No experience but getting Authority

If you get the Landstar card you can get their discount on tires and other stuff. Also, England has the best deal on fuel cards I have found. And you can get discount on tires as well. Some O/O swear by the national account rates and others say they can beat it all day long. Haven't compared yet.

But as far as fuel cards England is the best thing going that I have found. You can fund it anyway you want with no charge - I use my mileage card - and if you do more than a certain percentage at Pilot/J's you get an additional $.05 rebate beyond cash price. You can get the details from them. But not like others that will only load it with funds from loads you haul for them. Best I have found.

 

It is good to have the ability to buy on national account. I always carry a spare tire for my truck and trailer. In my case I have different size tires on them. You don't want to have to purchase a tire on the road unless absolutely necessary. It is well worth the money to have a spare with you. If you don't have a tire carrier underneath your trailer you may want to consider buying one. They also make them for the catwalk of your tractor. I have been in the position of having to buy a tire on the road. The last time I bought a tire on national account for my step deck it was a Bridgestone. I believe that I had to pay $330. I purchased a new tire at home for $189 at the time. Still, it was better than having to buy the Bridgestone at the regular price. I think that it was close to $500 at the time. When you don't keep a spare, you are at the mercy of whomever comes out to fix the tire. If you can make it to the truck stop you will still pay too much.

 

We've got a spare rack under the tractor and another under the trailer. We used the best take-off drive tire to replace the trailer tire that blew. We took off the new recap we got on the road service call plus the 2nd best take-off in the spare racks and secured them with bike locks. All our tires are the same size. I'm gonna ask my local service guy to scare up some spare rims to mount them on and get those hooked up on the next PM. Incidentally I bought Yokohama TY577 drives. Wasn't my first choice but one of the lowest rolling resistance without a half-tread fuel efficient model or summer-only grooved tread. We'll see how they work out.

I signed up for the Bridgestone national account deal through OOIDA. Frankly, I can do better without trying too hard. I put it in place in case I wasn't reachable or too busy with other work to chase a tire deal or road service. It doesn't cost anything if I don't use it so why not. Friday's road service call was looked up on the GPS in 5 seconds and cost a little over $300. I'm not complaining because the dude had us rolling 45 mins after our call. If we'd have called Bridgestone it would have taken an extra hour for them to figure out who their low bidder was and dispatch a service call 100 miles away.

BigBadBill: The feature he really likes about the reefer is the amount of chaining and tarping loads he gets to do with it LOL (he used to run flatbed and really liked doing that in the winter up north). And my post count is too low to risk taking the bait on the woman and her rooster. That's f'n funny I don't care who you are

G/MAN: I'd agree the quality of Chinese products has come up a lot. I know that has been the case with electronics. Their entire manufacturing infrastructure has had to improve to stay competitive even at a low price point. I wouldn't be surprised at all if some were coming off the same assembly lines as the name brands in North America. I've just never been happy with Chinese tires when I have used them. As far as warranty claims go on the name brands, they are only as good as your dealer. Frankly, tire warranties are like battery warranties as far as I'm concerned. Just advertising fluff. By the time you fight for the claim that's prorated to nothing, you could have bought two new ones for all the headaches you endured from it. Same thing with discounts and national plans. You have to watch for the shell game. Most times discounts are off of full MSRP and you can often find the product on sale cheaper than the discounted price.

 

And I used to think the same way as you do...if so many dumber people can do it - I can do only better. Man how wrong was I...I've never considered the possibility that those same dummies would be actually ruining my business so bad. They did and still are...and more new ones join every day. Of course, they are ruining theirs too...they just don't know that yet.
If you have some money to invest, I'll join with my share and let's start making shoes or something...
Oh, and my feelings about brokers? Do you really want me to go there?

