Dat - How flexible are rates?

I just negotiated a load 148mi for 1400. 15day was 500.00 but broker showed his hand by telling me i was only 1 in the area (small town in country) fresh on hrs 2 stops sameday 8am and 2200 stops were 10mi apart. Told him i was on way home his load took me 70mi past the house. So he told me to throw a number i said 1400 . He took it so now im home following morning but thats ok.

 

Lmao. That's the best description yet!!

 

That beer has always been cheap. There are idiots in my area that backhaul it for $1.00 a mile. No way I would touch that.

 

I get beer loads for 3mi on occassion. Why they pull for 1.80 is beyond me i guess they want something to do. Now i dont get them as often maybe 2 a month but thats 2 loads at 3 mi. St louis to Columbus . If rate doesnt match the weight leave it

 

The DAT 15 days average is a must have tool for me. It is only good for assessing the trends. It serves the purpose of not feeling too bad when one week all of sudden you haul something for $250 less on the same lane you served a month ago.. The goal is always to shoot for much more, towards the record rate you had on the lane but if you can't get it then you don't let it below DAT average either.

 

15day is a tool . The tool i like is the search trucks . Tells you how many trucks in your area you are competing against based on loads available . There could be a cluster of load in a 100mi radius of 120loads but there are only 50 trucks. The load to truck ratio maybe 2 to 1 for that state ,but since your in a sweet spot the ratio is now 3 to 1 or higher . Guess what im uping my rate or i sit wait afternoon or 1 . Phone rings im on it. With elogs alot of drivers are solar powered brokers use that to their advantage bottom fish the rates drivers take it day before .Some are missing out on rates but they're 9 to 5 like they want so they dont care i guess. In alot of ways it hurts me because day before there are 375 loads i empty out next morning at 10am now there is only 90. Guess what truck load ratio in brokers favor now .
I talked to a broker 2 weeks ago there target is to get the load counts lower on the boards it helps them increase the commission on whats left. Its not uncommon to see a 15day avg of 1200 posted for 800 trust me somebody is gonna take it because it take them where they wanna go. Its killing us because a drivers wants to pull 9 to 5 so he can find a parking spot at a tstop or they are willing to pull cheap to relocate.

 

It already comes with a package: TruckersEdge Pro or DAT Power. I think less expensive subscriptions have 90 days average.

 

The lane rates are a joke. Even the numbers they show on Trendlines are a joke. Prime example Baltimore/Harrisburg is usually like 4.35 or something and it's total BS. Nothing coming in nor out of that area pays that rate or anything close to it. It's a scam IMO. I even called DAT and ask them to explain exactly how they come up with that number. Multiple people from numerous departments have yet to provide an answer. Blank. Nothing.