cheap freight vs dead head

I was sitting in Jacksonville, Fla on a Monday. Dispatcher offers me a load going from Jacksonville to Charlotte,NC because Charlotte was a better area. The lad from Jacksonville was extremely cheap and heavy (isnt that usually the case?). I told her that if she has a decent load in Jacksonville, why dont I just bounce up there and load it Tuesday morning? That gives me enough time to get that load off wherever it may go and still get another run for the weekend.
She tells me that taking this load is better than deadheading. Really? Pick up a BS load that has to be tarped. Deliver Tuesday morning and then pick through garbage loads in Charlotte til Tuesday afternoon. Finally get a decent load, but then youre too late to pick it up, so you load Wednesday and hope that you can deliver by Friday. If you cant deliver Friday, odds are you will deliver Monday. If you are a lease driver, with a weekly truck payment you will get a negative paycheck which will roll over into the next week and start snowballing.

IMO Time is more important than money. Say it's Monday and you get 3 load offers. One picks up Monday morning and delivers Monday night for $2/mile. One picks up Monday and has a 10am Wednesday delivery appointment for $3.50/mile. One picks up Tuesday and delivers Wednesday for $2.50/ mile. All 3 trips are 600 miles. Which one would you take?

 

you'll be washing more of them if you turn down cheap freight and sit and park

 

Option 4 the prices on these loads are all possibly negotiable up. Option 5 pick none of these loads unless they were amenable to paying a price named by me on any of the 3. Of the 3 options, in the moment load # 1 has the potential to be the most lucrative and best one because of quick load time and delivery the same night. Not for a cheap $2 a mile. Overnight 600 miles asap are they serious, it would command $3 on the low end in a decent market if they were serious.

This would be how I would book a head haul. The back haul would be market dependent based on the current "book it now" rate offers on loads in the delivery area if unknown or if I already know the delivery area is any good or not. You only have to score a really good load a few times then build around that. Makes life much less frustrating than booking marginal loads and trying to build around those. The truck is not going to be moving 365 days out of a year anyways so be picky and choosy on these days it does move. Stop stressing out over missing a day of cheap work the sky will not fall.

 

After thinking hard about it, I would pick the 2nd load and here is my reasoning... The first load really isn't feasible, 600 miles in 11 hours is duable but, not likely, with load times and everything, plus I don't drive 75 unless I have no choice. The 3rd load is too much time and not worth losing a day for an extra .50cpm. The 2nd load makes more sense for me, slow and easy for better fuel milege plus, I would be able to find another load by Wednesday..

 

Reading this makes you realize why brokers think everyone wants to haul just to cover fuel...

 

Thank You for a most informational, and honest, post.

I wish more folks would do this.

Truck On Driver....

 

I'm guessing because they see it done every day.

 

I used to post my truck looking for loads on load ITS,,broker would call me and offer me a cheap load saying " I see you are from Nevada and I have a load to get you home" The rate would be in the dirt and I'd tell the broker "I am not in the going home business" As long as a driver takes a cheap load for what ever reason froma cheap broker then the good brokers with good paying loads will never get the freight,
If a broker or carrier makes a profit off a load then so should the trucker,,Never haul below your cost you only keep bad brokers with cheap freight in business,, Why loose money on a load so a broker can make money

 

Every trip stands on its own. Not every load has to. I count every trip from the time I leave my house until I return home. I know where the profit centers are for my truck, based on the customers the company I am leased to has.

That said, I will only (and don't all of the time) haul cheaper freight, if it makes sense ie: goes exactly or real close to the area I need to be in and doesn't mess up my timelines.

We all have horror stories that come from bad decisions, the trick is to learn from them and don't repeat them if possible.

I am leaving today with a LTL shipment that pays 1.87 a mile to New York. Not good I know, but this is as a favor to get someone (who gives me normally 2.75 load) out of a bind. Long term relationship with this person means more than that extra 88 a mile. And yes I have contemplated getting another LTL to put on there (which would make up the difference) but I have to be back in Ft Worth by next Saturday, so I can't take the chance another partial would mess up my timeline.

Just an example of what any OO should think about on a weekly basis, IMO. Consider all factors.

 

deadhead or cheap ? Yes, if it SERVES YOU.

I get a lot of good paying loads from Peoria to Minneapolis. not much coming back from there, pretty much why loads going there pay well. I have been able to create some options for myself out of there to make it manageable, but if I have more good paying loads available to haul from Peoria, well, yah I'll haul a cheapie, if it gets me back to load the next day, if it's easy, etc... if it SERVES ME.

I used to be an idealist, say no to cheap freight ! One mans backhaul is another mans front haul !! But here's the thing, when I was struggling and couldn't find a good rate to save my tail, wasn't a single one of those guys there helping make sure I got good rates. And I'm not here to make sure they get good rates. I'm gonna keep looking for more and better options out of weak areas I frequent, believe me, nobody beats the bushes harder than I do. But in the meantime if a cheap load serves me and there is no better option, it's going on the truck. Your ideals don't pay my bealls !

Also, it is naive to think that just because no one hauls a load the rate will go up. Here is why, let's say company A makes widgets in Minneapolis, company B makes widgets in Columbus, OH. a major widget buyer in IL is getting his widgets from company A because their delivered price is slightly lower. The first thing that could happen is nobody hauls the widgets for company A, they raise the rate, IL widget buyer starts buying from company B in OH instead, no more cheap loads out of Minneapolis ! And you now have those same trucks competing for even less loads.