Stepping Out With My Own Numbers

I might have an opportunity to put some things together that would put New England on the map for me. I've been sticking to OH east to PA, NJ, MD then as far south as NC and VA then back to OH. A TQL agent has regular freight out of MD up to CT and MA that pays really well. I need to find reliable freight out of there before I start gunning for it though.

Holiday slowed me down some but by 0400 on the 12th I'll have 9100 in revenue so I'm looking good on my revenue target. Probably work my way back to AR next week. Recaps are slowly catching up with me.

 

No. They had a load but because of the holiday I'd be tied up on it for too long so Indidnt take it. If I could have had everything done by Tuesday it would have been pretty good though.

 

I always book loads on me several days in advance, having a load or two already preplanned at all times. I've only had to give a load back once and I knew it the day before I picked it up so it wasn't an issue. I've been delayed a few time but all that suffered was the delivery on that particular load. The only time I may not have a preplan is if I load on a Thursday or Friday and deliver late Sunday. In that case I'll just handle it Monday. Good luck getting much done Sunday after noon. I only use DAT to find freight. When I'm in OH, PA, AR, OK, WI, or MN I have a contact I call instead of pulling up the load board. In each of those States I have one or two that are my go to.

Iuse DAT Power. It's more expensive but the real time posting updates and running multiple searches at once is important. Once I find a load that looks promising I immediately pull up the area it's heading and the day I expect it to deliver and make sure it's a good choice. If I book it I do it again for the next one and stay preplanned. Most of what I do is next day delivery or maybe morning of the second day so it makes doing that easier. As an example today, Wednesday, I was running 3 searches at once and running through some loads I found promising. One led to another and to another and to another made a nice chain. The first one I booked on Monday, the second on Tuesday and the other two today. The result being I'm loaded through Tuesday at 0400 right now. All of the loads have adequate time built in so I don't hook myself tight and run into a delay and have to give back freight.

My solution to late night or very early appointments and still having hours available for the day has been the 8/2 split. I split more than doing a full 10 anymore. Sometimes I have to stop short, do the 8 or 2, then go to the location to make it work. I'm hoping once this mandate comes down FMCSA follows through with their split sleeper study that would bring back 6/4 and 5/5. That would be nice.

i was really concerned getting into this regarding finding freight that matches my hours but it hasn't been an issue. I have to say no a little here and there due to HOS but there is always something else to do. Or, if I tell the broker that, more often than not, they'll go ahead and reset the appointments to match my hours. The first thing I ask on every call I make is, When does it pick and deliver? The rate is always the last thing I bring up.

 

Nothing wrong with that. Preplanning is more important to me though. I run an ELD and it's important I maximize my hours, I'm also slow. I drive 60 everywhere I go, rarely do I exceed that. I'm really burning rubber when I do 63.

 

TQL always waits to send me the final instructions on a load. I booked this one because it was posted in the same city I'm delivering in and the rate was good. Once I finally get stopped at the delivery I checked the email and it picks up at the same place I'm delivering. The only way I can plan that good is by accident. They already gave me a dock door to back into once I get the green light where I'm at.

 

I took this load with a plan of doing a 34 and getting some maintenance done but they can't get parts until Monday. I at least know what I need and I'll be getting the two overnighted into AR Monday when these people are back. The ABS light on the trailer comes on when I use the brakes. There is a sensor bad on one of the wheels but my truck ABS harness is also bad and is not sending power to the trailer. Each part is around 300 bucks then labor so I'll probably spend about 900 on all this. They only charged me 150 today since it turns out they couldn't fix any of it. Spent three hours diagnosing the issue. It Sucks because that's going to cost me an extra day of no revenue.