Finally got my own truck

Yep a hot shower, clean clothes, and a good meal do wonders for your outlook on life. Add in a margarita on occasion after those really tough days and you wake up with a smile ready to conquer the world.

 

takes big balls and even bigger brain to do what you're doing. will be following this thread. good luck!

 

I can tell he is a fighter. I believe he will keep his head above water. One day this will click for him. Took me almost a year. Even now that I know what I need to do and am getting better at it I still fail on some loads. As a comparison last year I did $2.16 a loaded mile, this year I'm at $2.59 loaded mile. My deadhead went down %5 too. I do mostly loadboard flatbed freight. I'm not exactly sure what he is running a loaded mile but I survived last year. Even though I didn't have big payment, I had some repairs and made decent take home pay last year compared to what he is taking out for himself. I hate to say it but I had a couple of weeks last year I didn't get a shower either.

I chose to believe he will overcome.


Had to edit last years loaded rate. I was wrong the first time.

 

People, when you talk about cpm, post how many miles you run. 2500 weekly miles at 2.59 and 1000 miles at 2.59 is totally different numbers

 

Ok, 32k miles in 17 work weeks. So 1882 total miles a week. $2.19 alll miles. I was trying to point out that just by negotiating or having a plan you can make a significant change. I don't haul anything diffrent than I did last year. Last year I did 2180 total miles a week at $1.72. I guarantee I am not working nearly as many hours this year as last

 

Varies week to week. I do two types of running. Type A: Short haul around the house when I'm home every single night in thine to have dinner with the family. in which case I'm happy with 2k after fuel and carrier deductions for bobtail and physical damage insurance. It's usually on under 1500 miles. Not ver good but i really like being home with my kids.

And Type B: when the market is ripe for the pickings and i leave my local area I'm not happy unless I'm sending 4k/week home. That's with an average of right at 2500 miles lately, which is more than i like but rates on longer runs are up so I'm running them. I never really worry about $ per mile. The number important to me is the after costs daily and weekly number. Some weeks its on across town 10 mile moves. Other weeks its on 1500 mile runs.

Guys right now the market is on freaking fire. You can practically make your price on any load out there. Capacity is TIGHT. There is no reason anyone should be grossing under 20k dollars a month if they are out here running. Im nearly hitting that number after my carrier takes 25% of the linehaul. I booked a load friday mid morning that picks up this Monday going 1450ish miles paying me, to the truck aftet carriers cut, 3900 dollars. Easy no tarp load. A 2 day run and I'll pocket 3500 bucks. Sure its not going to the best area, but it ain't the northeast or rockies either. The customer took all of 3 minutes to call back agreeing to my rate so obviously i left quite a bit of money on the table. Another reason i know i went to cheap.. the customer said they had another one going to the same region later in the week and would be interested in doing it for the same rate.

This market will not last forever. You guys need to take advantage of this boom before it levels off.

 

Are you able to negotiate directly with the customer or are the agents offering a bid type situation? Does this happen frequently with your carrier?

 

Exactly. Take advantage of this cause it never lasts. And anyone thinking EOBR will automatically equal a boon, best be ready for disappointment and/or one that is short lived. My mistake in years past was to hit revenue goals early in the month and kick back for a week or two when the going was still good. That #### ain't happening this year. I'm stoked about how things are going already and where they're headed. I anticipate staying busy, busy, busy for most of the year and making bank. Lots of lessons learned the hard way over the past few years caused a change in how I look at and do things.

 

I can't speak for others but Its frequent for me because i specifically have whored myself out to agents and customers. The ugly loads no one wants, call me. But I'm not a cheap #####.
I don't usually negotiate directly with the customer, what normally happens is i get a call from an agent and the conversation goes along the lines of "i got this load out of abc widget company that they are having problems covering, give me the number you need to run it and i'll see if they will meet it."

So basically those multi stops that go to north Dakota no one wants i make real good money on. When capacity is tight most guys go after the easy loads. I do the ugly ones. This one had two extra stops, but they were close to each other and only a couple pieces. I'll have both off by just after noon the day after loading and make the final by the next morning. Ill probably be facing a 350 mile dh to my return load. Big deal that's 60 bucks in fuel. Worse case I'm looking at 1.60 a mile to get back to the shipper. Not very good but it will put me right back for another money load.