JB Hunt - Power Only program

Why would you do something stupid like deadhead more than a few miles to get another load????

You say you refused to haul a .90/mile load B.S. You pulled your epmty ### load for NOTHING so that is .00/mile
If I need to be somewhere and cant get a good load ANYTHING to help pay for fuel is better than footing the whole bill because you pigheaded.

And as far as the $2/mile thing, cut your overhead, you dont got to have an expensive top of the line new truck to make money. You will just have to make alot more to cover what you bought.

My truck is older and cheap but still works just fine with NO monthly payment. And I can do well at $1.50/mile and do OK at $1.25/mile

I'll take your freight away from you all day long, just keep making it easy for me by refusing the loads.

And as far as hauling for a cheap rate lowering prices, hey that is the whole business plan in a nutshell. "Do what everyone else is doing for a cheaper price and you'll have all the business"

ADAPT AND SURVIVE OR BE STUBBORN AND GO BELLY UP.

Just my $.02

 

Don't you realize that you can work less, make more money, and have less wear and tear on your equipment and YOU? It's ok, you will be out of business when fuel rates go up because if you are "OK" at 1.25pm you are either not counting all your expenses or not turning a profit. In the meantime, thanks for driving the rates down for the rest of us.

 

If you think that this business is only about a cheap rate, then you have much to learn about this industry. Business is about maximizing profits while keeping operational expenses low. There a others who feel the same as you. I don't waste my time with the cheap freight. I will leave that segment to people such as you who place no value on their service. I have no doubt that you can stay busy by hauling freight for free. But, sooner or later you will need to make a profit. Your equipment will need repairs or replacement. Unless you get a decent rate, then you won't be able to afford to do what is necessary to keep your equipment up.

The next time you break down with a load and can't afford to get your equipment repaired, the broker will need to call someone such as me to come and deliver your load and I will get a premium rate. You seem to think that it is good business to be the cheapest freight hauler. I never try to be the cheapest. I do work to be the best and offer a superior service. By concentrating on providing a better service, I am often offered above average rates and loads that you will probably never be offered. The better shippers and brokers understand that if they want good service that they need to pay a fair rate.

 

Didnt say I only take cheap freight, I'm just not turning down a load if I need to move.

And as far as breakdowns go ANY truck can breakdown, even a new one.

I do maximize my profit, I just dont see how sitting and making nothing is getting you anywhere.

And getting what you pay for in this business....PLEASE

Just because I can do it cheaper doesnt mean its any less professional than yours.
And the HIGHER priced guy is not always better.
Thats where reputation comes in.

 

^^^^^^ Another o/o with fuel money is better than no money attitude. My freind at $1.25 you are not makeing 1 cent. Without my truck payment it cost around $1.25 a mile to run my truck. Now add in deadhead miles and your below $1.25. I have a thing called pride in my job and i refuse to give my services for poverty rates. If you want to run up and down the road for little to nothing so be it but why would you when you can work half the time and drive half the miles for the same money. Maybe then you would smarten up on rates. As far as takeing just any load because its better than no load , it cost me alot less to run empty than loaded and in the long run the time wasted loading and unloading plus less mpg that cheap load you took will end up costing more than deadheading some where better. Whish more guys would relise this.

 

Jmlloar seems to be like all those other guys going down to FL and taking the $.70-$.80cpm loads so they can help cover fuel costs. They don't realize that if you deadhead all the way to say Nashville and grab a load for $1.75-$2.00 a mile going back towards a better freight area like Chicago, you will actually make more MORE $$$ in the end. But these are also the same guys who are only making $.89cpm on a mileage lease and don't care and also have no idea how to book a load on their own. They go where told by the qualcomm and hold the steering wheel till they get there.

 

According to a previous post you said it sounded like you were hauling cheap rates. It sounded like you were hauling for whatever you could get in order to keep the wheels turning. If you are hauling for $1.25 or even $1.50, those are cheap rates. At $1.50, you might get driver wages, at best.

