Why pull cheap freight.

Here we go again with the cheap freight...im staying out of this one...okay maybe not before you go talking about how insurance is cheap, and all that jazz thing about the guys that have an insurance payment, truck note, trailer note, etc. I dont haul cheap, but i do know every day my trucks sit and dont move an inch it costs me $200. And thats just with the truck payment trailer payment and insurance. Not counting the wear on the rubber sitting out in the sun all day not moving an inch (alright so thats a stretch) but for somebody that supposedly knows the industry you dont sound like it. Since when did $8000 a year. For insurance become cheap? Or are you a usbip carrier that dont have the proper insurance, authority etc etc?

 

Well, I can't tell you why everybody pulls cheap freight, but I can tell you why I am pulling cheap freight right now. I had a broker who's been pretty good to me send out an email needing help because somebody screwed him and abandoned a van trailer @ Salt Lake City, UT. I was in IL at the time. I found a power only load from Channahon, IL to SLC paying okay, so I called him and told him I'd take care of it for him. started looking for loads back and was repeatedly offered $1.30/mile (this trailer needs to find it's way to SC in a timely manner btw). Finally got one paying $1.50 with a stop in IL, and a stop in Knoxville, TN. I'm not thrilled about it, but if I can get a partial on after the drop in IL and get a little good kharma and some $$$ for saving my broker's ### maybe it will work out okay. let the flaming begin !

 

Come guys, don't feed the trolls!!

 

i like cheap freight! all these trucks that are hauling cheap freight are leaving the good paying loads for me to haul!!

 

Meanwhile in The Shippers Forum, there are threads going on about saying no to expensive freight. Why should some shippers have to suffer having expensive shipping just because there are some shippers who are paying too much, and raising the rates for everyone else? The government is trying to force factories to survive on minimum wage so that those big nasty crap mega trucking companies who throw their pee bottles all over our lot can make a fortune off of our plight.

 

O Brother!!!!!! Its been a couple of days... Why not bring it up?

 

i should back hand all you cheap freight haulers like a bich...i hate you,you have no stand up balls...brokers are taking 50% of the money AND THATS THE TRUTH..they are all on the same load boards,talk to each other on the phone and organized with each firm how much they want to pay the carriers...they organized like a mafia you bunch of idiots...its time to fight fire with fire...organize your own trucker goon squad and pay these brokers a visit one agency at a time...

 

The thing that bugs me is - Where is the fuel surcharge on back-haul freight? One must have to imagine that brokers are aware of the current cost of fuel. When they quote rates to shippers, they definitely must charge extra for the high cost of fuel. Amazingly in many cases, they somehow neglect to pass this on to us. In the last few years, I can only recall one broker who paid me the actual full fuel surcharge. Most of them simply say it's magically already included in the rate. Sadly, many good shippers have to pay the fuel surcharge both ways because the back-haul freight doesn't pay for any fuel in many cases.

I feel a wild-cat truck (non-dedicated) needs $3.00+ per mile on outbound freight in the likely event it will be forced to haul cheap freight to get back home. Granted, if the truck could come back for $2.00 per mile with little deadhead, then it could haul for less on the front-haul.

Fellow truckers, when booking loads with brokers, please ask for the full amount of the fuel surcharge. Yeah, I know, a lot of brokers don't seem to know what that is. Think about it - fuel is costing us around $.70 for every mile right now! Right now with $4.00 fuel, a minimum fuel surcharge should be around $.50 per loaded mile. So say for example if the rate is $1.25 per mile, then one must assume the load would only pay $.75 if no fuel surcharge was included. One must ask themselves, would I haul that load for $.75 per mile if fuel was back down to $1.25 per gallon? If the answer is yes, then great, you're making the big bucks like we did back in the 90's.

In my mind, I define "cheap freight" as freight that doesn't cover the cost to haul it. Granted, certain cheap freight will work out okay if your truck is in the right place at the right time. If you need the money that bad, then go ahead and haul it.

I keep a calculator on my dash and do the combined math of all my loads for the week to make sure I'm making a profit. Sometimes, when you figure in the extra miles and time to haul a cheap load, in the end it actually would have been more profitable to simply put the truck "in the wind".

 

Fuel surcharge doesnt mean jack!! You should know how much to break even on every load. Also , there are other factors when quoting a rate. As long as i get my rate, i can careless on fuel surcharge.

 

"break even"? This is the problem with the mindset of many modern day truckers. Sorry, but I'm not interested in "breaking even".

Have you ever considered the factor of inflation?