Winter FB/SD rate!

nope, been trying all weekend to get a #### load tried Monday most the brokers were closed for loads that picked up on Monday the ones that were open the rates were so #### cheap all you could do is laugh when they gave u the rates... took a cheap 1.50/mi load that was suppose to pick up Monday start to pull out the truck stop the broker calls back and says sorry they wont load u till weds. so now I guess im stuck in Rockwall, TX till tomorrow when the brokers come back to work and try and find one of these decent paying loads ppl have been talking about

 

I've been loaded since the 19th and babysitting it. i leave out tomorrow morning for Odessa, TX. Haven't lined anything up out of there yet, but we do quite a bit of HAZMAT stuff from the area. I'm getting enough going down that i could DH back to Dallas and still be at $3.75 mile on the load, so i have a few options available.

 

Were you just bored?

Don't take this as a personal attack; I'm just throwing some numbers out there.

Consider this: If your truck gets 6mpg, then fuel will cost you $0.675 per mile. Maintenance and tires will cost you $0.225 per mile, making your running costs $0.90 per mile, and that's before you pay yourself. Now you need to add your fixed costs. Assuming you have your own authority, your annual fixed costs probably look like this:

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Drug/Alcohol testing[/TD]
[TD]$100.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]2290 Tax[/TD]
[TD]$550.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Vehicle/Load Insurance[/TD]
[TD]$10,000.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]IFTA Filing / License[/TD]
[TD]$30.50[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Permits[/TD]
[TD]$450.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Standard Plate
[/TD]
[TD]$1,600.00[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]$12,730.50
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

Assuming you run 5 days per week, you will have 260 days to spread that over. Which comes to $51.85 per day.

This load will take you 2.5 days to complete, since you won't be delivering on the 25th. So that's $129.63 more that you need to get out of it to cover your expenses. You didn't say how many miles it was, so let's assume 500. Your fixed costs now require another $0.26 per mile on this load.

So now your cost per mile is $1.16 on this load.

You'd be earning a whopping $0.34 per mile before taxes if it was a 500 mile load. If it were a 1000 mile load, you'd earn $0.47 per mile.

That's assuming ZERO profit for the business, and that you own your truck and trailer outright with no payments. If you have truck / trailer payments then it gets worse. And I haven't even figured in the cost of your load board subscriptions, cell phone, internet access, computer, etc.

I don't know about you, but I couldn't justify the work and effort involved in running a business if I had to run for $1.50/mile. To me, that just isn't sustainable. With your 6 years' experience, you would earn much more as a company driver with benefits, and without all the risk and hassle.

This is why I can't haul cheap freight. And neither should you.

 

Don't take this as a personal attack....but do you own your truck?

Stop knocking people for moving there truck for the rate that they feel like they need to.

Everything is not gold 100% of the time

If you choose to only move for $5.00 a mile thats your business...sometimes you do things to stay productive because a business model looks at the overall picture.

Ex...Between Nov 26 thru Dec 21 I guarntee I did better than $9,000 And you know what I had a load that paid $1.62 ...oh yeah I was home everynight and off on the weekends an worked 8-11 hours per day ..... although I did start one Sunday night

But instead of posting ?'s about every load that you consider moving make a better model

...... And don't you run dry van????

If this seems rude I apologize but I think I have 1 or 2 more strikes before I am banned so I can take the hit

 

" I think I have 1 or 2 more strikes before I am banned so I can take the hit "

My kind of driver. I dedicate my next adult beverage to you, sir. Salute!

 

I will never understand when someone attacks another persons way of doing business.

I can understand giving advice when they are asking but to just go after them is no good.

 

No offense taken; this board should be considered a forum for lively discussion

I did imply at the beginning and throughout my post that if the rate worked for him, it's his business to haul it for that. I never attacked the individual, just ran some numbers and made them available. Perhaps he or someone else that's reading never looked at things in that light.

Sure, if he averages his rates for the year, it may turn out that he'll be able to absorb the hit from this load. But my point is - why do that? He obviously didn't need to be where this load was going. It sounded like he just wanted something to do to make it feel like he was getting something done.

Accepting and hauling freight for these low rates only solidifies in the minds of the shippers and the brokers that the low rates are the norm, and increases resistance to bringing those rates up to where they will ultimately be profitable to the carriers.

You should also note that I never told him that he should or shouldn't have been considering that load, only that I personally would not have accepted that rate and I included reasons why, and that none of us should be hauling freight that we consider 'cheap'.

 

The reason why most the loads were cheap going out on Monday is because the places that value employees and usually pay higher rates were closed on Christmas Eve. Usually the only places shipping on a holiday are the one's who run 24/7/365 or they just need to get a load moved. It doesn't matter if it's Monday or Wednesday to them. Rate on those types of loads are usually set at a certin rate and they just keep it till someone comes and pulls it.

I hope you get some better luck on Wednesday...... and it could be worse, you could be in Laredo !!!!

 

Keep in mind this guy is in Rockwall, TX, just northeast of Dallas on I30. Doesn't matter what you're pulling, nothing is gonna pay "good" coming out of Texas the majority of the year. Texas has become an import state like Florida and Colorado. You typically have to get your money going in. I spent two days in Waco last week and couldn't dial the numbers fast enough to beat someone to the loads. Unless something changes the rates coming out of there are always going to be below norm on the loadboards. Last week there was so many trucks trying to get home rates where off by 30% or more. A container going to Jacksonville out of Hood paid $500 less last week than it did three weeks ago. You start out Monday morning calling on loads and passing on what you thought was too cheap only to find out later that day and on Tuesday that those "cheap" loads Monday morning were the best paying rates you've heard of so far.

 

im not going to break down my pay and profit margin for you but I don't own my truck and I don't have my own athoriety but by the time I pay for all my deductions and my company takes their piece of the pie I cant haul for less thank $1.75 otherwise im lucky to either break even or most likely im going into the red . I will take a lower paying load if I know its going to be a couple of days for a load due to the holidays or just to get me some place with better freight area I don't want to be down for this long and if I didn't have a problem with my truck that required I go into a dealer I would be home right now sitting under a $2.50/mile load but my break down caused me to lose my hometime load and with x-mas on Tuesday many broker companies were closed all weekend and x-mas eve for the holiday . The x-mas holiday has put me into a little set back but I tell u what ill be loaded and heading for home by sundown tomorrow