I never said that trucks don't break down. I understand that all trucks will break, whether new or used. What I did say was that if you are hauling for cheap rates that you would not be able to afford to make needed repairs. It makes no difference whether the truck is new or old. If it breaks then it costs money. Cheap rates equal NO money for repairs.

When you haul for cheap rates then you are NOT maximizing profits. Sometimes it is cheaper and more profitable to sit for a day to get a better paying load or deadhead to a better area than to take something for fuel money. When someone takes a load for fuel money it is a waste of time and effort. I don't consider it a waste of time to sit when I am working on a good load. It is not the number of miles or the gross revenue that is important. What is important is what you can stick in your pocket at the end of the month. I just can't see wearing out my equipment, burning my fuel and wasting my time and effort to haul freight for nothing. And you do get what you pay for in this or any other business. Someone who takes a cheap load is more likely to not pick it up, be late or never get to their destination than someone who gets a fair price for their efforts.

Those who get a fair rate for their service are more likely to do so in a more professional manner than those who haul for cheap rates. The cheap freight hauler is more likely to cut corners and to rush to get one load off so that he can get to the next cheap load. I used to see coil haulers leave steel plants in Baltimore who only took time to put 2 chains on the load. Other than it being illegal it was also not safe. I have no doubt that they were getting a very cheap rate. I took my time and put enough chains to keep the load secure and on my trailer. A reputation is everything in business. You can have the cheap freight hauler reputation. I will keep my quality freight hauler reputation. I don't ever want my reputation to include the word "CHEAP."

 

Here's my .2 cents:

At $1.50 or $1.25 freight that your hauling....

after some dead head ...that cheap freight drops to less than a $1.00/mile....or less ....

many guys haul this freight and their next expensive breakdown or serious accident is their last trucking trip.

The $ just isn't there to properly maintain a truck on a $1.00/mile or less that spends 75K-125K miles on the road every year...

That's one of the main reasons big trucking companies sell their equipment after 3-4 years....

I met a guy on the road...
who consistently hauls cheap freight...
a week ago one set of his duals broke off
( both rims stayed bolted together) and flew off the trailer...
lucky for him he was out in the middle of no where ...
he could have killed somebody.

He didn't have the $ to repair all four hubs, so he only repaired 2...
well 1 of the ones he didn't repair failed...
then it had to repair it or he was out of business...period.

Another guy , company driver...parked next to me while we were loading..
was duct taping his trailer air lines to the trailer because the 3 springs ($30.00-$45.00) all had rusted and the air lines were 2 inches from the ground...

Forget about the bald tires on those rims on a 53' trailer....

Or the muffler that was held on by bungee cords....

I just looked on and didn't say anything...stayed there to see if needed any help.

Then he explained to me that he was a company driver...
and the owner doesn't maintain the equipment..

And if the guy's bring up the equipment is in poor condition and they refuse to drive it...he fires them..hires some else the next week.

...he stated he was going to get another job asap...
So I asked him...
"What happens when your involved in a serious accident tomorrow driving this truck?"

He just shrugged his shoulders and replied " I hope Not".
.

Or a DOT officer who does a thorough DOT INSPECTION and finally puts that neglected truck out of service ...
enough of those and that "cheap freight" guy won't be able to get insurance...let alone pay for the repairs.

These are the trucks that FMCSA wants off the road...

All I'm saying here is most of the guys who haul this cheap freight ...
don't have or don't want to spend the $ to properly maintain their equipment...

Good tires with tread don't count.

my .2 cents...

crusin

 

I heard if you pull there trailers JB HUNT u can also use them to get get your own loads with other brokers. They charge $25 a day to use there trailer with someone elses freight ....... And G/MAN I 100% agree with u about the rates being the same price of the fuel. 4.25 for diesel then it should at least be 4 dollars a mile but theses CLOWNS out here don't seem to get it they think 2 a mile is good when tolls have gone up 50 to 100 % in some areas ..... But hopefully all theses O/O that are hauling for theses cheap rates will be out of business soon.

 

So im just going to assume that you include yourself in the clown class because unless you are hauling oversized your pretty happy to get $2.00 per mile, but you just have your trucked parked waiting for $4.00 stickin it to the man!