Finally got my own truck

And what's worse is I don't think you can go around it. The tolls are on all the bridges going between, as far as I know.

 

When I say my boss, I'm talking about the owner of the company I'm leased onto. He finds my loads. I can find my own when I want, but I've never done it before. Soon I will try calling on a load though.

 

I'll get to that soon enough. I wouldn't know what to say though once I call.

Do the brokers expect a quick wham-bam call? Are you supposed to immediately give your MC number? I imagine I would need to ask the following questions, like is it 1pick1drop, weight, commodity, and appointment times, and then shoot my rate.

I also don't know the markets well. I do know the places that I'll get $1/mi out of, to go to a good area, like Florida or Maryland to Chicago, so I know what I would need to go in there for. I could start with that. But say, something like Chicago to Missouri, no idea what I should expect to go there or to come back from. My boss knows the markets well, I don't. So I imagine I would start with something like midwest to Florida, if I know what I could come back for, then I know what I would need to go there for. Having one piece of the puzzle helps to solve the other piece, but if you don't have one half of the info, then no way you can extrapolate what the other piece would be.

 

Bounced around midwest. Indy to SD to Grand Island, NE, Got empty this morning then sat and sat. Finally I looked at the load board and decided I should probably deadhead toward Lincoln. So I did, then half hour later my boss' new dispatcher calls with a load from 15min south of where I was, going to Chicago for $1.50/mi. I declined because I had already left that area 45 mins ago and thought I had a much better chance of getting something decent out of Lincoln/Omaha and now I'm sitting in Lincoln with no load for the day. Now I regret it. Lesson learned.

I shoulda hit the brakes and turned myself around. Now I got my break and and have my truck posted hoping for an emergency load. Oh well, like I said, lesson learned. Hopefully get something tomorrow. Not doing as well as last week, but last week was really good. Freight seems to be slowing down like it does this time of year. I guess it's just survival mode until produce season hits. $2,550 gross on 1200 miles and a lost day. I still have a lot of learning to do. Not just markets but knowing what I should do in certain situations. Was it the right move to make deadheading an hour and a half toward a better area? Should I have stayed put where I was? Something I never realized would come up that would affect my business, just not something I had really thought of. At least the weather is fine. I haven't been idling my truck for heat much at all.