cheap freight vs dead head

That's big company mentality and why they will always have plenty of guys such as yourself working for them.

Lots of shippers and receivers pay for quality.

 

its the same freight. so why are they gonna pay more for the same freight


we've learned from the success of walmart that they care more about price than they do customer service

if i'm wrong then look how big walmart is. if i'm wrong why has walmart killed the small business

if shippers/recievers really cared then Swift/Schneider/Werner/Marten/Prime/JB Hunt etc. ect. wouldn't be in business since nobody wants to use them.

nothing against any of those companies, but if these companies were as bad as people say they are then they wouldn't exist

 

If this was true 100% of the time I would have sold my truck a long time ago. There are loads where it just has to go NOW at whatever rate. I've hauled beer, which is notoriously cheap, for $3-4 a mile many times because the load had to go.

Then there are the loads where Swift, USA Truck, Knight, whomever didn't show up so I get my premium rate to haul.

People pay over market rates all the time because in the long run even if they pay me $1000 more for a load than Swift, the net effect on a load of 40,000 widgets is 2.5 cents per widget and there is still the concept of customer service believe it or not.

 

Some of the better rates I've ever gotten came from the likes of swift, knight, etc. and even done a few lucrative loads to Wal mart DC's. How can it be with these titans of low price? Regardless of the size of any company or what they do it is all about the averages. Why someone would cry about higher rates or say it ain't so doesn't make it not so. I read today that oil from North Dakota is being sold on the open markets for as little as $34 a barrel. And there are some companies selling their oil for $90 a barrel right now. That is how a free market works. Because someone says "that is the price" does not mean it is some fixed set in stone number that everyone is or must be paying.

 

You don't get it. I'll repeat the last sentence of my prior post maybe you missed it.

Lots of shippers and receivers pay for quality.

I'll dumb it down so maybe it will stick. There are shippers that have products they do not want handled by just anyone. They want to know that you will treat their product nicely, show up on time, and be courteous to their customer among many other things. They are willing to pay a premium to people that they KNOW will do this.

They know with a simple phone call they can find someone to haul their product cheaper but they do not because customer service is important to them and their customer.

 

Reason this, i accepted a load and drove into an area with few options. Lets say, Upper Central NorthWest, Montana, North Dakota. Im a Dry Van Operation...load paid well enuff going up. But, I went up without having a plan.

Broker ABC had freight & offered a cheap paying load: I declined his rate offering.

Searching around, i find im located in area better suited to Flat Beds. (Thinking to myself: Gee Olly what will i do now?) Opening up my web browser, i do a quick web-search, looking at businesses & their gross sales: Largest Sales goes to a producer of say Winter Red Wheat. I call the guy...whose a simple & direct man of action.

Describe my problem. He retorts, "well son, i normally use flat beds, they can haul greater amount of weight. Asking the Guy a ques: how many bags do you normally move on a flat bed & whats the weight of each bag. Rcvg the Guy's reply, I respond, i can move 2 bags less. Perhaps, we can work something out. The guy responds, Son, just where do you want to go". (myself, not amused but thinking silently, i want a state of mind to leave this area & be paid well for it.). I replied, Austin, Tx. The guy replies, you seem to be a smart kid, can you find any bakeries in your area with your tools.

As we're talking on the phone, i find a list, while the guy begins writing down those names. The guy calls around, makes a sale. Then i go home & get paid well for my time.

(The unanswered question is, how quickly do i need to move once empty...i say when im Darn well & ready to move)

 

The (removed) Producers i work with, will think your stupid...they want the driver to not drive the equipment fast to make the 1), Delivery & 2), subsequent pickup. They Pay, for the Truck to drive slow...ie. keep the product safe for their buyer.

 

hauling cheap freight hurts everyone all around

but there is a difference between cheap freight and the cost for whatever lane you run

some lanes run $3 up and $1.50 back (from my experience) so to call the $1.50 cheap is not to understand the lane

 

And also to think a flat rate of $1.60 or $1.80 will work everywhere all the time because you think freight always moves for nothing is not to understand supply and demand. It's simple. More freight than trucks to haul it prices rise. Less freight more trucks, rates go down. People that will move at a lower price regardless is a given under any circumstances but for customers scrambling to locate trucks to haul their freight that does not magically create trucks where there are none and make rates go down. It's amusing how much bandwidth gets wasted on Jabber a blatant troll who doesn't even own a truck.