🛠 4/11/22 Build Week Group

[KingOfSavages]

Obligatory morning check-in with Ford Chat: Again, they say mine is built, released from the factory, and awaiting shipment. I was told that the current estimated delivery at my dealership is Friday, May 6th, but that date could change once it actually ships. No emails from Ford after the "Built" email, all updates have been through chat or phone. Who'd have thought the wait after being built would be this agonizing?

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[Mean Red GT]

Alright, I don’t post a whole hell of a lot in here but.......someone help me figure out how exactly with all the chip shortages and commodity constraints how we are having shipping issues. Shouldn't we have an abundance of truck drivers waiting for work? Fewer vehicles being produced should mean more transport truckers available for employment.....

Yeah I don't understand that at all for all fields of employment, I see lots of openings everywhere. It still seems that somehow about 30% of the American workforce never returned to work post COVID.

 

[MelissaJ19]

Alright, I don’t post a whole hell of a lot in here but.......someone help me figure out how exactly with all the chip shortages and commodity constraints how we are having shipping issues. Shouldn't we have an abundance of truck drivers waiting for work? Fewer vehicles being produced should mean more transport truckers available for employment.....

That is too much logic in one post

 

[jjsgroi]

Alright, I don’t post a whole hell of a lot in here but.......someone help me figure out how exactly with all the chip shortages and commodity constraints how we are having shipping issues. Shouldn't we have an abundance of truck drivers waiting for work? Fewer vehicles being produced should mean more transport truckers available for employment.....

That is too much logic in one post

Don't know how to post a new post so I'll reply to you looking at spreadsheet I have noticed that bronco that have been shipped are by rail so it looks like it is just convoy that is hold 2 have been shipped by rail ahead of me and at least 2 more after me so I don't believe that there is a chip constraint for at least most of us just a observation

 

[MelissaJ19]

Don't know how to post a new post so I'll reply to you looking at spreadsheet I have noticed that bronco that have been shipped are by rail so it looks like it is just convoy that is hold 2 have been shipped by rail ahead of me and at least 2 more after me so I don't believe that there is a chip constraint for at least most of us just a observation

That could be the case. Chat keeps telling me there is a hold on mine but they don't have a reason as to why (yet). There are a bunch of people in the 4/4 group though that have been told chip hold. None of it makes any sense!

 

[ctandc]

That is too much logic in one post

I have a good friend who has worked in logistics / trucking for 20+ years. I asked this same question essentially and this is what he told me - take it or leave it.

When COVID lockdowns hit, A LOT of truckers were put out of a job. For example, fuel truck drivers? Gas demand plummeted (remember NEGATIVE prices for oil at the commodities level?) and these drivers moved elsewhere. A lot of ports and shipping facilities (depending on state, lockdown regulations etc - they varied WIDELY by state / locale) shut down or scaled back.

BEFORE COVID, trucking companies were already having trouble finding experienced drivers. It's worse now. It's even harder finding "short haul" drivers in a lot of areas.

Independents have suffered even more (again, it varies state by state) because of more regulations and of course fuel / maintenance costs. Many of the auto transport drivers are sub-contractors (small businesses) and many of them did not survive (or moved to other areas needing drivers) during the lockdowns.

One example he mentioned more than once - he works with a good-sized trucking company. They are actually the result of several smaller independent companies merging (during COVID). They were having so much trouble finding drivers, they started their own trucking school. Candidates (able to get a CDL, no DUIs etc) were PAID while attending the school. Graduating drivers went straight to work with this company. They were losing close to HALF of their graduates within a few months because of higher paying gigs at other companies (not training their own drivers). He straight up told me that anyone who can meet the requirements to get a CDL can easily find a job (this is VA) making $65K a year STARTING OUT - driving a truck.
And lastly? Many people never even consider driving a truck for a job and this hurts recruiting as well.

 

[frankk]

I have a good friend who has worked in logistics / trucking for 20+ years. I asked this same question essentially and this is what he told me - take it or leave it.

