How to bid and value freight

The only tool I use is my brain and past experiences. The factors I take into consideration are, where the load is going, how many miles its going, the weight, tarp or no tarp, legal dimensions or not, if not how wide and or tall/long, and the commodity.

 

Basically what KW said, freight lanes mean quite a bit. Obviously it's going to take better rates to go to a slow freight area. On the other hand, some areas have so much freight that it drives rates down. I still try to value my rates above average. I drove for 25 years and know what it takes to make a living on the road.

 

Some of the load boards offer lane or route average rates. I never use them because I have been doing this for some time and pretty much know what to expect in most areas where I run. I have found that I can usually do better on rates than they report on the loadboards, but it can be a useful tool if you are not familiar with rates and the different lanes.

 

Supply and demand...........some lanes are easier to move than others. Try moving a load from Dallas to Colorado at $1.50 a mile on a flat and see if anyone will touch it. Then try to move the same load to Chicago at $1.50 a mile. You have to know the lanes and how freight moves in them.

 

I figured you just add up what is costs to run and then see what is left for profit and decide if it's worth it to head out.

All to often it's not, and now I know why I see all these busted up wrecks wobbling down the freeway driven by someone wearing rags, AMAZED that the truck could even make it to a DOT inspection much less pass one!

 

After your expenses ie maintenance, taxes, fuel, insurance and TIME... you shouldnt be making .35 cpm. The again I see plenty of O/O taking loads that will leave them with less than a company driver.

 

I guess some only have the choices of either to live in poverty, slowly go broke, or starve right away.

 

KW is correct, I would like to add a little more insight if you will. All of the above must be taken into consideration as said. You however must also take into consideration "Market Economics". That is what other Common or Contract carriers are transporting the load for. I am a Independent Truck Dispatcher and bid lanes daily for shippers and/or deal with brokers all the time. I am constantly quoting rates. If you want your wheels to turn you have to remain competitive if you want less downtime. Notice I did not say cheap, I said competitive.

 

For instance, freight out of Chicago is great. Freight to Chicago pays nothing. Either hop your way there with short runs, or bite the bullet and know you'll get good pay out.

Same problem with the northeast in reverse. Great pay to go up, sucks to come out. You can find 1.80-2.00/mi stuff, but it's usually not that long, and has a lot of specialty to it (multi-stop/picks, overnight, undesirable middle-of-nowhere destination, etc).

I got out of Boston for $1.70/mi loaded. Not thrilled by it, but it covers all expenses and set-asides, and turns a profit. The load up, though, was a one-day load for $2000. It is what it is.