Independent truckers see end of the road

Discussion in 'Truckers Strike Forum' started by Omega, Mar 2, 2008.

  1. MedicineMan

    MedicineMan Road Train Member

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    as much as everyone would like to se lower fuel costs there is a few examples of our government controlling prices in the past and not a one of them has ever turned out good.
     
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  3. Steve & Lo

    Steve & Lo Medium Load Member

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    She doesn't realize that just because someone has been in this business for a long time.....doesn't automatically mean they know what they're doing. And, if you're fleet is a bunch of fuel hogs.....you're gonna lose your butt. I'd be willing to bet that those guys all had "Large Cars" running between 4-5 mpg. And you notice she didn't know a thing about FSC's....Duh!

    What she did say is something that way too many people in this industry say......regulation......more government rules. I can't believe how many drivers will cast their votes for someone that only wants to take more and more of their money....and give them less and less freedom. All because that particular party has always been how the trucking industry votes.

    And, I'd be willing to bet she's gonna vote for NObama! And, she can't name one accomplishment of his since he's been in office.

    And if she wants to see how socialized medicine will benefit this country.....just go to Canada and see all the people standing in line....for inferior treatment.
     
  4. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member


    Not only has the article been read, but it has been discussed on here in another thread over the entire weekend. I was polite enough to stifle my first impulse to close this one because it had already been posted and allowed it to continue on.

    In the discussion of the article, it has been pointed out that this particular driver who claims to only be making 11,000 a year in income is doing so on freight wich according to him is paying 3-4 dollar a loaded mile. If that is the rate that he is getting, as he claims, then I don;t see how he can be doing so poorly except as a result of his own business practices. He reports in the story a 64,000 dollar bill for fuel in the last 8 months, which means that h spends 96k annually for fuel. We (I) added up the numbers and it appears that his fuel mileage is somewhere in the 4.6-5.25 mpg range, which is pretty lousy. He apparently gets no surcharges for fuel, which based on the minmum pricing would add 20-24000 dollars a year to his income if he got it on half his annual mileage. Accodring to the article, he is pretty much dependent on brokers for his work, so it looks like he has no personal contacts and is living day to day on the largess of the brokers he deals with. I, and a few others have said that solely based on the information in the article, he has business problems related to his ability to negotiate contracts and rates.

    There have been some folks that have tried to claim that brokers are the rulers of the evil empire, but the fact is that what you make on a brokered load is directly related to what you negotiated for that brokered load. If you are getting too cheap of work from a broker, it is only because you said yes and signed the papers agreeing to do the work for that price.

    As for "fuel has doubled and pay has not" that seems to assume that their is a direct mathematical relationship between the price of fuel and the price of freight.
     
  5. Omega

    Omega Light Load Member

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    Feb 23, 2008
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    So all of you are saying that all truckers should work directly with shippers? Is that an easy process? At the same time, always charge a fuel surcharge for high cost fuel such as right now.

    and then that will put brokers out of business. Then the trucking industry will be in charge and not the brokers.

    We knew about avoiding brokers when we started, that's why we got the brokers license and studied brokering. We just need to push forward on working directly with shippers.
     
  6. Carolina_Beaver_Teaser

    Carolina_Beaver_Teaser Light Load Member

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    1st and foremost, if you are dealing with brokers that charge in excess of 8% without quickpay...... well, to say the least, you are a #######.
    As far as the article itself goes, who exactly are they talking about? I would Imagine the poor ole lots who buy a truck from the company they work for and then try to operate on flat rate of .87 to at the high end .97cpm.( ohhhhhhh yes, not to forget that all important surcharge)
    If you are running freight for less than $1.45 per mile its your own ###### fault. Don't blame it on the Swift's or JB's of the world.( by the way there break even is around $1.35 per mile) You can't really blame it on the broker for taking advantage of someone who doesn't know the game. So, who does that leave??????? It's a hard answer to swallow, but ever so true.
     
  7. Omega

    Omega Light Load Member

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    How do you know what the brokers percentage is?

    (I read that you can legally demand to see what the shipper paid the broker).

    Are you saying that you don't work directly with the shipper but are consistently able to get loads that pay over $1.45?

    And yes the trucking industry is sickeningly over-regulated. The broker end of it though, is not regulated at all. If we have to go around brokers and work our butts off to not get ripped off I guess that's what we have to do. :biggrin_25526:
     
  8. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member


    Part of any good business plan is to spread your risk, or not putting all your eggs in one basket. If you are solely dependent on brokers for all of your freight, then you have no risk management. You don't have to avoid brokers entirely, but I wouldn't run a business totally dependent on them. If you can't negotiate with them, then lease the truck to someone and let them take a portion of the income for taking care of that part of the work.

    Yes, it takes time and effort to directly market your services to a shipper. If, as some of the posters claim on here, the brokers are taking 2/3 of the load's price, then I would tend to believe that it would be worth the time and effort it takes to sell your business to shippers and cut off the middlemans share.

    of course, the same person claiming that all brokers take such a high portion neglected to read in the article whre the Landstar broker commented that they make their living on about 7% of the gross, not 65% as claimed.

    As for fuel surcharges, the Dept of Energy publishes the current fuel prices each week, and fuel surcharges are typically negotiated based on those numbers. so the fuel surcharge can filuctuate up and down each week in response to fuel prices. and a well made contract will reference that info as well as a baseline number and it will state the formula used to figure up any applicable surcharges. it's a negotiated item, and you have to ask for it to get it. there are no provisions requiring anyone to com you for fuel costs, but it is such a common item that getting it included in any contract should be a routine matter.
     
  9. Brickman

    Brickman Trucker Forum STAFF Staff Member

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    Burky the AGENTS for Landstar live on 7%. Landstar corporate gets more than that.
     
  10. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    You read wrong. You have no right to know what the arrangements are that the broker made with his other customer (the shipper). You are a separate contract, and have no right to see his other billings.

    Unless:

    If you have agreed to haul the load for a percentage of what he is being paid, the only way that you can know what your money equals if to know the gross number. in that case, as a percentage hauler, you have a legal right to see the original billings for the freight to check the gross amount that your percentage is based on. The right to review billings solely applies on percentage loads.

    If you agree to haul for a straight fee, or on a per mile basis, you have no right or any real reason to be involved in the brokers business dealings with anyone else.
     
  11. Omega

    Omega Light Load Member

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    Definitely the way to go.

    When he went to brokering school he learned how to negotiate and he's told brokers he will not haul for less than $1.65 and they hung up and found some chump who will haul for $1 a mile. This last load is really one of the few cheap freight loads he's taken just to get out of a dead area. Now we know it's better to dead head.

    It will take some time, but we will be working on hauling directly for shippers, so that like you said, you have a safe balance of both possibilities. Thanks for the helpful info. :biggrin_25517:
     
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