TRUTH!

Glad to hear that things are <sarcasm> going well for you! </sarcasm>

 

So did you trade up Red? What was the deal with your wipers. Other than that how do you like it? Mine are quirky sometimes I turn them on and nothing,off then on again they always work then. Other times I start the truck and they automatically start wiping from the off position so on then off and they quit. Annoying but knock on wood they do work lol. I figure it's just my truck.

 

I am new to O/O and havae not quite made the leap yet. I was doing some research or trying too and am lost, if any of you could help itd be great. My concerns are as your stating the lowballers, How hard is it too find the 2.00 mile frieght? I have kids at home and want to try and be home every weekend if i can be I've been looking into Landstar to lease onto they seem to be one of the more reputable companies.

 

@racer35j I have heard lots of great about landstar. As for the rest of you question, when i had my own authority it wasnt so much the lowballer brokers but the crap brokers that after you just haul a load 2000 miles used your fuel your time your equipment decide to make you fight 6 months for your money. but they would pay you now if you paid a crazy fee. I am probly going to get called an idiot for this but with me running some else flags on my truck and trailer i dont really worry about 2 bucks a mile or 3 bucks a mile. i worry about what the load is where its going and what its paying. here is the thing. say you take a load from ky to philly for lets say 2 dollars a mile avg. but i take a load from the same place in ky to pittsburgh for say 1.50 a mile. i am going to make more money than you are at 2 bucks a mile. Why. the question that will keep you making money is how much can you think. here is a list of whats to ask when looking for freight. what is feight like around the drop area. what will it cost to take the load there. is it more likly you will have to deadhead alot of miles to get a load. if so what are loads like in that are.
here is an example load that i just did. from rockport IN to philly 3.85 cwt 365FSC now i already knew of a load in philly to take me home for the big V day. so i took it. now it cost me 600 in fuel 150 in tolls i got the broker to pay at 40,000 min on a 32,000 coil than my back load was another 900 bucks to go right down the road from the house. the back haul was not the best but it would do. now here is the trick philly area has crap loads for flatbeds most of the time and most of those require a twic card or you to pay 100 for escort. now if i had not been able to lock that back hual in i would have had to dead head to pittsburgh for a good load or richmond va area.

The big thing i am saying is just because it pays 3,00 a mile does not mean its a great or even good load. you have to see what you CAN get coming out. if you take a 3.00 a mile load but have to pay a bunch in tolls run hard mountains and deadhead 400 miles to get a backhaul that 3.00 a mile can drop your weekly avg to 1.00 a mile. i like to try and keep a steady 2.00 weekly avg but i will run 1.50 mile freight over 3.00 freight if its going to cost me a bunch of money to get the next load heading out.

So come on lets here how stupid i am and how i like cheap freight and how you will deadhead a thousand miles before hauling a load under 2.50 a mile avg. and all the other crap i hear from everyone.....

 

That makes complete sense to me. If you have to DH even 100 miles your taking an 80$ hit off your load so your 200 extra is now 120. I have heard nothing but good things about landstar, talked with one of their guys a while back found a load from FL to CA paid him 12k after exspenses. I have heard 90 cents a mile for fuel alone cost and anywhere from 3500 to 7500 for plates and insurance. Its hard to try and get info from anyone anymore as if they have the good stuff they wont come off of it.

 

So ,the Fl. to Ca. load paid over six dollars a mile? He had better keep real quite about that source or he won't have it long.

 

Yes, I finally got the replacement truck under it's first paying load Wed 2/6. I'll give you the details on the wipers in a PM to keep the thread on topic.

 

Be great if you could throw up the details on A thread in The Garage...I occassionally get gremlins w mine as well

 

FreeBird - I didn't read every post, so maybe I'm duplicating someone else's thoughts; if so, sorry.

In my case, I got an Occupational Accident policy (from OOIDA, for me $144 per month) that satisfies the larger corp folks I deal with instead of having to get ridiculously high and somewhat useless Workers Comp.

Deal direct if you can, in my opinion, with shippers. Are you in the 'stone' area of TN, or at least close-enough for that to be a possibility for you?

 

Excellent post!