Why do you keep pulling for cheap rates???!!!

Absolutely, I do agree on a philosophical level. I remember that 3 years ago, I thought that ridding off forced dispatch and getting access to loadboards would be the key for advancement. Now it seems to me that unless one goes beyond spot market and loadboard reliance with 1 truck and dry van attached to it, there is little hope for much better except once every 2-3 years juicy moments.

 

2 bucks all miles is just what I've always been told was making money, this was back a few years though. I won't sneeze at 1.80 all miles, it's nothing to write home about but you should be able to make money yet.

 

I always tried to figure what the "being cheap" rate is. "Being cheap" does not sound nice and nobody wants to be called cheap. It must be very different number for everyone.

 

I understand that it's your low-end profit, but .40 cpm is not a lot of money. I hope you get a lot more than that most days, just as a fellow driver.

 

If you can’t be very successful off the spot market then you won’t be very successful with anything else either. You have your own authority right Joe?

Sometimes I get invited to golf outings for the trucking industry and everybody is always talking about this new contract they got or this or that. And how the customer is making them do this or that, and that they have it locked in for 1 more year and hopefully they get it again and don’t get undercut. Mean while they think they are building a solid business and leasing trucks, hiring drivers, leasing trailers for multi year agreements. I talk to them about rates and just nod my head and confirm what I already knew that these guys have no ####ing clue what they are doing. They are building their entire business on a couple of stilts we will call it, and hoping those get get pulled out from under them like Mel Gibson does in Lethal Weapon 2. LMAO.

Their contract rates are NO better then what I can hustle out of the spot market in the down times. However, my business is built on 100’s of relationships with brokers, my business is built solidly in the ground, while there’s is on these stilts that can be cancelled out if that makes sense.

Then, when the market does go up up up then I absolutely kill it while they are stuck in their same ol same ol and have no clue what to even do when it comes to spot freight. Trust me I hope everyone leaves the spot market and I’ll haul all the way to the bank and back.

So, 1 truck and 1 van can and will take you wherever it is you want to go in life. All you gotta do is follow the mindset I’ve laid out and get past the mental block of someone else driving your baby. It’s not your ####ing baby, it’s a tool and you find someone to effectively operate that tool.

God I’m way off on a major tangent. I’ll stop now.

Don’t settle friend. Hammer these mother ####ers! Make them pay. My mindset is that I want to be the carrier who a broker is not making money on but hires me anyway because it’s a done deal. The freight will get there no question.

It is, but if I ran 1 old truck and trailer, which I have, then I would still be pushing for 3+/mi so I could grow into more then 1 truck, which I have. See what I mean? Don’t settle for less just because you can.

 

It's not worth filling up in Oregon. You don't get credit back no matter how much you fill up there.

 

CH van load going 180mi to nyc 1500 after tolls. Ch was always willing to pay a premium for this carrier

 

It’s all good brother. Btw I like your profile pic.

Like I followed up with in that other pic were prob more around 2. There are so many changing variables at all times that I figure on the high side then just take in more then I expected.

Rates are very important to me so I get ultra fired up about it. Especially since truck owners could keep them but by doing their part.

We run about 17,500 to 18,000 miles per week so you can imagine how I can go from doing decent to killing it to doing poorly in a hurry. Gotta stack that cash up while you can, then make it through the bad times.

 

Plus paying to drive there. Not sure what it is now, but I was licensed for 86k there with my truck and it was 18 cents a mile.

 

My wife tells me I’m “being cheap” all the time!!!

 

Unleaded in Tn. Is down to $2.07