brokers, riddle me this ?

It is a deliberate attempt to dupe.

Sometimes they will post different cities because they think they are being stealthy and they don't want the shipper or another broker to know they are posting the load. Funny they never choose cities that make the line haul shorter LOL.

 

Why Can't Truckers Learn From Cabbies No one asks the cabby how much will he do it for?

 

I'll bet someone is trying to figure out how to install fare/rate meters in trucks....

.20 cents for the first 1/10 of a mile, .213 for each additional tenth, $60 per hr waiting time....lol....

 

I had my own questions of this nature while briefly running under the JB Hunt power program. That was where it was answered. LOADBOARDS and FREIGHT BROKERS use an archaic USPS zipcode database. In the definition thereof it states that this chart lists the SHORTEST (not legal, not truck route, no bridge resrictions considered) as if you were driving a pickup route between zip codes. Through the fields and gravel roads, through 341 little towns and 609 stop lights. BUT according to the USPS in 1943, this was the shortest route. And for PAYMENT purposes, this is what the brokers use in their fancy computer programs. If you ask the company's recruiter of fleet manager, this is what they tell you, they'll stick to their story.

However, when the broker quote the CUSTOMER, they use ProMiles, Rand McNally with highway avoidance or whatever will provide the longest possible "practical" miles to the CUSTOMER. The difference between the zipcode calculator miles and the practical miles is pure golden sweet profit. This difference runs into the millions of miles annually for the trucking industry, financing that shiny new Cessna Citation of a company like Schneider. If you do not believe me, ask an online quote from a reputable shipping company for a load between, say Schenectady, NY and Lexington, KY and see how they do the math, versus the loadboard miles. This is a lesser known factoid.

There is, amongst a myriad of other tricks, a very clever dual database accounting practice that maximizes this skimming to the max and every big broker is milking this cow.

Here's a derived zipcode distance calculator: http://www.zip-codes.com/distance_calculator.asp See how it disagrees with that truck route.

The sad part is that load boards are the product and the brainchild of these big trucking companies, and so they play by the big boys' rules, making sure you are skrewed six ways till Sunday. In fact, you are PAYING them to get screwed. You are paying the taxman too, and he is turning a blind eye to this.

Happy trucking!!

 

Always be prepared, always calculate the route, and always have YOUR number ready.....

It's always different, no two calls are ever alike....sometimes I'll come right out of the gate and drop my number on em, other times I'll just sit and listen, it's always different...the negotiation dance is not a formula....

I might ask them what they have for a rate, but I always have my number ready, how I play it may be different depending on how the conversation is going, but I'm always sitting there with the number I want scribbled down in front of me...

Pen doodling away, me thinking about his number, and how I'm going to move that number towards my number...

The last thing I'm thinking about is the difference between his mileage figure and mine, it really doesn't matter, unless they say something like, "xyz for yada yada miles???"

In which case I respond with, "Well I don't know how you calculate miles, but my calculation has, blah, blah, blah...."

And we either move closer towards a deal, or further away, but I never assume their mileage is correct....

"Trust, but verify", is a very good thing to remember.

 

You've got it figured out. If only more load hunters would know and apply this! I guess this is Lesson 1 of Loadhunting 101.

 

Along the same lines, I wish that it was a requirement that anyone posting a load under $2/mile, whoevers mileage its figured off of, should HAVE to post their low price so I wouldn't have to waste my time calling on it, or at least I would know what to expect. I hardly ever use the boards anymore, but it used to drive me insane getting empty somewhere and wasting hours I'll never get back sifting through superbrokers $1-1.50 loads to find something.

My personal favorite load board line: "We've got guys hauling it for that everyday."

Not to disparage everyone posting loads in these areas, I've made some really good contacts with great folks over time, but it can be frustrating.

 

What trees said.

Also, there is an old trick..."The first one to say a number loses". Many times I have my number on the note pad with all my costs and profit margins worked in and I will ask them.....in their parlance..."What have you got on it for a rate?". They will sometimes give me a number higher than mine. I know they have more in it so I will jack mine up a tick. And then.....often times there is new info that comes out...like it is oversize or there is a crane appointment. This is an opportunity to increase your rate. They already know they are trying to sneak that one over on you so when it does come out, they are expecting to pay more.

 

A lot of the loads are posted with HHG or Practical Miles rather than real miles. That happens, that's the way it's been for ages. Double check the distance, and don't forget to count in your deadhead miles to pick up a load before deciding if you want to try spending the time negotiating a higher rate. Sometimes you'll succeed, most of the time you won't.

 

Add 25 miles above what your checking up tells you.

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