Brokers need to be taught a lesson

It's always only ONE reason why rates are cheap, the trucker!
The trucker blames the broker but that's ridiculous! The broker has no way to move it, that's why they are the broker and call you or post their loads on the boards.
Most of the time the trucker sets the rates, a good broker knows how much it costs to move freight and quotes the shipper accordingly and the trucker gets a good rate, if a newbie or an experienced idiot is chomping at the bit to haul it for $1 PM well why wouldn't the broker put the balance in their pocket? Wouldn't you? I would!
However, just like trucking there are new brokers popping up all the time too and just like the new trucker they bid cheap to try get market share not realizing there's market share for everybody, the question is at what price is yours.
We as truckers need to take the emphasis off our cost and how close we have to be to it, the train of thought should be more like the following:

Its pretty much a standard that at $2 PM your not loosing money (most of the time other than locals).
So how much pure profit can I put on top of this?
If there's a load going into FL then it's at least $4 PM plus pure profit but never break the $2pm rule.
Its $4pm cause we know it's like CA, 80% import 20% export so chances are getting a load out will be hard so don't put yourself in the position of having to haul for half of cost (average figure).
Now the shippers need to get their 20% out of state but the absolute lowest price to the truck is $2pm plus average, 10% to broker if there was one or they didn't get their product moved I can assure you they would be only too happy to pay that and more!
If you get it your doing really well, if you don't your doing well anyway.
Can you imagine a world as simple as a standard set bottom rate of $2pm that only went up from there?

To the (experienced idiot) that posted his business plan that hauling for a $1pm is a good idea just think about this, YOU are the reason brokers lowball the rate to the truck hoping they have you on the other end of the phone!
Dennys could sell their meals for half of cost in FL because they are making a high pure profit amount in most other states and they could well afford to give the FL residents a meal at half cost but they don't!
Doubt you buy fuel at cost in low freight areas either, you more lightly pay more!
Thats a business plan, yours is more like a hobby plan that makes business harder for everybody else.

Just my 2c.

 

Hell if you know what you are doing I go right to the shipper take the load away from the broker. Heck I called a broker on a load that i never used before gave me a rate on a load told me what it was. I asked if he could do any better and he plum got mad. I knew the shipper of that load went straight to them #### broker was taking $600 bucks to broker it. Shipper gave me the load right there over the phone. Just to be a ### I called the broker back asked if he still had it. He said yes asked him again if he could come up on the rate some and he went off on me again. Then i told him was not going to let him make $600 bucks on me and he didnt have the load anymore. You could hear a pin drop when I hung up on him.

 

Now, this is the type of o/o we need more of in trucking!

 

Let me guess.. 6.5 mpg in the summer. My average length of haul is 300 miles . I can't and don't want to afford to deadhead that far. And what's wrong with simply making money? Isn't what trucking is mostly about?

 

You might want to watch your tone . There are rules even on an internet forum, imagine that.
If others could get 4 $ per mile going to FL they probably would. If does not change the fact that you are better off getting a load to cover your costs instead of deadheading.
If you don't want to do it out of principle or bragging rights that's fine. Is it business savvy. Hardly, otherwise mega carriers would do it.

 

Simple, I just don't haul cheap. Not for fuel money, to break even or cost plus a cheeseburger.
I will stay home and avoid burning up fuel, tires and adding miles till it changes.
Looking at the load boards right now there's almost as many loads on there right now as there are any other time of year, it just seems to be a bad habit and misconception that the fact it's winter freight is cheaper so more truckers are accepting of bad rates! Take note, the freeways and interstates are as busy as anytime with trucks.
In fact I believe in winter the rates should be higher due to weather / road conditions which elevates the risk and cost of doing business!
This is not a tone but a fact, I'm sure anyone that has been in business long enough to ware out a couple of trucks and are still going will agree.

 

Nothing wrong with making money that's why we do it. Not about what you make either it's what you keep. If you were getting solid enough rates you could afford to deadhead that far every once in a while. Stay just as busy as the trucks running 3,000 miles a week. Sometimes miss a day here and there, same as anyone else out here. I trucked it up 3,000 mile weeks for years on end I know how it goes. That's truckin...

 

10-4 Rollin Coal,

I am of the same mindset, what a lot of guys don't seem to get here is I prefer to deadhead than make the freight cheap, if most truckers did this everybody could take the next load beside where they dropped the last as there would and should be no such thing as (backload)!
Yes it would be more profitable for me to take the $1pm but that just helps cement the low rates as all loads become backloads to the brokers and shippers.

 

One other thing. No-one deadheads out of a cheap freight area for "bragging rights". Business savvy is deadheading out of a place like that and getting a better paying load elsewhere that, while it may have lots of empty miles on it, still averages out the same or close to it as it would have picking up the closest cheapest load nearby. It takes a little thinking outside the box. I don't get mad at drivers who routinely grab the cheap stuff, it is what it is. IMO there is a better way though.

 

Covering costs..... you can either do this on the back end, by cutting your rate and hauling something for less than you'd like....

Or...

By padding your rate on the front end, which then gives you the luxury of dh'ing out, as you built in the back haul revenue, in the initial headhaul rate...

Or you can even implement a combination of these strategies.

Every situation is different, the only constant is making money. As long as you're making money you're working correctly. It doesn't really matter how you make the sausage, as long as what you're eating is sausage when all is said and done....