contrast today's I10 had only 71 containers/trailers with 13 branded UPS containers/trailers and 1 Amazon.

CSX I168 handles the international containers between Chicago and NJ Port - today's had 214 all international containers.

ed