How do you figure the value of a load?

(Length x width x height x weight) + PITA factor (percentage basis) + fuel
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Distance

 

It was a joke.

Honestly, I figure an honest rate based on how much of my time the load is gonna take. If it's an all day load, that's my daily rate (negotiations start at $1200-$1500 rate plus fuel depending on area)

If its a short load, rate reflects my banking on getting another short load in for the day.

 

I don't see any connection between the value of the load and the rate for which it is pulled. That is not even in the scope of negotiation with a broker. Maybe the rates are better for loads that require higher insurance limits but generally most of the freight is covered by 100k limit and the assumption is that the value should not exceed it. The rate should reflect the nature of commodity (whether it is dirty or not, damage prone, how it smells, etc.) and its weight, but its value is irrelevant.

 

Knowing the cost per mile to run your truck be first part in figuring whether a load pays well or not. And the lane your running. And what commodities your hauling.

 

For example, I can calculate that I want to take home home at least 600 a day then I should calculate how many days that trip will last, next add the fuel cost to it plus tolls and then average cost per mile times miles of the trip and I have my minimum desirable rate. But it is market that really dictates the rates in a given area and time. For instance, If I go to PA or FL rates there must be much higher, as the market there will supersede any outbound rates that one might desire.

 

Do you factor nasty weather into this?

 

There's a lot of variables that go into how a load gets priced. Take for example 2 loads coming from the same shipper. One of them a 500 mile haul into Florida. The other a 500 mile haul into Chicago.

The one to Florida will always be offered for a much higher rate. Usually double or even more than that versus what they will offer to Chicago. Florida is a dead reload area. A consumption market that produces nothing being shipped on trucks for most of the year.

Chicago is at the other end of the spectrum. They consume incoming loads and also produce many outgoing ones. Rates on reloads out of Chicago will always be 2 or 3 times more, sometimes even way more than that, than rates on reloads out of Florida.

Then there is the commodity or product to be considered. Is it time critical, do they need the shipment asap, or can they shop it for several days to snag the lowest rate? Truck availability imbalances. Are there too many trucks versus loads in a given area, or too few? What type of equipment is involved? How much time will it take? What type of customers are these - are they no nonsense load them up get them on the road quickly or do they waste a lot of time loading/unloading.

Loads to truck ratios is probably the biggest determining factor for tossing up anchor point posted rates on a public loadboard. Most of those other things, and more, are between the shipper/receiver or the broker and the carrier when they're trying to reach an agreement on the money to haul a load. So we're talking about two different things here really posted rates by people with freight needing a truck versus what truckers are thinking when they're trying to determine their happy rate to grab a load.

Something to always keep in mind is that a posted rate is meaningless. In a hurry up lets book that load now situation you can grab it and go for that price. But in a market like Florida they'll probably tell you they have another carrier on the line willing to do it for $100 less. In a hotter market like Chicago that posted rate might not get the load covered and the rate that does move it may be 2, 3,4 times or more higher.