Finally got my own truck

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by BoyWander, Jan 1, 2017.

  1. InmanFreight

    InmanFreight Light Load Member

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    Are you set up with XPO? If not, you should be. They usually have a lot of freight moving into and out of the Flint/ Detroit area. Build a relationship with one of their brokers based out of the NC office, you'll be able to tell if the broker has a 980 or 704 area code. They are the ones responsible for much of the auto freight. Most of this freight never hits a load board, you only get it from good broker relationships.
     
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  3. Knucklehead

    Knucklehead Road Train Member

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    Forgot about them. I believe they're on Opdyke or Squirrel off of M59.
     
  4. Lepton1

    Lepton1 Road Train Member

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    @BoyWander this post is solid gold right here. Start putting a shine on your broker relationships. I kill broker loads with service, giving them more updates on ETA than they require. Make sure the shipper and receiver are happy.

    I rarely do broker loads, BUT when I need them in certain areas I KNOW it's almost a sure thing I can get a load from certain "dead" areas if I want. All it takes is a call to a broker that gave me a load or two before as soon as I know when I will be available, then I get an email with a list of destinations to pick from. The rate at first may not be the best, but after pulling a load or three with great service and then you are a welcome call. The rates start increasing without a push from you. Pretty soon that dead area can become bread and butter.
     
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  5. BoyWander

    BoyWander Road Train Member

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    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.
     
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  6. BoyWander

    BoyWander Road Train Member

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    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.
     
    Last edited: May 12, 2017
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  7. spyder7723

    spyder7723 Road Train Member

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    Finally! You just learned that being patient pays dividends. Its better to sit any entire day to get a loaf like that than take the cheap freight. now keep it up and don't fall back in the old habits.
     
  8. Oscar the KW

    Oscar the KW Going Tarpless

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    Good for you, now that you've done it, it gets easier.

    On another note, don't waste your time being a smart ### with brokers. Not always easy I know. But be professional no matter how cheap they want to get something moved. If they need to open up the check book later in the day, you can bet that they won't be calling the smart ##### back. Just something to think about.
     
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  9. double yellow

    double yellow Road Train Member

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    Congrats. I remember calling Rollin Coal all giddy after booking my first load like that.

    If you have the stamina for it, that's how to make decent bucks with a van. But it gets tiring playing telephone negotiator for 8 hours, then racing off to do an overnight run. With Fridays you usually can just pick it up & park for the night, but the flipside is that if you strike out you also waste 3 days sitting instead of 1...
     
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  10. rollin coal

    rollin coal Road Train Member

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    When you post your truck always put "tanker endorsed" in the comments. The brokers do read comments even if it doesn't seem like it. I can't tell you how many times I get a call "I noticed your driver has a tanker endorsement and I have this load...." I put that in comments for van and reefer postings as there are sometimes temp control requiring tanker endorsed or it can be a R/V load.

    99 out of a 100 posted trucks put no comments on their truck posting, and no destinations either...... o_O which is really stupid. Probably 1 in 10 van drivers actually has a tanker endorsement. So you're the only guy that has that in his comments and they have a tanker endorsed van load. You'll get that call.

    Those loads have always paid me very well. They can get money on tanker endorsed loads. Not always granted but usually. Do you think they want to call 50 different truck postings who don't have any comments or the one guy (probably hundred now that they read this lol) who took 1 second to add that info into his comments.

    Oh, and quit believing these guys when they tell you "we don't have that much in it". All they have to do is call their customer for more or dig deep into their own pockets. The biggest lie they ever tell is "that's all I have in it".
     
  11. BoyWander

    BoyWander Road Train Member

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    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.
     
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