 

Purger,
After reading your posts regarding brokers it is becoming clear that you need to take a look in the mirror first. Sure, all of us have delt with the creatures that crawl out of the dark and become brokers. But that is not all of them. Treat them with respect, understand that they have a hard job, take note of the ones that offer a decent rate and you will be amazed at how much easier it is to get calls with loads before they hit the boards. But just because a rate is low do not jump to they are taking 50% and start a fight. I'm on a load that is paying $2.80 and the same broker had another load at $1.12. I bet they could have had drivers drooling at my load for $1.75 but they only take 15% plus give 100% FSC.

 

Purger: the OP is long gone and I hijacked his thread. Based on his obvious lack of due diligence from his post, I wouldn't go into business with him in any industry. In just the short time I've been on this forum, I've seen about two posts a week from folks that ask the same thing a different way.

Think about this before you get mad about it: there's different business models for everyone. My son had been driving a couple months for what I would consider a bottom feeder. The owner wouldn't spend a nickel on PM for the rig which was a rolling tragedy waiting to happen in the first place. It's a corner of the market where shippers and brokers are ok with the risk of putting their freight on a truck that probably won't get picked up on time or won't make it to where it's headed on time or in one piece either. And soon enough, that carrier will have the reputation for that market and the good guys will not load them. That market will always be there with a revolving door of carriers willing to serve it.

On the other side of the market are the shippers and brokers willing to pay for professional service. They know who has good drivers and equipment, and those are the guys that get the good freight. A carrier has to earn their way into that market.

About the only thing the bottom of the market does is present a barrier to entry to people that aren't clever enough to figure it out. We just got started and haven't hauled a load below our business plan. And I won't do it. Admittedly I also haven't gotten offers very far above it either. That's ok - I knew that would happen going in. I've got to pay some dues to get a reputation established. On the other hand, I know what my cost per mile and cost per day is, and I don't have enough money to go below that for any reason. Our truck costs $100 a day to be parked. yesterday I spent $100 to relocate it instead to get a good load to a better shipping market. I didn't waste a day figuring it out, so the deadhead miles were a wash. I'm sure before our taillights disappeared on the horizon (empty), there was someone taking $1/mile local available freight thinking they were covering fuel or some nonsense. Whip it on. It's not hurting me at all because that's not the market I'm working in.

Good communication skills on my part and on-time performance with the driver and his straight equipment and we now have two brokers I know will hook us up or give a good referral without thinking too hard. We will add to that list one good broker at a time.

 

You make some great points in that last post Red. To many guys want to get into this industry without a clue as to how it operates. They think all they need to do is buy a truck and everything will fall into place. But as you described, if you don't have a solid business plan and stick to it you are just setting yourself up for failure.

The same business principles hold true whether you are going to lease a truck on somewhere or if you are running your own authority. If you don't know how to play the game you better learn it inside and out before you gamble on your ignorance.

That's my $.05.

 

I took a look in the mirror and, sorry to disappoint you, but except my ugly face haven't seen really anything wrong.
And me jumping to them taking 50%?
OK then, though you obviously seem to know more than me, please be so kind and explain this to me and other viewers...
Last December a broker sees my posted truck, calls me and offers a load at $2400...I said I needed more...he asked how much...i say $5200. He gets pissed, calls me crazy and hangs up. He calls again 20 min later offering 2600...i politely explain my need for 5100 and that i definitely wouldn t do it for less than 5000. Another about 1.5 hrs go by, after he couldn have found anybody else he calls again with...can you do that load for me for 5000? I took it.
Two minutes later I had a confirmation on $5000 printed in my hand.
And I know he still made money on that load and in addition payed the lumper.
Do you need more? You think I am making this up?
As I keep track of all negotiations on all accepted loads, i am able to offer you many more quite extreme examples close to this one...getting actually paid between 50 and 90% on the top of the offered amounts. It doesn't work every or most of the times of course...it also depends on the number of available dummies around.
I am not saying ALL the brokers are like that...I do have respect for who ever respects me. I was respecting you too until the moment you told me to check my mirror.

Maybe now YOU should go to the mirror and tell yourself to wake up?

