The type of trailer and availability will impact the rate, but your negotiating skills will have a lot to do with the rate you will command. We hear about how cheap van freight is, but as you noted, there are good paying van loads. It is up to the owner to decide whether he has value or not. If he places no value on his service, then no one else will either. I have been offered van loads at or above the $2 mark. Yet, there are still those who will haul loads for $1/mile. It makes no sense that these people will haul these cheap loads and continue to complain about the rates. Stop hauling the cheap loads. Demand higher rates and you will get them. It isn't rocket science. I can usually find a good rate most places where I have trucks. You can either take something cheap to get the truck moving or work a little harder and get a good rate. If you take whatever is offered, then you are probably running for cheap rates. Sometimes it is better to say NO than take a load that has no profit. If there is nothing that pays decent in an area, don't be afraid to deadhead to an area where you can get a good rate. If you haul for cheap rates, you probably can't afford to deadhead. In fact, you should probably just park the truck and do something else. There is no point in working for FREE.

 

Gr-gr ... and here I am pulling a company trailer for 1.12/mi. Just brought a load of paper from Toronto, ON to Crawfordsville, IN (575 mi) and tomorrow they are sending me 120 miles empty (same 1.12/mi) to elkhardt, in to get another load going back to Ontario. I can't wait to get my own authority and trailer! I feel like I'm throwing money away at the carrier who's laughing all the way to the bank.

 

Well, I think in my case when I want to be able to haul specialized loads, haul lighter loads, and do less tarping - I"m going to go with a 53 foot stepdeck (11' upper deck, adjustable tandem spread, built-in ramps at the end of the trailer). I'd go with a 35 tandem detach (RGN) but I'm amfraid I won't have enough work. Just saw an ad in Canadian "Truck and Trailer" mag - someone was selling a practically brand new 2007 RGN trailer, probably going broke? On the other hand, I did a demo search for loads on Internet Truck Stop yesterday (Destination: Ontario) and found a dozen RGN loads from ... Florida! What's that all about? Who would ship bulldozers from Florida to Ontario

 

For whatever my 2 cents is worth, listen to GMAN - just say no to cheap freight and be willing to DH to a better area for better rates. We run dry van and since the cost of fuel has risen, I've been getter higher rates because I'm refusing all loads that can not cover my fuel plus a profit per load. We are also venturing into other areas that we were staying away from in the past. For example, Texas, I'm finding you can run TX to TX and get rates from $1.85 to $2.50 for dry van. So we are spending more time running these type of loads, then heading back out to GA. We did the same thing a few weeks ago running OH - WV or OH - IN.

When enough Truckers tell the Brokers that they are not going to haul these cheap loads, the Broker is going back to the Shipper telling them to up the rate or I'm not going to be able to move your freight. When the Shipper has enough rejections and their freight is sitting longer and longer they are willing to increase their rates.

 

Been there,done that with TX freight. 1.85 to 2.50 is not enough since they take a day's worth of time. The only time I do those short TX runs is when Im in Austin,Houston,or San Antonio and am headed home to Dallas . As far as not hauling cheap freight,the only way that will happen is if most of these major carriers fold up and decrease the truck capacity. As high as truck capacity is now in TX and other states there will always be someone that will haul the cheap freight.

 

If only ACE, VENTURE, ACME and DYNASTY would fold into oblivion...rates would get much better. As long as those four are out there doing their "alliance rate" deal whith the oil companies..flatbed & stepdeck rates will remain in the toilet. :evil:

 

Due to the downturn in construction, there is a huge auction on I-4 East of Lakeland around HWY 27. You might want to keep in touch in that area for a while. There are hundreds of pieces of you name it. it's huge.

 

Ah ... that's why they had all these RGN loads on the load board!

 

Yea, the news was saying it's one of the biggest construction equipment auctions ever held in FL. Im not sure which company ran the show but Ritchie Brothers and others will probably be busy for a while selling off all of this stuff. Loaders,Dozers,Graders.High Lifts,Cranes,Pumps,Trucks,etc.

 

The company I worked with for 4 1/2 years would go down to this auction every year to buy equipment. They have the auction once a year and it is huge.