Load Boards

That's because you go through brokers... $2-$3 is good when you aren't paying Tom, #### and Harry to find work for you.

 

Have you guys heard of or used trulos load board?

 

No it isn't. $3 on the low end is ok but $2 is not. I average over $3.50 per loaded mile from brokers. Would you have me averaging that directly?

I view you the same as brokers. You're looking for low cost solutions same as them. You cut the middleman out and drop rates. Selling it as cut out the middleman and everyone yells hell yeah!!!You're not really offering anything special when someone with some wits about them could get the same rates from brokers. I make you all pay when I sense you need my truck. Don't care if it's direct or brokered.

 

I've had a broker say to me, sarcastically and in an entitled type of tone "well, how much do you need to run 211 miles?" He called me on a truck I had posted on DAT, and he was asking me to do a load that did not fit my criteria, and as you'll usually find out, most brokers don't understand that if a load is going to consume an entire day for a truck, and it's only 120 miles, it doesn't matter if it pays $3/mile (dry van freight). We have to produce a certain amount of revenue per day, which is why I have a "minimum" plus fuel rate for loads that are under 225 miles. So if a load is 200 miles, I charge $550 plus (currently) $0.57/mile (based on national average for diesel) for fuel.

I cant count how many times I've tried to genuinely educate some of the decent brokers out there that a truck has to gross a certain amount of revenue...now, if I had an owner op who had his truck paid for and only wanted to run around DFW, I'd take 80 mile loads for $250. But for me, personally, I've got to gross a minimum of $600/day ($220,000/yr) to make my world go round.

A little off topic, but amino transport called me today on a truck I had in Houston, which was posted to go to Louisiana, and she offered me $1300 on a 45,000lb load going to NC, and the pickup was 40 miles northwest of Houston. 1150 total miles for me. But, instead of laughing or hanging up on her, I pulled out the calculator and told her my fuel expense would be around $850, and everything else would wind up being a rate of $2280.

 

Rest assured that there is no shortage of owners who are willing to haul for fuel money. The problem is not really with brokers or shippers. It is with truck owners, whether they own one truck or 10,000. If a broker or shipper can move a load for $1, then they won't offer more. They will pay whatever it takes to move their load.

 

well put!!!

 

No we can't and I say can't not won't. Unfortunately, what this does is put many companies at a stand still because they can not afford to pay "whatever it takes" to move their load. We are not all big corporations with DEEP pockets. Some of us are one little plant trying to keep their product on the shelves and trying to deal with trucking prima donnas who claim they "need to have $3/mile". That has not and is not the truth. Drivers are cutting the throats of the very people who support them. They are also causing a rise in costs on the other end. You don't know what my product is nor how my rising costs may effect you but I promise it does. At least one person in your family buys what I sell and loves it and will continue to buy it no matter how high you make me charge them. Keep raising your invisible costs. You will pay me out of your pocket later.

 

Are you talking about $3/mile including fsc or is that on top?

 

If your business model requires your product to be transported at cost to meet your desired profit margins why don't you go buy your own trucks? I feel sure you earn a higher wage than one of your employees for running your business, yet you come on here and chastise us for expecting more than company driver wages for running our business. If you're so certain the consumers will buy your product no matter the price why bother coming on here trying to grind rates? Raise your price to a level everyone can make a healthy profit and stop worrying about what trucking companies make.

 

I'm a small business owner and you have no idea what true costs are to operate one truck, stay in business, replace equipment, maintain it, pay the bills and manage to save some small profit. Too many people like you who think a truck should work for very little to nothing at all or worse go in the red. I feel the same pity for you that you do the trucks like that you use and spit out. And there are far too many owners more than willing to ablige unreasonably low rates. It's too bad you feel that way. If you had your own trucks you would understand the difficulties. Prices are rising everywhere with no end in sight, have been for years, better get with the program or get left in the dust. $3 a mile is really just a sign of the times and really adjusted for inflation still probably cheap.