Freight Lane Density

That was a funny read. Some of it was good advice, but some wasn't. I can see some people getting the wrong impression for that advice and honestly it should've been clarified in that article.

 

Request pay for round trip miles... Now why didn't I think of that???

 

What?!? 40% under utilized capacity? Last time we saw those numbers was in 2009.

 

Define "efficiency"

Some might measure it as amount of freight, either by volume or by weight, to the maximum allowable, trucks are loaded ALL the time.

I measure it in what makes sense to do and how many dollars I can earn by moving my truck.

Why do people not seem to understand that when you have a city that consumers more than it produces, let's take Miami, FL for example, it receives 4 trucks delivering for 1 truck loading out. So why do 4 trucks all bid each other into the ground? 3 of them are leaving empty anyway, what is the point in bidding it all down?????

 

It says that "There is less tonnage than trucks available", then goes on to say that you should charge round trip miles going into a bad area...which I don't think is really practical...I don't think any broker would go for THAT piece of logic...but from reading what people here say, you always charge more going into a bad area, and so I guess people do do that anyways - but not roundtrip miles, just charge enough to get in and make up for the lack of rates going out...and then says that contract freight is coming to an end - and there has never been greater opportunity for service minded individuals - well I am thinking that if contract freight ends, then the customer service would not be as important - as they'd all be looking to book the cheapest truck.

And then it says to always plan two or three loads ahead for each truck. Haven't I read here that if you did that, the broker will likely find a cheaper truck by the time you get around to picking up that next preplanned load?

I guess what the author was getting at was the idea to be efficient - trying to fill all 53' of your trailer. I guess if you just go around looking for partials, I would think one might make more, but if you got 45 feet full at $2.10 a mile, it may not even be worth the TIME to go find an 8 ft load that is on your route - if one like that even shows up. Maybe I am wrong?

 

This article was written in 2009....I just saw that.

 

Didn't even look at that. Glad I didn't spend the time to pick this apart. Because he is far off based on current markets.

But this a a great example of a person not completely understanding what he is writing about but coming off as an expert. He uses "tonnage" as a gauge. And this is really only used for analysts to bench mark markets. And needs to be used with average length of haul to have any real meaning.

And to nit pick a little deeper, on one had he is saying there is an over capacity of trucks but that now is the time to build a premium brand.