mercer transportation

Things have improved since you had a truck on here. Freight industry wide was down at that time, it has pulled back up, but not to where it was at this time last year. There is still good paying freight going to good places, you just have to be extra quick to get it locked in.

 

bayou its hard to compare a truck here with a hired driver in it with a guy running his own. I am sure if you had been behind the wheel the would have avg much better. I haven't ever pulled as low as a 1.60 out of Houston , I think a 1.70 was the lowest and that was a load and reload the same day, I just unloaded Friday in seguin and reloaded in ft worth same day. I booked the seguin last Tuesday morning and had the ft worth booked 10 minutes later. there is a method that some don't grasp, and some do . I went out for 2.05 and back for 1.79 to the truck, I can live with that as 75 per cent lease .

 

you said it brother, you got to work it.

 

I keep saying id love to run it because i can do better than he did but i did look at the board some and really wasnt happy with what i seen. its no different than running the open board theres places you go and others you dont,you never see me going west or going into FL or the northeast or if i do im getting real good money doing it. Last time i went to AZ i pulled a oversize and paid $4.40/mi but took me a week to book a load out for $1.50/mi but i cleaned the truck and still made $6,000 that week or $8,000 in two weeks what ever way you want to look at it.

The more trucks i ended up with the easier it was to find better paying freight and better paying customers if i had 10,000 trucks i could really see with a good team behind you doing really good. Thats what i was thinking leasing on a truck to a big carrier like mercer that they would have really good paying freight and lots more of it! but my thinking was wrong.

Im on a goal this year to keep my all miles up no my gross wont be as much as it could be but who wouldnt want to run 50,000 miles at $3/mi instead of 100,000 miles at $2/mi thats my goal this year. My wife said im getting lazy but she dont mind me being home every weekend, i finished up a new toy and been playing with it as long as theres a race to go to and bills are paid im going racing!!!!

 

My problem is that I'm afraid to book stuff the same day I unload for fear of being held up at receiver, or a breakdown traffic.. etc. I like knowing I will absolutely positively be there.

 

you got to look at it this way, it all works out, I have loads cancel that I had booked for a week. if I break and have to cancel same deal. I don't book ahead to close . if I unload at 8am I wont book where the late time to load is 10 am for example.

 

You shouldn't have any problems unloading and reloading in the same day, after two hours you should call and let someone know its been two hours and they haven't started unloading yet than I walk inside and tell the customer you have somewhere to be and if its going to take much longer your going to have to call that shipper because your held up. Most the time they understand and will start unloading but you need to stay on some customers and let people know your being held up!

 

How many of you guys carry 8' drop tarps around? I threw mine out last week when I got home because I never use them, when I see loads requiring them on the board I just laugh at the rate.

 

I have always kept 8' drops on my trucks. I don't use them all the time, but I don't lose a load because I don't have the "right" tarps. I try to use my steel tarps unless it is absolutely necessary.

 

I just carry 4 16 x25 I can tarp anything, but I don't 4 foot or a coil is my style