Load Board Truths and Myths

Shippers

 

Just like any other job people get tired of each other and want to try someone else.

$250-$400 profit. More miles doesn't make more money as there is a lot of companies that pay driver's 44 cents per mile to cover them

 

You're going to be sitting a lot with current trends. Nothing wrong with that just understand most areas arent paying so well and haven't been for a while now except for some seasonal that's ok but quickly plays out. There's plenty of cheap trucks out here and really no end in sight to the supply of them. You get areas of increased demand for trucks to be sure but it's fickle and doesn't last very long. Until there is some real economic growth what you see is what you get. ELD mandate was a phony surge in rates due to government meddling that fizzled out to nothing. Real economic growth would sustain rates for months if not years. When's the last time economic growth was sustained for years? I dont think I have ever seen that but I have seen a few good stretches that lasted several months before.

 

Shippers I don’t think would care. What they care about is what they get charged, not what the carrier gets. If they cared that much they would work with carriers directly and try to keep the prices down at the level the carrier had been getting.

I think some shippers use brokers to limit their liability as well. It’s a big responsibility vetting carriers and a job that a lot of shippers don’t want to be responsible for. That is beside the point of hiring people to keep on top of this stuff all the time.

They rather have a handle of brokers who they have cross compete and through that are fairly confident they’re getting a decent spot rate.

 

That's a good attitude to have, but I don't know that that's necessarily correct all the time in this industry.

I think a lot of this is a lot more subtle than just saying I'm not going to run 500 Miles unless I can get over $2,000 for it. After hundreds of phone calls you can go back to your other business for awhile or do whatever it is that you feel like doing I suppose.

But this whole thing here is a lot more like poker. You're dealing with someone that you really can't see their hand. Sometimes you may have indicators that you have the upper hand, but you really don't know what their margin is and there may be times they need to desperately move the load there may be times that they may have hundreds of guys waiting to move it for nothing.

The trick is to know when you can get top dollar for that load and when you need to do that load for 50% or 75% or whatever it is because this whole situation is always in flux. So you can move 5 loads for less money at times, or you can wait and do one. Not to mention that wherever you delivered to then you still have to find another one to come back or to Triangle or to do whatever it is you're going to do. Always always always demanding top dollar could have someone sitting in a truck stop for weeks and weeks if you're unrealistic, or not knowledgeable about what you can or cannot get.

I would also venture to say that if you do not do this full-time, year-round it would be much harder to zero in on where the rates are or where they should be for your particular area for that time of year and the up-and-down flux because what was good last spring may not be good this winter. I would also think it would be much more difficult to forge real relationships with Brokers if you don't do this full-time.

Like I said it's like poker. You can make money on small hands, you can have a few big hands, or you can really go for the big money and maybe go broke. Or go broke on the little hands or you can get wiped out on a few bigger hands.

That's all skill and knowledge of what you can and cannot get away with at any given time working within the context of always being profitable and what's best for the overall big picture. Some people take loads that you would shake your head at but for them it works for their overall big picture.

 

You had me until you started talking about forging relationships with brokers. That's a joke. Brokers are all about the cheapest truck. Your broker relationships are in the same category as ##### house relationships. There's one in here that even made the comment about some o/o that he consistently gives the same $500 loads to all the time. Of 15 people in his office he is the only one that works with a handful of the same o/o over and over again. Brokers like him are the exception not the norm. And truth be told even those rare ones with relationships like that arent paying much more than they have to. $50 or $100 maybe, yeah, wow big money. The only thing you really have is can you show up on time as expected? If you can do that great, because apparently a lot of people can't. But that doesn't mean they wont put up with some BS to save a few hundred dollars, or even $50. Most of them will drop you in a heartbeat over $25.

 

One might think the shippers don’t know prices but most do.

I have been approached a few times to haul direct issue is at a lower rpm then what I get from the brokers.


They are getting wiser.

 

How does that work? You are 1 truck, no? You mean out of the blue the shipper asks you to haul for them?

 

Yup 1 man operation.

He’s only offering one way lower rpm and no back haul. So no thanks I’m good where I’m at currently.