Is anybody really making enough profit?

in this industry, just like every other industry, you have people who don't think about the next man. i've had other brokers undercut me, steal freight, and steal customers. i've also had other brokers help me out immensely. i've also had truckers backdoor me after they found out about the loads. but i've also had truckers who could have done the same thing and didn't. i could easily generalize all drivers and say "hey this guy is gonna back door me," but I can't b/c not all people are like that. my dad taught me not to judge a man (or woman) until i deal with that man (or woman).

i know it's some horror stories out there about brokers but there are some horror stories about truckers and truck companies too. a friend of a friend brokered a load and lost his behind b/c the driver transporting his refrigerated load got locked up for solicitation over the weekend. the claim was almost a half million dollars. but you can't assume all drivers are like that. to assume that wouldn't be fair to some of the guys i've befriended and call in the middle of the day for the heck of it. i went through hell at a trucking company for putting drivers ahead of office politics (and i refuse to go back to the office).

if you would have told the shipper that the broker took 50% of that load i'd bet that broker would have lost that account. that's called highway robbery. no matter how much the load pays you gotta put limits on the % charged. stuff like that is why it's so hard to get accounts sometimes. i can't tell you how many ppl hang up on me when i say the word "broker". anyway, if the load is too cheap for me to make a profit and the truck to make profit, i don't work it. if the load pays fairly well, i don't exceed the % ceiling. if you've negotiated well, a small % is still going to pay more than well. it's harder to get things off the ground with integrity, but integrity is what will keep you in business. a bad rep will eventually kick you in the butt

 

Hi 379, I believe you are misunderstanding my meaning about "Backhaul is BS" I am refering to things such as Bullhaulerswife is refering to.. I am refering to brokers or anyone else refering to loads as "backhauls". Yes frieght rates are based on supply and demand, a load out of FL is going to be different from a load out of WI. However if a "person" tries to utilize the terminology "backhaul" to keep frieght rates lower then that is BS. Do not try to tell me that a load pays me $1.30 out of FL to WI because that is where I am from and they tell you its $.95 because its a backhaul for you to WI. If that load pays me $1.30 then it should pay you the same $1.30 whether its a"backhaul" or not.. It is a load, period. Our insurance, truck payments, IFTA........ does not go up or down based on whther we are heading towards or away from home.

 

when i was in dispatch we labeled loads as backhauls. they were loads that got us back to the either the terminal or near a customer that we were contracted to. they'd usually suck up the deadhead cost. it was better to lose .20/mi or break even than to lose more than $1/mi trying to get back to a customer's area. there wasn't much profit in it but as fuel rose the areas where major losses were made previously due to deadhead started to have much less of an effect on profitability. that's my experience with the term "backhaul". it may be b.s., it may not be but running dozens of trucks, them backhauls helped a good bit.

 

i don't blame you brickman. he or she didn't care about how much they were dipping in your pockets. i doubt it costs as much to run an office daily as it does a truck. i think most people (trucker or broker) can agree with your action in that particular instance.

 

yeah, i heard of 'em. they're huge from what i understand