ya gotta spend money to make money. (an old adage)

 

I'm glad you said "to a point". I was not making a blanket statement about all new authority holders or all people with inexpensive equipment.

I don't do truck or trailer payments myself, I prefer to make interest rather than paying it, so I almost always pay cash. I still pay the payment, but to myself.

The ppl that I am talking about, buy crappy, worn out, unkept equipment; then price themselves down to the point that their "business" will never be able to maintain or replace it.

Holding down cost is great, if the purpose is for the business to make more profit.

 

Agree Adobe

Buying cheaper desnt always mean just buying, 'cheap crap' buying cheaper the right way, I believe means more work for the buyer, or having a close friend or relative along who will.......crawl under and closely inspect ...willing to get grimy and dirty....most dealers wore nice clothes to auction, I wore jeans and a faded shirt.

I can tell you lots of trucks I saw there I wouldnt have even bid $5 on myself.......one truck was leaking OIL for godsakes out of the blow-by-tube a sure sign the rings were shot, only one other dealer and me climbed up on the engine to see it.....we just both shook our head on that 1. He said, 'wow they sure clean these trucks up a lot, 'there should be oil all over'. I replied, 'at least on the firewall, they even had the firewall shot with a steamer and surrounding areas.'

Some immediate pointers I can give, that you guys might want to use(may seem obvious to some) is when you crawl under, inspect your suspension rubber for cracks, and fittings for extreme wear and rust....any moisture near the brake chambers, walk away immediatly as its probably not safe to drive off the lot (blown seal or leaky fixtures)....and immediate on lot repairs are impractacle unles buying from a reputable dealer....of course then just point it out their and most reputable lots have their own mechanics, but obviously ask a little more in price aka Select.

 

That's kind of what I thought you were talking about. Just wasn't sure!

 

I am an independient O/O the way I figure what to charge for a load is:
I know my daily fixed costs for operating my truck,Insurances,Tires,PM,Etc.
I have an amount of money set aside for any eventual repair so I do not include that in figuring the rate, this particular truck does 6.5 MPG fully loaded
so if I get a quote request for a 1000 mile trip I divide 1000/6.5mpg=154gls @ $3.00 =$462.00
$.030 CPM driver (myself) =$300.00 + daily fixed costs for 2 days
$ 19.00 L Insurance =$ 38.00
$ 3.30 C Insurance =$ 6.60
$ 17.50 Tires =$ 35.00
$ 20.00 Food =$ 40.00
Total for 2 days =$881.00
So if I want my truck to make $600.00 in 2 days I would quote $881.00 +$600.00=$1401.00/1000=$1.40 PM from that since I am driving and own the truck I keep $900.00 not bad for 2 days (actually for 16.5 hours of driving) when you get to your destination and post your truck for a back haul and you post you want a load to your home state the brokers know it is a back home haul and by rule they always offer a low rate because they know you want to go back home as soon as possible, just my 2 cents

 

GMAN of course I agree with you and obviously it's not my intention to be hauling for $1.00 a mile. I already told them not to give me that again. You haul for a higher rate and you are still here. I just need to figure out the reason for these rates, it's how my mind operates. You know when I was learning spanish they would teach me a word and I would open up the pocket dictionary I kept and look it up. Sometimes they would get upset and ask what I'm looking at if they just told me, but I needed to see the word written and I needed to see the proper definition; it's how my mind works.

I was talking with an account rep at CH Robinson today and we had a nice conversation. She was answering a lot of my questions. We got to talking about rates and she was saying that they have some board of thier carriers and it is shrinking. That a lot are going out of business, or as she said it not renewing their insurance. She was telling me that right now she had a load going from Tampa to New Jersey and it was 1200 miles and was only paying $1300 (this was not for me we were just talking) and at she can't get a truck to haul it.

Now this was just one convesation so I'm not saying waves of carriers are going out of business but this does seem to be a bad time. Well I'm in it so short maybe it's always been like this. People go out and get a truck and can't get decent freight and are poor business people and get taken out.

It's only been a month and a half and I've learned quite a bit and I will continue learing. I was asking her a lot of how they price loads but she was saying stuff that was so new to me that I couldn't catch all of it. But she was very frank with me. I ask A LOT of questions in life.

 

Makes pefect sense to me Ghost.

We like to think thatwe can charge a fair rate for our service. In reality, we can ask for our rate and maybe we get it, maybe we don't...just depends on the competetion.

Now, what I don't understand about O/O's and carrier's is this: Rather than yanking vans and containers for $1.20/mile, and running 150,000 miles a year, and wearing out your truck in the process.... why not get into a niche market? Your truck wears out by the mile...for pete's sake, more miles is not the answer. Better rates are the answer.

 

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out does it?

Too many trucks and not enough loads,and carriers willing to cut rates even at a lost just to move.

 

Merrick, there is nothing wrong with asking questions. That is how we learn. I am not surprised that a lot of carriers are going out of business. You cannot haul cheap freight and survive for very long. When business slows and fuel goes up, it reduces the number of trucks in the market. The fewer trucks, the higher rates tend to go. You don't have to haul cheap freight. Most brokers have more money they can give the carrier than they initially offer. They will try to move the load as cheaply as possible and raise the rate until it moves. You need to learn to negotiate with these brokers if you want to get the best rates. You also need to be prepared to walk away from a load if it doesn't meet your profit goal. Set your price and if they won't meet it don't haul it.

You need to change your thinking. It isn't the broker who establishes the price, it is the carrier. If the carrier refuses to haul a load the broker or shipper raises the rate he is willing to pay until the carrier agrees to take it. Most carriers, especially the smaller ones, are too willing to give all the control to the broker or shipper. They just take what is offered and eventually go broke from not making a profit. Business involves negotiation. To a degree, it involves give and take on both sides.

 

Just pretend to be homeless. :lol: Problem solved. :lol: