Shippers low ball tactic.

Well I do know of a few guys here that are getting those rates and they are surving this cut throat market. One works out of the north east.. Yes he has had his slow times, but he also has been steady with his current customers and he has also picked a few new ones.
Stick to your guns and quit running for fuel money.
This year has sucked for me. I finally got with a new carrier last month and my work has come up, plus my money to me.
They work alot of broker freight. We give a rate, if we get it great.
If not we look for other work.
I took a ld. to Miami and ended up bouncing back to the Louisville area and will change trailers. Did I make money? yes
The bounce back even figured in..
So it's there if you provide a great service and do your job. Just not showing up like a bum and your flip flops and cut off sweat pants.

 

You don't quote short loads per mile, you have to allow for time involved. $5 per mile is great but not if you only go 50 miles

 

That's the point: some guys right now are making huge amount of money compared to other guys. Reason is in a situation when the market is like this these guys know what they're doing. In hot markets anyone can get 2.30 a mile. In bad markets is where dispatching skills actually kick in, and a actual plan.

 

Took a 250 mile load last week for $1000 thru a broker. You were giving the shipper a fair price!

 

Shippers often set their own rates, it's only after their loads sit for 4 days that they bother to read the lane data in the rate quote I sent them, which includes average rates for the lane for 7, 30, and 90 days and the current load to truck ratios. Some are still baffled when their sub dollar a mile 45k load is still sitting when the market average is 2.50 and the load to truck ratio is 5:1

 

Bottom line is this a business. Why are you in it? To make MONEY. Why are shippers in it? TO make money. Some guys are into the trucking side, to MAKE MONEY. If a shipper thinks I should be grateful to profit clean $150 today to haul his crap with all the risk, and away from my family, I think he should be grateful his warehouse isn't on fire. In my crazy mind I think every shipper is grateful that I showed up. If they're not, I know my family, and my wife is when I come home. Freight doesn't mean much to some guys like me, the pay does, and my services better be appreciated. If shipper overpaid, and is mad at that, he can go be a little ##### to his customer cursing at him and asking "where the #### is my lettuce??!!". I'm snobby.

 

I think his price is more than fair, and the $500 one is a nail in the foot for him.