Rates are crashing and fuel to the moon!

Not 100%. It waxes and wanes. At times it’s 100% other times it’s 40-50%. Doing equipment it’s never dedicated like a line haul run would be. There is no excavator every Monday going to Dallas type thing. I have a couple of customers but it’s not like I can plan on a load every Tuesday. If that makes sense. I go out of the way to cover anything they have, but I move a lot of broker freight.

That said. I am a niche market and I focus on a certain region. I also do a lot of short haul that most load board guys tend to shy away from.

 

Not posting your truck is a very bad decision.
I remember 10 years ago reading Rolling Coal posts about very high paying loads and I always thought no way, that is not possible, brokers can just post on the load board and cover for half the price.
He actually was not lying, sometimes brokers do pay crazy money when they call you.


If you are working with open deck, you rarely will see desperate brokers with super urgent loads , but with dry vans and reefers it happens all the time.

Market is extremely slow and I rarely get calls nowadays, but here are some examples of the loads that did happen recently.
1. Auto parts had to go to a GM factory with strict 8am appointment, or plant risked shutting down. The shipper was closing at 4pm and I was the closest empty at 3pm. Market rate $800, I told them $1400 and they paid.
2. Mega carrier could not pickup their contracted Pepsi load and apparently I was the only one who could make appointment times. Market price for the load $2200, I got $2900.
3. Another grocery load that had to go Walmart DC and nobody else besides me was available at 2pm with fresh hours. Market price $900, got $1500.

In a good flowing market sometimes I literally don't call anybody for days. Just post, wait till noon and brokers start calling themselves.
I would say 90% of my highest paying loads that I ever did came from desperate brokers calling on my truck.

 

Have never seen solar powered guys do good in spot market.

 

It's easy to see a desperate broker on the board. If you make the call, probably you'll get the same result. Minus the spam calls you'll have to deal with when you post your truck.

 

If you block TQL's phone number, 90% of the spam calls will be gone haha.

Yep, it's easy to spot desperate brokers if they constantly refresh and keep upping the price, but sometimes there would be dudes who post ones, don't refresh, don't get any calls for an hour or two and just start calling carriers themselves.
Also there might be a broker that has a great load, is willing to pay above market price, but needs a great carrier who is already set up and has great track record. That kind of broker will scan posted trucks, find his perfect match and will call on that truck. He has no desire to get some random sketchy potentially double broker from the load board to move his expedited precious freight.
I also have seen great brokers with 20 years old MC, who always use regulars, never post on DAT, they got no factoring check mark next to the posting, so nobody calls on their loads and they are forced to call themselves.

Basically there are all kinds of scenarios, ,but posting a truck only takes 20 seconds and even if it gives you only 1% extra chance to make more money , then why the hell not post?

 

I ran flats but the situations you've mentioned were very similar even though it wasn't dry van.

That's probably the only thing I'll miss about running spot freight...broker desperation. When someone truly needs your services instead of rate shopping my job instantly became full of purpose and joy.

Nothing like showing up at a shipper to see a line or lot full of trucks thinking, "glad I covered my ### with getting my AP agreed to in writing because I'm going to be here all day."

Sit in line for a couple minutes and then the staff comes and pulls you out of line. Drive right past everyone else to get loaded, do paperwork and roll out while they're all still sitting lol.

When they know they're paying for that truck by the hour (or it's a JIT deal) it's amazing how the staff becomes efficient and timely in their work.

Come and leave like a straight rockstar shot caller while getting paid every dime you feel you're worth with all accessorials agreed to in writing.

Those were the times of total satisfaction in the loadboard arena that made it all worth while IMO.

 

Are you no longer trucking?

 

It's good it inspired you to try something different and gave you success. That was always the point, helping other guys to up their game.

 

There’s a bunch of Carriers up here that run mostly Laredo and El Paso loads from Michigan. Been that way for years. Right now like everything, there’s more Trucks than ever. Most of the loads have 5-7 day lead times for 1550 miles. They sit on the yard while the Driver sits in Tx. waiting on a decent load back. Often they end up delivering 300+ miles away. Solo only averages about 2300-2400 miles per week, down from 3200-3300. Teams run constantly. Running the Teams, and having a 2:1 Trailer ratio to sit on a load, along with the occasional load consolidation here, along with having empty Trailers and usually a few Drivers sitting around in Tx when needed. I’m surprised they’re not out of Business already. A solo O/O wouldn’t be able to make Mi.-Tx-Mi runs work. Starve to death with 7 day lead times. Boss just bought 2 new Cascadias and a few more Trailers. Must be making some money. Nothing like the past, but still growing. Excellent maintenance. Oil changes every 10k. 12 brand new Trucks just sitting around. 6 of them are Gliders. Been sitting for years. Unbelievable. That’s a big problem now. Should pay off if and when things pick up. Meanwhile still buying 3-4 year old Trailers for $15-$20k at auction. Some are like new. Hardly used by Bankrupt Companies.

 

Sold my LLC/authority, tractor and one trailer (still have one left) over the last 3 months. I'm done with it. I don't even want to drive anymore.