cheap freight vs dead head

Because some idiot keeps booking freight that goes to an "dead area" and deadheading out and didn't get enough to cover his costs going in..

 

Let me say this, if it's dock to dock, not super heavy, can get it off first thing in the morning, & it's not as far to deadhead to pick up that load then yes I would take that cheap load to an better area. It would at least give me a full tank of fuel.

I have deadhead out of Florida 500 miles to Atlanta to get freight, just made things alot easier. My rate into Florida was good enough to cover my costs coming out.

Just make sure your costs are good going in into said "dead areas" and you shouldn't have an issue. Sounds simple to me

 

its a tricky situation that can work good one day and not the next

$3 going up, i figure $1.50 coming back (i dont mind a $2.25 avg)

sometimes i may not get that $1.50 coming back but its going to have to be under 10k lbs (making it a profitable deadhead)

"no to cheap freight"is a good motto, but you gotta realize, that freight is going to move, with or without you, why should you go broke?

now, there are times when the load is not paying enough (guy wanted me to pull 43k lbs to upstate NY for $2) i laughed as i hung up the phone

sometimes,, they need that freight to "sit on the dock"

sometimes, its to my benefit to take it

 

Flatbed Division load from louisiana going to houston texas 329 miles pay is around $1400,coming back to louisiana if thats where im headed and its a live load paying $850 ill take it,simply because im heading back to that area to reposition,but i hate sitting 3-4 hours just to get Loaded drive me nuts lol,i prefer loads that dont have unload times but rather get there,get in line 1st come,1st serve

Louisiana,Texas,Alabama,Mississippi,Kentucky,Oklahoma,Missouri,Kansas,Florida, i try n Triangulate in that Format but i try not to sit long,depending if im lazy ill wait a day for a day if not,im deadheading back,sometimes loads cancel while you enroute after you book em, $hhit happens ir should i say BROKERS find someone willing to haul it for CHEAPER and X you out the EQUATION

but THE KEY too hauling is NOT FOCUS ON LONG MILEAGE,but rather HIGHER PAY PER MILE and short runs and make sure you NEGOTIATE for your Deadheading for 200 miles if need be into that rate thats key also,some BROKERS will allow 2-3% of NEGOTIATING,thats why you put a Smart Pretty Sounding gal on the phone and let her do the TALKING for ya,lmao

if you take a load paying $1000 but have to deadhead 500 miles back to a better paying load, well that $1000 you just made has dropped to $500-750 or so depending on your MPG,

you dont have to run yo a&& off to make money in this business unless you are a L/P or L,but to each there own
EVERYBODY IS DIFFERENT

 

you do realise that if the cost of freight goes up so do the cost of goods at the store

people complain about the cost going up and evenrtually the reason will be "because truck drivers wanted more pay"..now we're the jerks

people already see us driving $137,000 trucks that are replaced every 3-5 years. so its pretty obvious we have money. Yes the trucks belong to somebody else, and the big carriers are under contract to replace trucks every 3 years, but people don't know that (or care)

if civilians can't replace their cars that often and have to drive cars 5-7 years old, if they HAVE to do that we should haveto as well. why do we get new vehicles every 3-5 years but they don't. they work just as hard as we do.

oh and with $3 fuel and trucks idling they won't buy "we need more money" because if we can afford to idle then we don't need more money

as a driver I understand all this, but i'm telling you how the "regular" people will view this

 

cheap freight is better than no freight

you're unemployed, have no money and have bills due what do you do?

do you go work at McDonalds for slave wages which isn't pretty, but 1) your family can eat? and 2) the bills get SOMETHING paid. or do you just sit back on the couch and complain how you have no work and have starving, homeless and nude family?

cheap freight is better than no freight

 

i've read that its about $1.60/mi to operate a truck, is that about what y'all are doing as well?

so, as long as the load offers $1.61 you make a profit, its not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but profit is profit

 

I'm not sure you get the picture. Cheap freight is "OK" once in a while in very specific circumstances. I'm not going to spend 3 days losing money on a load when I can deadhead for a day to get to a money making load. Or if I got enough money to deadhead I'm sure not spending too much time looking for that dirt cheap load and laying over is definitely not an option. Point is, I have so much time I'm willing to be in the truck every couple weeks and in that time I need to be productive enough to earn a paycheck PLUS a profit for the money I have invested in equipment and what not. If it becomes impossible to do that then what's the point of being in business? I might as well sell my truck and open a taco stand or something. I like driving but I don't leave home to impress people with my shiny truck, I do it for the $$$.

There are just times when it makes sense to run empty to a better paying load. I'm not sure some guys get the concept that their time has value, if you spend time hauling a losing load you can never ever get that time back to haul a profitable one. It's gone forever.

 

Look at it this way, if my cost plus a driving wage is $1.60, I still have over $100,000 invested in my business. Even at the crappy interest rates today if I can't make $1.60 + a return on that $100,000 I'm wasting my time being in this business because I could invest my capital elsewhere and do better or drive someone else's truck for a wage plus invest my $100,000 in a CD or whatever and come out ahead. That's the way I look at it anyway. It's a business that has to turn a profit or I'm out.

 

You're wasting your time, shortbuskid, he's never going to get it ...