I guess brokers really do dictate your pay

Most of the shippers are still paying the same. The broker is keeping more of the profit these days. I've had a few tell me that they'll lose the lane if they give what it use to pay. If people are happy hauling for 1$/mile, then let them be happy. They are one major repair away from losing it all, or having to refinance I suppose. Loads that I thought should pay a minimum of $850.00 were at $500.00 (250 miles loaded approximately, at 30,000 to 40,000 lbs). At that point all you can do is tell them what you want and see what happens. IF you can profit off a $1/mile load, congratulations!

 

Up north, as in how far??? There's not Jack squat coming out of this area. I'm in Gaylord until tomorrow, then moving down by Holland. Even that area isn't a prime freight lane, but it's doable.

 

Some village North of Traverse City, don't remember the name. It was OK to me, since it was getting me home for the weekend in Detroit and then I could visit family up there. Perhaps somebody who already lives there took it

 

Shoulda said you'd do it for 950 .... then claim you have a mechanical breakdown at 3 pm on day of pickup ...

 

My husband says this all the time - that the shippers are still paying the same but the brokers are keeping more of the profit. Is there any way to know if this is a fact, or is it another one of those myths that gets around because everything the brokers do is shrouded in secrecy? I hear some people on here saying it's a simple matter of supply and demand...but when the rates are this low, our operating expenses and maintenance expenses stay the same and it's either work for cheap or don't work at all. The rates in many parts of the country are lower right now (according to my husband who was driving then) than they were 20 years ago - but the cost of tires, oil, parts, etc. haven't dropped correspondingly...

I guess the only thing to do is hang on and wait for everybody else to go out of business from taking cheap rates?

 

Pretty much.

I'm just a company driver, but low rates hit us just as hard as the O/O's in terms of less freight to haul and lower paychecks. And while the news jockeys and government clowns keep telling us "the economy is improving, everyrhing is going great!", I've been watching freight and rates fall through the floor and beyond! Heck, I moved from flat back to van because I thought van freight was moving. Boy, was I wrong! And the sad thing is I work part time and still beat my previous full time monthly pay numbers pulling a flat.

Too many cheap trucks pulling too much cheap freight. This field is on a completely self-destructive path, and I don't see it changing course any time soon.

 

I don't like how brokers try to low ball you because it's a light load or if they know you are backhauling. That does not affect the pay for the load they are getting from the shipper.

 

Folks, it's not the brokers' fault that there are carriers out there that will haul their freight for less than $1/mile. The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of the carriers and O/Os who actually accept that rate.

 

Very correct Ma'am. Although,the free market believers and Adam Smith invisible hand fans could not care less. They want the weakest to wear out and the shrewd to withstand. But it seems that whenever the weakest die out the new and the daring come in their place. I think, that the same goes for brokers they are also in a rat chase as well. For them to find freight is probably even harder than for us to find loads. Shippers are not blind they know very well for what rates we're hauling their goods.