are rates falling and will it continue?

Although oilfield rates arent what they were 6 years ago you can still make great money.

2012 ish rates for 110 BBL tri-axle was up around 135-145hr. I dont know what the company is getting but were @90 hour pulling the companies 130BBL tank

 

If you head into the northeast just make sure you get your money on the inbound trip. Outbound usually sucks, unless you plan on sticking around for awhile doing a bunch of short haul stuff involving NY or Boston.[/QUOTE]

 

This is what my operation has become. My outbound loads are still through a broker cause the customers won't go direct but I know the broker well and I'm getting a fair rate from them. Then I scour the public boards trying to find a diamond in the coal to get back. Sometimes it works out real well, other times it just works out. Lol

 

I mostly go out and back usually fairly easy because of living in ohio , or do pass through, take my break in my driveway , sometimes I have to triangle back to make it pay ... eg. if I go to texas usually get a load up to Memphis area then to ohio pays about double of a straight load back . East coast is tough sometimes, I have good luck in eastern pa ( Harrisburg area)the rest of the east can be tough . I dont like bouncing around up there because of the bs , if nothing coming back usually end up Virginia to Georgia. then back .

 

The double load back usually does better for me also. I end up in Houston a lot and I do better running to Dallas from there and then to okc from Dallas then if I come straight back to OKC from Houston.

 

If you want to know what rates are doing, subscribe to one of the data mining companies that are transportation specific like FTR Intel (ftrintel.com), Transport Topics (ttnews.com), DAT (dat.com) or even a premium subscription to Truckstop.com or Getloaded.com. You may also want to listen to Road Dog Trucking News and get a news feed on Facebook such as Freightwaves.

Refrigerated lanes are up and down depending on the season and location. If rates are down in Dallas going to Atlanta, it may be that there is nothing in "season" in Dallas. However, strawberries ought to be coming on in Plant City, Florida followed by blue berries. Get to know what fruit or vegetable is in season and start following that circuit and adjusting your route as necessary.

 

dat has some baisic stuff for free and at least you should have a knowledge of what loads are paying on average and the hot states where the truck to load ratio is in your favor