Farm2Fleet/Covenant Fleet - O/O's

Taking a % of the FSC(and it's there even in a spot rate)is no different than taking a % of any other acc charge. And the net does change as fuel goes up/down. As long as someone is happy with it fine, i just don't believe in taking a % of what belongs to the truck.

 

Actually i didn't comment on your operation, just on the remark calling a FSC a "game".

 

oh boy, theres also guys that state that FSC is paid by the government to help O/O and companies keep it to fatten their pockets...
I don't care about FSC , I look at a flat rate, I know what I want and what I need to make money. Don't need to make something simple complicated.
I don't want a load with a horrible rate and a great FSC. I want a load with a great rate period.

 

Then why do drivers cry about how rates haven't changed in 20 years? When a broker calls me and asks for a rate on a run, I don't even take into account that it takes $0.62/mi in fuel to get the truck down the road at current fuel costs, and that might jump to $0.63/mi if fuel averages spike for a summer holiday, I just keep a fuel cost of $1/mile in the back of my head and go from there. I quote what I quote because that's what it is going to take to get my eyes off the load board without an inkling in my mind that I could be getting a better rate. I'm charging them for my service, not my fuel cost and a fixed rate per mile. If a broker wants a courteous, professional, compliant driver that can confidently communicate in fluent English when and how the rate confirmation stipulates, and above all my time, that's the rate they're going to pay. I consistently get hundreds over the "going rate", no doubt built on asinine figures like FSC, because when brokers have shippers that give a #### about their customers, and their business, they will really open their pocket books.

I have actually had brokers call me and tell me they have no idea what to quote their customers for a potential rate on a new line in a new market. They don't even bat an eye at $4.00/mi on a 700 mile run for legal dimension, lightweight freight coming out of a dead area going into a freight hub, because they want to know what it will take to get a load covered, and off their board. When brokers or even carriers start throwing in figures like FSC, or accessorials built into their rates, it's because they're struggling to justify a bottom of the barrel rate. There is no reason to put up with that in the spot market.

In the spot market, you either get what you want in a rate, or you don't, and it doesn't matter whether it's a $1000 flat rate, or $812.15 linehaul with $187.85 FSC. If you're hurting for the 3.75% difference in the rate between 80% of $1000, or 80% of $812.15 and 100% of the $187.85 FSC, then you should have been demanding a rate higher than $1000 in the first place.

 

Bill, are you doing lease purchase programs yet? I looked at Covenant's site, they are offering "team lease purchase" and their little online calculator shows a weekly net for a team of what a company driver team should make.

I'm not interested in paying $900/week for a brand new truck. A brand new truck isn't a good option for someone being a new owner op.

 

WOW !! It is really amazing what, "us F2F", drivers learn in a short time.

 

Struggling Today here at F2f

I'm $943 away from a Banner Week. I need a load that PU and DEL before Friday midnight to put me at $8000 BOL's for the week. Sitting in Albany scanning the boards. Missed a few short ones that brokers wanted me to baby sit for the weekend....good money, but No,i have a goal.

 

Can't tell you the times I tried to hit a goal like that and ended up regretting not babysitting something that did pay well. It's not even busy now. Plenty of time to hit that $10,000 gross revenue in a week before year's end. I've come close a few times but always came up a tad short. Best ever was last year $11,300 but the last couple of grand missed the Friday night cutoff so went on the next week. It's fun stuff when it happens you'll bust your rear end to make it happen though.

 

Just wondering, how much driving experience do you guys require, and how much flatbed experience do you require.

 

hit a goal like that and ended up regretting not babysitting something that did pay well

Concur:
A few hours of debate last Thursday turned into some horrid decision making on my part. Even TQL offered me a $3/mi load I passed on that couldn't deliver Friday. I'd have still made more on that than the eventual choice I ended up making. Which I won't tell...nope...to embarrassed.