Uber Freight?! What is this madness?!?!

Just install the app and look for yourself. $1 a mile isn't unusual.

 

I have no idea who that post was directed at but I'll bite.
I do not have any negotiating skills. I ask how much. They tell me. I say I need this much. They say no and that is the end of it.
Rinse and repeat until something comes up.

If they post a price on Truckstop and I call they again won't budge.
I want a minimum of $2 a mile. The CHR guy knows this. He won't offer me anything for less. Sometimes he sees something and as he puts it asks for mad money. This is from his colleagues at CHR, they also either ignore him or say no but he has a much higher success rate than me.
Now to be fair I am probably not the easiest guy to book for. I don't run overnight or deliver / pu in the midddle of the night and I run a dry van. Quite a few negative strikes there and yet I am quite happy with what I am earning.

 

It was aimed at Rollin Coal. I think that all of us, once we start doing a lot of it, find out that everyday negotiations about stuff like freight rates is pretty basic. I know that movies and TV shows make it seem like some super crazy process, but that's just not how it is IRL.

Now the more interesting negotiations are those that involve a lot more variables. Business deals with all sorts of contingencies. That kind of thing. I find those to be quite interesting. But those probably get dull after you've done a hundred of them as well.

 

I have Rolling Coal blocked as the aggressive 3 testicle types I find to be not only rather stupid but also rude and unpleasant people. Ruthless his buddy the same way - Ruthless what a stupid name.
Lots of normal great folks to interact with here yourself being a great example. I love reading your posts I have learned a lot from your comments.
As for this mythical process I find it to be just that - mythical.
Sometimes a situation exists that is an emergency of some kind and you are in the right place at the right time. Whoopee !
Whenever I am told some story about these $3, 4 and even 5 a mile loads and look into them there is ALWAYS a catch. Without fail.
So have I taken loads for those rates? Yes I have but it is unusal.
On my dash right now I have a note from an aquaintence running a small trucking business out of Booneville, MS. He gave me some information about loads coming from a train yard going to another train yard in the MS area. About 200 miles a pop at $800 a load. That is power only.
I haven't looked into it yet because I am really an OTR guy and shuffling back and forth isn't really my thing. I will though just for fun and It will have a catch.
I have found that negotiating doesn't really exist in trucking except in a small way i.e. fishing for tolls etc. I have heard this phrase over and over - "I can move them all day for this price" or "That is what we pay on these loads we do them all the time for this shipper" or, more rudely, "do you want it or not take it or leave it" (heard that a couple of times and just hang up).
So unless you have some known edge negotiating pretty much doesn't exist. I do not have an edge only choice and to be in a position where I will sit if I need to.
Currently in Tuscon AZ. Been here 5 days completely unproductive. I took time over the 2nd half of the holidays to do paperwork.while my CHR guy is playing with his kids. Everybody wins.
I just try to be pleasant, patient and considerate but demonstrating a low key hard edge. So far so good. My reinstated authority has made me happier than I have been for 3 years. .

 

Rollin Coal is a scalper. Scalpers are trucks who willingly hang out until the end of the day looking to book loads with people in distress. They get crazy rates way more often than you do, but they also get nothing for days a time sometimes. I call them scalpers because they remind me of the futures market traders who get in and out around expiration with 5 second intervals trying to steal a tick or three.

It's just a way to do business. A lot of brokers hate them because they feel like they are getting screwed. I'd argue that the loads nobody wants need these guys to move. They are providing an important service to the freight market and get paid accordingly.

They will have really different numbers to you. They need a lower daily cost of capital and usually own the equipment outright. They make excellent profit margins on much lower sales numbers generally.

 

Thanks for that explanation. It makes sense. I also own all my equipment outright. It is why I can work steadily and take time as I need it. I prefer slow and steady instead of trying to be cute. I do the work and I get paid reasonably and that is all I ask. Thanks again.

 

They would argue that you're a sucker for working hard every day when they can net the same amount of money on way less work. I'd argue that a lot of them starved to death in 2015 and 2016. It's a bears life basically... They hibernate through the winter and make a killing when the spot market is hot (think salmon spawning season).

I actually find the natural world and the markets (all sorts not just freight) have a lot in common. There are definitely a bunch of different niches in each industry that behave really differently.

Rollin Coal is a bad guy to block. So is Ruthless to be honest. I would actively do an awful lot to avoid dealing with them at work, but it doesn't mean I don't want to study their thought process. You in particular would probably benefit a lot from being good at spotting good scalping markets. Doing 10-15 more great loads a year would work wonders for your bottom line. Seriously it's 5-20k of extra money you could get for knowing when to wait till 4-5pm and be flexible.

 

@boredsocial - I book loads every day when I'm looking to move. While my outboundss are always good, they have to be, they're not always $5 a mile or better "scalping". This member is one of those guys that couldn't figure out how to do it in a lifetime and hard headed too. Got offended and blocked me.

You pegged him pretty well. Overcomplicating the simple and is obviously intimidated by routine ordinary load negotiations. Doesn't know how to talk with brokers or listen to them. When a guy like that calls you well, it's obvious to you isn't it? Tell them the miles, book em with $2 a mile and you got your truck no problems.

It's the same on my end. There's a lot of warm bodies out there at brokerages attempting to cover loads. I know when I'm talking to somebody that's knows wtf they are doing and someone that has a lot to learn. And that doesn't have anything to do with money offered or quotes given low or high.

 

Knowing when to scalp and when not to scalp is what separates the scalpers who survived the last two years and the ones who didn't. I'm not surprised you know when to get out of a day early. I certainly know when I have to get all my #### covered by 10am or it's going to be a disaster. I'm usually the first guy to break ranks and start spending money on days where #### gets crazy. That's because I know it isn't going to get better.

EDIT: But this is what I meant earlier. You're a trader. It's just part of your personality. That's cool, I'm not any different.

 

I can't tell if your being sarcastic or are really serious........You're doing yourself a disservice by blocking guys like @rollin coal or @Ruthless. These guys have been at it awhile and know when the market is hot and when to get out. They're aggressive, so what? That's business. Seriously, you do whatever you want, but by not playing "sports" with other players who play aggressively, means you never get better yourself.

Just my $.02