What do You think?

I see you are from Round Lake, IL. If you are able to load something out of Chicago in the morning and unload in the Indy area before loading this shipment, it could work. I would assume you could easily find something paying $500 gross to Indy. Then your making about $1000 for the day. You could make a living at this number. If you are talking about grossing $600/day you might as well go flip burgers.

 

Indy to Chicago, if you can get $625, I think that's really good, and then Chicago back to Indy, from what I've researched, you might could get more than that. In fact, I'm thinking Indy to Chicago, you'd be doing good right now if you could get $500.

Chicago to Indy and back, in one day, grossing $1,200. That is not bad at all, in fact, I think that is pretty dang good.

If you did 8 loads a week at that, you might could make $1.20/mi pure profit.

 

On short loads that are going to take up your whole day and you won't get a reload you can't factor it by dollars per mile, you need to factor it by a daily rate. So no, $600 is not a GREAT rate, but it is decent. If you are going to call us BS artists for stating this fact then either you are not an o/o or have no clue how to run a business.

Edit to add: And in the OP's first post he said it's an evening delivery with low chances of a reload. This would require your full day rate.

As CPAPE stated, at $600 a day gross you might as well go flip burgers.

 

Ahh, you might want to brush up on your comprehension skills..........I'll be nice for now since I don't know you!!

Oh yea, might wanna try a spell checker.....hear, here.....Yea man, I here you!! LOL

 

I would agree here, I mean what else would you be doing that evening.......agreed on the $750 daily rate but for me it is not written in stone. If it's a "cake run" what the heck, if it's a PITA load then I'd probably hang in Indy and watch television.......

 

Some of the most profitable O/O's I have seen will stay in an area with a ton of short hauls and not budge off of there daily/load rate. I learned that early by chance and stuck with it. Only time I came off of it was when I completed a shorty at my minimum and there was something I could grab in the afternoon and get off the next morning. Looked at it like gravy.

Now, I also looked at PITA factor. For me, getting MT at night in Chicago was HUGE PITA.

 

There is so much you haven't told us.. what's the commodity? How long to load and unload? Is it palletized? Do they require an abundance of decking beams, straps, blankets?? No touch to the driver, or are you expected to unload?? Does it deliver to a facility with a loading dock?? I mean there's a lot I would be asking before agreeing to that rate. If it was, bump the dock, 20 min to load, drive the 205mi, bump the dock and 20 min unload then, sure, this time of year it's not that bad..... I don't really do short stuff like this load and I figure an hourly rate when I do... $600, that number sounds to me like the initial offer the broker made... I very rarely accept the initial offer...and you want to have your number, that you present to them, then you can discuss meeting in the middle somewhere...really, you need to know what the commodity is, that alone will let you know if it's something that can be profitable..I'd ask about the load/unload time involved.... if they take 2 hrs to load and 2 to unload, 6 bills is no great bargain... that kind of load/unload puts it around a grand, and I would consider doing it for 9 if, if, it was late in the day and I was already in Indy with nothing else promising on my radar screen... If you're going to focus on short runs you'll need to come up with an hourly rate.... your fuel cost for an hour at highway speed is going to be pretty close to $40...

 

600 is good money coming up to Chicago. Your load down should pay around 650 or so.Thats a pretty good day. Most freight coming out of Indy for a van pays between 375-450. Take the money and run.

 

if it's a repeatable load, then the fact it unloads in the evening is a positive in my book. find the other half Chicago - Indy and you got it.

 

If it's an evening unload, then why take it? You're absolutely right, I think, that if you're going to babysit a short load like that all day, then you need a daily rate.

I would have to be able to deliver the load as soon as I got there, or I would require $80/hr for every hour I sit there until I'm unloaded. And I'd let the broker know that before I accept, and if they don't like it, find another truck.

The idea of short loads is to do two of them a day. If you can't do that at least 3 days a week, then you're taking the wrong loads.