And by the way...how many times a broker asks you "how much do you NEED on this load"? I am sure it happens. Try answering this: I am not greedy...only 75-80% of what ever the customer pays. And then wait for his reaction. You might have fun like I do, but you will also be able to LEARN something out of it.
Maybe after that, what I say in my posts would start making a bit more sense to you.
They have a hard job? Well, they could always become truckers and start enjoying life. Together with us here.

Have a safe travel.

 

Same thing applies to that broker as the bottom feeder carriers that will take his low offer. He'll have a higher than average claim rate on his shipments and his customers will go to a broker that will put their freight on a good truck. Before long he won't have any good freight to clip the carriers on. He'll get swept away and another one will come through the revolving broker door and take his place.

In a way, your accepting his load at your rate contributed to the problem as much as if one of those dumb carriers had accepted his lowball. As-in, he got that load covered, keeping whatever reputation he has intact so he could stay in business and lowball the next one. If you had turned him down, that could have been the one claim that put that broker out of business.

Don't get me wrong. Ya gotta eat. I would have done like you and accepted the load at my price too. I guess my point is, you're smart enough to know that you could have parked your truck for a week and made out better than taking his lowball and driving your ### off for the same week wearing out your equipment. That dude's not hurting your business as I am sure you would have gotten a similar load at the right price within hours from someone else, given your reputation for getting the load in on time with your reliable, safe equipment.

 

I would like to see broker fees standardized, much like Realtor rates. Since that is not likely to happen, you need to stop worrying about what a broker makes and concentrate on what you want to make from a load. I keep a record of various brokers. I know the type of freight and whether they have good rates or not. There are times when a broker will need to dig into his pocket to cover a load for a shipper. Some of the major brokers will come in and commit to move a certain number of loads. If he cannot get them covered at a profit then he may dig into his pocket to cover them in order to keep the shipper. He made money off the other loads, but may have one or two left and unless he covers them he could lose the account or pay a financial penalty.

I don't expect a broker to lose money. After all, a broker provides a service and deserves to make a profit. It is the amount of profit that a broker makes that disturbs some. I have a minimum rate to go to certain areas. I have a minimum rate for hauling over-sized loads. Unless I get those rates then I will move the truck or sit for a day.

No one will force you to take a load. It is up to each owner to decide on what it will take to move their truck. I understand the thinking behind some who justify taking a load for $1/mile to cover the costs of moving to a better freight area. I don't do that. Unless I can make a profit on a load it doesn't go on my truck. That philosophy has served me well for many years. Others are successful by hauling a cheap load out of a bad freight area to get back to good paying freight. I know that my business philosophy will not change the industry. In fact, as long as there are those who will haul freight for a $1/mile rates will not come up.

I have one broker with whom I work that will tell me what he has and if the rate is too low he will tell me that I won't haul it due to the cheap rate. He is one who thinks that I should haul for a lower rate out of a cheap area in order to cover some of the costs of moving my truck back to a good freight area. At one time I mostly hauled for this broker. There rates have dropped recently and I am getting better rates elsewhere. I won't haul a cheap freight because of a personal relationship. When they can offer better rates then I haul their freight.

A few months ago, I hauled a load to Long Island. I usually plan on deadheading back into Pennsylvania to get something decent. This broker had freight for about $1.41/mile. I was able to get a load for just under $2.50/mile. He could not believe that I could get a rate like that from that area. I usually don't, but the people whom I got the load needed to move it and I was about 60 miles away. That may or may not happen the next time that I am in the area. Hauling for $1.40/mile is less than my minimum so I would have deadheaded rather than haul a load for that rate.

You don't need to blame the broker for cheap rates. You need to blame your fellow truckers. Brokers can't move a load for a cheap rate unless a truckers agrees to haul it for that rate.

When the economy took a dive my trucks did more sitting than moving. I won't move my trucks just to keep the wheels moving. Having cash flow doesn't necessarily mean that you are making a profit or surviving. You can have cash flow and go broke unless you are hauling for a profit.