Rates these days???

Every week is different, but a rough average of about 2500. Some weeks more. Some weeks less.

 

How many weeks a year?

 

I take a lot of time off. Some times cause the rates are blah, other times just cause i don't need to work that much to keep the bills paid. I'll go back to work full time once my kids are grown.

I don't keep track of how many days i spent at home cause the rates weren't good vs how many cause i just didn't want to work for whatever reason. So i can't give you those exact numbers, however i can give you the numbers i achieve when i do want to work. My outbounds out of florida are usually at 1.70 to 1.75, occasionally much better on more lucrative freight (high value/military/security clearance, etc etc). If i can't get that rate, i either spend a couple more days at home or bounce 500 miles up to savannah. I'm just not gonna load my truck for less than that.

Then i load back and forth in the Midwest region doing anywhere from 1.90 to 2.10 on average. After 2 weeks or so, i look for my the money load home and position myself to get it. Usually I'm at 2.25 or better on 1300+ miles coming home.

Those are to the truck numbers after my carriers cut and accessorials added in. Nothing stellar, but certainly not bad.

Now if i didn't live in the black hole of florida, i could run at good rates 50 weeks a year if i so chose. But that sounds am awful lot like a real job. That whole real job thing is scary.

 

I averaged $2.13 per mile, all miles for 2015 (24.38% deadhead; 118520 miles per truck). There's a whole lot of high dollar oversized loads in that, so don't compare. Right now I'm hurting at $1.68 and 11 120 miles per month. My breakeven is $1.58 ($0.50 per mile driver pay), thanks to a new Pete bought last year. These load boards are at historically horrendous levels. I am thoroughly scared.

 

For the past 6 months we've been hauling nothing but cars back. Apparently it's the only thing paying around here these days. But with fuel at a 40% discount, who needs good rates anymore?

When we come to southern california, we now spend 2 - 3 days picking up partials to go back home.

What used to be a good paying that got me home in 48 hours. Is now a not so good paying gig and keeps me out all week.

 

I just spent 3.5 days in SC. But I got something that was worth it!

 

@bzinger . why don't they ship hides in an icebox? They've got to get nasty under tarp

 

We haul specialized freight on stepdeck conestoga trailers so we get a really good rate out. there have been 2 times that the rates were so bad that I deadheaded guys 500 miles. Once was in Denver and the rates were at .80 (2014) for 44k lbs. I DH to Omaha to get a load that paid the same rate on half the miles as the deadhead. The way that I saw it, was that I refused to run 1000 miles at WELL under my costs while having the liability of someones crap freight.

 

They are washed , folded and salted on palletts but they are still fragrant so not to many people want them in a food grade trailer ...I have noticed national pack sends they're hides down in reefers but they are old trailers that say "hides only" on them .

 

I sometimes wind up back in colo with steel from Laredo and have found what little freight there is out of there isn't even worth picking up so I've always bounced to Hastings or scottsbluff for another hide load goin back down .