Load Boards

I know somebody that'll get a chuckle at the prima dona remark. They're (prima dona's)the ones complaining about freight and rates where I'm not. I pick up their slack. When they're looking for a parking spot at 5pm to bed down til 6am I'm just getting started most "days". And I usually hit the sack after the sun's been up a while. I'll take multi stop or put together LTL if I need to. I don't care if it's 45,000 lbs or 45 lbs. I don't care if it's a dirty or clean load. I don't care if it's blue or red. All I care about is that it pays fair imo. I'll climb out of the bed at home if you call me at 1am and be firing up the truck. Not complaining at all about mostly graveyard shift because I prefer that. But I also know it can be difficult to find trucks late so I command a premium. And sometimes I might be looking for freight during normal business hours even before lunch. Old habits die hard and i still quote the usual overnight rates. Once in a while someone pauses at 10am, considers it, and decides to pay it. Why should I change my habits if someone will pay it? It's like the reverse of the old complaint drivers have where they say the first truck to take a buck a mile re-sets rates for everyone who follows it's a good place to be. Great way to learn if a market is truly hot. When you're commanding rates on one pick one drop stuff you're in it. I will haul anything but I do a lot of one pick one drop. Makes me grin when someone tries to sell one pick/drop as if that means automatically cheaper, nope, only if it ain't gotta move. That's just how it is.

 

I have not seen rated increase 100% during the last year. Just out of curiosity, what would you consider a "fair" rate?

 

Trucking is an industry where most rates have remained pretty much as they were 20 or so years ago. A couple of years ago I could buy a tire for a step deck from a local distributor for $179. That same tire today can cost $335 or more. A few years ago I could change the oil in a truck for as little as $114. A friend of mine just paid over $400 for his newer model Cascadia. When fuel is volatile, our costs can change from the time a load is picked up until it is delivered a couple of days later. One time comes to mind when I had a truck that picked up in the southeast and fuel went up $0.25/gallon before delivery could be made in California. We were stuck with the rate, but had to pay more to run the truck. A few years ago, you could find a mechanic for $50-65/hour. Some of the dealers now charge in excess of $100/hour. Some are at $135/hour, perhaps more. Everything has gone up during the last several years, except freight rates, for the most part. For some reason, some shippers and brokers think that carriers should absorb all the increased costs of operations. Those who do continue keeping rates cheap while their costs continue to rise will not be able to stay in business. I would imagine that other vendors with whom your company has been doing business have passed along some of their increased costs to your company. I would also expect that you will pass those increased costs along to your customers. Perhaps you should just absorb your increased costs and not pass those increases along to your customers. That seems to be what you are asking carriers to do.

 

You're probably getting spot market rates, and a few months is way too small of a sample size to come to an accurate conclusion. Also, rates have been beat down for years. I call it the slingshot reaction. Trucking companies held back too long and now many years of rate increases are being felt all at once in certain areas.

Honestly, how can you use a 2-3 month sample size to make a conclusion?

 

I am about to step off into my own business and authority. One thing that I can tell anyone complaining about rates is that until you live this life you will never understand. My equipment will be paid for so life for me will not be nearly as hard as the O/O that is chasing a payment, however, in order to have this business I will have to spend at least 5 nights a week living in my truck and not sleeping with my wife. I will drive 10 or 11 hours per day and put in up to 14 hours per day spending the rest of the 24 hours alone for those days I am away from home. Then, I have to share the money with brokers, the state, the federal government and the oil companies not to mention maintenance businesses and parts suppliers. All together will make more from my business than I will. So, to all of you that have your own businesses, understand that part of selling your products is the cost of labor, materials, taxes, overhead and SHIPPING. If I am not willing to pay everyone that gets a cut of my business, I go out of business and drive for someone else which means I am gone probably even more from home and make much less. So if you don't want to pay for what it takes to sell your product, sell your business and go to work for someone else. You can always go out and get your CDL and drive a truck for a living. But if you do, I want you to come back on here 2 years later and tell us all if you still think the rates are too high.

 

A paid of truck and trailer should never be an excuse to run cheaper. It should enable you to keep more in your piggy bank and or reinvest in your business.

 

Exactly, just cause it's paid for doesn't mean you're cheaper. You're still going to wear it out at some point and need to replace it. The biggest benefit of paid for equipment is the leverage it gives you dictating rates. When you've got a bank breathing down your neck there's an invisible force influencing to roll when otherwise you wouldn't because rates are down. It's much better to let things come your way then to try and make something happen. That's a difficult concept to get across in a forum but it's something I've learned the past couple of years.

 

sounds like love advise. LOL...
I agree w you 100%

 

I would say that having your equipment paid for would allow the O/O to hold out for higher rates. I think it's robbery the way they want the O/O to be knee deep in a payment having to pay high insurance so that they can force low rates down his/her throat so that he/she can make the payments every month. I won't owe the bank but I have $0.20 per mile set aside for equipment replacement. So with everything it will cost me over a dollar a mile to operate if everything goes without issues. So, my time and health is worth $2 +.

 

They will only give you intrastate freight,the first question a broker ask's is what is your m c # they will run that to see if u are legit, and if you are set up or if they have had any problems in the past with your carrier. I have booked loads off load board's for awhile,brokers use all the load boards, so there is not much diferent about them except the rate and ad on's. some carriers have load boards u can get loads from.Usually rates they offer you are less than what an agent would offer a company truck.