Can You Run For $1/M?

It is bad enough that some of the unscrupulus brokers--take way more than the 5-8% they are entitled to--but taking even ONE PENNY of the accersoral charges needs to be ADDRESSED--IMHO this should be a federal felony!! Same as taken ONE PENNY out of a fuel surcharge--this surcharges--drop--delay--tarp--fuel etc--do not affect anyone but the PERSON hauling that load--and are negotiated with the original shipper--and these are presented to the shipper(or whoever is paying the bills) as necessary charges to compensate a business owner for their time and expenses! Whoever pays the bills on that load pays those charges with the understanding they are legitimate business expenses to the person they are contracting with--not some middleman--it is IMHO the most UNSCRUPULUS of business practices!!

 

I used to run a load from Chicago to Miami for $3.50 a mile, then I'd grab a load of cart returns at a Home Depot return center in Ocala for $.98 a mile going back to Indy. It covered fuel and meals for the entire trip and only weighed 10k lbs. I would'nt have done it if it weighed more

 

I couldn't agree more. QC takes a percentage of my layover pay so I don't even turn it in if I get detained for 24hrs, ###### 'em, I'd rather lose out on $300 than make them $100 for nothing

 

Yes but if the NEW GUY has no idea of what is being charged for a load , he has no idea what he is losing $ wise by pulling it for bottom end rates.

At the same time you cannot always be telling the $ factor as some will use that info to undercut you and get the work.

I have 2 flatbeds dropped at a job site over the weekend , another trucker has 2 as well.

His comment was " Not costing me $ having them sit there " , I guess he did not know that the customer paid his broker ( i deal direct with the customer ) $157.40 a day demurrage on the trailers

 

I tell know one what my actual rates are and never say who i'am hauling for made that mistake one time15 years ago never again. If my trailer has to sit some where i get paid for it there not going to use it for free.

 

I am no fan of the broker that takes HUGE percentages because they can. With that said if we are to be taken seriously then we need to understand the businesses that we are complaining about AND think about how government regulation may affect our lives.
Put yourself into the place of a person wanting to start a brokerage business and build a business plan. If you are a one man shop, out of your house then you are able to run this business and pay yourself at 10-15%. Get larger and you are looking at 15-25%.
And what job are they doing for that money? The one that the shipper can’t do for that amount. So the rate the shipper pays the broker is the rate INCLUDING money for the broker’s services. If you spend enough time talking to shippers you will see that they come down on the side that they are expecting 20-25% of the rate to go to the broker.
Come on folks, we have some real issues in this industry and our voices will not be heard if we don’t even understand all parts of the industry we are in. The price of fuel is not because of a greedy oil company. That plays well on camera for politicians but it is related to the speculators trading oil futures.
That cheap rate is not always a broker keeping 50%. It could be the shipper looking for a cheap carrier or a dozen other reasons not related to the brokers margin.
You accept an all in rate and you have taken the issue of FSC off the table.
But we make the general, sweeping, uneducated comments and real issues will be ignored because the average person will discount EVERYTHING you say when they see that you don’t understand one aspect.
Think of it as talking to someone you catch in a lie. Do you believe other things they say? Maybe you don’t even bother listening to them.
That “middleman” is the person that the shipper contracted with. They are being paid to be the “middleman” because at 20-25% of the load rate that is cheaper for the shipper than having the needed staff to coordinate shipping. How much would that shipper have to keep of the rate to work direct with truckers? But for some reason many truckers believe that the shipper is fully staffed to do the job of the broker and that the broker is redundant. No, they are more cost effective for the shipper that having the staff to do it themselves.
Why do we not jump to the same conclusion about us O/O’s? Don’t all these companies have trucks, trailers and drivers sitting around? Why do they need us? Because, like the broker, they can’t do the job cheaper themselves so they use contract services – the O/O.

 

You have got to be kidding?!? So the company with poor planning that causes the layover, costing you and QC money, profits? How does that logic work? If you get detained it is costing you money because you are not rolling. It is costing your carrier money because they are having to reschedule loads and have a resource sitting. IT IS NOT COSTING the company causing the layover anything if you do not charge them for it.