Schneider Choice Program

Okay you brought Schneider into this but what you said goes for any operation that is paid by the load.
It is the one whom that is running the business that has the responsibility of taking the revenue of what a load pays and using software or maps etc to come close to figuring out what their actual miles will be with deadhead included if they book a load.
From that, along with weight.. appointment times, drop/hook vs live, rate, market etc etc you decide if it's worth it or not.

As far as Schenider miles goes.... well if someone relys on that alone then they're dumb. That's simply a tool to use to help in sorting loads and the give a general idea what a load pays.
Yes most of the time it screws u on miles if you solely rely on it but not all the time.
For example there could be a load from Indianapolis to Columbus but the shipper is on the east side of Indy and consignee on the west side of Columbus, actual miles for that load will be less than what Schneider has posted.

"So someone has to haul those cheap loads... times in a deadhole"
Nobody has to haul cheap freight, that along with going into a black hole is a choice.
Nothing wrong with dead areas as long as you get enough money going in to cover the deadhead or cheap freight out.

A smart driver can earn more, even a lot on solid percentage program than any of the mileage programs.
If someone doesnt like doing homework, shorter loads etc, they would be better on mileage.
Cheap freight is cheap freight... 90 plus FSC won't take you far in life even if they pay for tags, insurance and anti-depressants.

 

I said Schneider miles because this is a Schneider thread. You also know I posted in your thread that .90 is 1990's pay. But, I still stand behind that a decent mileage rate can be more profitable than a percentage, because you always have to consider, a percentage of what. If the rate is cheap, so will the percentage.

The average l/o at Schneider is going to operate around 1.25-1.50 in my estimate, if they are lucky. You work 7 days a week, stay out months at a time and take loads most won't. When wives, children, a house and property to keep up, and plain just not wanting to live in a truck comes into play, and unless someone lives on top of a great freight area, they are not going to make $1.75 +. That's why there are so many trucks turned in every week.

Schneider, and everyone else, has cheap freight. No everyone is going to be able to grab the plumbs, and will have to settle for the pits every so often. Fact of life. I swear, you must like to argue with a brick wall. I post possibilities on rates at different companies, and you want to pick it apart, when my numbers and examples are sound.

What would your numbers look like if you needed to be home every two weeks? A lot lower I'm sure. If every week, even worse, unless as I said earlier, a person happened to live in a great freight area. People keep saying this is a "lifestyle", and you have to stay out months at a time to make it work. If that's the case, the pay is way too low for what you're doing.

In the past people paid for new trucks and were home most every week. In the majority of cases, the only thing living in a truck will get you in the long run is poor health and an early grave. You can do it a few years when young, but it will catch up with you.

I have read way too many obituaries of friends I trucked with when I was in my early 20's. They ran hard, never stayed home when they got there, and lived in the truck. Not in the truck as much as what today's carriers expect a driver to do either. There is a life besides a truck. I ran my butt into the ground the first few years because I enjoyed it, then I found out I also needed a life besides a windshield 24/7.

There is no excuse for freight rates to be like they are. There are too many megas competing for the same crap. Then they take two bites out of it before the o/o or l/o sees one cent. You have a few giants controlling everything, the same as every other aspect of our lives these days.

 

So what you're saying is I have to stay up for months at a time because I can't make any money..... That is a major farce... I go home #### near every week at most I'm out 10 days and I make more money than anybody on a mileage program could make what is $0.90 of Miles mileage programs and dollar a mile programs... it simply comes down if the other person whether they have business Acumen or not because if they're not business-minded I don't care what programs are on they will make a Diddly squat... Because if they don't know how to manage your business they can make $4 a mile and still be broke because in the world of business it's not what you gross its what you net is how much you make

 

I go home every week, I very rarely get 2$ a mile any more.
I only stay out longer than 5-6 days if I choose too.

But I run hard. I use my 70

 

Well of course if someone wants to be home all the time they will take a beating.
Schneider wanted OTR experiece for a reason.
People who fail it's their own fault.
You bring up having a property to upkeep, having a wife.. if thats your situation nobody told them to go out and lease a $150,000 truck for a job thats works best being OTR.
I am single, no kids.. i just stayed out for a month and averaged over $1.75 all miles each week I was out, then flew to Florida.
I am still here because it works for me and I don't see any other place i can earn more money pulling a Van.
Yes i have to stay out weeks at a time and stay in the same areas but when running a business you do what's needed.
People who turn in their trucks after 2 months weren't willing to do what was needed to be successful.. as simple as that.

 

The challenge for most is the temptation, it is very tempting to do what you want to do vs what is most profitable here.
When you have access to thousands of loads people fantasize about going home all the time, picking load long runs, only doing light loads, staying south in the winter etc etc.
Yeah all that sounds great but it's not very profitable.
To make the most money on percentage you have to do everything you hated to do as a company driver...
Shorter loads, multistop loads, heavy loads when it pays, loads around populated areas etc etc.
Remember when you were a company driver and companies didn't like to send you home? Well now that you book your own loads you find out why, when it's time to go home that's cheaper freight time most often!

 

Some people just want to be obtuse, and spout numbers and things I never said. I give up. Those that can't understand what they read are not worth wasting my time on......

 

Then bye...

 

Location location location.

 

what are some resources I can use to see where freight prices are best or are going to be best and at what time of seasons. are there resources like that available?