Nobody likes my rates this morning...

Yeah, but... so you will be 134 miles from where you were before you took the load, but now you have $750.00 for a trucker 134 miles is not far in terms of travel & time. I would go in the opposite intended direction for 5 bucks a mile, especially 134 miles. but to each his own. everyone has their own reasons, like me. I do not do drops. usually $50.00 or $100.00 it just is not worth the extra hassle. but when I was offered to load a 3ft by 4 ft load of flat steel weighing 200 lbs unloading 5 miles from original destination for an extra 450 bucks, I said oh yeah.

 

They are pretty reasonable depending on what kind of trailer you have. 2/mile going further east of Pa with a reefer is cheap since the further east you go the more it costs to go back west. I used to find plenty of loads in PA paying 2/mile going east and less than 1/mile going back west. 100.00 for an extra pickup is a little high and 100.00 for layover is low. 300-400.00 is more common with layover.750-800.00 for 134 miles is VERY good regardless of where it goes.

 

Shouldn't you be selling cars or something?

 

Not many places to camp out in Bethlehem. Private property!

 

I understand ironpony, prime drivers need to cover that weekly fixed cost, so sitting around would not be an option....

 

It should be in no one's playbook. Whatever your fixed cost per day is, it builds up. Sit for two days, and you have those two days worth plus the days you spend on the trip to pay for on top of your operational costs. Just waiting around for a load that pays buku bucks per mile is a simplistic way of looking at the problem.

Don't assume that because I run for Prime that I have to accept everything that comes my way. I don't run below cost, and I don't run somewhere I can't get out of. Sitting around at truckstops doesn't appeal to me either.

 

You'll underprice yourself every time with that mentality. It's mileage thinking that will have a guy rolling for subpar rates every time. A person that looks at numbers from day to day and works to keep up with whatever numbers they have like that in a plan will always come out below someone who patiently waits for a better load at the end of 30 days. Oscar KW said it best, a person can go just as broke sitting for a day or two as they can rolling for break even or even a few cents above break even. A day or 2 lost here and there is nothing in the big picture. It's always about the big picture. An occasional bad load leaving me at a deadend or missed day or two here and there mean nothing to me.

 

I agree it's about "the big picture." And for me that picture is made of gross revenue to the truck - way too much is made of how many pennies are being scraped together per mile.

Are your truck payments made "per mile?"
Are your insurance payments made "per mile?"
How about plates and permits?
...not to mention that all important figure known as your minimum expected profit.

These are fixed costs that may best be expressed as a cost per day. Add on the variable costs that are best expressed per mile, and you have a number that tells you what has to be brought in to cover your costs on any load. Sit long enough (did you mention 30 days?) and you'll loose money on any load that you might accept.

 

My equipment is paid for. Yes insurance, IRP, etc, etc all of those are figured at costing 1 cent per mile for every $1,000 spent on 100K miles annually. Your daily and weekly minimum numbers that must be met need not apply to an operation negotiating the rate on every load. I never wonder nor worry about those. You misunderstood what I was saying about 30 day blocks. What did the truck make on any given month or quarter? Those are goals I strive for in as few miles as possible. Anything over $12K gross at around $2.15 every mile turned in a month has met my minimum. Anything over that gross and rate hits a home run out of the park. Looking at day to day, week to week is a waste of time. It'll have a guy working harder not smarter if he is negotiating rates. For your operation I understand it is important. Too many with your perspective try to carry that over to this way of trucking and end up hurting themselves running for subpar rates because something in their plan tells them they must meet a minimum. Patience will win out over that sort of thinking every single time. A lost day here and there means nothing to my operation, it happens.

 

A lost day or two with prime and you'll end up in the hole.....