The problem with the philosophy of "taking what you can to stay afloat" is that you are not floating,you are sinking.

 

Thanks GMAN as always for taking the time out to respond. As I was driving tonight I thought of an one small expample of what I'm trying to get at.

I read recently that JB Hunt is going to increase their intermodal operations by 200% I think it was. This, one would think anyway, will have an effect on rates. Not all rates but as a matter of fact I know a guy who works for I think it is Babies R Us or some store. Well he use to tell me that the same guy I think it was from Landstar use to deliver their freight. Then one day he tells me that they switched to a railyard compay, I forget the name and now the stuff comes all damaged. But it was on a truck from Georgia I think and now it cames by train.

So in the end it boils down to less loads and same trucks but there is a reason for it.

I do agree that on a load by load level than the carrier controls the rate. Well maybe not the rate of the freight but the rate that the truck gets. If it's not a good rate then we don't have to take it. Believe me I do understand that point. Right now I'm more or less in comply then complain mode. When I understand what I'm trying to understand then I will be much more assertive I can assure you.

I've mentioned before but right out of school I got a local job. I was pulling in over $1000 after taxes a week. It was the easiest job I probably had. I was hourly and half the time the truck was never ready so I sat waiting then I only had 3 stops a night.

Well management was getting crazy with the overtime we were getting (that's how I was earning so much) and they hired guys from a temp agency and put us on 40 hour schedules. The said we needed to train the new guys. I told them that if they want to cut my hours and take money out of my pocket they can get in the truck and train them themselves. And so it went and withing a couple of weeks I quit cause I wasn't staying there for the little money they wanted to make. We all have choices in life.

You know I was also thinking tonight, when I was talking with that CH Robinson rep tonight and they were telling me that couldn't find a truck for the load, I wanted to ask the obvious: Why don't you raise the rate? but she kept talking and the conversation shifted. But it got me thinking, as we say we aren't hauling for fuel maybe they say we aren't brokering to pay the electric bill. Maybe in that instance the agreed upon rate between the CH Robinson and the customer was too low for CH Robinson to raise the truck rate. If so in the end one of 3 things will happen:

1)They will find a truck to haul it for peanuts. 2) CH Robinson will broker it for free or 3) The shipper will either pay more leave the stuff sitting on the dock. But I'm going to ask her when I talk to her again why didn't she pay more.

In the end if you have a truck I guess one really doesn't need to know all this stuff. Either you'll take the load or you won't but I guess I'm interested in the big picture. Maybe in the future I'll move into logistics. Who knows?

 

Ummm whose pretending...I AM!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-p

 

Ive said the same answer a million times....my cost is so bare n mininum...I can still make a profit n not sink even on the cheap freight.....do I want to ....NO....do I have to sometimes...YES!
Ask a guy making $10...that thinks he is worth 20....are you happy only making $10......no he isnt....to feed himself sometmes he does.
I know my cost...Do I like undercutting rates?...NO! I do want higher rates, I fight as long as I can, a judgement call....sometmes i get it ...sometimes I gotta know when to throw in the towel, its a judgement call.

 

I do have to agree with you PeePee. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

This forum represents probably a small fraction of 1% of the total drivers out there. Your going to get the same answers over and over again from the same people. I'm sure there are hundreds of silent readers who in reality also do what they have to.

If you keep reading long enough the bed buggers will be up to $750,000 salary for the year. I think at last count they were making over $400,000 although one of them just threw in the towel and his truck is up for sale. I'm guessing he got a job making more than $400,000 or he wouldn't have given up the profession.

I know for a FACT that some people on here say they won't haul cheap freight but have slipped up talking to me on the phone or private emails. They do haul for $1.30 per mile to get out even though they say they would rather deadhead then haul what they call cheap freight. They are FULL of it.

I have hauled for $1.30 a few times and will do it again and again and again if necessary. If I don't then I'll sit there till the cows come home because some large carrier will come along and take that load just to get there truck out of there.

There are many people giving advise that they themselves do not follow. I just can't believe that some people who preach maintenance funds and so on and so on have to run home for a check and factor????

 

Pepe-- did you call any of those shippers? Time's a wastin'. :?

 

We all do what we must to survive. However, I am curious as to how low must a rate be before you will deadhead out of the area? $1.20, 1.10, 1.00? You seem to make an assumption that all of us haul cheap freight. That isn't the case. I don't try to compete with the large carriers. I can't. If you have a single truck, you are not going to be able to compete with the major carriers. Just because a large carrier will take a load, isn't a good reason to take the load. It should be because it is in the best interest of YOUR business. They can afford to operate off of smaller margins than the single truck operation. It might surprise you to learn that most of them don't haul as cheap as you might think. I remember one carrier that I saw their rate and they were getting over $2/mile for van freight, at least on some of their better shippers. They were paying their owner operators about $0.82/mile at the time. And just for the record, I haven't hauled a load for $1.30 in years.

 

Isn't cheap freight relative to your particular market? Somebody may have mentioned this already. Pulling a van and getting $3/mile may be considered good, but pulling an RGN with oversize and getting $3/mile may be considered "cheap", even though it's not cheap with a different trailer.

Also, what about the guy who has a low CPM cost? Can he can get away with hauling for a lower rate and actually net the same as a guy with a higher CPM cost who has to haul for a higher rate?

 

I try to tell people that they should have a good size cash fund set aside for maintaince(which I do not).

I also tell people to get enough of a savings built up to have a sizable down payment on a new or used truck(something I didn't do).

I tell new drivers to keep their driving record clean(also something I didn't do)

Just because I may give,in my opinion,good sound advise that I had an inability to follow in my own world does not make it any less sound or what others should follow or try to,what I think is more hurtful is people coming on here and talking about all the high dollar freight they are pulling and not giving real world numbers of how many actual miles they are driving their truck and therefor making it out that it is much better than it is.If I were to only post about all the 2-3 dollar a mile freight I was pulling and then someone comes out to do what I am doing and then figures out I am not adding in 20-25% deadhead into my figures,just to make myself look better am i helping that person?

I think it is more important to give people that want to become O/O's,or Independents a true measure of what they should expect out here.

I also agree that everyone has a different barometer that they go by,some do not need to make as much per mile as others,every driver should know what is or is not a break even point for themselves and that what is written in here by some posters will not work for them,but I alteast try to be honest about what my experiences and overall costs of trucking in todays world is.

 

Yes,but ask most guys what their operating cost are and they either won't know or they can't back up their claims with any evidence.

I think GMAN has said on numerous occasions that every person running his own buisness(that is what this is right?) should know his/her break even point and then set their rates from there figuring in what you would expect to for profit.