A lot of dead heading with heavy haul?

Well yeah, the heavier and more specialized the more dead head you're going to see.

If you are smart about it that's figured into the rates.

 

Yellow iron=Cat heavy equipment? Cheap. If you have to deadhead, you're gonna lose your arse.
Planning to run brokered freight? Prepare to live like a scavenger.
Used 4 axle rig? Maintenance is going to be super expensive.

One of the mistakes that many make is by taking loads into areas where they will have to bounce out of. If you are running off of a load board trying to avoid getting porked by a broker, you don't go out into those dead zones unless the money is obscene, and it's rare for roll on roll off freight to be paying obscene money.

 

All I do is HH. figure on 50% deadhead. @TripleSix pretty much said it. Have a nitch haul. If your friend went broke cause of the deadhead then he was hauling for subpar rates. The large carriers have ruined the rates for "yellow" iron. Unless you get a direct customer. Good luck.

 

I figure deadhead into the rate, sometimes the deadhead is a couple hundred miles(which is nothing in heavy haul). Because I won’t haul cheap I’ve deadheaded from Vegas back home. But, I knew that before I even picked up the load going to Vegas. I tend to stay just in the southeast with and occasional New Jersey or Pennsylvania load in the mix.

 

The last time I went to Vegas (in a bigrig), I planned to bounce all the way back to Houston. However, I had a breakdown way out in the middle of nowhere in west Texas. When you break down in those dead zones, those repair bills will usually hit 2-2.5x the normal rate. That's a huge hit to the pockets. Most repair shops are going to try to get you for $1000. Expect at least TWICE that in a deadzone. If your rates don't go up accordingly, you will go bust in a breakdown.

 

Nope You never deadhead

your next load is right down the street always

 

It's just that some streets are longer than others.

 

Still no blades I see.

 

untrue but it has been a bad week for us