Have rates Fallen?

If too many trucks haul just a full truckload just to pay for fuel and get home, then guess what happens to the rates overall? They go down, down, down. Everybody is going home everywhere. One guys "backhaul" is another's bread and butter. If you can't cover your operating costs plus a minimum amount for wages, then it's better to deadhead and to a point where the rate is reasonable. Sure the all miles average may be in the dirt and just paying fuel, but you're not setting a rate trend that kills your's and everybody elses livelyhood.

 

I'm pulling my best week of the year

 

And that is your choice, haul cheap garbage freight for little or no profit, and continue to wear out your junk equipment. Then one day you will be broke to the point you have no choice but to give it up, and some other misguided individual will take your place in the rat race to the bottom. Me personally, I will eat the cost of the fuel and put the truck in the wind before I work for nothing.

 

Put yourself at risk to a claim. If involved in an at-fault accident, cargo related claims from an accident would be included. Loaded trailer requires more fuel to haul. Instead of direct point-to-point when empty, you're driving to a pick up, and then to a delivery in addition to your origination and final destination. If you run a reefer, you're using that engine with wear and tear, and using diesel for that.

So, no. I won't haul cheap just to 'get myself home'.

 

You do know , you just started a new thread?

 

I would never take a 200 mile run for $600. These drivers don't think these days it's not enough miles they get tricked by $2 to $3 a mile.

 

I'll go out to pa for $3 a mile and look for a load back to a hotspot again for $1 a mile light load if I don't get one ill dead head 600 miles. It's sad man I hate this $1 mile Crap but it will never change too many new driver getting in and most drivers just not leaning. I'm pulling a dry van

 

What would you rather haul, a 200 mile run for $600, or a 600 mile run for $1000?