When COVID lockdowns hit, A LOT of truckers were put out of a job. For example, fuel truck drivers? Gas demand plummeted (remember NEGATIVE prices for oil at the commodities level?) and these drivers moved elsewhere. A lot of ports and shipping facilities (depending on state, lockdown regulations etc - they varied WIDELY by state / locale) shut down or scaled back.

BEFORE COVID, trucking companies were already having trouble finding experienced drivers. It's worse now. It's even harder finding "short haul" drivers in a lot of areas.

Independents have suffered even more (again, it varies state by state) because of more regulations and of course fuel / maintenance costs. Many of the auto transport drivers are sub-contractors (small businesses) and many of them did not survive (or moved to other areas needing drivers) during the lockdowns.

One example he mentioned more than once - he works with a good-sized trucking company. They are actually the result of several smaller independent companies merging (during COVID). They were having so much trouble finding drivers, they started their own trucking school. Candidates (able to get a CDL, no DUIs etc) were PAID while attending the school. Graduating drivers went straight to work with this company. They were losing close to HALF of their graduates within a few months because of higher paying gigs at other companies (not training their own drivers). He straight up told me that anyone who can meet the requirements to get a CDL can easily find a job (this is VA) making $65K a year STARTING OUT - driving a truck.
And lastly? Many people never even consider driving a truck for a job and this hurts recruiting as well.

This makes a lot of sense. I remember reading an article a few weeks back where Walmart is paying $110K for first-year truck drivers. Your buddy's company has some aggressive competition.

 

[MelissaJ19]

I have a good friend who has worked in logistics / trucking for 20+ years. I asked this same question essentially and this is what he told me - take it or leave it.

When COVID lockdowns hit, A LOT of truckers were put out of a job. For example, fuel truck drivers? Gas demand plummeted (remember NEGATIVE prices for oil at the commodities level?) and these drivers moved elsewhere. A lot of ports and shipping facilities (depending on state, lockdown regulations etc - they varied WIDELY by state / locale) shut down or scaled back.

BEFORE COVID, trucking companies were already having trouble finding experienced drivers. It's worse now. It's even harder finding "short haul" drivers in a lot of areas.

Independents have suffered even more (again, it varies state by state) because of more regulations and of course fuel / maintenance costs. Many of the auto transport drivers are sub-contractors (small businesses) and many of them did not survive (or moved to other areas needing drivers) during the lockdowns.

One example he mentioned more than once - he works with a good-sized trucking company. They are actually the result of several smaller independent companies merging (during COVID). They were having so much trouble finding drivers, they started their own trucking school. Candidates (able to get a CDL, no DUIs etc) were PAID while attending the school. Graduating drivers went straight to work with this company. They were losing close to HALF of their graduates within a few months because of higher paying gigs at other companies (not training their own drivers). He straight up told me that anyone who can meet the requirements to get a CDL can easily find a job (this is VA) making $65K a year STARTING OUT - driving a truck.
And lastly? Many people never even consider driving a truck for a job and this hurts recruiting as well.

That does make a lot of sense. I think it is happening in a lot of demanding industries. I am in public accounting and we are losing people in droves to higher paying, less demanding jobs so it makes sense it is happening in other industries as well.

And we have failed as a country the last decade in pushing college/white collar careers and not blue collar careers because we are going to have a huge shortage of all trades here soon. My husband is a general contractor/carpenter by trade and he has had many issues getting reliable trades to work with over the last few years.

 

[Romano]

Obligatory morning check-in with Ford Chat: Again, they say mine is built, released from the factory, and awaiting shipment. I was told that the current estimated delivery at my dealership is Friday, May 6th, but that date could change once it actually ships. No emails from Ford after the "Built" email, all updates have been through chat or phone. Who'd have thought the wait after being built would be this agonizing?

Same boat! Too close.. it’s going to happen!

