Need Advise about what owner operators want...

Mmmm, wishful but wise thinking.
There's always buzz about raising rates when something changes like fuel prices. But it seems it takes forever to get them to balance out before a surcharge comes into play.

I don't care how much a broker is making either. I do get a little bent sometimes when the customer I just trucked all night to get there for starts a conversation that eventually leads to him spilling the beans about what the broker charged him to move the thing, then I see I made 50% of what was charged. I still got what I consider fair, but it's a psychological issue for the most part...thinking I am the mule with all the liability, etc. and they have a PC, a phone and a printer.

You and I get a Fed DOT audit...we better display transparency or else. They don't have to is what I'm getting at. Deregulation helped and hurt at the same time.

 

While some mom and pop broker might just have a phone and pc invested. The good ones for a lot more invested. They could spend almost as much in air fare and car rentals as we do in fuel. Winning a big customer over like ge or lockheed martin isn't cheap. It's like a sports agent trying to land a top draft pick. Takes a lot of winning and dining to get them to sign. Dropping off a new cadillac doesn't hurt either.

Also if you pulled for half what the broker had in it, that's really on you. Learn your markets. Those loads that you gotta run all night cause they gotta be there no matter what are the times you make them break out the check book. Those are the times that if you have a reputation for getting the job done, and a reputation for being a tough negotiator, you can be getting 4 and 5 dollars a mile on.

 

The market's so flooded with these so-called "great carriers and tough negotiators" and mom & pop brokerages already, the odds are not always in a man's favor to develop a relationship with that "good broker" that signs with GE, Lockheed, etc. anymore. The ratio is way out of line.

The standard way most small carriers operate now is off Truckstop.com to make their living. You won't see many Lockheed or GE loads posted there. Hence the "low paying freight" that is present. I certainly don't depend on TS.com or any loadboards for my revenue, but they're certainly a necessity and glad they're there for the majority.

Take into consideration how many people want to start their own brokerage at their kitchen table these days, to get off the road and live the "good life". Those people have to solicit customers too...and there's no better way to do that when you first start out than to start cheap, work your way up (hopefully.) I was with an owner operator last week that was crying he's been out here 20 years (15 less than I have,) and was "trying to start" a brokerage with his wife. She knows nothing about nothing, but he's still going to try he says. Good luck, I hope he's successful; but no matter what business you go into if you're going to just "try", you're likely to fail.

 

So his wife's heart isn't in it and she doesn't have a clue but he's gonna make a broker out of her? I've seen where bookkeepers and dispatchers got hired out of a bar because they could make a good martini. Crazier things have happened but I tend to agree that some people really ought to look toward other industries, instead of trucking, for work.

 

I wasnt talking about carriers. I was talking about 100 million, and in some cases billion dollar brokerage firms. They got a #### lot more invested than a phone line and a computer.

 

I knew what you meant. And I'm not insinuating that all brokers only have a PC and a kitchen table to conduct business. I am simply saying that the rates and fees are just all over the map, from small to greedy, that's all.

Right now I'm in a peeing match with TMC logistics over an oversized load I did last week that paid me let's just say, "larger than average money". Rate con was signed and agreed to, and the cost of permits, route surveys and escorts were all predetermined and I am responsible for the cost. Now we all know TMC isn't a mom and pop with a PC and a fax on the kitchen table right? Reputable company with a logo "Destination Excellence" on the back of every black Peterbilt.

It was June 30th that I loaded in New Holland, Pa. destined for Harvard University in Boston at 11'W x 14' 10" H x 77' 7" L. Can only run until noon Friday the 1st, so I was shooting for Maybrook, NY to get it ditched before kurfew for the 4th weekend holiday.

Loaded and ready on the 30th of June (Thursday), I was starting to get nervous, as TMC had a permit service in control of coordinating the escorts for me with one person handling the whole project. At 3 PM Thursday, he tells me "it doesn't look good", meaning that there were 30 of these same units headed to Boston, which takes 60 escort/high pole cars to do, and there were none available. I got pissed and called a company I know in Lancaster, Pa. and in 2 hours I had a high pole and a chase car ready to roll. Problem was...they were not on this permit company's list of approved escorts.

Long story short. Arrived in Boston July 5th unscathed at 3 PM. Was informed at 5 PM we're stuck until tomorrow morning, because there was 3 other pieces missing to the modular matrix that needed to get unloaded before me. Not my doings...

