High Cotton!

High Cotton!

Before the civil war, the phrase “high cotton” came to mean that the height and health of cotton plants were in direct correlation with a good crop and financial success. For the last several years, many company owners have experienced a drought. I have to admit that this year feels like a breath of fresh air. We are seeing higher rates and more opportunities to work. We are experiencing “high cotton.”

The temptation could be to take our foot off the pedal and coast. Looking back to 2022 which was our best year ever, we did just that. We made great money while doing almost half the loads that we were used to doing in a year’s time. Had we worked as we were more accustomed, we could have made even more which would have given us a much larger savings. Then 2023 came around and we did more in line with what we were accustomed to making before 2022. When 2024 and 2025 shrunk both in capacity and rates, we struggled. Fortunately, we had enough in savings to get us through. Unfortunately, we used up a good chunk of that savings to live the comfortable lifestyle that we have come to enjoy. Others were less fortunate. They had to sell their equipment and shutter their businesses and start over. We definitely learned a very valuable lesson.

This year, we tightened our bootstraps from the very beginning. We were not sure how this year would go so we decided to live like we are broke. We are watching every dollar that we spend both with our business and in our personal life. We have set goals to pay for only what we can afford. And, we are working as much as we can because we now know that we cannot take this year of “high cotton” for granted. We are tired! But, we know that there will come a time when capacity will slow down and rates will shrink. That is when we will be able to rest. We will be prepared because we are saving now for the time when we will rest. We will also keep in mind that when rates come down and freight is tight, we will not be spending like we are making this year’s rates.

Some of you reading this might say that this is just common sense; however, everyone’s situation is different. Everyone’s money mindset is different. I am not here to judge anyone on how they manage their finances. As you can see, we are no better. We continue to learn and try to do the best we can with what we have. We hope that you can learn from our mistakes or congratulate yourselves on not making our mistakes. 

Here’s to millions of safe, profitable and HIGH COTTON miles.

Kelly Plumb