Potential Business

Best way to learn dispatching is working as a dispatcher for a trucking company. I have seen companies that "teach" this but considering how hard it is to succeed at this without years of experience I am not sure the whole paying for a class this is worth it.

What type of insurance are you thinking about? Not aware that you really need any for doing this type of work.

 

First determine a profit expectation.

The first thing you need to know are what his costs are projected to be. i.e. how many miles the carrier runs, projected maintenance costs, expected fuel economy, driver pay, capital costs, benefits etc. Assuming he will be plated for US and Canada, $2500/yr for plates and $15,000/yr for liability and cargo might be a worst case ROM scenario. From there you can move on to what type of freight he will be hauling and what lanes he will be operating in, loaded v empty miles etc.

A carrier might have annual costs of $165,000 on 100,000 total miles, for a cost per mile of $1.65/mile. If the profit expectation is say $40,000 pre tax dollars/yr, then the carrier will need to earn $205,000..or $2.05/mile for all miles. Now, not all miles will be paid miles. Say, 20% of those 100,000 are empty and 80,000 are paid. Now you need $.50 on top of the $2.05, or $2.55/loaded mile.

That is some of what goes into bidding loads.



*EDITED to correct my mathematical shortcomings

 

Send me an email. I would be happy to pass on some of what we have learned.

[email protected]

 

School me on your numbers here cuz im not getting it... At 2.15$ a mile all miles paid in your example. Which was 80,000 a year 2.15$ x 80,000miles is $172,000 net. Minus 162,000$ in "costs" is $10,000/year... That is 30,000$ less han what the "expected" profit for the carrier in your example was.. Am i correct or Am i missing something. :-/

 

I have seen loads being offered off the east coast for less than $1/mile. Rates vary according to where the load originates, where it is going and type of equipment needed. Rates can vary widely according to the time of year, type of equipment and region where you run. Most of the time, rates coming off the east coast are cheap. I have seen truckload rates for less than $1/mile. If your guy wants to run back and forth from coast to coast, his net will be less than if he runs shorter miles. Again, it depends on the type of freight. If he pulls a van and only wants to run the long miles coast to coast, he will probably be running for $1.40-1.70/mile. He could do better once he gets established and finds some solid contacts.


Some of the loadboards have a feature which can give you a basis for establishing a base rate, but I usually manage to do better than what I have seen listed. There are just so many variables when it comes to rates. If there is a shortage of capacity, rates go up. More capacity translates into lower rates. It takes time to learn about rates and freight lanes. Rates tend to go up toward the end of the month and end of the week. Rates are usually lower the first of the week and first part of the month. I have companies for whom I haul who wait until the last week in the month to move their freight. The ship only what they have to move until that last week. Then, they may need 20 trucks in that last week. I get good rates from them because of the short time and where the loads usually go.

There are several insurance companies that insure commercial vehicles. I use Northland. They give me the best rates. Others that you could check are Lancer, Great West and Progressive. There are others. Your best bet is to find an insurance broker that writes for a number of insurance companies and have them shop your business. If your guy has limited experience, he may be able to do better with Progressive. My insurance company has some rigid requirements as to experience, safety, etc., I will be glad to send you my agents information if you wish.

IFTA isn't too bad to do. More states are allowing carriers to do the actual filings online and they do all the calculations for you. It would make things easier if your guy either used a spreadsheet or bought one of the trucking software programs that keep up with the IFTA miles. Your guy could put in his miles, print out a quarterly report and you could then file them online or with a hard copy. Trucknpro has a good program that is simple to use. www.trucknpro.com. There are a couple of others on the market, but I like this one. You or your client can go onlin and see if it will work for you. I think they still offer a short trial you can download. A couple of other software programs are Truckers Helper (www.truckershelper.com) and Easy Trucking (www.easytrucking.com). All three have either a trial version you can download to check out or an online demonstration which goes through the software features.

 

No you're right. Should be $2.55 not $2.15. Good catch