Our startup wants to change freight, and we need a brief telephone interview with you

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by Fr8 Inc, Oct 7, 2015.

  1. Fr8 Inc

    Fr8 Inc Bobtail Member

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    Dear Owner-Operators,

    We are two MIT students working on a startup to help truck owner-operators doing business. If you are a truck owner-operator, we would like to have a short (15-30 minutes) interview with you to test some of our ideas, and understand a little more about the life of truck owner-operators.

    Would you be available for a brief telephone chat with one of us on a Friday, for us to understand a little more about what it means to own and operate a truck?

    Your time will be of a ton of help to us! Thank you!

    Mike & Mark
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2015
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  3. lots of character

    lots of character Road Train Member

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    It means money. More money more problems. It means heartache on the side of the road, 2,000 miles from home broke down at 3Am.

    What you want to know, can only be learned through experiencing the ########. Win some, lose more.
     
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  4. Fr8 Inc

    Fr8 Inc Bobtail Member

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    Oct 7, 2015
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    lots of character, I learnt how to change a tyre on my grandfather's truck when I was fourteen, I know what you mean. What I don't know is if things can be improved or not, if trucks are still travelling empty 30% of the time because nobody offers a return trip, if the burocracy is still a mess, etcc
     
  5. 04 LowMax

    04 LowMax Medium Load Member

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    I think your queries are already answered on this forum, many times over. There is a ton of information contained in several threads describing the issues you mention, plus many that you didn't. I think you would get a far more realistic perception of the situation than a 1 on 1 with one or two o/o's.
    It just takes the time to read. But I could be wrong.;)
     
  6. rollin coal

    rollin coal Road Train Member

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    Empty miles are not always a bad thing nor are they possible to cut out entirely. Trucks follow the money. Rates are all over the place. One truck may pick up a lower paying reload 10 miles away the other may deadhead 50 miles further for a reload that pays a little more. Just because there is a reload in the city where a truck drops off does not mean that load goes to where that truck needs to run. Not everyone is a nomad just following freight wherever. Most have patterns they follow and certain regions they serve. Even that changes with the normal ebbs and flows of freight. I'm sure trucking will get uber-ized in some form or fashion at some point in the future but it's not going to be in the simpleton's terms that a bunch of outsider tech heads, who have no understanding of logistics, envision.
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2015
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  7. Hurst

    Hurst Registered Member

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    I do the nomad thing.

    Only back haul I do is one thats paying well enough to a location that has more freight to be hauled to another location that has more freight to be hauled and so on and so on.

    Once I have enough in the bank,. I go home and take a break. Then come back out and do it all over again.

    Its a cruddy life style,.. but I dont play well with others in an office environment. The pay scale in construction is too poor to make a good living anymore,.. I dont know how to do much else besides go door to door with my lawn equipment.

    Hurst
     
  8. mugurpe

    mugurpe Medium Load Member

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    fr8 inc.: My business is located in Cambridge and Arlington and we haul mostly HHG (moving) but dabble in some freight and also run empty home 90% of the time instead of finding a load. I'd be happy to give you my perspective via phone or email or over a coffee. Not sure if my perspective is what you're looking for. I'm also not an O/O but own a small fleet but do some of the long distance work myself.
     
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  9. rollin coal

    rollin coal Road Train Member

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    Understood that some people operate in that manner. I don't think that most do. But talking about backhauls is beside the point.

    OP is kind of beating around the bush but probably looking for info to help in some idea they have to create an Uber app for trucking. Seems like everyone and their brother has the same idea so they can get very rich.

    I have no doubt that someone will hit on something. Will it take trucking by a storm? Who knows. Thinking out of the box is a great thing. I just think when you are so far removed from the box as in you don't really know zilch about the industry at all and asking such basic questions... ...well there are outside the box thinkers within industry experience that have a huge leg up already. So good luck with that.

    Kinda reminds me of these guys who buy a truck and then come on here asking now what? Well at least they didn't buy a truck.
     
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  10. mountaingote

    mountaingote Road Train Member

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    I've been irritated for years by the concept of a 'backhaul' or 'backhaul rates '. A load is a load is a load, imnsho. My cost of operation doesn't change more than a few pennies no matter which direction the truck travels.
     
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  11. Prom Night Dumpster Baby

    Prom Night Dumpster Baby Medium Load Member

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    Fr8Inc I think was one of those new startups mentioned in last month's Landline article. Wanting to eliminate the middleman, connect carrier directly to shipper, for a percentage I presume so... doesn't that make them a middleman?

    M&M, one thing that would be important to set yourself above the 3pl establishment would be 100% open transactions. I assume this would be software intensive transaction and I'd be set up to deal directly with the shipper as far as appointments and travel updates. Immediate payment after proof of delivery would be the cat's nuts.

    I'll chat if y'all PM a number and good time to call. I run my own open flatbed.
     
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