Todays great rate

Thats before carrier's 20%. So..$2 is actually more like $1.80 for me. That why I try my best not to do anything for under $1.80 right now. I'm doing ok. Not big crazy money.. but still profitable. I'll be ok.

Hurst

 

I never dispatched or drove anything that's not a box. I entertained the idea of heavy and oversize haul before but too impatient.

I always figured for some reason that it's easier to find a good customer paying good money cause it's hard to find a guy with the right equipment that knows what they're doing.

and yes @rollin coal those days are done. Why take money that you have saved and worked hard for to cover expenses? Either way it's costing you money, but now a days it's starting to cost a lot more just sitting.

Guys say they have 80k saved up and they can sit. Great.

Overhead $3,000/month.
House, cars, bikes, booze etc
$5,000/month easy

That's 8k a month gone. 5 months of sitting and you're half way through your little piggy bank. Might as well drive and save that piggy bank and put in it a little less than usual but atleast not break it .

 

If more carriers actually managed their money a bit better, I believe rates would be better for carriers . And brokers could negotiate from a position of strength against the shipper. Desperate people are easy meat and that's what happens when people pile up debt.

Yes times are going to get harder but for the people hungry willing to change there is help. One person I can think of is Dave Ramsey. Look him up folks. He'll teach you the real way to manage money for any business.

For me personally, intermodal freight volume has really slowed down, even accounting for the lull for mid feb. I Don't count on volume to pickup so the best thing for me is stock up cash and become leaner and meaner carrier, or broker.

I will be moving out of out of control new jersey and move to a cheaper state and
Either will get my own authority, or become a broker. Either way, I am going to get direct customers .

 

In a good market staying parked everything evened out. There was no point in working Jan, Feb, and July and many other weeks because the rates were terrible and volume was down. I could count on some months in the spring doing $25,000-$28,000 in settlements. And the 4th quarter also. With me hitting an average of $10,000 in settlements per month I make bank.

So a month where I hit $28,000 covered that month plus almost 2 more where I only needed to hit an extra $2,000 to even things out. That's how I did it when freight was plentiful. Now I understand for some people $120,000 in a year is nothing especially if they live in high cost areas. I don't and I can bank some solid stacks on a year like that at 50,000 or less miles. Now I need to hit my break even in off months because I don't know how long it will be before I see another $25,000+ month. I expect when it gets relatively busy in the normal peak months this year that I will be lucky to hit $12,500. Both options with the benefit of hindsight suck.

Imo consistency would be much better even at lower rates. It's dog eat dog even when you can score solid spot rates. The brokers always have all the cards. And they never lose in a market like this. Me on the other hand, even in a good market for trucks, I still have to build around the good with mediocrity most times. It's very rare to put together a week or more of spot loads where every single load stands on it's on and is always win, win.

 

10 loads out of st louis mo today for both van or reefer 100 mi radius guys this is pretty bad. I have never seen this out of st louis its getting worse and worse

 

Last night a friend of mine asked me what I thought of this:
Power Only
Edible Tanker
3500 miles/week
$.96/mile TTT
Has to use his own bobtail & non-owned trailer ins.
His son drives the old 379/N14, and can't get better than 5.5 mpg.
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was painful to tell him what I thought, but I've known him for many years and I hate seeing his boy burn up the ol' man's life savings

 

Not to brag or anything.. not like I would ever do that.. (sarcasm). After I dropped this morning in jersey... just got a nice reload.. $850 going 247 mi down to Fairfax Va. 11 mi dead head from where I just dropped. Easy load. Section of crane boom and a counterweight.

Been a decent week up here for me. Averaged $3.08mi for the week.

Next week is anyone's guess. May only average $2 mi for the week.. maybe less. Thats why I hump.. it helps even things out. I think of the story about the grass hopper and the ant. I dont want to go hungry.


Hurst

 

Hurst, even taking 20 percent out for your carrier, those are not bad numbers at all. And yes, you will be just fine.

Rc, I'm right there with ya. With the exception of thay amazon dedicated i was doing in December, i haven't had a solid week of good loads in several months. It's always a good load followed by a 'well i guess i can live with that' load to get me back.

I feel for you guys working the load boards. It's tough out there, and the scary thing is, it's only going to get worse.

 

My best load was out of los angeles to minneapolis $8900 tortillas 30 degrees. Now i see these loads if i take one feels like my manhood is taken away.

 

I feel like you. I remember the rates from 2014.. slowed little bit Jan and Feb.. picked up and rolled strong from March onward.

Now when I look at the rates I'm being asked to run at.. I cringe. But looking at my over all numbers... my weekly settlements are pretty close and even more than was I was doing in 2014.

For me at least.. I attribute much of where I am at due to the fact I finnally got my trucking running sweet and reliable.. even better than before. Even with winterblend fuel.. I'm still seeing 6 mpg tanks (Fill up to fill up). Combined with lower fuel prices.. its making up for the lower rates. I've decreased my expenses and overhead. My carrier was making me pay IFTA.. I got him to pick that up. All I pay is bobtail, registration/tags fuel and permits.

I work a little harder.. but I'm doing ok and financially comfortable right now. Not stressed at all.

Hurst