Building LTL loads

I was hoping to get some advice on how you guys are filling your trailer full of LTL. I know it's a very stupid question but I rather ask and sound stupid then die knowing I didn't do everything in my power to be successful. Right now I've been hauling alot of full light loads but when I get stuck in places and have to dead a few hundred miles I can't help wondering if I would have built a full trailer of ltl would I be better off. I have been in the process of working on getting direct contacts with mfgs but until then I use Internet truckstop. There's a lot of hotshots at the fuel pump saying, " from here to here I got 5 bucks a mile," - but talk is cheap. I like to keep my truck running and having to deadhead a bit to get good freight is fine with me but I also want to limit miles and pickup and drop off more too (isn't this all what we want? Lol)

Do you just pick up a piece of partial that's going to Texas(hypothetical) that weights 5000 and pick up pieces on the DIRECT route or do you go out of your way?
I know alot of the partials don't usually have a specific time they need to be at the destination. So are you guys taking your time booking a loads or getting there as fast as you can? I know the brokers ask the date and etc... what do you tell them? I often wonder how long these guys are taking on their "$5/mile loads" because if it's taking a week to get 1200 miles and it's paying 6000k; I see the point in it but is this actually happening?
I read from one of the other members in a whole other topic about "commanding" (respectfully) your prices on freight. Are you able to find that there's room to negotiate ltl prices? Or is it a game with that too, so to speak?
Also I can quote a full truck load all day long with no issue but ltl honestly intimates me. Can you give me a general idea on how to quote ltl. I know the general concepts of weight, what's coming out of the place your dropping at etc etc. Should I go by the "standard" that ITS has posted and critique from there???


Any help would be great and if this has been brought up somewhere else please let me know. I've read alot here I didn't see this addressed.

 

I run a dedicated route every week, so I have a rate sheet for my customers. You being in a new area every week would have to come up with a rate per mile by weight?
My customers send me their orders and I go pick them up. Easy peasy.

 

If you can string some ltl stuff together it can greatly enhance your revenue. Example: I loaded in KCMO going to Delaware. Still had half the trailer available so I found some freezer cases going from St Looey to Jamaica NY. Filled up the trailer at close to 4 bucks a mile. Some of those hotshot guys get paid good to get there right now (hence the term hotshot) but go back empty or sit and wait. You set it up right and ltl can make you a lot of money

 

For me the most challenging thing about ltl is time versus revenue,if its gonna take three days to build a full load at $4 a mile going 800 miles i rather take a full load for less that delivers the next day instead.i know thats not always the case.i always make sure my first ltl will cover my bep and leave me room to make a nice profit

 

The more ltl product you can organize together, the greater your income will increase.
I may do 4 tl a year, they just don't pay nearly what my ltl loads pay. Some weeks I may only have 2 customers to pick up for, other times it may be as many as 5.
I just cringe when someone needs me to make a special trip for a large amount that will not fit with my regular run. They always want a deal saying "but I'm filling up your truck". I get enough of lala land once a week, sure don;t need to visit 2 times a week! lol

 

Look on the ITS for what brokers are paying for a partial loads. I will still call on loads even if there not in my area to see what brokers are paying. When your quoting your own partial rate to customers you will have a general idea what there used to paying.

I don't do many partials unless it's a close pickup and is on my way home. For me my outgoing load is always the paying load and if I can get something on my way back then that's a little extra in my pocket. I don't like staying out for days or weeks like some hotshotter's.

 

If you're working the load board and not running a dedicated route, LTL almost only works when you get that first piece that pays really well and adding to that. Occasionally you'll see a few loads posted that can work and give you a good base rate. You have to be quick and lucky to lock down all of them at the same time. I find the most success adding an LTL to full loads that have room. Unfortunate for me, my main agent/customer is exclusive use.

 

The goal is to fill the trailer out with partials in the area where you put the first piece on. And those other partials don't have to deliver in the same city that the starter partial is delivering. The other partials can drop along the route. And when you make a drop in route take a hour or so and try to put another partial back in the empty spot going the same direction. Always try to keep the deck filled out with freight going to the general area that the final drop goes.

And here's a tip, don't overshoot your final drop with partials that you picked up in route "Unless" it increases, or holds your overall rate per mile. The only time I'd allow a partial to knock a really good rate down is if my original final drop was in a area that didn't have a lot of options for a reload. And even then I'd be comparing it to what it would cost me to just bounce from the original final drop to a area that I could get reloaded out of.

And these $5.00 per mile LTL loads you hear about at the fuel island. Don't believe everything you hear, especially right now with the industry in the shape it's in. Sure we've grossed $5.00, and even $8.00 per mile on LTL loads but they are few and far between. If anyone tells you those rates are the norm, don't believe it.

I've been building full loads out of LTL shipments for 32 years now. Everytime I start building a LTL load I'm gambling that I can fill the trailer out, or at least get a better rate per mile than what I would get waiting for and booking a light weight full load out of the same area.

 

Do any brokers use specific verbage to require exclusive use of the trailer? I know landstar does on some loads, but I haven't noticed in rate confirmations with other brokers.

 

Yeah if the broker is wanting exclusive use of the trailer they'll normally put it on the Rate confirmation.