 

[frankk]

Alright, I don’t post a whole hell of a lot in here but.......someone help me figure out how exactly with all the chip shortages and commodity constraints how we are having shipping issues. Shouldn't we have an abundance of truck drivers waiting for work? Fewer vehicles being produced should mean more transport truckers available for employment.....

This is an excellent question. Also, wonder why Ford expects the problem to just go away on 4/28. There has to be more to it.

I thought maybe they were prioritizing rail delivery because of the lead time, or maybe there are Broncos in line that need parts and 4/28 is the expected arrival date of said parts.

Edit: another possibility, the shortages may have resulted in half-empty trucks and they have to wait for more shippable Broncos/Rangers before they can release a truck to a small set of dealers. Either way, it's not in Ford's best interest to have a Bronco sitting 10-hours away from a $60K payment so there has to be some problem they are battling.

 

[VVSidewinderVv]

I just noticed it is a Ranger coming off the line right behind mine.

I might be missing the point of your comment, but in case I didn't, the Bronco and the Ranger are built on the same line since the Bronco is basically built off a modified Ranger chassis.

Alright, I don’t post a whole hell of a lot in here but.......someone help me figure out how exactly with all the chip shortages and commodity constraints how we are having shipping issues. Shouldn't we have an abundance of truck drivers waiting for work? Fewer vehicles being produced should mean more transport truckers available for employment.....

I read an article a while back about this. When chip shortages were really rampant many of the drivers either quit or were laid off because the auto transport industry was so volatile. An example:

Manufacturer would say we are building "X" vehicles that need picked up. Shipper would provide 20 drivers and trucks the required day. Plant would only build 50% of what they said they would. Half of the drivers and trucks would be left without work. The shipping company would have to eat the cost of fuel and trucker salary.

This would happen constantly in both directions. Sometimes they'd build 600 cars and shipping would be overloaded. The next day they'd build 60 and there would be not enough work. Truckers grew tired of it all and left for other more consistent work and the shipping company also started sending half the required trucks because they expected the manufacturer to be full of it and not make their quota.

Now that manufacturing is ramping back up the shipping companies are trying to hire drivers, but none want to come back to a market that might implode again. They are also struggling to recruit new drivers because they require experience or need trained loading the car trailers and they also require experience in the trucking industry for several years cause the last thing the want is a new guy destroying a half million dollar load of cars.

 

[ByrdDogX]

I've checked my dealers incoming inventory on their website and they have zero Broncos coming in. Typically they show 3-4 and then a post on Facebook will show them with their happy new owners. Incoming inventory includes special orders.

Was hoping that site would show something inbound since my tracker is just showing built but chat (yesterday) said ETA is Sunday.

I guess I'll tamper down the excitement now.

 

[Longhorn Fan]

I took my daily punishment with Ford Chat and got entirely disappointing and conflicting information.

I have been told built 4/20, know it was driven 19 miles to Ypsilanti lot, secondary status as produced, still in production, plant hold, but eta to dealer on 5/13. Dealer confirmed same info as of yesterday.

Chat this morning couldn’t confirm secondary status and said 5/13 is the estimated date it would change status to awaiting shipment. I asked why the very different explanations of the 5/13 date and she doubled down that it is only to move to shipment and with a 21 day estimate of rail to dealer my eta changes dramtically. So frustrated with Ford.

 

[jeffersonvandyke]

Ford chat my ass I have not seen it on their website for 2 weeks. Have I been shadow banned?????

 

[NorthCoast]

Also getting conflicting information now from Chat. Previously was told "Produced" with a shipping ETA of 5/4. Now this:

" Thanks again for holding! From what I can gather, the vehicle is not yet shippable or is experiencing a delay with plant release. This slight delay is estimated to get resolved as early as May 7th, but no later than May 13th. Please kindly note this date may change to a sooner date if the delay is resolved before estimated, but you're more than welcome to check periodically with us, or the selling dealer to see if there's an update on that. " ...

Well that isn't good ... !

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