Why oh why are you drivers taking this cheap freight????

Outstanding post. Especially the last line (emphasis mine). It's called "thinking outside the box". Well said, sir.

 

Steering wheel holders are not businesspeople..... Steering wheel holders always miss the big picture when it comes to rates.

 

"I'll haul it for $1.00/mile... if you pay the fuel costs and tolls"... think that'll work?

'Bigfoot'

 

such nondescript terms and vague posts leave some of us wondering what you mean?

how do you define steering wheel holders? and what is missing regarding the rates? bill painted a big picture, others disagree and wont pull anything under a certain threshold

i can see both points, i dont see anything missing, just varying perspectives of how to run their business

 

Trust me, i'am still doing cartwheels!

I like what BigBadBill said, you have to look at the big picture, the round trip and what you make total. The rates are what they are, if you don't like the rates, find more direct frieght.

 

Im leased on and I get nothing but grief when I say I get paid 1.38 a mile

 

Many here overlook the hidden value of cheap freight. 40% of all the miles I ran (when I was running, the truck has been parked for two years) would be considered cheap by most standards, in the $1/mile range, yet I did quite well.

You're empty in a cheap region and expect to get top rates when that premium value simply isn't there. You let pride and ego get in the way and state that you will not haul below a certain rate, hurl a veiled insult at the broker, and slam down the phone. Well, good luck with that.

Someone posted earlier that he was somewhat embarrassed hauling cheap freight because he wasn't supporting "The Cause". Hey... Every one-truck operator here is competing against every other one-truck operator, if you don't haul it, your competitor will.

I would say check your ego ( or embarrassment) at the door. Harvest the hidden value in that cheap rate and get back to a profitable region.

 

Must not have done too good if the trucks been parked for 2 years.

 

I'm approaching retirement, and want to do other things. The truck is paid for, and I still like to jump behind the wheel occasionally.

 

I've never beaten anyone up for taking "cheaper loads" unless they cry cause they got $2 a mile going in and thought that was great until all they could find was a $1 out... Nothing wrong with running a truck like that it's just not how I roll and Bill Hood knows I'm not FOS either. There may come a time when what I am doing just isn't working anymore then I may come around to others ways of operating by making cheap work. But for a long time now I haven;t had to do that. And don't think for a minute because a truck that operates the way I do, that we just deadhead all over for the sake of deadheading, time is of the essence and I don't have time to waste between good loads to bother with bridging gaps for a $1 a mile, that will lower my overall rate to the truck when I miss out on the premium rates... I think anyone who hauls for solid rates on every given load would agree with that, there is just no time for the cheaper stuff, and that's even IF you could find the miracle "bridge the gap" load, for the most part that is dreaming....