Wanting back in the flatbed game

Just loaded miles. Dead head is free and I average 15 percent deadhead.
May not be the best pay but I've found it difinitely on the high side and they let all the drivers run where and when they want. Very laid back company and every Mercer driver I know, is very happy here.
They pay 75 percentage of the gross. And give a large fuel discount and all the major truckstops.
I'm not at all a recuriter, just a very satisfied Mercer driver.

 

I'm glad you are happy with that.

 

I am not a recruiter, but as a business owner it is one of the hats I sometimes wear.

I was asking because it is hard to compare apples to apples when providing numbers to prospective contractors. Load board/Agent companies like Landstar, Mercer, CRST, quote numbers based on loaded miles only. They also tend to quote Gross pay numbers instead of pay to the truck. I tend to look at the money per mile on all miles (loaded and empty) to the truck.

We were discussing the best way to convey the numbers a prospective contractor could expect at our company. We feel that our contractors are achieving very good results, and would like to share this with prospective contractors. We want it to be as straight forward and honest as possible. I am not trying to mislead contractors into leasing on. We are looking to partner with contractors for the long term.

Any suggestions?

 

I'm not sure how your system is set up,but when I was looking in to leasing on with Mercer they could pick a contractor from their system and give me actual info. For example, they could give me all loaded miles, pay to the truck, deadhead %, annual revenue, and area run. It was helpful to see forensically how a contractor was performing.

 

Once you get into discussions with a contractor, it is easy to provide this information. The trick is to present numbers in an ad that grabs someones attention. For example, Flightline indicated he is around 2.00/mi per loaded mile with 15% deadhead. Let's say that is Mercer's fleet average. So Mercer advertises their contractors are averaging $2.00/mi. If their average truck has 100,000 loaded miles per year, they would run 115,000 and gross $200K. This comes up to an average of 1.74/mi on all miles. So if I advertise that my contractors are averaging 1.85 on all miles, it looks like one would do better at Mercer. Even though you would be make .09/mi more and $12K more per year on the same mile. I don't want to be misleading, but I also want to present my company in such a manner as to get people interested in learning more.

 

It's funny how things can be worded in a add. Then start looking at the fine print for the disclaimers and see how it's different.
Not just adds for trking, but even that new car or household item you see in the adds.

The poeple I'm with has an add in a major trkstp. recruiting o/o and company drivers.
Talking about the big money you can make.
I stood there a few mins. going huh?

Then I figured out who's numbers they were showing..

Not everbody will make those numbers. Yes you can come close working your butt off, but it will take time.

 

I dont think I would post any avg per mile numbers as they can easily go up or down. You might post avg gross and avg miles or something like that or just something different altogether.

You and JDP have presented yourselves here in a very good manner in my opinion and SHC had nothing bad to say. Everytime I have seen a truck of yours (on the road or in pics), it always looks good. You both seem like good, honest hard working folks so maybe you should try to focus on that stuff. Me personally, I want to see how you are different from the pack. Just my 2 cents

 

Dollars per mile isn't always the best way to go. As a 15 year O/O, it's not the gross or dollars per mile for me and most O/O that I know. It's more about getting to choose the loads, and choose where you want to run. For example, I tend to sit and cherry pick the freight, and stay away from the east coast. I stay out for a month, then take couple weeks off.
Also I like Mercer paying 55 percent upon loading and the rest within 3 hours after delivery.
Another great benifit at Mercer, is the regular cookout and get togethers at the yard, not to mention the free laundry and nice showers at the yard.
Twenty years driving and I've yet to see any other company treat the owner operators so well.
I had my own authority for a while before coming here and thought I wouldn't ever lease back on to a company but Mercer has truely stood by their word.
Mercer drivers are always telling me, they'd have to get fired to leave and I feel the same way.
I tell you these things, in hoping you can make your companies the same or better.
I think most long term O/O are not trying to make more money than company drivers but mostly just want more freedom to choose.

 

i think you hit the nail on the head