I spent 18 hours on site before getting under the crane. I went to charge TMC for the delay time of 18 hours, but they said "but we issued a PO for your escorts from Pa to NY, and paid for that already..." So in all fairness, I dropped the issue of delay time in exchange for that. I thought that was a fair trade. After all, we're not greedy, and that was what we considered a fair deal and about a washout in terms of the tradeoff. At least that's what the dispatcher we were dealing with said...

Submitted BOL's and everything to get paid last week on Quick Pay system. I get an email with a $1,700.00 charge for 2 escorts from New Holland, Pa. to Maybrook, NY (about 240 miles one way) out of the blue.
I'm dealing with a really good natured accounting person at TMC and trying to get to the bottom of it all, but they all developed amnesia and memory loss about us dropping the delay time issue for 18 hours, and still feel they want to get $1,700.00 out of us for this 240 mile escort service. I have a little problem with the $1,700.00 charge for 240 miles, but have a bigger problem with them forgetting I decided to drop the delay time in exchange for that. I had to sleep in a dirt parking lot overnight fenced in, couldn't get out to get anything, was 90*F and humid as all get out...miserable sleeping conditions. All that adds up to a little sour taste in my mouth as of this moment for ANY brokers...especially when we're dealing with such a reputable company as TMC and their good quality standards of operating.

Today we'll get to the final negotiation process and determine who's going to do what...but the bottom line more than anything right now is, this invoice I have for them is a BIG one, and I invested over $4,000.00 in surveys, permits and escorts thus far, and they still expect more even though we thought we were being fair and honest dropping the delay time charges. You need a lawyer for almost every single transaction, amendment and change order nowadays in these situations, but who has the time and energy to do that...

That's the pet peave for the day.

 

I've had issues with them in the past. I solved it by having confirmation in writing of what's what via email for a paper trail. They back charged one of my trucks for a product move that they said the customer was paying for, the customer said they didn't agree to pay, so it went to us. It took me three months to finally give up and from that point forward, if It is a verbal agreement or arrangement it won't happen, only written ones through email, don't even accept text messages,

 

I agree with you on that and I'm not saying that is the only thing that matters but getting more info as requested is always good

 

It's a given that if the "big guys" don't want to agree to something, then the rate confirmation is only as good as the paper it's written on. Their floors of lawyers will twist it all to hell and then the fun begins.

Thankfully, we resolved the issue yesterday with agreeing on instead of it costing me $1,700.00 for the 240 mile escort ripoff services, that they'll eat $700.00 of it and I'll just eat a thousand. A new rate confirmation was issued and signed to finalize the deal. The person I was dealing with informed me that I got $300.00 on average above what other carriers got for this same load. Like I'm supposed to feel privileged or something...pffffft.

Live and learn. Rate confirmations, like contracts, are made to be broken. I made sure we had everything in writing before we started, I have about 6-7 rewritten rate cons here saved in my files from inception to procurement...all different numbers, all different footnotes...in addition to emails and texts...no lack of information on my part. I only trust dead presidents, I never do anything with these jokers without a signed document, but as we see here it still doesn't necessarily mean you'll come out in the end on top if you aren't willing to put your head down and plow into the problem and have it cost you more than it's worth...which is my personal perspective on how I was going to handle it, had we not come to an agreement yesterday. Everything is a battle nowadays...

That whole project from day one was so dysfunctional between the shipper and too many carriers like TMC, Landstar and some independents competing for the bids, that it was a miracle I was even acknowledged by anyone at TMC to begin with. More complaints, problems, issues than I ever heard of on this job. I'm thankful I got through the process unscathed as I did.

Won't be rushing to do anything in the future with them again. I am slowly finding that some of the smaller mom & pop agents have 1.5% quick pay options, and go out of their way to let me know, and I have a check in a couple of days or direct deposit. Those situations have kept my interest focused on brokered loads, not the "big guys".

 

Two guys partnering on a truck? Sounds great when you talk about it , not in real life how many men could share a wife? Unlikely to last. Percentage to charge would depend on what you offer as services? 10-25% accordingly. Buying a new truck now ? Good way to go broke quick, One truck paying two or three people a salary real doubtful,. Leasing people under your authority ? One bad driver can put a new MC out of business quickly,done seen it before. This is why I never leased anyone on to my authority. With more regulations coming down with it''s only intent to force smaller carriers out I'd look for a different investment,