Brokers need to be taught a lesson

huh? I'll go you one better and not haul any of their cheap loads ever.

 

It's not unusual to hear quotes of .80-.90cpm coming up out of FL.

For me, it's an easy decision when the rates being quoted are that low and the brokers moving them are firm on their rates....

1. Don't go there in the first place

unless....

2. It's paying enough to bounce out

Why would you waste your time trying to recover what you shouldn't have lost in the first place?

.60cpm for DH fuel isn't hard to build into a rate for a load that's going into a dead hole.

All you need is an additional $400 on the load and you've covered your DH, in terms of fuel money, from Miami to Atlanta....

Now all you have to do is get those clowns quoting .90cpm up to $1.50....$1.50+.60=$2.10

Or bounce, as you've given yourself the flexibility to do so.

 

This is exactly why there's little to no money in trucking right here. Guys thinking they can deadhead for the cost of fuel.

No Sir you cannot! You could say my cost empty is .10 to .15 lower than when loaded, that's about all you can trim, fuel wise, on deadhead. You still put miles on that odometer when deadheading, fuel is not your only cost!

Sorry, but it's guy's like this that have really hurt us. WE set the rates, nobody else. The reason we show pitiful margins in trucking is weak drivers who won't stand their ground.

 

You could always deadhead for nothing, you have that option....

I don't have any problems making money.

If I get $2.75 a mile going in, I can either....

Haul out for $1.50

or

DH out to ATL and the fuel cost out is covered. (made sure the inbound rate had enough on it to DH out)

That was a hypothetical example.

Without giving exact details I will tell you what I'm getting this upcoming week.....the numbers are real, I'm omitting the lanes

$6712.50 to me on 3319 miles, that includes 800 miles of DH (and I will have time, and be in a strong market for that 800 mi bridge/dh segment, so figure on adding at least $1900, and quite possibly $2700 to my total....)

So, as it stands right now I'm looking at $2.02 per mile on a 3300 mile week, with 800 of those miles being deadhead miles.

If I were to cover that 800 mile stretch at only a $1 a mile where would I be, then?

$2.26 per, on ALL miles. (that's if I ONLY put on $800 additional revenue)

These days, I'm pretty good at this....

I expect to end up somewhere close to $3 per mile, for all miles, when it's all said and done.

 

Obviously the industry does make a difference. No one rule will work for the entire industry. That being said I would never haul food to a warehouse on a quick trip do to the delay there. If reefer it MAY make more sense SOMETIMES to do a deadhead, but don't forget, with a refffer you can still haul dry van freight most of the time if you need something quick.

 

If guys choose to dead head, it raises rates. Basic economics...supply and demand. If guys deadhead out the little bit of supply is a closer ratio to the huge demand. (supply being available freight, demand being truckers who want freight) If you reduce demand cuz guys dead head it raises the rates on supply.

Id say you best bet is dont go to FL unless you can afford to deadhead out. But when you get there, even if you already planned to D.H, why not make a few extra bucks with a low priced load.

 

This conspiracy would work in a fantasy land. In real life I could see how grabbing a 1.2 per mile load is a sound business decision. 400$ you don't add to your gross per week is still 400$. And a day of your time is lost anyways.Unless your goal is to show somebody something and not make money as if it would change anything.
I have never been in this FL situation myself as an owner and not really looking forward to it.
As far as slow down everybody says they are having this time of the year I am definitely not part of it.
But I do have access to direct freight with the Co I am leased to.

 

Also don't blame me plz for hauling cheap. I averaged above 2.5 per running mile since the beginning of the year

 

I have to say that most of this comes back on the driver and carrier.

Last week I had a customer ask me for as many trucks as I could commit for 5-days. They would pay a very high rate per day regardless if they used them or not. And after a certain number of miles in a day they would pay extra. Not going to disclose numbers here but will say I just did the math on the trucks for the first 4-days and the lowest truck was over $5/mile.

But first I had drivers not want to do this. Most just couldn't get accept that they got paid for moving or not. But the worst was the driver that I talked to on Saturday that want to be taken off this because "he wasn't getting any miles (he ran less than 400 miles in 3-days) and if he is not getting miles he is not making money". WTF?!?

And one point in this long and frustrating conversation I asked him what his average daily gross was. His number was $400 a day less than what I was paying him. He wasn't worried that I wasn't going to pay him the daily rate he just couldn't get past that he needs miles to make money.

Wanted to tell him to sell his truck.