400 trucks posted and only 352 loads in houston,tx

Here is the eay i look at it. If i haul a good paying load to a area that freight isnt paying so good, if i don't take a load for a couple days that means the load i do get is going to have to pay alot better than what i was expecting because i set for two days where if i take a less paying load i would be back to a area with better paying freight. Also i i look at my rate per mile at the end of the week and not on every load.

 

That whole theory..."A load on my trailer is money in my pocket" is stupid! Unfortunately there are many who go by it and that is why rates are cheap.

Also looking at your rate per mile at the end of the week isn't a very good idea. If the truck breaks on Wednesday, your week is over! Yeah I bet you didn't think of that did ya...? Don't worry most don't, and that is why they end up losing everything.

Have a friend who lived by this theory, he lost everything!

No offense, but you are part of the problem.... You may also want to consider going to a mileage based company if you just like to work. In the end you will probably make more money if you think of the fact that most pay IFTA plus get good fuel discounts along with many other fringe benefits. I often wonder why people don't consider that option when all they want to do is turn miles.

Whether any of you like it or not, we do dictate the rates. You can tell yourselves all you want its the brokers, but in the end we are the ones who are hauling it for the rate agreed upon. So if it isn't enough, don't haul it! If TX freight is so cheap, don't go, or don't go cheap!

Personally I'll never really understand the big deal about TX.. Its a big empty state that is over run by Mexicans and cheap freight.

 

So here is the deal, you expect lets say $2.00 a mile so you wont haul a load for less than $2 but one comes up for $1.70 and you do take it to get out of that area and when you deliver that load you get one for $2.50 in the end you made $2.10 a mile and didnt set and wait. Where if you didn't take it, and had to wait 2 days you just lost 2 days and still only made $2 a mile -1000 miles which is $2100 in revenue.
So in the long run when you think you are saving money by not hauling taking that load to a better area you are actually loosing money. I have been running percentage my whole carrier and it all come down to bottom line no matter what business we are in.

 

Im guessing the assumption is that both loads require no DH and both are 1000 mile runs? Im thinking if you add in DH and the reality that the cheap load might end up being more miles than the higher paying load that $2.10 avg could drop pretty quickly. I think the basis for the argument is if no one justifies hauling the cheap stuff and sticks to their guns on rates you will see the price come up. If you find a reason to haul cheap freight then youll always see rates stay down use supply and demand to your advantage and you can make a difference.

 

The real question is what is cheap. Because we all have different situations and need different amount of money. Because my truck is paid for and have no truck payment. I dont need the rate a guy with a $500 payment needs. So cheap to one is not necessarily cheap to the next guy. LOL

 

Well, i have spent most of my weekend looking thru loads, rates and making a spreadsheet for myself and the area's i want to run. I need $3 mile out of Chicago to the midwest, $4 mile to TX/ND/WA/FL. With the $ on those rates I can turn a round back for $1.75 mile and still manage to descent RPM for the week on little miles. Now i don't want to do this, but at this time of a year, you just need to figure out your costs and what area's you want to go into. I've noticed that the runs into MN and MI have gone up quite a bit since they have gotten some snow already. I am going to work on heading in those directions AFTER Christmas, and see how well i can do. Luckily, i paid off my truck this week so now I don't have that big overhead payment to make. I have been able to get my maintence account built back-up and things are running good so far besides me needing a new 5th wheel, and some fenders for the drives. My next big thing is to get my own trailer, prob in March. I'm going to buckle down harder and try to run this operation more from the point of a business owner and not a driver, which i how I've basically ran all year trying to play catch-up and get things where I needed them. To be honest,, i haven't kept very good track of any of my expenses, just knowing that I base my loads on 6mpg and try to figure it out from there. If it wasn't for some of the spot market rates and OS loads I hauled, i may not have made it at all. Luck was on my side this year and I was able to do well.

2013 is going to be the year I buckle down and track EVERYTHING (which i should have been doing since day 1) and really see if I can do better in other areas. Trying to make the same money on short miles, which means I may have to specialize and start running escorted loads but if it makes me the same revenue with 1/3 the miles then I'm all about it.

End of my babble.....

 

OK so what if a guy like you comes along into that 2.50 a mile area and hauls the load for 1.70 a mile...? Then when you get there the broker then expects you to run it for the same rate also... See my point yet? I know Bayou knows what I mean with that load out of Ohio going to TX....

First off lets all be honest here.... If you are getting 1.70 a mile out of TX you are doing good, we all know that. Now I'm talking freight out of TX heading back up to midwest area. Most stuff out of TX is only paying 1.25 to 1.50 a mile. Personally I'll deadhead out and let all the other suckers haul it.

Now Intrastate TX freight pays pretty good. Atleast the load I did, did...lol

I could go on and on, but there really is no point in doing so.