Repair Costs for O/O's Today (Parts & Labor)

Yes I do to some degree. I am not going to run 250 miles out of route to get the bag fixed though. I have been in contact with them and it looks like they will pay for the repair... this is one of the things they should have looked at when they did their DOT inspection and that was a joke at best.


The company they hired to install the APU had to remove the quarter fender and small cross member to get the unit installed. When they put the other stuff back they forgot to tighten everything up so my quarter fender got into the tire and it is bent and the cross member is now missing a few bolts. I went over everything and tightened it up and was in contact wih the installer this am and I am getting a new set of Smooth half fenders out of it free of charge....

 

That has typically been my luck but after spending what I did.... welll lets just say they probably cringe when they here my name on the phone... You shouldn't have to get vulgar with them but I can not believe what we as a country accept as customer service anymore...

 

My dad has a 387 and he has trouble with the bags on the back of the cab. They come loose and seperate from the top or bottom of the bag. His is a 04 model and he has put 4 on it. First 2 were under warranty. I dont think they were to expensive.

 

You want to Play with the "Big Trucks"???

You GOT TO Spend The "Big Bucks" $$$

 

You can find brokers all day long to haul for. The problem is finding good paying broker freight. What you need to do is make some sales calls to actual customers and cut out the middle man. I couldn’t tell you what some brokers take off the top. I have seen brokers sell loads on the internet for $400 less than my base rate out of the same shipper who I have an account with, plus the broker was keeping the fuel surcharge. When you deal with a broker always haggle for a better rate.

Give you an example of a load I pulled last week I loaded at my customer in Gary Indiana going to Minneapolis Minnesota. It was a fairly light load and took only 25ft of deck, so I got on the internet load board and started calling everyone with full and LTL loads that were pulling out of the Gary area going to Minneapolis well I found another load that would work and picked up down the street and delivered 30 miles from my original destination. Long story short I managed to get $4.56 per mile for that load. That same week I managed to put together another load that was paying $8.87 per mile. But it’s not all gravy money I put myself in a bad spot many of times where I had to take $1.30+ per mile to get out because I had to use brokers.

If you have no experience with driving you might want to get some experience with Schneider. There is a lot with driving a truck even more when you throw in operating your own business, then even more when you get authority. You have to drive the truck and find freight at the same time. There have been times I’ve been loading and securing freight and talking on the phone booking my next loads. Driving and shopping for freight on the internet is daily. What ever you decide I wish you the best of luck.

 

No a customer would be ABC Manufaturing, Mom n Pop lumber mill, etc etc. He's talking about getting your own customer base instead of giing up your money to broker for finding a customer.

It's called sales pitch, hope you like knocking on doors. If you want to be an independant you need at least 50% of your freight coming from your own customer base to really make the most of it otherwise you'r just pissin in the wind

 

No, when I say customers I mean actual manufactures or other places that actually ship the products. The source or place who actual physically has the product. Examples like Kraft, GM, Home Depot, Nucor Steel, U.S. Steel, AK Steel, and Alcoa. Just look around your town and start there many different places that ship. Get their phone number and set up a time to talk with the person in charge of shipping and have your rates all ready figured up and in some type of portfolio. You should also include your insurance and authority numbers and w-9. I’ve had places tell me they weren’t looking to add more carriers, but I had people excited to work with me because I wasn’t a broker. It’s all about customer service and professionalism.