FUEL!

BW900 is not leased to Landstar...he pulls for one small company out of the Salt Lake area...they do him right so he stays there!

 

I try to stay in the $2.50 range with a step, but I'll do $2.25 no tarp, any less I'll stay home, there's easier ways to go broke.

 

While agree in premise that we should all pull loads for higher rates....
Setting an industry-wide rate is tantamount to "Collusion"...And "Collusion" is illegal.....

The real trick is to figure out your own B.E.P. and then set your own rates....Per load......No two loads are ever the same.....


If say, the average rate went to $3/M....You can bet there will those who will still haul tarped lumber for under a buck a mile.....

Bottom-feeders will always run cheaper to steal from everyone else no matter what....That's the nature of business....


Bottom-feeders are both greedy and stupid......If fuel went to $10/G...They'd still haul loads for under a buck.....

 

Thers problem with your equation is everybody has a diffrent cost to operate, i personaly can take a load for a $1.50 a mile and still make money, but i will agree at a certin rate its just to cheap no matter who you are. I think last year i took around 3 loads that paid less than $2 a mile for a standard flat load. You will never get $2.50 to $3 a mile for all loads unless you run a certin route all the time and run for the same customers. Certin areas of the country and supply and demand make up the rates. I live in New england which is a crappy area for outgoing rates because we have to many truck up here and not enough loads going out so all the guys from downd south come up for big money and then take anything to get out no matter the rate. I try to go no lower than $2 a mile but like i said at $1.50 its still a profitable load for me. If you need $2.50 a mile to make it your doing something wrong or just plain greddy or realy dont need to work anyway. Dont get me wrong i wont take a load that does not make me a profit but i will not sit and make nothing just to get the big money load.

 

True.....

Sometimes you have to take a $1.20/m load to get to a $2/m load....

But there are a lot O/O's out there who think a tarped load from Fontana, CA to NYC for $2K is a a "great load".....

Just like dumps in Cali.....There's still a lot NAFTA ops who run Super 10's for $45/h....I don't know how they can run legal, let alone profitable with that rate.....

You as an O/O need to average between $500-$600 (gross per truck) a day to remain in business.......Running constantly for low rates will run you out of the biz.....

 

The biggest problem is that there are too many guys that think that netting $40K/year is big money and don't realize that they could/should be making alot more. But these people are the ones that also believe in back hauls, there are no back hauls, why should it pay less to go the same distance. I was leased to a co. that got me a $1.90/mi avg all miles and we had alot of d/h miles, I hauled some $2/mi freight some $3/mi and some freight that payed around $4/mi all on a 48' flat. Problem is I lost my $2.50/mi return haul, and ya can't bounce a $2or $3/mi load and make anything worth doing and the $4/mi loads dried up. So my truck has been sitting since june 1 2009 and will continue to until something changes, and I will be on my own when I do get back in it.

 

$45/hr is cheap for a pick up truck plowing snow, and $500-600 a day will put you in the poor house.