Using the Load Boards - Successes and Failures

I have no more time for you, after reading some of your posts in other threads it's clear to me that you just want to pick some kind of fight with someone. Have a nice day.

 

Hey Rollin Coal, I have a question for you, if you don't mind and sorry for hijacking this thread but Rollin Coal doesn't have room for anymore private messages.

As an Independent Contractor in TN, do I need to register my business and/or get a business license from my Country Clerks office? The reason I ask is because I was doing some research to make sure I do everything right and I found info on this subject so, I called my Country Clerks office and they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about so, they told me to call the State office. I called the state office and the lady didn't know so, she went and asked someone else. She than came back and asked me if I would make over $1,000.00 in profit for the year. I said, "I hope so", and she said I would need to get a license. That caused me to look more deeply into it and I didn't find anywhere on any TN.Gov site that I would have to.

Thanks,

 

Excuse me,,I was trying specifically to reach Rolling Coal, not start a thread. If you read my post, I could not PM him because his box is too full. I apologized for hijacking the thread,,,sheesh!

 

I disagree, brokers provide a very valuable service to the industry. If a truck driver cannot get a decent rate out of a broker, when all he has to do is look on the internet, and call the broker and sell his service to them, then how is anything going to change if there are no brokers and he has to call a shipper? If you can't sell your service, then expect to receive rates that reflect that. Not everyone can sell, and there are some that can sell ice to an eskimo.

 

As long as you have your Federal EIN, you're good. That's all brokers and major shippers are going to ask for.

 

For load boards/spot market... Post your truck on the load board and/or broker websites. Call on the loads you're interested in. During all of the phone calls take notes and do your negotiating. You will then have the current market conditions for the loads and lanes you're interested in within your current spot market.
For my operation I don't subscribe to the "don't haul cheap freight" mantra. First of all because I love to haul cheap freight since my risk is less. And if I can haul cheap freight for a high rate that's great. Sometimes I go empty and sometimes I'll take whatever rate I can get even if it's a low rate. How I decide if I take a low paying load is if it won't affect my schedule. If I have a one day drive whether I'm loaded or empty then it's better to get something rather than nothing. But if a low paying load is going to slow me down or interrupt the schedule I want/need then I'll go empty instead.

 

One thing people need to understand is the successful operators out there aren't going to give away their business success for free. I'm not going to tell you what my best loads are, when they ship, which broker has them, bla bla bla. It would be detrimental to my own business to do that.

But, because if you get higher rates, it moves the needle up for me, I would give some negotiating advice.

If I call a broker and expect a load to be in the $2.50/mi range, and I ask for $3 and he quotes me $1.25/mi... I'm not even negotiating with him. He lost me from the beginning. Not because he WOULDN'T pay a decent rate (he very well may have haggled up to a decent rate), but because he was so quick to try to undercut me and hope I fell for it. If he's looking for a sucker, I'll make sure when he finds one it won't be me.

Second, rate negotiating is predicated on who called who. If you post your truck and they call you, it's your market. And they know it, too. If you post your truck and not one phone call comes in and you have to call out, you know the tide is against you and you have to start looking for a little more 'exotic' freight than run of the mill stuff. Overnight. Multi-stop, multi-pick up, etc. You're not calling a Monday morning NJ-TX load and getting $2.50/mi. But I've gotten $2.50/mi from NJ to TX many times on two different loads for all miles combined. Say I know one market has great freight and constantly get emails phone calls desperate for trucks, and I know the rate will be good, I'll see what freight gets me there.

I don't know how many times I'll call on a load going from A to B and they'll say "$1200 on 900 miles", but I called on another load, going only 500 miles in the exact same direction and paid $1900. Why? Because nobody wanted to go to the 'dead freight' city, they were all looking for a redeye straight to the great freight and were fighting over scraps. Meanwhile, I took the short load, and then deadhead 400 miles to the great freight. Now, who did better? Some cry over 'deadhead means no money'... Only if you underpriced yourself to a bad market.

 

It doesn't matter what secret you tell me, I wouldn't know what to do with it anyway!