"The almighty $2.00 a mile theory"

There's nothing secret about it, you develop customers, they pay enough to make it lucrative to do business with them, after you haul for your customer you may find yourself somewhere where you don't have a customer, (this happens fairly frequently), so you can DH back to your customer, or find a load going back, (the backhaul). Backhaul freight historically pays less because of the open competition of trying to get back to your headhaul stuff...this competition being the other carriers who bid it, the spot board freight, cheaply because they feel they made enough on the headhaul to warrant taking a backhaul rate, and the thinking is that hauling something and getting paid beats deadheading... the people who get killed in this business are the ones who never develop a headhaul relationship and are forever searching through loads with a backhaul rate mentality....and they never have the confidence to quote a headhaul rate because they wouldn't know a headhaul rate, all they've ever done is call spot market brokers posting backhaul loads....

Think about it, if you're a big company that's getting $2.70 to $3.30 per mile, and you have a truck and driver sitting empty, and your nearest customer is 150 to 300 miles away, or perhaps 500 miles away, what are you going to do?

A) Deadhead your truck.

B) Grab the first load you see that gets your truck to the next good paying customer.

There are two considerations that factor in to the decision.

1) time

2) cost

 

Here's an example of what I'm talking about, hauled a load paying $3 a mile, delivered, next load paying $3 a mile was 340 miles away....

I would have preferred to pick up something that bridged the gap between loads....

But the time constraint wouldn't allow it.

So, I deadheaded....

If I had some time....

I would have grabbed the first load I could paying $1.50 and covering the 340 mile distance.

And picked the other $3 dollar load up a day later.

Now, if nobody picks up the spot market load at $1.50 then the broker and his shipper have to start thinking about how they're going to move the load.... it means that they're going to have to pay a better rate than a buck fifty.....

It's not really all that complicated.

 

What's "big money"???

 

Big money? I mean why pay a few bucks a mile when there are several truckers or companies that will move it for less. That's all I meant. In other words , why would someone pay above the typical rate for that area/lane.
Now, I make the big money, but I am not letting you in on the secret. ( warning: this last sentence may be BS).

 

Big money? I mean why pay a few bucks a mile when there are several truckers or companies that will move it for less. That's all I meant. In other words , why would someone pay above the typical rate for that area/lane.
Now, I make the big money, but I am not letting you in on the secret. ( warning: this last sentence may be BS).

 

One word.

(ok, actually two words...)

Dependable service.

People who have specialty freight require dependable service.

The people who are paying better than others aren't worried about the rate as much as they are about the service.

It's why I couldn't wait a day to find a load covering the 340 miles deadhead from one to the other....

They needed to move it now.

And for what they pay, they get premium service.

(trust me, they're worth it)

 

1348 @ $3 a mile, and 754 @ $3 a mile means.....

I'm driving 341 miles and not worrying too much about that deadhead....

Although, I would have hauled something for a buck fifty for 341 miles if I could have squeezed it in. (just sayin')

 

Say what????

 

Here is what I do...I get $3.65 a RUNNING mile and am loaded for 50% of my miles. I average 680 miles a day and go home with a big fat paycheque n a smile. Its all about working smarter, not harder...

 

i don't know about that theory.

i'm in new york. and the load board hasn't changed since friday. pretty much the same loads. for the same cheap price.