Finally got my own truck

Yeah I'm on a XPO load right now.

Haven't had the best experiences with them but they can be okay.

Gonna be empty in a minute here by Greenville SC.

See what happens tomorrow. It's busy down here. I wonder how long I can sit and wait the brokers out for the money load.

 

Today I sat in Greenville SC all day taking phone calls. Market seemed a little soft today. Calls came faster after lunch. Tried to get a really long run but there weren't tons of them going to Dakotas or TX ND SD UT AZ.

I had made up my mind today that I was going to quote the living crap out of everyone today just for the heck of it. Just to see what happened. Had to pick a day to do that and today was as good a day as any. I didn't care if it came to fruition or not.

I got a couple of calls to OK and TX. The one to Tulsa 1000 miles as I tried to speak over the agent before he quoted me, since I really didn't want to hear his offer since I really didn't care, he's trying to tell me that his customer just approved a rate hike. I told him $3500. "Wayyyy off!" Click.

One to Houston area, broker I never heard of, and probably wouldn't get approved to book with anyways, called and said he'd pay me $1700. Which I think was kinda meh. Houston has been busy from what I've heard. I asked him if it was 450 loaded miles. "Excuse me? Are you being a smart ###?" "Well kinda!" "Hmmph...All right!" Click. I kinda felt like a jerk after that.

Then there were the loads to MI. Shipper close by had 5 loads going to different points in MI and they had 3 or 4 different brokers on them. I was seeing rates $1100-1400 on 700-750 miles. MI is a dead area. One of them called me and asked if I'd take one, I said I was looking for longer miles but I'd do one for $2500. Of course they didn't have that much in it. Another one called and offered me $1600 I turned it down.
Then I saw one posted for $1100, so then I posted my truck again to MI with $2500 in the comments. Lol. I wondered how badly this shipper really needed to move them.

So finally one of the big brokers called me sounding all desperate. I can tell now when they sound that way, thanks @rollin coal and asked if I had a tanker endorsement.
"Well sir, as a matter of fact, I do!"

Load to MI, 38k lbs of liquid non hazmat material in plastic vats. They gave me the $2500. Turns out it was 750 loaded, so $3.33. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Holy Trinity. Message from God to get my butt in gear? Or to just remember that this is His truck and he'll manage it for me? I don't know yet. Blessing or warning, I don't know, but probably both.

I got lucky today. This doesn't happen often. They happened to be in need of my services badly and I was more than happy to take care of their customer with quality service. Right place at the right time. And I did leave the dock manager with a handshake and a enjoy your weekend.

It kinda made up for a bad week because I didn't take a load until Thursday because I couldn't swallow my pride and take cheap load out of MI back south. But I'll go home again, deliver first thing Monday, and have another shot at redeeming myself.

I left my truck posted and them Michigan loads started calling back. I let it ring, laughing going down the highway, as they're standing in my dust begging me to come back.

I'll tell you what though, it isn't fun going through the gorge and other mountainous areas with vats of liquid. I can feel it sloshing around in there.

 

That's what I'm starting to believe. The bigger brokers, they have the money to just pay to get their customer taken care of. A lot of the smaller ones, a lot of times, they don't even have the load - until they find a truck to take it for cheaper than what the shipper is offering to them and the other 3 brokers they hired to spam the board. And of course Landstar, when they book it for a certain price from another broker and try doubling it off on another carrier, of course they don't have that much in it.

But the bigger guys do, and when they need a truck, they can pay.

I ALWAYS put stuff in the comments. Always put tanker endorsed. Sometimes I'll put O/O or Owner Op, and straps, bars, clean food grade, and my name.

99% of the time I'm polite and casual with them over the phone. Sometimes my mouth will run away from my brain and I'll shoot out something like the smarty pants comment I made to the broker with the Texas load. That one kinda slipped out without me thinking first. It happens when I'm getting irritated and I don't feel like being professional at that particular moment. I don't like being insulted when I know the market is better than that. They want service? Or do they just want to "cover the load"?

Maybe I'm prideful, but I take pride in my work. I'll bend over backwards for your customer even when they treat me like garbage. Even when they literally throw my load bars and straps in a pile like garbage being tossed in a dumpster. I shut up and take it in the rear. Just pay me to deal with it.

I can't tell you how many shippers look at drivers with disdain, as if they were expecting and waiting for a trash driver to do something stupid or be rude. I like to challenge that stereotype type and make them think there's hope but many of them are jaded by now with the current crop of dis-quality drivers out there who see the load as "just more miles".

Sigh.