Load Board Truths and Myths

Florida dudester, i think youre a nice guy, a good person. I like you. But you talk too much. You reveal too much. You explain too much. You try too hard to show what you know and in the process reveal what you dont know, which is the vulnerability that brokers seek out. Youll have ratecons coming at you all right, to haul freight at subsidized rates... That is to say, a subsidy to them. At a loss to you. Youre gonna need to learn how to speak to brokers without giving away that youre green. Your MC number prefix will tell them your authority is new but there is no reason to let them think you havent been driving 30 yrs.

Example of how you should speak with them. Note that i include no extras about your background, logic or reasoning, its strictly business. You may need to make 70 calls to bag your load .. And then may need to send a 22 page carrier packet and have the broker listed on your insurance all before u get the pick address.. so dont goof around talking story. Clock is ticking.

Ring ring ring

Hi this is dudester transport, MC 789123. [Pause] Im calling on your flat load pick today albaturkey to cheyenne for $1600. Still have it?

Ok is it one pick one drop [1p1d] ?

whats the dock hours on pick? 7-3 first come first serve? [FCFS] okay and the drop is fcfs or appointment? Alright open drop window, when is dock cuttoff? 4pm, okay. Now is it IN cheyenne or nearby? In downtown cheyenne.. Okay that sucks.

Whats commodity? [Scenario1] Lumber.. Okay is it tarped? 8ft drops? [If you dont want the job this is where you say sorry ive only got 4s. Alrighty bud Thanks and goodluck, bye. *click* that fast] next.

Scenario 2. Its steel? Okay, what type of steel.. It only says structural? I need to know more. Read me the notes line for line please. Okay so dunnage, edge protectors, yeah i got that. Does it spec chains or straps and how many? What about dimensions? Is it tarped? No okay cool. Do i need to scale before or after? Do i need to download your tracking software? Okay.. Well look theres a big difference between steel sheet knee high and wire mesh 13ft high so do me a favor, make your calls, get me more details and call me back at this number.. Im not gonna deadhead 80 miles into something i dont have all the info on or gear for, and my phone has beeped 3 times since weve been on this call so i have to see what those other loads are. Talk to ya in a bit, thx. [Bluffing about the demand for your services is acceptable here]

Scenario3. Its machinery? Okay how many machines? 5... Oof. Is this mills, presses, turning centers? [Knee mills are tall, skinny and tippy. So are presses] okay its turning centers, do they have chip conveyors? [Thats 5 more smaller awkard shaped machines needing individual load and strap] All machines need tarped right? Okay.. What exactly does the comments spec? Is the shipper loading or is it a rigger appointment? Rigger gets there 7am to load first truck, okay. Is there even room on site for all of these trucks? [i recently blocked a street in boston for 5 hours to load a machine] okay im gonna need very accurate machine dimensions, especially max height. Tallest is 8'4" ? Are you ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN thats max height? Now is that from the concrete or from the dunnage its sitting on? Is there foot plates or jack screws under the machine that can be lowered down? My deck is 55" high at center of arch and im gonna need atleast a nearby drop address to map this out and be certain i wont have overpass issues. Whats the total value of this cargo? Ive got 100k of cargo coverage.


So.. You can call up every broker and use your whizzbang business skills to tell them all about you you you.. Or you can call and REALLY tell them youre the man for the job by asking about the load load load. Lumber is cheap because any cabbage head or towelie with 12 straps and a tarp can move it. There is a supply of sufficiently competent trucks thus no reason to ever raise the rate.

Complicated loads necessite COMPETENT carriers with gear and experience. 2,000lbs of gear isnt uncommon at all and it aint cheap. You dont convince the broker that you are the man for the job by telling him so. You do so by asking the right questions. You set the hook in them by asking questions. Get that in your head. On a complex job they will never hang up on you over legit questions because you are looking more and more like the fish they wanna reel in. Start talking all about me me me and its click. They dont have time, their phone is beeping too.


Now the price negotiation. How outrageous you can be is dictated by your location and time of day. If you are in a market with an 80:1 load ratio you can ask more than in a 20:1 area. If you dont want to haul that load or want to go see a tourist thing nearby instead of working the rest of the day.. Sure.. You can be more brazen because you dont really want the job that bad. If you are in a deadzone and this is your profitable ticket out.. Ask for little to no extra. Book the load and get out.

Google maps will route you as many stops as you want. Here is how you price. Route from current location to the pick, then to the drop via the route you WANT TO TAKE.. Not across the frigging GW or thru DC.. Then route from the deadzone you dropped at to the nearest decent pickup market youll need to go to for your exit load. Multiply that miles by $1.60, thats your break even. Multiply by 2.50 or 3.00... Thats your counteroffer. Settle wherever you settle based on current predicament.

 

Will keep you roiling..