Cheap Freight... What would you do?

Well. Before the freight nazis get ya. Here is my thoughts. Everyone's idea of cheap freight is different. Everyone's bottom line is different. You have to do what is best for you and your company, period. My personal favorite is the guy that boasts 2+ a mile freight yet it only goes 100 miles and he is on it for a day and a half. That's not making money and it's hauling cheap freight!!!! I know my point is sort of scattered but ya get my drift? I would for sure take that dollar a mile load to get you somewhere else. Ya have to do what ya have to do to make it work!!! So don't worry about what the pay per mile nazis have to say. Make your business work for you. You will never change these people that can't understand business.

 

1. wear and tear on your truck
2. principle. why should the broker make money while you lose $29? Why should the shipper get their freight hauled for next-to-nothing? You are the one taking all the risk and covering the expenses.

 

I'm rock-headed i'd deadhead and next time you may want to consider where you take loads to. Although if you went in there with a good load,then that should cover the deadhead. For many years i ran 1 way loaded and did well. It is easier for an owner driver to deadhead as opposed to paying a driver. I paid my drivers %,plus 2 meals a day so usually it worked out fine for everyone.

 

Loose $539 while cutting off your nose to spite your face on the principle of, "I don't haul no stinkin' cheap freight!" Or... essentially break-even (-$29) pulling a low-paying load that pays for the fuel.

Hmmm...

Loose 5 bills or break even???

 

The reason for not taking it is that if noo one would take it at 1/mile they would have to raise the rate. Its the principal of it. If you take it for a buck then the broker might think hmm maybe I can get the next load done for. 95. Or no one covers it at 1 and he has to raise it up. What if someone came into your frieght lanes and started hauling out for a buck

 

See, and here's the REAL POINT...

How much did the LOAD IN PAY? Did you look and see what the freight:capacity ratio was at the destination, BEFORE you booked the load in?

This is where a lot of folks CONTINUE TO HARP that the business is not a "one load at a time" thing.

If you pulled the load IN - for 2.85 for a 1000 mile load (just throwing numbers out there), and then deadhead out the guy to SLC - then your $2.85 load, just turned into a 1,580 mile/$1.80 load (rate-wise).

Where is your "profit point" in operating expenses? The $.91 a mile for the fuel/driver to deadhead - versus the $1 a mile run (and you never said WHERE it was going). Is that run taking you INTO a good lane? Your "total cost of operation" isn't at $.91, when you factor in all your other fixed/variable costs.

Cheap Freight Nazi's or no - it's the LONG GAME that needs to be looked at. One "loser run" isn't going to kill you - but stack a few of those, back to back - or "justify" running $1 loads to yourself - and you start losing your butt in a negative P&L in the long run. So it requires "getting the rate" on the INBOUND LOAD - to be able to cost/balance taking the hit on the outbound (or just deadheading out).

Obviously, this is somewhat different when you're paying a driver too (even thought the Owner/Driver is supposed to be "paying" themselves too). OTOH - for $.40 a mile driver pay - I'll drive your truck and burn your fuel ANY DAY...

Rick

 

His costs for maintaining a driver are a lot more than that. .34 cents a mile plus workmans comp. health insurance. I still think the loss of 29 bucks outweighs the 539.

 

Did you figure in the dead head miles to get to the buck a mile load plus time waiting to load and unload ? For me its just plain and simple, i will not put a load on my tucks that do not make a profit. Me personally i would dead head him to Salt lake rather than make some one else money at my expence. 95% of the time the moneys in the load but the broker knows its a bad area and can move it cheap and do.

 

You go to MT knowing you're going to haul cheap out or deadhead 90% of the time. Substitute MT for any number of other states/areas at certain times of the year. Even if you got $9 a mile going in why not get another $500-$600 on your truck. The ONLY time I wouldn't haul a cost covering load is if I could get another "good" load on significantly quicker by deadheading or if the load is just too much of a pain in the neck/ time consuming / hard on equipment.

If everyone said no, rates would come up some but reality is that some lanes are just always going to be a run cheap or deadhead proposition. So as someone said earlier, cut off your nose to spite your face and burn $500 or break even and regroup in a better area Monday? Seems like an obvious situation for me if you KNOW you're going to be able to get a good paying load out of Salt Lake.