Are we gonna Learn?

What if I find a load paying $5/mile going to Fargo, ND ? Are you saying I should deadhead out rather than grabbing a $1/mile load of straw to get me over to WI if that is all I can find ? Or should I just not go there to begin with ?

 

2insane, I agree I will not move my truck for $1.00 per mile. And yes danny I would deadhead out of Fargo before I pulled a $1.00 a mile load of anything anywhere. I have my own authority,but cant afford to use it because there are "O/O's" everywhere that will run it for $1.00 a mile or less just to "get out of there".People like that are a 1 man JB in my opinion. That is why this industry is in the shape it's in. I have "leased" my truck to a tanker outfit and run into the same thing here, a lot of guys will take a load for next to nothing to get back home or get to the "good stuff". I will not, I'll go empty before I give them the satisfaction. All though I personally have not deadheaded out of Fargo, I have deadheaded out of Chicago several times because the freight they offered was to cheap. I'm not going to debate who makes more money or how they make it, but in my opinion(and just MY opinion) anyone that hauls anything for $1.00 a mile deserves what they get.

 

well then, let me ask you this. If you could haul a load to Fargo for $4/mile and get a load back out for $2/mile would that be good business ? What's the difference between $5 going and $1 back or $4 going and $2 back ?

I understand the idea that nobody takes it the rate goes up. It's kind of a moot point, because it's never going to happen, but let's just say it did. Let's say no trucker takes a load for less than $2 out of Fargo. The first problem you have is those farmers buying straw in WI are probably going to find their straw cheaper elsewhere, it may just not compute to sell straw from ND to WI if nobody will haul it for less than $2. But let's say that's not even the case, let's say that these farmers have been screwing over truckers and they got plenty of money to pay $2/mile or whatever. So then what happens ? We're all getting $2/mile back from Fargo ? So nobody is scared to go there anymore and they start taking a little less to go there maybe ? people start taking loads there for $2/mile maybe ? Is that good business ? What happens when the first guy hauls a load of straw out for $1.70 or $1.80 ?

Hey, I'm not against you deadheading out. $1/mile is barely worth it, it might be just as good to deadhead to Minneapolis if you can find a decent load and get it on your truck first thing rather than fool around loading and unloading that straw. But you guys want to point your finger at the guy taking that $1/mile load. Maybe you should point your finger at the guy who GOES IN for $2.50/mile. If it wasn't for all the trucks GOING IN cheap there wouldn't be the freight imbalance that drives those prices down.

 

The hard part is understanding the business not making money in it. Once you understand what drives freight rates you will be in a much better position to capitalize on it. Contract freight drives rates and independents don't have enough to even put a ripple in the pond and they are not reporting to be included in the tracking.

 

I don't think your dispatcher will allow you to put $1/mile freight on your truck. Just saying.

 

you back haul is somebody outbound that's the problem.so remember that when rates drop in your area.

 

IMO, It is all a matter of preference. If I dropped a load on the deck to Fargo for $4.00/mi, and all I could find out of there was a $1.00/mile, I may or may not take it. How much fuel will I burn, or if the broker is ####y and I am in a bad mood, i'll tell them to shove it where the sun dont shine. Same goes with how hard the load is to secure. Does it need tarps? Padding? If it is a tarp load of hay, I am not going to do it. It isnt worth me pulling my rags out. If it is something I can strap and go, sure.

Look at it this way:

Scenario #1) I take a load from Atlanta, GA to Fargo, ND (1408 miles) for $5632.00 ($4.00/ mile) then I LUCK up and find one out of Fargo to Knoxville, TN (1187 miles) for $1200.00, add both loads together that totals up to $6632 for roughly 2600 miles or $2.55/ mile.

OR

Scenario #2) Now on the other hand I take the same load to Fargo from Atlanta, then turn around and deadhead to Knoxville because that is where the first available load is I have the same 2600 miles for $5632 or $2.16/mile. A difference of $.39 cpm!

OR

Scenario #3) You take that same load to Fargo from Atlanta for $5632. Then, from deadhead from Fargo to St Paul, MN (250 miles dead head) and you get a load to Knoxville, TN for $1500 for 944 miles, add it this leg of the trip up, from Fargo to Knoxville via St Paul 1200 miles for $1500 dollars. Add the whole trip up you get $6932.00 for 2608 miles or $2.65/ mile.

Looking at scenario three you made the most money, but unloading in Fargo at 8am-9:30am, then deadhead to St Paul 250 miles call it 5 hours that puts you there at 2:30pm non stop straight through. The chances of you getting load that day are slim to none. If I loaded in Fargo same day for 1.00/mile the next morning while you getting loaded I am eating breakfast in Gary, IN about to roll. You lost a days driving while I torqued that low paying load to Knoxville. The next morning I am unloading in Knoxville and you are still a day or will unload the same day I did but probably wont be able to reload unless you can find one that loads late. Meanwhile I am pulling my High Dollar load and I am 400 miles in front of you.

No matter how long you sit in Fargo you aren't going to find anything paying very good to come back out and if you do you probably have sit there at least a day or more to find it. There is just way too many truck to loads available. With the oil boom up there, there is a lot of freight going in but nothing coming out, therefore you get a high capacity of trucks waiting for freight. This in turn drags the rates down. This is true in a lot of places not just Fargo. It is just the way freight is and will be.

 

If you refer to these true owner operators as carriers, that would eliminate some of the confusion.

As a business owner, there is no "we". There is only me and you and them.

I figure you and them can do whatever you and they want. If they are screwing around with dollar a mile freight, that means they aren't available to load the good stuff and that will drive my rates up.

My advice is to quit complaining about things you can't control and worry about what you can.

 

I am not to smart however, I think if no one hauled freight for less than $2.00 per mile then two dollars per mile would be the cheap frieght!