General observation discussion.

I use load board for 70% of work.

 

when i worked as a 1099 for an o/o back in my youth, he told me to look at the load boards, for loads coming back up to New England. they were few and far between, so i had to dead head about 50 miles north, till the next truck stop, and so on and so forth. till i finally told him, it's your dam truck, why do i gotta look for loads, that should be something YOU SHOULD BE DOING.

i didn't work for him much longer after that. i failed to see it was my responsibility to keep his truck moving.

so in the end, they may pay crappy, or just aren't going in the direction you want to go in....

 

I use Truckstop.com
I look for oversize loads. If nothing I haul LTL. Takes more time but per mile you get better pay.

 

Ideally you take lower paying loads to get out of dry areas. I'm not saying loads that lose money, but loads that don't pay your normal rate. Sometimes you can get stuck in an area where the megas have a monopoly and you're stuck losing money or waiting longer

 

Alot of what everybody said i agree with. Also look into your bottom line. Where can you save money on exspences to keep operation costs low and profit high

 

No I don't take lower paying loads. I will run empty(500mile) to get to a better spot before I run a cheap load.
Well that is a relative position. You decide what your threshold is. Mine is close to $2.00 pm. Usually with LTL you can get at least 3 and higher per mile.

 

You're full of #### 500 empty miles because you won't take a load under $2. That's incredibly dumb.....

 

Your opinion. Your assumptions. That would be dumb to do that every week. But when needed. I will run empty. TO not only save fuel money but to save time getting to a better paying load.
If you're on a load and you book a load paying $pm for a 2300 mile run. IF you burn up time getting from the 1st load to the 2nd load and lose the second load for a lower paying load.

Scenario Deliver to Boise, ID. Thursday morning. You can get that cheaper load going to Pasco,WA. deliver Friday morning at 8am or run Empty to Seattle and make the pickup by 10am at the port. If you go to Pasco not enough time to make it to port and you lose on the long run and you sit all weekend.
Good luck.