short hauls?

I use to run loads usually up to 500 miles all week. 1 load a day monday-friday. Where do you live?

 

I like 400 mile runs, you can drop off in the morning and reload that same day and run your 7 hours for the next day

Last year a 400 mile run was paying in the $1,100 range seems like in today's market it's had to find much over $800. I did good last week on some short hauls did a 300 mile run for $750 a 300 mile return tarp load for $900 than a 250 mile run for $850

 

I don't consider 400 miles a short-haul by any means. A short haul to me is 200 miles out max..... a short haul gets me back home at night, and pays the same rate as the 400 mile run. I can usually get $700 a day to the truck running short stuff out of the Chicago area now-a-days. But after fuel and wait times, it sometimes is not worth it to me. And it is very hard to find "same day" freight as most places want to load you and you can't deliver till the next morning.

I absolutely HATE waiting in line to get loaded. Steel mills are on my top of the list of "DO NOT GO INTO"

Now OS/OD short hauls are where I make my money. Usually pay double what the legal stuff does, and sometimes better. I ran 2 OS loads last week, one went 108 miles for $3,200 to the truck and the other went just over 350 for $4,400 to the truck. Then I took this OTR run out here to AZ, and of course they called me to do another one of the 350 miles runs.... sometimes it pays to stay close to home.

 

Blytheville is a good are IF your willing to haul the loads out to BFE (WY, ND,MT,UT) but the local stuff is way too cheap. Maverick, Steelman, and Prime have dropped the rates so low that most can't haul it. I'm talking $300-$400 from there to STL and Joplin area. And the pipe factory over there is just about as bad. I don't know why most guys even bother, as you wait for 4 hours+ to get loaded up.... way too cheap for me.

 

I hardly ever see loads to those areas out of Blytheville on our board, and rates are normaly pretty good for a flat.

 

And on our board, that's all I ever see.... the rates to the BFE area's equate to about $3 mile to the truck. And the more local stuff is just way too cheap for me to bother with. I will however grab some 60' beams out of there going to Chicago every now and then for around $3.75 to the truck, but not too often. Then again, I'm not in that area much anymore.

And I agree Blacklabel, being home more does help a marriage very much so. I'm starting to learn this the hard way by NOT being home and hearing about it each night LOL