Steve I apologize for giving you bad luck. Atleast it's simple stuff going wrong.........Now I'm gonna shut up before I get blamed for something major. :lol: He was gonna offer $2.50! HA He should have in the first place! :roll:

 

[quote="NotSteve"]That's expensive. I get mine at a Chiropractor about a mile from the Ontario TA for $30.

 

Well, I woke up this morning and no rate conformation and no phone message from the broker. I called him before I went to bed asking if everything was all set and to call me back and leave a message or fax me the rate conformation. I have a feeling where this is going to be a classic example. I'll call in the morning and he will say the shipper canceled the load when in fact he found someone cheaper. Lumber loads are NEVER canceled!! If that is the case I will file a complaint with the load board. Even though it was only verbal I have proof that I sent my insurance to them so the load board will post a negative comment about them. We shall see.

As far as the $2.00 per mile that is a very good rate for this area going back East. There is no set price per mile for the whole country. Every single state is different and every single rate is different depending on the destination state also. The National average for flatbed is around $1.85 per mile at the moment.

I do about 3,000 miles a week on the average and they are all really long hauls. I could make $3.00+ per mile if I wanted to do 500 mile runs. Experience has taught me you can't do 500 mile runs like you think in your head with a flatbed. Before I started I was thinking I could load, drive and unload in one day for a 500 mile run. Ya right.

I tried the the short runs for 2 weeks in the Chicago area and was making much more money but it sucked big time. Traffic, traffic and more traffic. Tight spots, waiting in line, appointments and untarping, tarping and rolling up your tarps with 2 feet between you and the truck next to you. That blows!

The load I had coming out here was $2.10 per mile and there is nothing like turning on the GPS in the morning and having it tell you to drive for the next 658 miles on the current highway. No traffic, beautiful scenery, big open truckstops, stopping at a nice rest area or pulloff for a 2 hour nap.

When you are leased on to a large company you are limited as to where you can run with their loads. You either take it, sit or go find your own loads. You seem to run mostly in the congested areas Rev and I could do the same but that is my choice. If you saw the video I posted that is what It's like for me just about every single day! It's worth it for sure!

I think your little nitch works for you Rev where you are located but that is not the norm. You run lots of short miles and seem to stay close to home. Your in a good area for freight. I have run into tons and tons of leased operators who have been stuck in bum F*** no place for a week and complain they only get less than 1,000 miles per week. If they want to move they have to find their own loads. If they don't want to haul what the dispatcher says then they get nothing since the dispatcher can do whatever the Hell they want.

The only stories you hear on this board are from just a few who have a good thing going. This is not the norm. You won't hear anyone complaining about what it's really like for fear of being ridiculed to the max. There have been many many people who have come and gone being leased on.

There are a few people who have been lucky getting a few shippers and run the same lane back and forth. That is also not the norm.

There are few seasoned professionals on here that I know FOR A FACT are getting about the same as me for loads and working off the load boards. I'll tell ya one thing, they NEVER EVER post figures like I do. They have to keep their image ya know. They do the short runs for higher money and the longer runs for lower money. This is the way it is in real life.

If all of you want to know some real facts about doing it on your own with a flatbed and running the wide open West and 3,000 miles per week every week then plan on $2.00 per mile and have at it with your spreadsheets. I have also put together LTL loads going coast to coast for $3.00 per mile total.

I am my own boss and the only letters on my truck are MY OWN NAME!

As far as the headliner is concerned. Are there any upholstery shops left in the U.S.? I remember when I was younger that they were all over the place but I haven't seen in 20 years.

When I was in High School one summer we took a road trip down to Mexico in a 56 Chevy for a tuck and roll for pretty much nothing. Those little bastards did the whole interior in less then a day in Ox blood red.

 

Add me to your fan club steve.

 

lol

 

:shock: That must be a different nation than I've seen.

I guess the Landstar flatbeds who run for the same agent I do must be special, because we do it all the time.:wink:

Which is why I don't like dispatchers telling me where to go. The closest I'll ever get to that is letting the agent tell me where she has loads going to. But I'm still under no obligation to take them.

Why is that considered something worth money?

Sure are. Just google "auto upholstery" for whatever area you are in, and you should have a bunch pop up. Lots of them are part of body shops now. The amount that strictly do upholstery are few and far between.

Sounds like you need a time machine. I'll lease purchase you mine. :wink:

 

Does it come with a fire extinguisher?

 

Ya, but you can't put your name on it, has to be the company your leased too.

 

IMHO, the "it's my name on the door" argument only works if that name on the door earns you more money than if someone else's name were on the door. :wink: