And with all your formula's, you do realize that the only accurate cost is in the past and any future cost is a WAG?
Sir, if @wichris put down what he charges for the lane, and I know who he pulls for in that lane, I can price it correctly in order to take his customer. We are moving into bidding season for 2023. We understand what you are trying to do, but understand this…Some of us are always on intel or counter intel. This is the free market. We are in competition against each other. You would be surprised in the lengths some go to figure out what the competition is doing right or wrong. Eyes and ears open, mouth shut.
When I hear guys are doing bad, I feel for them. Well..My competitor came in taking allot of my customers freight. They have more trucks than my one. I was sad, hunkered down and focused on service. They lost their business when getting caught double brokering. I am now happy as can be, my customer appreciates me more and my fears of loosing lane to a bigger carrier resided, for now. Spoke to me and appreciated my attention to details on the produce and port access. Meant allot for a giant customer to take the time to speak with me and acknowledge my work as a single truck mom and pop. We are not on the same team, we can be polite and cordial, but we are on the opposite team.
Customer service means a lot, big or small customers. Maybe why i've kept the top three for 27, 22, and 21 years. Carriers come in cheaper, promise more but i still get all we need.
If fuel is $5 a gallon (retail) and the truck mpgs is 5, how much is the cost per mile? $1.00. I'm sorry you can't get this... If my fuel discount is $0.65 per gallon: then $1.00 would drop to $0.89. Are you charging the broker retail fuel cost or actual? Do you really charge only actual costs to you? Given your way of calculating, anyone with equipment paid off should just be running for fuel and insurance...oh wait, they do...because they don't know any better...because sharing rate info for some reason it's taboo. You give your fuel discount to your customers...what a sweet boy.
Do you Truly not understand why people are not willing to share their pricing model with you? Or are you doing it just to be argumentative?
Geez, how hard is it to understand that you're inflating your costs to yourself. And anyone reading it. Your fuel cost, you said it, is .089. Your math is even off on that. 5.00-.65=4.35/5=.87, not .89. No wonder you can't make it. Find anywhere where i said to drop the rate. You're lying to yourself and anyone reading it. I don't give my discounts to my customers, they have no idea what my costs are because i'm not about to tell them or anyone else. Again, it's no wonder you can't make it.
I think he's doing it because he has no idea what he's doing. Just another one that slid by when the rates were up and can't make it now.
Variety is the spice of life. I don't want to be like anyone else, or them try to be like me. Seems to be plenty of van haulers, already using brokers, so why not try something else, or in a new area. If someone has a gravel truck within a 5 hour driving radius of me, and isn't roll in cash, they should qualify for disability, because their IQ must be under 40. There is no driving for mileage, brutally long days, living in a truck, eating crap. The money is not good, its great! 7am to 5pm is a regular days work, and there is no shortage of work available. If I owned 400 gravel trucks, and had drivers for them all, they could all start work tomorrow.