Load is not ready please come back tomorrow

I can understand established fleets and established owner operators getting X amount for detention and TONU and putting that into their agreements. You are established. You have proven yourself. You have repeat customers.

How about for a NEW entrant? Can a new entrant be able to stay busy working and still add detention and TONU to the rate con?

Or do you just get the best rate that you can in the beginning, and after you are better established add detention and TONU?

 

Think of it this way. If a new pizza joint opened up charging ten bucks a pizza how would you as a customer text when in six months they raised their prices to 30 bucks a pizza?

Its much much easier to set the standard at the beginning of a business relationship than to change the terms later on. Sure they will think that since you are new you are just as broke as the other 99% that start up with no funds, but dont set that precedent. Know your numbers so you know what rates you must charge, know what the market will bear, and stick to it.

 

Can’t emphasize that enough. What’s the difference between a high end call girl and a lot lizard?

Location. You work the parking lot ONE TIME and you will never see the penthouse suite again.

It’s why we don’t pull cheap freight or do “backhauls”, “side work”, or “favors. If you have your day rate, you stick to it.

Was planning to stay out of this thread since OP was happy being cheap and considered anyone getting a grand a day detention a super trucker.

 

In memes I see "Know Your Worth" a lot.

Pretty important to know what you bring to the table at any given point in a business relationship.

 

They wasted time your truck could have spent making money. Charge them whatever you could have made that day. "Good customers" should be willing to pay you for inconveniencing you.

 

Ah, the ol call girl / lot lizard anology!!!

@TripleSix your original post of that story changed the way I operate my buissness. Personal and company and I’m 45 years old.

Thank you, if I didn’t already!

 

As some have said, it has to be from the start.
You have to make a Business plan. Then keep working that plan. Keep a spreadsheet or use something like quickbooks, any tool to accurately track you money.

Again back to knowing all your numbers.
Your revenue, the market you serve, the lanes you want to run.

Guess what......we all started as new.
We all learned, some was easy, some not. Some just plain hard, brutal, crushing learning.

Again back to relationships. It is an investment, mostly time. Sure you may have to give some proof that you are a solid reliable operator.

Best time to call and talk to companies you might want to work with is when you don’t need them. Always ask if they have time to talk about some future opportunities.
Have a list of the things you want to taalk about.
Regions, lanes and other pertinent items.

 

I assume all of these charges are spelled out in black and white on your load confirmation? Also, out of curiosity, what if they give you the wrong p/u or d/o address? The reason I ask is because this has happened to me (as a company driver) three times in the last 45 days.

 

But you wasted time and money deadheading there. Did you get anything for that? I mean, I assume you signed a load confirmation BEFORE you headed there, right?

 

I have a stupid question...what is a "carrier packet"? Is it kind of like a profile of the carrier that is sent to all the brokers?