What's the Point in leasing on to a company like Landstar??

Cowpie that sounds like a great deal what company are you with?

 

This is an old thread, FYI.

 

Read post #16

 

I still don't understand guys who run of load boards and brokers only. Get off your lazy you know what and get direct loads! It's not that hard.

 

If only it were so simple. With much of what I haul it seems the closer you get to the source the lower the rates go.

 

Most O/O's are very poor business people. Companies that are willing to go though the hasle of working with small carriers have learned that they can get a better rate then some fool O/O comes in and thinks he hit the lottery because he got a direct account and they under cut the rate to get it.

A smart independent or small carrier can run good rates with brokers. It is about service.

 

Depends on what area/lane you run to. Between my Dads trucks when he had them and mine, broker loads running west coast will make you barf. $2 north to Washington, and a $1 back to California is normal for brokers out here. Seasonal produce can get better. A few brokers are better then others.

 

I notice, as a company driver for System Transport, that frequently the company ends up having to broker out some loads for its main accounts. It's just part of their contract that the freight must move, whether they've got enough trucks to move it or not.

But... I wouldn't want to have to rely on that. If they've got enough company trucks to keep up with the freight they're going to use those first.

It would be cool if a group of company owner operators, each from a different fleet, would group together and start telling each other their company's freight prices. Form a single, universal load board that has all the freight on it. Just to stick it to the man.

 

It'll never work. Always falls apart and somebody decides they can do it for less. Case in point some runs several of us were doing a few weeks ago. Lots of busy work. The rate was good. The load times and shipper were very aggravating but the rate was good. Any less and no thanks. Any more, and well you can just forget it cause you'd never win the bids. And so it went on like that. Do 2 and sometimes 3 a day and made a fat settlement at the end of the week on very few miles only burning a tank of fuel if that. Fleet owner with several trucks decides they can do it for less. They're paying their company drivers a set rate every load and so those guys always got that same amount. That company cut the rate to get everything and continued to pay their company drivers the same.

The numbers were still good for them. Of course for a fleet owner not sitting in the cab of the truck, and dealing with the delays and ordinary screw ups at this very screwed up place, none of that mattered because the drivers were dealing with it. None of us one truck guys would go that low on the rate because it just wasn't worth the headache. Even though the numbers would have been ok at the end of the day. It would have just left a sour look on your face lol. And so that is how it goes. There is always someone willing to do any of this freight for less to scoop up every load. And that's exactly what they did. I don't blame them one bit. Were I a fleet owner managing trucks from an office I would have done the exact same thing on those very loads and counted the tens of thousands it made me in a week's time.

Aside from that, these groups that have freight.. ..they really frown on paying well above average rates when they can't cover a load themselves. They either don't want to ask the customer for more money, can't, or just flat out want to make a lot of money off of your truck. 9 times out of 10 loads like that will either get covered for average rates, nothing spectacular. They only pay extraordinarily well when they're really, really, really in a bind and they hate trucks that push them like that. Everyone wants low price and first rate service. However, when capacity is tight all bets are off. It's such a fine line though trying to find where you can get a good enough rate to continue getting the same loads over, and over, and over versus trying to make one load into a gold mine. You have to be careful not to get too greedy, even if you know you can.. When you find that fine line it's a good thing. But it never lasts. There is always someone happy to do it for less.

 

You want to be careful not to create any resentment, just like when you take a load for much less than you should have....

After booking it, it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth and you don't want to work with that party again....

Nobody likes a hustler, and nobody wants to get hustled....