WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON WITH RATES IN CALI????

Filled up in Oregon yesterday. Pump price $2.78 and my fuel card got a .29 per gallon discount off of that. Oregon charges .20 cents per mile just to drive through the state, but cheap fuel helps offset that.

 

Those with their own authority who force business in one particular region or state are definitely affected by the ups and downs in the freight market. However, this isn’t true for those who have a contract lane, or those who only drive in the regions of the US where loads are paying well. I book my own loads, and stay away from regions or states where freight is cheap. I hear people talking about bad freight all the time. I—on the other hand—cannot relate.

 

Yeah, I fuel at the Mobil in Halsey. Last week (last time I fueled) it was $2.49, I get 0.08 off from them and an additional 0.06 if I use my Mobil card, so I paid $2.35 a gallon.

I have an EFS discount credit card, however, I find I get better prices often at independents.

 

Duplicated

 

There's lots of good freight in the midwest.

 

I got a load from San Diego to Phoenix that I will net about a $1,000 on, but it will take almost all day.

 

The first thing I noticed when I was crunching numbers was how over inflated the figures for the lease purchase truck payment were. I think it was like $90,000 in payments for a 3 year old, bare bones Freightliner. Considering that the company is self insured, insurance payments were kind of high as well.

It reminded me of the local K-Mart's going out of business sale when I was a kid. A GI Joe toy was normally $3 before the sale. Then, everything in the store was 50% off, with the toy being listed as $6 before the sale. JoAnn Fabrics operates similarly. Everything is overpriced there, but they'll give you a ton of 50% off coupons to make you think you're saving.

 

One of the big problems I see on these forums when people compare fuel discount programs is that they look at how many cents off the fuel price—instead of looking at the actual fuel cost without the IFTA tax. Getting 60 cents off per gallon may not mean much if the fuel is very expensive at that fuel stop. For example, one fuel stop may be giving you 50 cents off the fuel price, but another one across the street, 35 cents. One would think the better deal is the 50 cents off, but it’s not always the case.

When I shop for fuel, I never look at the cents discount. I look at the fuel cost without the IFTA to compare all fuel stops across statelines easily and without deception. One of the reasons major truck stops have steep fuel discounts is because their fuel is already expensive compared to smaller fuel stop chains.

One of the advantages of using programs like NASTC compared to big fleet fuel discount programs is that you can actually shop for fuel prices. Big fleets may or may not allow their contractors to shop. At least that was my case when I was leased to a big carrier. It wasn’t until I started buying a truck that they allowed me to call to ask for fuel prices at our usual fuel stops.

Now that I look back, that is no where close to the ability of serious and easy shopping through NASTC. I create my own fuel stops knowing how much fuel will cost the next day, and sometimes the next 3 days, and also knowing where I will be heading to after my delivery. The fuel stop program at the big fleet I belonged to could only generate fuel stops for the current load. Big fleet fuel discounts are probably bigger overall, but they lack customization.

 

No pay, but on average, our deadhead is probably a lot less than the average big fleet. I don’t remember the last time I did over 200 miles deadhead. On the other hand, the big fleet I was leased to will usually have me deadheading over 300 miles when empty in Denver, CO, either that or do a miserable 300 mile load out of Denver, and then head to a meat plant, and then wait up to 24 hrs for the load to be ready. Yeah, all miles were paid, but FSC didn’t apply to deadheading.

 

hah lol have you ever tried to deal with SBA loans or anything gov.related being an immigrant ?
hard money 149% APR for 6 years trucks - that's sounds more realistic.

current state of freight rates are because of US - CHINA tariff wars.