I haven't hauled any of those cheap loads down there in a while. I was running a dedicated between Wisconsin and Michigan, but the contract is almost finished, so it's slowing down. Now I'm back to running between PA and MI, and PA and OH. The SC stuff has slowed down quite a bit too, but that's also because of contracts finishing. But there's some new contracts waiting in the wings that should keep me busy through the end of the year, I hope. I'm crossing my fingers that this "cheap freight" is like last winter was (from what the guys hauling it told me). They were doing $10,000 a week gross. I could live with that, even though I'd have to take a nice long vacation when it was done. I'm thinking Hawaii. :wink:

 

See I told you I must have missed it. :lol:

 

I spent Monday in Houston,it was exciting to say the least,no power anywhere,so no resturants no facilites and a curfew from 6-6.I did happen to make it to the T/A in Baytown which had a generator which let them keep the convience store open to get some food and water,luckily I got there 15min before they shut it off to observe the curfew.

It's funny how most people adhere to the 4 way stop thing when the lights are out,but there is always someone who thinks the laws don't apply to them,it's just guessing which one of them it is that makes it fun.

 

Rev's right Steve. Real men run the NEAST. I've got 2 steps doing Baltimore - Toronto this week. $6,000 on 627 miles.

 

I don't want to head home right away but being in that neck of the woods means I can pretty much name my ticket anytime I want.

There was tons of freight heading down to Texas and everyone I called about was a 40,000 pound generator that either needed a team or had to be there in 2 days. The load I thought I had down there had to be delivered on Friday at 7am. I said I couldn't do that but would get it there by 3pm. They said they would call back and never did. The load is still posted with a delivery of tomorrow. That meathead wasted so much time trying to get a team or cheaper rate that now it will never get there on Friday.

Ya, the northeast is where the money is and I've always known that but it's a crap hole to me. It's like your in a bowl around that area and if you get too close to the edge your sucked into Phoenix or Gillette Wyoming!!! lol

Once your in that black hole you can bet if there's a load going back to MI it's going to pay $1.00 per mile. I have found the one way to beat that is to try and get an LTL going all the way to Vermont or Maine then do the pick and drop along the way.

So it's looking like MI,PA,OH and SC? I'm just wondering where the edge's of the bowl are? I am done with Canada and have put away all my Paps and Pars stickers.

Everyone in my little condo area still keeps away from me now that my buddy cops have been going into my place while I'm away to get my mail.
Didn't do any good to try and explain to the local snitch that they are my friends. The only guy who actually believes me is the one a few units down from mine. He had his big toe cut off due to diabetes and it took him 6 months to learn how to walk again without a cane!!! I had no idea your big toe was the most major one responsible for making tons of corrections to keep up upright.

Some of you guys sound like your play the Trukz game instead of driving trucks in the northeast!!

Well, one more day at home then off to the crap.

 

I was just reading about Hawaii and how's it's become the number one place to vacation due to all the trouble with terrorists, kidnapping and pirates. Hawaii has recognized this and adjusted their rates up to reflect the changing world.

This was the good part. The number one tourists to Hawaii are the Japanese business men. It is cheaper for them to fly to Hawaii for a whole weekend of golf then it is for them to pay for 2 rounds of golf in Japan!!! Space is so limited in Japan that a round of golf if you can get in can cost $2,000 or more after bribing everyone and their brother.

 

My son just got stationed in Pearl Harbor. He is a navy lifer with 26 years in so far. He found it cheaper to buy a sailboat to live on than get regular housing.. I plan on visiting in January when the weather in IL really sucks... I can handle a couple of weeks on a sailboat that time of year..

 

All right, I've been doing some research on some routes given the suggestions above. Now keep in mind I'm living in the real world on my own and do not have the luxury of being leased onto a company who has major contracts with shippers. I know many of you are leased on and just making a general statement that you get $xxx all the time just doesn't help, your only giving yourself a pat on the back.

I know Rev and a few others do not search the load boards that us independents are on or have to negotiate with brokers of these load boards. There really isn't any negotiations. They will pay this and that's it unless they are desperate. I've been through this a hundred times.

I need $3,800. Nope, the customer only has $3,000 into this. Ya, but it's heavy and needs to be tarped. I can do $3,100 but that's as high as I can go. Ok, thanks anyways, give me a call if something changes.

Ya, right, no call and 1/2 hour later the load is gone. That's the way it really goes.

