IF You Ask ,You May Receive

I am booking my own freight over three years now, but heard following from people who been in business much longer: Chicago was ALWAYS solid outbound market (loadboard, spot market freight), pretty much in any direction....till 2015 happened.Now I see days when can't get two bukker to OH (traditionally east from Chi-Town pays/paid best per mile)...Problem is, that any lane profitable one way is in very short time exploited by brokers that use that to own advantage and reverse direction is getting sub rates.

Me and few of my friends run strictly regional/local markets and specialize in last minute, expedite or dropped the ball type of freight.And I think that what really You should do: learn Your market ins and outs.Don't run all over the country.Long haul is dead unless You are team and/or hazmat and right time, right place type of situation.

And to direct answer of Your question, example of seasonal market: 300 miles around Atlanta in April to 4th July, when produce is shipped on vented vans and reefers, and that rise significantly rates for everybody.

Also when You one truck motor carrier You name will not be recognized like somebody who runs 30 or more trucks.That often helps, especially when dealing with mega brokers (CHR, TQL, JB HUNT etc.)

 

Back haul can mean anything. You might need back haul from Columbus,OH to Newark, NJ, and one may need back haul from Newark, NJ to Columbus,OH. Chances are these are dedicated high paying routes that not many have. As an owner operator money is, where the money goes. Anytime you go to a dead head area you need to include in your rate the cost it will come out to a good area, rather it's 400 miles, or 1,000 miles. But that inbound load must dictate that you can get out even empty, but it will still make you money. As an owner operator to make great money it takes a lot of work. You need to always try to lower your costs to operate as much as possible, and anything that you take must mathematically make financial sense, otherwise why do it? If you get on guys to lease to you, you have a better ratio at income. You must know how markets change. This is why it's important to keep either good brokers, or shippers in contact. There are seasons and for those sesaons your good broker or customer will,let's put in a term "pre order" trucks a week a head for you to get to the next hot area. This is where you can pre book good paying freight to good paying freight 3-4 times a year that can easily add to $8,000 extra gross a year just based off that.

Spring time, Florida, Georgia, SC, and those state typically have high paying freight, but getting to them is cheap. Then it moves towards Laredo,TX and AZ, then Cali. Comes a bit quiet, then Northwest slams with christmas trees, and apples. Ohio and michigan become partially good markets in the mean time. North east is always a hit or a miss, therefore anytime you go there besides collecting money for tolls, you always get a high rate to be able to get out even if you take a "cheap load". A good broker or a customer will always keep you updated what's next week. Otherwise your typical load board brokers will try to keep you at the cheapest rate possible, and you won't see much money. This is where most independent, mercer, landstar and so many other type of guys fail. There is money, but you have to know what you're doing.

 

When I was at Landstar, some of the best paying (per mile if you calculated it) were the short, next day loads and there were some who were getting good at coordinating several partial loads on the same trailer. But like you said, the long runs were usually not the best paying when you broke it down to CPM.

 

That's the thing the more miles you drive the lower your cost becomes due to daily fixed costs. Shorter loads need to pay more cause if it's 50 miles at 3/mile that's $150. That's not including tax but it can't cover your daily cost so what would that 3/mile matter? I feel a lot of guys need to get educated if they want to make money and be happy in this industry.

 

So using that logic, charging a customer $7500-8000 for a coast-to-coast run would be acceptable? When I think of short runs, 150 mile runs aren't what I call short, that's local. I think more of the 4-500 mile runs. Do 5 or 6 of those a week at a decent rate, easy money.

 

My logic is this:

You know how much it costs you to run a truck. Then you add YOUR time, also the risk in this industry, how much profit do you want to see after your costs are covered? Also $5000 week "net" has to be taken apart at a % that you choose for upgrades, future investments. So if I am offered a $250 mile run for $600 I will refuse especially since the timeframe will be taking 7-8 hours of my day and then me sitting at the truckstop empty listening to Rambo cb radio guys.

Now that's my person logic. I dispatch my own self, so I put time in calling, negotating etc. Broker might take 15-20 minutes to send a confirmation. Then you print it, look it over to make sure everything is sweet, then scan, send back, do your log book, put away things, start rolling. Fuel stops, checking my truck daily, money and time spent on truck washes. I consider all this into my rates because it's my TIME I am spending to always have a reliable clean truck. So yes if I can't make a lot of money I don't want to do it. If I'm going to waste my day booking a load with my equipment and driving and checking in and waiting at some place an hour or two min then driving, fueling up, checking in at delivery then waiting again, filing paper work, driving to find a place to park.. I better profit more than $400-500 after taxes. Now how am I going to profit on 150 miles at $400? Sure I might make $160 before tax. That's not what I'm in this business for. I look at weight, commodity, destination, and most importantly time. After weight/destination I know my expenses now it's about the time.

If I wanted to be home everyday after 5-6 pm, and weekends off, and start my day at 8 am, yeah I'll settle for 150 miles paying $500. I'll also drive a $8,000 freightliner 1997 and 2001 dry van that I paid $4,000 in cash for. I'm going to drive 50mph. Make $1200 a week. Go home, have a drink. Watch a game. Or whatever. That's fine for people that choose that, but there are guys out here that want to sacrifice their time and effort into making money and taking that 150 mile load for $500 might take away wonder bread from some guys dinner table and it won't put a steak on my table.