Flated rates suck!!!

Very true Oscar I have a few customers that have several loads going to the same spot but the problem is I never get freight taking me back so I take a load going somewhere else than dog leg home they don't like it but I make them understand that dead heading back I just can't make money and after I said I would have to charge them $5.00 a mile he said keep doing what I'm doing

 

Look at it this way.......I'mf your direct freight pays enough And you do it right you can still make money......if you gross more then 7k a week then you can't drive enough miles in a week to have input cost too high for the gross so if if it comes Friday or Saturday and you are 500 miles from home.......drive home I do.....but I don't drive without a full trailer And 5+ stops either, and when you do a great job pulling broker freight you make the broker look good not yourself which is STUPID!!!!! because the broker is going to make sure his bed is made b4 yours I have a 1 truck operation And I have 6 direct customers within 90 miles of home I pull their freight only either out or back I also have a half dozen guys that cover loads for me but I also cover loads for them I feel like this is the only way to do it last week I did $6400 on 2750 not bad for leaving Monday night and getting home to go on vacation on Friday noon best part is I didn't leave any money on the table it was all direct

 

Well I don't have direct customers and by the time I get back tomorrow I will be at $5425 and I was off Tuesday.

Direct freight is way overated for a 1 truck operation because you will get scraps until you establish yourself, then you still gotta worry about being undercut

I understand the guys who lease to Landstar and Mercer etc... But thats not for me either....I am learning the ropes here but I have a few brokers who I set up that keep me really busy...most of the time they call me because they know by now that when I make that call im lookin and I will cover my truck. Most of them have company trucks and after I have pulled a few loads, on time no worries I can tell I have moved past some of the company trucks. I dont sit I rarely look at the load board and in the last 3 weeks I have been north of $5,000.

FREEBRD you constantly complain about rates and sitting I dont understand why ... You live in Tennessee ... I pulled a load from Delta, Oh to Jasper TN $1500 reload Clinton, Tn to Holland, Mi$1300 avg was around $2.40 and I can get that a couple rounds a week if I want it but I was just doing a favor.

Brokers have established relationships with the customers 10 to 50 loads a day whatever it is...now here I come with my 1 truck and might be able to cover say 5 loads a week but im cutting myself short trying to DH back and not find a reload...let the broker keep them happy with their multiple trucks and drivers as long as I can get my slice of the pie and have a solid established contact it makes sense to me.

You dont have to agree with my model...but hey it keeps me happy rollin and not complaining (so far)

Cluck Cluck its not really fair to compare what you do because you got a group of guys you can depend on and that depend on you, a true 1 truck operation will run themselves in the ground trying to keep up, so its really not STUPID its kind of pratical (in my opinion)

 

The key with direct shipper freight for a 1 or 2 truck operation is to find companys that do not put all there loads with just one company. There are plenty out there in the open deck world, they care more anout getting there product moved so they use more than just one company. Alot of the direct freight i have they use 7 or 8 diffrent guys plus brokers and the independents working direct are getting 15% to 20% more than the brokers are paying. Brokers have there place there are a few i use also. As far as the guys complaining about rates and loads in the open deck world my rates have stayed steady and are starting to climb a little with fuel and there are plenty. I see alot of guys complaining about down south and the Tennessee are, do some research one of the direct freight customers i use has freight out of those areas and it all pays between $2.25 and $3 a mile.

 

Exactly true And if you take the loads Nobody wants because they're too good to go to a certain area then you will have all the loads you want

 

HEEEYYYYY, my truck just delivered that load! But FYI I got the rate up another $950 LOL

 

Not sure if this is the right place to post this but WTH. I'm a former successful O/O and was forced off the road by medical issues a couple years ago. The company I now dispatch for has 12 trucks and 1 of them is mine that's leased to them. We have a few direct customers but mostly use load boards and brokers. We had developed a very good relationship with a large broker that was built over time and we earned their better rates. I won't say their name but they have 3 initials, 1st on is a T and third is an L. A driver recently neglected to tarp a load and it got wet. The crates collapsed and part of the load fell off the trailer. Now that broker has refused to pay the $32,000 in outstanding freight bills until this situation is resolved. Yes, it is illegal for them to hold the money but they're doing it anyway. Reporting them to ITS would be a waste of time. My point is that a situation like this - too many eggs in just one basket - can easily put an O/O or small company out of business. Another way of putting too many eggs in one basket is spending lots of time and effort cultivating a relationship with just one direct shipper who goes out of business and stiffs you or sells you out for a lower rate offer. I believe that a diversified revenue stream is required to insure that something like this doesn't happen to you.

 

Driving and looking for your own freight is not efficient. Find yourself a strong dispatcher who will look for freight and negotiate on your behalve daily. For a relatively small fee, you will have better paying freight and keep moving. If you stop to look for your own freight you lose time. Plus, you are not able to shop around, take 50 calls, negotiate, check credit, exchange paperwork, invoce, collect etc - all from your cell phone. Also, you may not be as good a negotiator as you think you are. Bottom line, you cant do you it all by yourself. Noone, and i mean noone succeeds without strong partnerships.

 

Its good to have your own customers and its is also good to work with brokers. But, DO NOT put all your eggs in one basket. If you have more then 15 percent of your revenue from one source, you are asking for trouble. You have to work with wide variety of customers and brokers, especially if your company is small. I know, it is more time consuming, but this is why you should hire a hustler behind the desk to help you with it.
Its like when you go to the bank to apply for a business line of credit, first thing they ask you. Who is your biggest customer and what is the percent of revenue you derive from this customer? if you answer 50% you will never get a loan.

 

Why do I need to have someone negotiate my truck for me? I can do anything from my phone and iPad someone can do from a computer sitting in a office