What is going on with all the cheap rates from brokers on van freight ??

So why do you people have to reprint his Post when I read and understand English. You can earn at least $2.29/mi on flatbed at Jones Motor or are you like my brother who won't pull a flat because it's work.

 

If they didnt buy that extra mercedes to impress the neighbors or all that chrome to impress the guys at the truck stop maybe they would have cash flowto turn down cheap freight.I know a guy who has 6 trucks and drives an old camry he told me when he gets 10 trucks hes gonna get a BMW.He could have got then beamer when he had 2 trucks but he needed the cash so he could turn down cheap loads.He told me not one broker calls him unless they have something for 1.95 or more and even then they are scared he might hang up.

 

Offering 800 for a 1600 load thats more like 700-800 for them .

 

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe that $3/mile freight just doesn't exist in certain markets? For example, ever try booking van freight from the NW back to CA? This is $1-$1.20/mile freight 9 months out of the year and believe you me that stuff sells like hot cakes. Once a load is posted, the broker is hit with at least 20 calls in the first minute begging for the freight. It's not that they are "dumb" or "lazy" carriers for taking it, it's that they know the market and need to get their truck to CA to service their primary customers. You can't sit and wait for something that just doesn't exist. Now if someone took $1/mile outbound from CA then I would say they didn't do their homework and should give it up now but I have never heard or seen anyone do that in CA.

 

Mustang, you need to clear your inbox so I can reply to your PM.

 

OK, I'll beat this dead horse. It's basic economics - when supply (trucks and empty trailers) exceeds demand (freight to be hauled) prices will fall. Period. You can call it a backhaul or a baloney sandwich. It is what it is. Some places get more stuff than they produce that is hauled on trucks and therefore the rates are low to nothing to get out.

 

All it takes is one truck more than loads out for the cost to start to drop. The higher the imbalance, the lower the price falls. But the opposite works in the high freight, low truck areas. Price skyrockets because the customers that HAVE to move their freight can't sit on it and will pay enough to get people there to haul it.

 

Supply & demand = Nail on the head

 

Also, when you're in an area with more trucks than freight, the brokers are often competing with each other over shippers as well, as far as I know. The shippers aren't stupid, they are probably in the know about what kind of rates they should be paying to have their freight moved, and if broker A says tehy can move it for $2.50/mile, and broker B says $2/mile, broker B gets the business, and has to book it at less than $2/mile to cover it.