Running short loads

I am sure we have passed each other at some point. I get down to the Chester area fairly regularly. I'm assuming you are a bit south of that.

 

I’m about 30 east when I was a Trooper Chester was our Troop HQ.

 

At least here in the west the biggest problem with short loads is that they almost always want the pick up one day and the delivery the next day. I rarely see both on the same say, and killing 2 days for a few hundred bucks just isn't worth it to me.

I ran a 230 mile load yesterday that I figured I could get done and home on one day for $1,400. Picked up at 2:30 AM and delivered at 10:30 AM. Everything was going great until I hit road construction that held me up almost 4 hours on the way home. I wound up going off duty PC for 2 hours to get home. This is why I prefer doing OTR.

 

The trick with shortloads is plants churning out low value heavy stuff that doesnt need tarped and that goes to large customer daily. Brick block lumber shingles etc. Dont expect $3/mi.

 

I can find short runs near me all day paying great (to me), 1-200 miles for $5-600. Problem is insurance and other costs don’t go down, just maybe fuel.

Lining up 2 of those a day is really tight with unknown dock times and I can’t live on $2500 gross per week.

 

Doing two loads per day can be great but the hard part is being able to pickup, drop off, pickup, and drop off all in the same day. If it bleeds into the next day then your late getting to the pickup and impossible to fit it all in that next day. By the end of the week it’s hurt your revenue. Still probably can do fairly well though on low miles.

 

Short runs are easier to negotiate . Keeps the fuel to revenue equation in your favor seeings how fuel is your only major controllable expense. I usually find a cpl loads under 200 mi paying 900 1000 every week. My Revs at end of the week are very low but my check is decent. I take it all day

 

With a 53 van you're going to get lots of "we always cover this for $500" on 100 mile runs and "we always cover this for $600" on 200 mile runs. And they're not lying. I used to think ELD's would change that but it never did. If the loads are truly easy on and off that's what they'll move for. And the're going to expect you to sleep overnight on them too for that same money when they arent ez on and off which makes them really suck. I ran a bunch of them years ago but hardly ever touch them anymore. Too much headache.

With ELD's the hardest loads to cover are the 500-800 mile range because these are now 2 day transit loads. And even they seldom pay enough to cover the time lost. ELD's really cheapened this industry worse than it already was. It really comes down to all in what you want to put the effort into. 200 miles or less, 400 or less or 500 or longer? I did a bunch of $500 short hops 100 miles years ago but rarely book anything like that anymore. Just a waste of time. #### happens and your clock is ticking. $1,000 or more makes them better but they rarely have to pay that much. It is what it is.

 

I pay $3 a mile when harvesting crops and supply the trailer and they get 2 loads a day out of the bin