Rates have dropped..

And yet you allow BCOs to drive trucks held together with baling wire and bungee cords. LS is so backwards sometimes.

 

I pull for Landstar at times but I am independent. Flatbed rates have been all over the map, but they always have been.
They are not as bad as last month...
Where I am seeing pathetic rates are hauling slinkies out of WI like this one headed down to the south:

Origin: SAUKVILLE, WISCONSIN
Destination: PELHAM, ALABAMA
Pickup Date: 03/19/2013
Carrier Pay: $ 975.00
Miles: 749
Rate Per Mile: $ 1.30
Weight: 46500 lbs

Or this one:

Origin: MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
Destination: PORTLAND, OREGON
Pickup Date: 03/15/2013
Carrier Pay: $ 2,730.00
Miles: 1994
Rate Per Mile: $ 1.37
Weight: 40000 lbs

Someone is grabbing these loads. They disappear fairly quickly.
Much of the higher paying freight I am seeing is headed to SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN but it doesn't pay enough to come back w/o a return haul.

 

Why are we being charged so much for diesel, for a start? It takes less fracturing, costs less to produce than gasoline and we still pay more.

It's not right. When are drivers going to get angry about this?

 

Recall when Diesel used to be cheaper than gasoline? Those days are over...
ULSD isn't as simple to refine as in the past and they claim it costs more now.

So naturally, the trucker gets hit in the pocket book. No surprise there.

 

Do you not call, or write about this? You don't know it's cheaper to process diesel?

 

Some words and phrases that are not in my vocabulary but I see used an awful lot. Never,I wont,I cant,I dont want to. Maybe its a fire thing.....

 

Just connected with another agent up in the area that has return loads right back to where we're shipping out of on these loads. Great opportunity for somebody.

 

That's why I burn the brokers' behinds when they get in a bind and really need a truck:

Upstate NY to St. Louis area in February - $1.94/mile on 1086 total hub miles.
Boston area to central Michigan in March - $2.55/mile on 1250 total hub miles.

I consider the above to be fair rates, but compared to the market, they're home runs. Maybe if they get burned enough they will realize that they're underbidding their contracts.

That cheap carrier that dropped off the load isn't so cheap anymore.

 

Yes but... I don't have to babysit you. I know when I give you a load you're going to call loaded, empty, and give me updates as needed/requested on initial call in between.