Thinking about getting my own authority.

Do you know who is going to pay you to haul freight?

 

Its not as easy as you think. getting the required plates insurance mc dot. That's the easy part finding good paying freight and collecting the money owed will be the hard part.

 

What kind of permits do you use when hauling dry van?

 

With the direct shipper idea .. here's the only thing that hinders me; I have too many good brokers I get from now and end up having to tell a good portion of them "sorry not available" because there is too much freight they want me to haul. If I had to get back to one shipper all the time I'm not sure I'd be doing much better than I do now pulling all broker freight. That and if the shipper wants to move likely much more freight than you can haul with your current capacity and you tell him "sorry not available" too much he probably won't be giving you the first call after a while ...

 

I'm not saying to necessarily not get direct shippers - but if you only have 1 truck and they need a carrier that can provide say 10 trucks a week then you will have to tell them no 9 times out of 10. That's my only point there. If you have a customer who only needs you once a week, great. More power to you.

You won't automatically make more money by having your own authority. The trick to it is knowing what lanes pay what rates. From there you stand a better chance at making it on your own. Nobody is going to tell you this information because it is different for everyone. Example, lots of people run coast to coast. They generally get paid peanuts to go from east to west then make their money on the west to east loads. If your operation is based in say Ohio for example you might only be looking to run from Illinois to the north east. Maybe you are in Georgia and you run the midwest and south east. The key is putting together what works best for YOU.

If you are hell bent on running your own authority I would first get a general idea of which brokers have the freight in the areas you are looking to run. Call them and ask if they take new companies and that you are considering going it on your own. Most of them won't have a problem feeding you loads, and after you prove to them you are a reliable carrier and don't give them any headaches then they will keep feeding you freight and when they get a new customer and need someone they know 100% will get it done, guess who they are going to call. Make that person you. Try to focus on an area where you will run and have regular brokers you haul for. If you run wild you will be a new voice on the phone for every single load. Example ... I live in an area where many people do the west coast run and back to here. I couldn't even tell you who to call to even ask about a load going to Cali. I know it doesn't pay worth the phone time to talk about it. I am not going all the way west for peanuts and cross my fingers I will get something I can make a profit on if I want to ever make it home. No thank you. Instead I have my regular brokers who I run different areas, and make more money doing it. Oh and I don't have to go 4 days away from home either.