RostyC you are 100% correct about the Baltimore area I also live in Bmore this week was I think was worst I saw some loads on the board as low as 0.88cpm and they were gone within minutes.

 

If some of these people want to take a load for $.88/mile then they can have it, as far as I am concerned. The way that I feel about is that I can go broke sitting at home. I WON'T go broke hauling freight for less than it costs me to operate and have a decent profit.

 

I know, I can't believe guys are taking this stuff. It just doesn't make sense to me. I'm waiting to hear back on one now but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Same ol same.... Ever heard about "supply and demand"? You can't expect a uniform rate from, OH, or MD, or IN and NJ.... $1.25-1.35 is a good rate from a Baltimore, if you are going to Midwest! Yeah, occasionally, you could get lucky, but building your strategy on that, and wasting days at a time for a few bucks more, is unreasonable, to say at least! But what you can do, it is not to go into that area for less than it would take to compensate for dead heading out, or take that "buck a mile" freight back. It's the matter of simple math. One size, doesn't fit all!

 

When I go into areas like that where I know freight is sparse or cheap I plan on dropping my load and then deadhead out to an area where I can get a decent rate. I just make sure that I am compensated sufficiently going in that I can afford to deadhead and still make a decent profit. Occasionally, I get lucky and score something with a decent rate our of some of these places. I don't count on getting a load when I get to an area like Philadelphia or Baltimore. I have gotten fairly decent rates out of Baltimore (on occasion), but don't count on it. When you get to those areas it is usually best to make a decision to either take something cheap to get to a better area or deadhead to the better area. I think most will take a cheap load to keep from spending the money on fuel out of pocket. I figure that I would rather deadhead than take a load where everyone but me makes money. There are some who disagree with my philosophy, but it works for me. The only reason we have rates that cheap is because some carriers are taking them. If everyone stopped taking the cheap freight rates would come up. You can't blame the shipper, nor can you blame the broker for the cheap rates. Both are doing what they feel is their best interests. What I don't understand is why so many carriers would continue taking loads where they lose money. All it does is perpetuate the cheap rates.

 

If they are on the Landstar Board, then the .88cpm loads are gobbled up by Swift, Schneider, Werner, JB and so on..... they make money on these loads from LS seeing they pay the driver .36cpm on a good day, and they also usually have good set rates. Even tho it says .88 to a BCO, most of the companies get 1.00-1.25 set rate.

My ex was worked for a broker who was a LS Agent, I know the game inside and out.... but even when I was a BCo she couldn't always get me great loads either.

 

I personally dont think 1.25-1.35 is a good rate from Baltimore because I avg a better out of Baltimore It just seems like for about the last 2 weeks rates have been wayyyy down.

 

It isn't just the big carriers that are taking the cheap loads. There are many small carriers who are taking these loads. They are terrified to sit for a day or deadhead out of a bad area.

 

I'm glad you chimed in Solo, you got me to think about a few things, and I discussed them with my wife last night. Yes, I understand supply and demand and in this business it can change daily. I don't understand business owners who take jobs (loads) so cheap that it yields them nothing. However, I can't control what others will work for.

It's not that I'm building a strategy on luck it's that I've negotiated wayyyy more than a 1.25 so far, so to settle for it now....... No not me, I won't contribute to the problem because it's the norm and others do it. I understand the theory of "averaging the round" (cheap load out good paying load back) I get it. I just don't like it. Years ago, a guy that I subcontracted some work from told me that every job should stand on it's own, you shouldn't rob from one job to give to another, and I firmly believe that.

I do feel a little foolish for sitting all week thinking that tomorrow I'll get something decent. It's unreasonable to say the least, however it's easy to deadhead out of a bad area when you're on the road,it's much harder to leave the house with an empty trailer, I might have to get used to it for a while though.

Sometimes I don't think people will negotiate a strong rate going into bad areas. A couple weeks ago I had a broker call me to price out a load going from Baltimore to Vermont with a stop in CT. The final drop in Vermont was way out there man, way in the sticks. I called back and gave her my price (2600.00), she had another price of 2000.00. She said she had covered this load but needed the prices to take back to her customer and that she would keep me in mind. I asked what she covered the load for......... 1200.00 bucks. What an idiot. He doesn't even understand how to price himself according to the area he's going. My guess is he was going home, and he went home cheap.

This is all (relatively) new to me and a learning process as well so I take what I learned this week and move on.

 

It's nice to have some one from this area on the board, we can compare notes. Stick around for a while.

I agree with the 1.25 stuff and I thought about posting the rates that I've been able to get out of here with in my previous post, but I'd probably be called a liar, so I decided against the idea.
In the past posting numbers usually started fights around here, and I'm not one to make trouble. :lol: (shutup mackman issedoff: :lol

What type of trailer do you operate?