Holidays Suck for Transport

Authority and such also includes paying for your license and such. I am also in the process of filing for my own authority as well. This should be in place in the next 30-90 days.

 

Right, but MN says he is finding and booking his own loads as well. I guess the percentage going to F2F covers the back office functions?

 

Yes, F2F does do the billing. I do turn my BOL in to them. They also sign the Load rate confirmations. I have signed some that are after-hours. But those are the exception, not the rule.

I book my own loads off of load boards that they pay for. The rates I negotiate with the brokers alone.

I pay my IFTA, IRP and Liab/Phys Damage (separate from F2F) and Cargo insurance (through F2F).

I do not HAVE my own authority at this moment. I am in the process of filing for it and it should be in place before the end of February. At that time, the F2F name comes off the door and I put my own information on the door.

 

Ah, I wasn't aware that you could get liability / physical damage without your own authority. I figured that you had to be added to the leasing carrier's policy.

 

As an O/O, you are required to have Phys Damage/Liability, regardless of carrier. It's commonly called bobtail insurance. It's entirely different than cargo insurance.

 

So are you waiting 30+ days on your money or do they pay you up front?

 

I turn my bills in on Friday, I get paid the following Friday.

 

That's worth 5% alon

 

3%, but sure.


Talk to a bunch of factoring companies. It ranges from 3% to as much as 8% I have found.

 

OK, since we are talking about my company I can shed some light on things.

We are percentage ranging from 81-87% depending on what we negotiate from full-dispatch to you do it all. When we talk about weekly pay and compare it to factoring it is a true non-recourse like any trucking company and not like a factoring company.

We found early on that when a driver wants to dispatch themselves they get better rates and are more satisfied. But we spend a lot of money cultivating relationships to make the phone ring. We actually have a full-time person that just answers the phones for trucks that we have posted and forwards those calls to the driver. Drivers, like MN, that keep us updated on their status get a lot of calls forwarded for bids. Actually, just last week in the office we talked about how we all know MN's cell because we give his number out so much.

And we are testing tracking and upgrading our software to increase access to these type of loads high dollar bid loads. We are also rolling out a 24/7 dispatch with experienced people that will be able to work the boards like Sylectus for loads that don't call in.

We have also been approved for several 3PL boards and Transcores TMS including access to GM, Ford, Nissan, etc.

We are a lot like LS in that we give the driver complete control if they want. Couple things that have really catapulted our growth this year is the great work of our drivers. People like Rolling and MN really make a difference. With just average drivers we would be just like any small percentage carrier and never have been able to get approved for all the accounts that we have gotten in December. The other factor is size (yes it matters). 10 trucks seems to be the magic number. We would not be part of Sylectus, have access to some of the 3PLs like LS or get approved for some of the TMS groups we have.

This has been an very rewarding year for us but also exhausting. It is hard work and we all know work sucks. But work is what you have to do so that you can do the things you love. For me that is the selling and training part. We are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel that we feel that we can afford to hire an additional person in the office that will give me the time to get out and sell and develop my training/mentoring program. Even if I can only spend 10-hours a week this year on the training all the other hours in the week with the work will make it worth it.

It was a wild 2012 and I believe that will look mild compared to 2013.