Flatbed rates i was quoted today

Well if that isn't one of the truest statements ever

 

In regards to cheap freight, backhaul, etc...you can call it whatever you want, but everything is supply and demand. If there are 200 flats in Massachusetts on a given day and 50 loads out, what do you think the rates will be like on those loads. They will suck whether you call them back haul, outbound, gravy, or lollipops. Each carrier/o-op has to decide what makes the most sense for their operation. Haul a cheap load to cover fuel, dead head, haul a load to a different area to get a better rate. There are a huge number of variables that go into deciding if it is worth while to haul a load and everyone has to make up their own mind. For example hors_19 delivered in Miami on Tuesday afternoon. He hauled a piece of equipment from Miami to Orlando. The rate was about half of what I would have charged for a similar move in Iowa. On the other hand, it was a relatively easy load that he was able to load that afternoon. He didn't have a lot of drive time left anyway, and he would have had to go back to Ft Pierce to find a place to park. Nothing out of Miami pays well, so we put a quick and easy one on the truck to help pay to move the truck North. All that said, I would not have allowed the load to be booked if he would have had to wait until the following morning to get it, or if there had been some other complicating matter.

On the topic of companies getting into specialized hauling...this has me anxious. I had my head in the sand on this one for a while, but things have become pretty clear. 2009 decimated the open deck business. Consequently, when things rebounded in 2010 there were far fewer carriers and o/ops there to move the loads. Rates went up, especially for specialized (step and RGN) freight. Others see this and want in. This is true of outfits that had been primarily flatbed like Roehl, and also o/ops that had been pulling van and reefers. The last 2 years there has been a huge number of open deck trailers purchased, and everyone seems to be adding open deck capacity. It is not that the economy is that much different from 2010, just that there are a lot more open deck trucks competing for the business. Unless the economy really picks up steam or exports go way up, things are going to be challenging. Since I don't see either of these things taking place in 2013, it could be a long year. Sooner or later there will be some other segment of the industry that gets hot (Reefer, HazMat, tanker) and people we start leaving open deck for the new hot spot.

If you are going to succeed in trucking, you need to be disciplined and stay in the lanes you like. For example, I know what the market rate is from Iowa to Kansas. I know that I do not make any money hauling to Kansas for this rate, because rates out of Kansas are not good. I can not "make the market" in Kansas. I have to charge a higher rate to go there if I want to make money. Therefore, I get very little business going to Kansas. You have to be okay with this. To be honest, you are better off to discount your rate to get a load that goes to a good area than you are to accept a higher rate to a dead zone that is still below where you need to be. When things got bad in 2009, we effectively shrank our operating area to MN, IA, WI, IL, IN, MI, OH, PA and MD. We knew we could survive on lower outbound rates to these areas because we could do reasonably well out of them. We were not getting the premium rates that we need to go to other areas like the Northeast, so we didn't go.

Large shippers, like a certain farm and construction equipment manufacturer, tend to be very educated and sophisticated when it comes to transportation. It might not seem so if you focus too closely on any one aspect. You have to consider that they are moving thousands of truckloads every month. They need capacity in lots of different forms. They care very little about the ability of the drivers moving their product on most loads. Once it leaves the factory it is between the trucker and the dealer. If a driver damages something due to poor securement the carrier pays. The unfortunate part is that most of their systems favor the cheapest carrier/broker in one way or another. When things in the overall economy are slow the manufacturer is being offered more trucks from all its carriers/brokers. They tend to use the trucks of the cheapest first meaning there may not be any loads left for the more expensive. When things are busy there always are because the cheaper carriers/brokers can't move everything. Brokers are good at finding the cheapest willing hauler so you see even more oddballs when things are as slow as they have been recently. Just hunker down and focus on what you can do to make money so you are there to capitalize the next time the market swings in the truckers favor.

 

Low rates and fuel at $4.00/gal is hard to figure out. For big carriers, they run through so many trainees. Which has to be a burden financially. Plus their overhead on other parts of the business. You just can't see how they can afford to take cheap rates. I'm sure their debt must be very high.
One thing I notice is the lease/purchase. In a round about way, when an employee of the big companies leases a rig. The truck with discounts probably cost the the big companies 80k-100k new. An employee comes in and leases one. Makes payments which cuts the original price down for the company. Now the big carrier is able to except lower paying loads. You really have to look at the big picture. Ask yourself why the big carriers have a lease/purchase plan. How does it benefit the big carriers. Basically it cuts their cost and puts the burden on the person leasing the truck. Which in turn helps the company take lower paying loads which the lease/employee accepts. lol....looks like a never ending career of treading water.

 

Silly O/O brokers make more on the load than you do

 

They dont haul those cheap rates they get $3 to 4+ mile

 

Bin doing this 28 years same old thing ...the rates were $1 mile then ​

 

Back haul is only a O/O term ... "real " trucking co. know there cost per mile and what they need for profit and don't haul for less . ​

 

the big boys are charging good rates they haul for good $ on lease/purchase they make even more they haul for 2 to 3 times the rate OO pull for

 

And when 95 % of those loads are hauled by TMC Melton and the rest they get at least $3+ a mile So do believe the shipper when he says they haul it for that .. i worked for Melton saw some of the rates from time to time .. i got 41cent 3cent fuel $40 tarp, BCBS medical brand new truck quelcom think about it no way with these expenses can haul for less than $3 mile plus Fuel charge....