Brokers, Please explain the plummeting rates these days.

Yeah that’s my entire stance. Every operation has control over their operation (micro). No one operation has control of the market (macro). So why let the thing you can’t control dictate the thing you can control?

Or to put it this way, trying to provide the same service at a lower cost. You’re walking a line between running at cost or worse and whatever the next cheapest guy can do it for versus setting your price to make a comfortable amount of revenue and maybe occasionally over-pricing yourself out of the job. I’d rather over price myself a few times than underbid and actually end up costing myself money. That said, sure there are operations out there that can do an honestly comparable job for lower cost compared to me. Just like I can get a Big Mac cheaper than I can a Baconator at Wendy’s or double cheeseburger from Five Guys.

Call me optimistic but I’d rather have my head in the clouds than my face in the dirt.

 

Not when you're dealing with people. I'm sure every broker that posts here has multiple stories on some screwup driver on a load they paid premium top dollar for. I know the guy I'm leased to also runs a brokerage and he can tell you some stories like that.

 

So you turn down 8 out of 10 brokers? Or 80% of what you haul is direct and you're mostly insulated from the spot market roller coaster because of that?

 

Re-read the first sentence of the comment you replied to.

 

I work with two brokers for about 70% of the freight I haul. Most of it loaded out and back empty because it pays enough to do that and get back for the next load. Maybe once every 5-6 weeks the shipper has a longer load going out up to MD/NJ area that they (or the customer) aren’t willing to pay what they will to the dead area (KS/TX/NM) I frequent. Those two don’t have any contacts east of the Mississippi so I hop on the load boards and fish. But if it paid $4.25 a mile going up, I’m not taking any less to go back. Might take me a day or two to put a trip together that gets me back but it can be done. So yeah that’s usually 8 or 9 out of 10 brokers that won’t go for what I’m tossing at all. The other 1 or 2 are usually willing to at least work but most times even then it isn’t well enough for me.

That’s just the flatbed I tote. I absolutely will not hook to the welfare wagon for no less than $6 a mile or $2000 a day flat rate. The hopper moves maybe 3-4 times a year other than cutting soybeans and corn at my uncle’s place in MS but that’s only a couple weeks.

 

I understand what ur saying but it is still the carriers that set the rates. If all 10 of those guys didn't haul for cheap. That load would sit there until it was a good rate. Unfortunately that's not how reality works and there will always be someone that cuts everybody's thoat

 

One guy’s cheap is another guy’s “not much profit but better than sitting”. Every one of us is different. Every one of us has different circumstances at home.

 

I get it, I do the same, trusted name on steers and always preventive maintenance. But since I do most of the minor work myself, my cost of operations is very low. So I can survive on some low rates if need, but I won’t do it. But that doesn’t mean if I’m surviving on low rates means I’m irresponsible. Just pointing that out.


Drive on brother. Stay safe on the roads and keep on making money. That’s all that matters.

 

If you've ever traded the commodities markets it will help a lot more to understand how rates can work, with commodities be it wheat, sugar, fuel, or houses, the price fluctuates according to supply and demand, more demand raises prices low demand decreases prices its that simple. If a job is advertised in a area where there is a large supply of trucks this will put downward pressure on prices as there is always someone out there willing to do it for less, whereas in an area where this is a shortage of drivers this will put pressure on prices to go higher with less drivers bidding to haul a load.

 

Carriers say let it sit on the dock and rot. Brokers say let your expensive truck sit and get repo. Mean time world goes round and round.

TQL and the like always posts loads in different cities… I have an example today… great paying load thru my brokerage needs empty truck in pickup city. Truck says they are empty in pickup city. Turns out it’s actually 1.5 hrs away and picks up late, dilly dally around and gets to first drop 15 mins after cutoff. Now has to sit until tomorrow being 1 day late and therefore won’t make second drop till 1 day late.

There’s crap on all sides. In this case screws us and themselves. Customer not happy and will feel like why are we paying premium?