Is it me or what.....................?

rates do seem to be bouncing around recently,I have trouble getting decent flatbed loads from TX,NM,AZ and other points west also. it's not just you bud it's more the time of year then anything else.

 

Rates suck all over and its not just the time of the year they sucked even before thanksgiving. Im almost scared to pull out the drive wondering if i can get a load back. I use to run the same way pull out monday back for fr than i started staying out until monday than two weeks last time was almost a month it is getting harder to make this a living

Today everything i see out of houston going east is paying $1.40-$1.60 im sorry i just cant keep running like that its worth more to me than the $.30/mi im making off them loads. I owe the IRS $3,900 so next time out i need to make that over my cost so looks like ill be out a few weeks

 

Don't ever get up into Western Canada. Very cheap freight if you can find any at all. Generally we have to drop into the Northern US to get anything with a decent rate.
In the last year it seems the deck rates have dropped about 20% with a fuel increase of about 20%, it almost doesn't pay to work anymore.

 

So, you want to run when and where everyone else wants to run, but not fight them for loads and get top dollar, right? I used to have a gravy run myself, leave FL Monday for $2+ no tarp legal, run from the Northeast to IL or IN and then catch a nice load to FL. I made lots of cash and had a gravy schedule, then we stopped building in FL and it all went to crap. I adapted, but it took a couple years to get in a new groove. I found a couple niche's that don't have a lot of volume, but demand service, and pay for it. I'm actually busy right now with emails lined up asking me to haul for big money. This rush won't last long, but I'm the go to guy for the customer, not the agent. Find a niche and enjoy your life, leave the commodities for the mavericks and Boyd's.

 

Yea we have to get a very good rate out west to cover the return. Generally we end up running at around $2.36 to $2.70 per mile for flat decks. The Eastern US isn't any better. The Southern US heading to Western Canada is generally around $2.90 to $3.50 depending on the commodity. Wide loads are around $5.50 to $7.00 to the oil fields. The southern US to Ontario runs around $2.40/mile.
I remember when you could make a truck payment with one load, me thinks those days are long gone.