Why the lack of information?

Yeah no kidding with the Florida bound freight. Guys go down there so cheap almost year round. I see the same thing my rate is always more than double what I get told the loads are moving for, usually by several hundred dollars. Only rarely does anyone even entertain the idea booking me to FL. I can't afford to go there I'm priced out of it.

 

Yeah no kidding. I only go there if it will pay my deadhead out too. Got two guys that work with is that live in FL. One guy leaves his truck at our yard and flies home for time off. Typically he will spend a month running hard and take a week off. He said he makes more money by booking a 340$ flight then going home for 2.50 a mile and wasting days to haul cheap or going back out empty.

 

If you see a 45,000 lbs Nashville to Miami (about 900 miles) dry van only load posted for $2,000 with multiple stops in the Miami area it's gone so fast your head spins. $2 a mile is the magic number to any deadhole in 48 states these suckers can't get enough of it.

 

I'm glad I joined this forum. Thought no one understood this. Everyone I always encounter has the same "2/mile" #### stuck in their head. I knew some guys that would take 2/mile to east coast and sit for a couple of days wondering why they can't get 2/miles out.

I assume you book your own loads? Have you ever had an owner operator approach you at pick up or drop off and ask how much you got paid? And decided to tell you what they got paid? 99% of the time I tell them idk yet, and play stupid cause I feel bad showing them the confirmation comparing to what they took the load for.

 

Yeah I book my own freight. I never talk about rates with drivers out there. From what talk I have heard before it's kind of sad but that's how it goes. I try to think of it in a positive way like if they didn't pay 10 trucks poorly they couldn't afford to pay 1 well and whatnot. But it does get tiresome wasting all day #### chatting with mostly worthless brokers.

What I really despise are the ones who call me up when i'm at my home base offering up some of the worst most ridiculous nonsense you've ever heard. Not very bright. Just making cattle calls. Then once in a while i'll get one that I can tell gets it even if there's no connect on the call. This has been my first real experience with a major slow down in freight/rates. I started booking my loads in 2011.

I think for drivers who are newer that survive this that they will greatly benefit from learning the real difference between when their services are in demand or not. This slow time makes that contrast stark. And hopefully when things turn around they will learn to charge accordingly. But then maybe I give the competition too much credit.

 

My biggest pet peeve with booking my own loads is when companies like TQL, choptank, etc would keep calling my phone with crappy runs. It's annoying when you're in middle of a negotiation and your phone keeps informing there is another call. Otherwise I look at the more positive side too.

Me and another guy were talking about how those that make it through the rough roads ahead are going to be making serious money until cycle repeats itself.