what is generally enough $$$$$ for a decent load to haul?

This could get interesting, time to crack open a bud and wait.....

 

Dude! I cracked the knob creek open and asked the wife to grab my flame proof suit!

 

Don't try to make a fortune on just one load, shoot for either making $200-400 dollars on a load or maybe a good 10-12%. Remember that quantity is what matters. If you get a reputation as a good paying agent you will have dependable truckers at your disposal. Answer the phone when we call you or at least try to get back as soon as possible. $2.00 a mile is usually a good number, but this is all dependent on the lane and the load and the commodity and the season. $2.00 going to a place like say ND is nothing since you have to consider the driver will bounce a good 500 miles to pick up something decent coming back. If you try to move a load of pipe 100 miles for $200, no one will bite that. Take into account time for the shorter runs. If you need to tarp realize it takes an extra 3 hours total to tarp and untarp of hard labor on a good day and maybe a whole day in a winter storm. This deserves a premium. Be fair and just and straightforward, and please oh please don't post loads in one city when in reality it picks up 300 miles away in a town in the middle of nowhere. A lot of times the broker doesn't even have the courtesy to tell me until I see it on the rate confirmation that instead of picking up in Houston its in Sweatwater TX. Like everything else you can only learn from experience but a little common sense and courtesy goes a long way.

 

$1200,make it worth your time and the drivers time.Most drivers dont want to haul 44,000 lbs of flour across the states,waste 6 hours getting unloaded and get a surprise $100-$150 dollar lumper fee. Also make sure the ship to address is not just the billing address. Clean light loads preferred that pay well.Sure take a cheaper backhaul if its light and pays the drivers way back.

 

Flour and lumper fees on an open deck??

 

$1000 a day/ or more. If what you have to offer can reasonably be done in less than a day then work the percentage, half day starts at $600 if it's easy, more if I have to do anything beyond a few straps.

Also, getting the idea in your head that guys shoot for $2.00 a mile is counterproductive. You'll always be looking for trucks as the folks taking those loads won't be around when they run out of fun money. Loads 250 miles or more I'm shooting for $4 a mile. Less miles means higher $ per mile.

More complications means more money. There's 1) good 2) cheap 3) now. Pick two, you can't have three.

 

Good brokers email me what they have coming up as soon as they know. They call if something comes up that may fit my need. They call me before posting anything they think I'd like on a loadboard. Good brokers want a fax/email of an invoice, BOL, and pod. They cut me a check the day they get those (the day I deliver and send them). Good brokers don't bounce checks. Good brokers offer freight that pays enough to be worth hauling, and have it consistently.


Pitfalls i see: people undercut themselves whether broker or trucker. If all you have to sell a customer on is price, that's not the customer you want. They'll drop you as soon as someone else offers a lower price. Leave those folks to the mega fleets.


what do I wish would change: I *wish* that good brokers were more plentiful. Then again, I wish folks that considered themselves professional were more common, whether broker, trucker or otherwise.

 

Yawn. This question had such potential but has turned out to be such a dud. I'm going to bed.

 

Awwwcome on! Hang in there! Bed is over-rated. I just learned stuff!