So I'm looking at this load I have to Detroit for $2.05 which is somewhat unheard of from N.H. Most are paying $1.00, $.90 or $1.20 and they ALL move for that price. Like I said before, there were 5 of these loads and I got the very last one leaving on Friday within the 1/2 hour that they were posted so I lucked out.

Now keep in mind I've sat for the whole week trying to get a decent load. One could say you should have taken the first load out of NH for $1.20 to get some place with good freight like Detroit and deliver on Tuesday morning with a reload of $3.00 per mile. I actually believe that would have been the best to do.

So anyways, I've looked at MI, PA, OH and SC as mentioned above and I've found there isn't any loop, square or triangle and there are multiple cracks in the bowl leaking out truckers into the abyss of the black hole.

I've found that getting yourself into PA will result in all loads paying $1.50 or less and the occasional $2.50 to Wyoming or NH where you fall off the edge of the universe.

So.....I ran this scenario this morning. Now keep in mind I run a flatbed and don't bump the dock, load and go. It's a much lengthier process which sometimes involves tarping which requires even more time. Many times it requires riggers and cranes. This isn't one guy on a forklift like a van stuffing the crap in. It's 2 or 3 people which consists of the whole shipping department working on 1 truck at a time and some times we are lined up waiting.

I'm gonna pretend I'm leaving on Monday morning. I have a 10am load time due to professional riggers have been hired to load this piece of machinery.

Here's a load list

NH to Detroit 634 miles for $1,300
Detroit to Ohio 285 miles for $800
Ohio to PA 384 miles for $1,100
PA to NH 362 miles for $1,000


Mon 10am - 1pm Load and tarp
1pm - 4pm drive 150 miles

Tues 3am - 11am drive 484 miles 57mph average
11am - 1pm unload
1pm - 6pm drive to next load and load

Wed 3am - 8am drive 285 miles
9am - 11am unload
11am - 3pm drive to next load and load

Thur 3am - 11am drive and unload
11am - 3pm drive and load

Fri 3am - 9am drive
9am - 12pm unload and drive home


So, what we have is 1,665 miles in one week. $4,200 income. $1,205 in fuel and $2,995 left over for an overall average of $2.52 per mile including dead head.

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Now, lets say I do my normal hobby trucker thing and take a load to Washington State for $1.80 and 3,000 miles.

I make $5,400, $2,172 in fuel and $3,227 left over

On the return I do LTL's and average $3.00 home.
I make $9,000, 3,000 miles, $2,172 in fuel, $6,828 left over
===============================================

So, at the end of lets say 2 weeks I have $5,990 with example one and
$10,055 with example two but it takes 3 weeks because I'm putting together LTL loads which take longer.

===============================================

So with example one I've made $2,995 per week
With example two I've made $3,351 per week.

===============================================

Now, with example one I've lost all my hair, homos, hookers, traffic, crap hole truck stops and blood pressure through the roof and busting my ass all day.

With example 2 I bust my ass for 4 hours loading then 5 days of driving easy looking at the corn fields pass by.

===============================================

Now I realize it's more miles but I don't think it's really that many more miles in a real world case. The first example is hard miles with less fuel mileage. The second example is easy miles with max fuel mileage.

Your bringing in $350 more per week on average doing the second example which if you put away for a rebuild would result in enough for a Detroit stage II rebuild in just 23 weeks. I have the Detroit brochure on the rebuild prices if you want me to scan it in.

===============================================

There are loads posted with prices from MI to UT for $2.54 per mile so I'm guessing $2.75 to $3.00 is not out of reach.

So, what I think may be the best thing is to take a load out to OH or MI from NH for $1.40 or so and from there take a load to WA or UT for $2.75 then work my way back East with hopefully $3.00 per mile LTL's. Even $2.00 LTL's total would still be better.


Now, try and actually let this sink in without all the BS. If you think your going to pry a load of $3.00 per mile from PA back to MI you are sorely mistaken. There are 3 within a radius of 100 miles and are posted at a rate of $1.50 per mile. Everyone wants to go back to MI and everyone knows that so they WILL move. So I consider PA a huge crack in the bowl.

It would be nice to have a real discussion about this plan. I know a lot of you do not deal with the load boards or brokers. I would be willing to pull up any load list from any of the load boards and PM the list with phone numbers for you to call and try your skills. But sitting back saying I wouldn't move for anything less then $3.00 doesn't cut it. You'll sit for a week or more if your lucky and when all is said and done your pulling in $1,200 per week on the average gross and getting fat and nobody give a rats ass about you not taking cheap freight.

 

All this talk about bowls is making me hungry. I think that I will go have a bowl of cereal. :lol: