Bulk IC switching to Van choice!

When I said "oh hell no" it was not because of the lifestyle you live.. rather staying out and not earning what you're worth.
In my opinion ALL mileage rate O/O jobs are a rip off and pay terrible!
Which is easily proven.
I mean really? Take on all the risk and responsibility of running a truck to be paid by the mile just like a company driver?
On mileage the company gets all the cash on good loads while still paying the driver some cheap rate.
On percentage both the DRIVER and the company benefit off of high paying loads.
Before someone beats me to it.. "what about the bad loads and cheap freight on percentage"?
Simple.. don't haul it OR don't go into bad areas unless you earn a lot going in.

As far as numbers go and the way I run here's a breakdown of what I've learned.
Again this is just me running and staying out away from home.

After expenses:
$2000 a week = pretty easy and I can be lazy
$2500 a week = my goal in which I work as I should but not too hard.
$3000+ a week = possible BUT requires working hard and/or getting lucky with loads

I got my truck out the of shop about a month ago and here's my past three weeks:





Bare in mind I run only where the money is and I do loads that aren't exactly "fun".

Point of this is that's with "cheap Schneider Van freight" "giving up a terrible 35%" "leasing onto a mega carrier" blah blah blah.
BUT! It's Percentage! That is the key to actually making money is not being paid by some cheap mileage rate.
Doesn't have to be here there's other companies out there that pay %

Hope this helps and hope it gives you confidence moving forward in the direction you're headed.
It appears you realize you're currently getting screwed, know you can do better and you're a hard worker!
Go get it

 

Learning the freight system will probably be your biggest challenge moving straight into choice with little knowledge of our van customer base. Good luck, obviously can't get any worse than the situation you were in. It make absolutely no sense dealing with all the bulk headaches and making less money too.

 

Read what Stevep said.. he's right.

While yes currently you can't get much worse and you CAN earn a lot more on choice it's not soo simple.
You just don't log on and bamm! All huge paying loads are lined up for you!
It doesn't work that way.

I suggest reading through a lot of the Schneider choice threads on here to absorb as much as possible.
Learning as much as possible is key.
I didn't do well this starting off...
Even if you think you've done you're homework once you get started there's even more to learn.

Like where are Schneider's high paying customers?
What is a good rate per area?
When should I book a load vs wait knowing there will be better?
When to run short loads vs taking a longer load?
Or even learning when to escape a certain area vs staying?
All those things you learn as time goes by while working.

Some of the basics that are a good starting point is that the best money is in the Midwest and Northeast.
Shorter loads pay better than longer ones but there's greater risk in doing shorter loads.
It's cheap to leave Florida, Colorado and Northeast so you better get huge $$$ if you go in.
The Northeast however you can run regional and do fine unlike Florida and Colorado though.

 

You'll never have to deal with that hole in the wall Cory OC ever again. That place is the worst LOL.

I ran bulk as a company driver back in 2013 for 3 months. At one point I took 3 34hr restarts in one week. And that was before workflow, so it's not just a workflow problem. I don't think they have enough equipment personally. Always seemed like a big headache finding the correct trailers and then just as long getting them prepped at the tank wash. Schneider doesn't have all their oars in the water on the bulk side as far as I'm concerned. Went straight back to van after 3 months of that nonsense.

By the way, nice Down avatar LOL

 

whoa this is a worrisome thread. I had heard that Bulk would implement % Choice in June of this year. I was waiting for this to move to IC % Bulk (from an outside carrier).

Can others with Schneider IC Bulk experience chime in?

And Kearny would become my "Home" terminal