Frustration! Can someone clarify for me please

you click on my name, should come up a send msg.

 

WOW.....geeze Critters...you big meanie.........

to the OP, you will get more flies with honey....just sayin'

 

Bailey,

I think if you want accurate input, you need to at least tell us what type of freight/trailer we are talking about here. Or did I miss it?

I turned down $1100 on 521 loaded miles (full flatbed load) last Tuesday. That's $2.11/mile. It was 1 pick 2 drops and it was 200 miles out my route x $1.45/mile left me with a cost of $290 plus $50 in meals = $340. Would have burned an extra $100 in fuel being loaded instead of empty so that puts my cost to $440 leaving me with a pre tax profit of $660.

Would have taken me an extra 4 hours of driving (through Harrisburg twice and Baltimore twice) + 3 hours to load and an hour for each of the drops = 9 hours extra time.

So $660 for 9 hours extra work.....I thought about it but in the end it came down to not wanting to fight that traffic for $500 after tax. Plus that rate would have been a new low for me with that broker and I didn't want him to use it in future negotiations.

There are alot of things that go into the thought process. Not the least of which these guys that are telling you $4.50/mile might be negotiating with you. They are probably starting high and might be open to a counter offer.

 

Oxymoron .....cannot be used in the same sentence driver. Honest and broker.

JMO

 

The details of the OP's business plan were never really put out there, but the OP is not brokering the loads IMO. Every broker that I have pulled for has always had their brokerage's name on the BOL. This person isn't doing that from my understanding, therefore if the name isn't on the BOL, they a'int "accepting" the load as you put it. The carrier for whom he/she was dispatching would be on the BOL OR, if he/she was booking the freight through a broker, the broker's name would be on the BOL.

 

He sounds like he's a booking agent for a shipper. Rather than them trying to find and contract loads, he does the work and gets a commission for it.

As for the load. You can't just think in terms of per mile, or even per hour. You need to think in 'per day' terms. Especially if we're talking reefer. $2.34/mi might be good for a 500 mi load, but not if I have to sit with it for two days.

I tend to do multi-stop loads because they pay better. Just a few bucks extra for the stop isn't worth it. Also, depending on where those stops are and what product is unloaded. And how quickly those places unload you. If you're going to five walmart DCs, then no. I wouldn't even consider it. If they're little places that might get one or two pallets a day and I'm in and out in 15 minutes, sure. I'll do that for the $50 drop pay. The problem is, negotiating price without knowing the specifics, makes you assume the worst scenario.