Where do you find good paying loads?

That’s exactly how I run
I follow the money until I’m sick of the road and go home until I’m sick of that
Usually that’s 3 weeks out and 3 weeks home. doesn’t always work like that especially if I keep hitting decent runs and I usually hit all 4 corners of the country while out since I’m taking that load going East no one wants as they don’t go there. Or west. Same reasons etc.

Most of time when you put a zip code in front of your truck you will lose money
You need something from where you are going to where you want to be

 

Remember guys the freight rates average are a guide. They are not all accurate. They get the numbers from the factoring company. If a driver uses factoring he more than not doesn’t have his stuff together and may be tacking lower rates. One who has all there stuff oiled like a machine knows how to sell his services for a fair rate. Always view the average rate and aim a bit higher to be in the market. Dat or truckstop has no clue what I haul for and there are many others like me. So don’t be shy.

 

We all measure success differently. I need 5.00 to feel successful

Seriously, bis high and ignore what everyone else is doing.. Don’t get emotional about any load.. Throw enough bids out there, something will eventually stick.

 

When I was expediting in a Sprinter, a lot of my colleagues didn't understand this and wondered why I would get the money loads for certain customers while they were left picking through the regular crap. It showed when I had a pallet of some special Frac sand going from Jal, NM to Bakersfield for one of the major oil players. I was about an hour from making the delivery in Bakersfield (deadline was 4 hours away), when the alternator caught fire in my van near the top of the Grapevine. My wife (GF at the time) had come along with me to see CA, and she began worrying. I parked it under I-5 at the next exit for the shade (it was July), and called a local towing company. I told them to quote out from my location to Bakersfield in the next 3 hours, "cash" sale. They quoted, I paid by phone with CC, and waited on the wrecker. I then called the receiver to verify that they were able to handle a medium duty wrecker on site. The guy showed up, the van was loaded up, and we set down the Grapevine for the customer's location. I reserved a room at a local motel and ordered the replacement alternator, belt, and tensioner while waiting on the roadside. Once there, we unloaded the van in their parking lot, I drove it slowly to their forklift, then left the van at the back corner of their lot while we caught an Uber to the motel. The next morning, we caught an Uber to the parts store, then the customer's lot, where I repaired the van, called dispatch/broker to let him know I was ready to roll, caught a big money load leaving 2 days later from San Pedro to Houston (same customer, imagine that), and spent the next 36 hours chillin' at Marina Del Rey and Venice with the old lady.

People didn't understand my reasoning... "I could have gotten the parts and fixed the van, then delivered the next day." NOPE! Failure is for losers. I was going to win the customer over again and get the next big money load they needed moved because they saw I was willing to arrive on a wrecker with their freight in order to meet their deadline.

 

Yep
I know a company that won’t accept a load that pays less than $10 a loaded mile . But they will move heaven and earth to get your cargo delivered on time.
and they usually have more work requests than they can handle.

 

I remember paying $2,400 a month for a truck and doing just fine averaging $1.70-1.80 all miles. I'd do 3 weeks out 1 week off and didn't even run hard and stayed home from mid December until after my birthday second week of January. I know fuel costs is now around $1 a mile instead of the $0.35-40 I had but to not be profitable at under $3 a mile is a scary pill to swallow. I couldn't imagine it I'd go back to company driving. This market was never intended to last and rates are normalizing while the world is seeing record gas prices. It's a tough time for the guys who went out and financed 800K $30K trucks for $130K at 30% interest I bet but I would have never done that move to start with.

 

That market will always get a better rate of pay per mile.

 

1. how high are your expenses if you need over $3 a mile? Load boards that I like are DAT, Coyote, JB Hunt, CH Robinson, and Truck Smarter. But it also depends on where you are I run the west a lot CH Robinson loads are better in the west it also helps to have connections with brokers a good amount of my loads I get directly from brokers they email me a list of loads they have in the areas they know I run so if I don’t like what I see on the boards I’ll go with them and they usually give me good rates no less than $2.40 a mile

 

No.... you need low bills to be a successful owner operator, combined with a profit.

I mean at $2 I can make 3500 profit in 7 days.
Now if you have a $2000 a week truck payment, and other bills, they add up quickly.
Glad my payment is $1500 a month on my truck.

 

Do you still stand by you need 3.00 a mile to be successful