The path to o/o?

The path to o/o is just like a path through the woods. There are blood-sucking parasites waiting to latch on to you everywhere! Use plenty of Deet!

 

Because you don't really have a clue about the basics of trucking. I surprise myself sometimes I can call these brokers about a load, when we get down to the nitty gritty, they tell me the company it's picking up at etc. A lot of times I am familiar with the company and their product, I'm talking about off the wall companies here. Another instance, I know when to expect big wait times for loading and unloading and asking about detention time. I was looking for loads out of NC once and saw a boatload of them, 10 or 15, coming out of Eden, NC. Now I knew better than to waste my time even calling on those loads because I have been there with the old company and know all the hassle of that place.


Just for fun I called one to see and, yep, it was really cheap and beneath me ever calling and asking again. And I also understand the situation with those very loads is you could wait for 24 hours or longer at the shipper and it is NOT JIT freight meaning the receiver doesnt care when it gets there within a few days time, so those loads will never pay squat on the spot market. They are just garbage fuel money loads for mega carriers. These are just some small things that I can think of. It's really difficult for me to put in words the many things I take for granted pulling loaads off the boards that I would never dream to think of had I not had that long 10 years of grinding it out experience of just running the freight that was put on my truck without the hassels of searching for it myself.


And I am by no means an expert on searching for loads. I just hate to think of the sevral things that would have surprised me over the past 5 months working load boards, that didn't because my experience led me to ask the right questions before I even started rolling towards the piuckup. And there have been a handful of loads that I ended up balking at and skipping out on because, well our office personel dont have that experience either, which is not a problem I just have to check more, but if I dont like what a broker is telling me about something I'm not hauling their load. If you fly into the o/o without at least 3 to 5 years experience you're just not going to have any gut instinct to go off of. You'll be flying blind so to speak. It's not necesarily a huge roadblock or anything but it will definitely be a big handicap for you that will end up wasting a lot of your time and probably costing money too.


I'll toss another thing out there. With time on the road as a comp[any driver you will start to build up a memory bank, a road map so to speak, in your head. This one key area that I think is more importanat than any other. Which will quickly help you to figure that a load going from Baltimore, MD to Lexington, KY is going to have to pay a really fat rate considering the shortest route if it weighs 80,000 gross. Honestly it would have to pay a fat one if it was light in my book. There are just some routes that suck. Of course you won't know that without experience. I could have done what I am doing now with 3 years as a company driver behind me and hit the ground rolling like I am now.. it's possible you could do it to after as little as a year. But I doubt it. Running regional all those years, pretty much the same areas I tend to work now, it took some time for me to build that roadmap to where I can hear city names and know the basic route most times without even looking at a map. Although I routinely find with some of these oddball routed loads I'm running now that I still dont know every road and mapquest is your friend.

 

What RC says ^^^^^^ plus..

Think about planning loads around HOS requirements, PM stops, etc. When thinking about a load from SC to OH, knowing to check the weather in WV. Knowing when a $2.25/mi load tomorrow isn't as profitable as the $1.90 load today is.

All stuff that you may not have any "hands-on" experience with as a company driver, but will have a far clearer insight to once you've been OTR for a while.

Some will be baptism by fire. Like knowing how to work with a broker. Or knowing when the best time to call on loads in a given market area is. Or being able to spot higher value loads based on market areas and who's posting them. And so on.

Based on 20/20 hindsight, I'd value that experience coming in at around $10-20k, assuming you're as smart as I think you are. If I'm overestimating your ability, the dollar amount is greater. That being the money you will give up through loss or opportunity cost because you don't know better.

 

A post like that Red reminds me of what areas are my trials by fire. I'm actually in a trial by fire right now having worked myself up to the great north east, against conventional wisdom, and I think Bill's better judgement.. ..but it is working so far and I'm under no pressure to go anywhere other than where the rate takes me for the next 10 days or more so we will see where this thing goes...

 

Knowing what you need to get in and out is half the battle, and drops the stress level way down. Knowing the best way out and your options for getting out is the other half. That last part tempers the greed a little and helps you say no when you're slobbering over that rate and the little voice in your head says you know you're gonna come out MT or sit too long.

Had to do that myself twice this week with regular customers. In one case my offer was too high and I let it go versus taking too much risk. Booked a different load with the same guy for the next morning because the math worked better on it. The other was my best customer, and in some different circumstances (maybe if it had been a day earlier in the week) I could have made it work in the name of customer sat. He wasn't offended when I turned it down. That dude's been in the trucking business over 25 years and he knew it was a turkey. I think he threw it out there to see if I'd bite.

 

Just the tip of the iceberg my friend. You'll need to polish up your chess game to play that out a week ahead, then shop the loads to make it work. Since I'm not driving, I also have to guess and take into account driver fatigue while I'm trying to load them up with miles without making them want to quit. Doing all that for yourself while driving will make it all the more challenging.

For example, today both drivers have run hard for two days straight. I know by the time those loads final, one in the morning the other tomorrow night, they won't be playing well with others. Now I have to figure out the best runs for both that will A: keep the trucks moving and B: not have to post bail for anyone when they beat a dock hand to death. BTW, neither is pushing any boundaries on HOS.