The problem isn’t simply rates it’s that volumes of everything is way way down.
To give you an example back when times were good I had a step deck.
Find a tractor 20 feet for $2 a mile, machinery 18 feet $2 a mile and then some 10 foot partial for $1.50 a mile to go on the upper deck.
I would have trips of $5-$8 a mile often.
Then all the volume went away and it become extremely difficult to find partials in or close to route.
It got bad enough that eventually doing full loads with a flatbed I could earn more than trying with partials and having a stepdeck.
So I switched.
