Well yes but I'm not sure it was that cause right before that I went inside and found the supervisor. I got to talking with him and he was very apologetic and as everybody was on break, he said as soon as everyone came back he would put an extra person on it.

After that I made the phone call and at that point I didn't want them to rush but unfortunately they did. :shock:

 

They never rush unless they're losing money. Gotta make that call quick.

 

Sometimes if I've got the time I'll try and put together a few LTL's from the boards. It doesn't work out very often, but when it does it pays well. I guess I should come clean and mention the fact that these particular picks are all for the same company which happens to be my customer in OR. I got with their buyer and found out what they had scheduled for inventory and mentioned that I could do them all faster and for less than he normally pays, so it was a done deal.

 

I appreciate that more than you can imagine no_worries, that's giving a complete picture. Not that it's anyone's business how you operate, but it drives me crazy when people tell me they do things in general but they always leave out some part.

 

That's just this one particular load, kind of fell into that one 8) Like I said, I do try to put together LTL's sometimes, especially when I'm headed to a bad area. But it's difficult enough with a van, let alone a reefer. You've got to make the loads work with your routing and time-frame and then you've got temp considerations. You might be able to set up the perfect load except that one stop needs to be frozen :roll: So it doesn't work out very often for me, but once in awhile it will.

 

Ok this getting out of Jacksonville doesn't look to promising. I have been calling on loads just out of curiousity to see what they say, like to California and they wanted to pay $1.11 a mile. He said going to Los Angeles is worse and that the phone rings off the hook all day for them.

To Oklahoma was even less per mile and when I laugh they are cool like they don't care, more or less, "you don't want it, no problem someone will"

Obviously the best thing to get out of these bad areas is to take a short run to a better place. I might just deadhead out of I can't find anything but I'm not sure to head up 95 or towards 75, any suggestions?

I might even take a load back to South Florida as I have a better chance down there with the produce.

I just called on one to Portsmouth I think it was in New Hampshire and told her I'd do it for $2 a mile and she was telling me that all she has is $1.35.

And I'm not looking for Mega load everyday like Sonny and LoadIt pointed out, but it does gall me to be putting on a cheap load on my truck. I can see $1.30 out of a bad area, but I don't like anything lower than that.

 

trying to fix a damn spelling thing again and reposted sorry.

 

Well I made a mistake. I couldn't get anything paying out of Jacksonville. Acutally I could have gotten back down to South Florida for about $1.60 a mile with deadhead but I wanted $2 which didn't turn out that way. My best chance for freight is out of South Florida.

So in the end I drove up into to Georgia. Nothing. I drove into South Carolina and stopped at the junction of I26 and I95 and decided to go over to Columbia.

Next morning the calls didn't seem that promising but it only takes that one. One called on a good rate to Tenn. and I agreed but they called and cancelled. They called back shortly thereafter and said it was back on. I spent my paperwork and then sent me the rate confirmation, no paperwork. First sign something wasn't right. They were rushing me to get to pickup but I wanted their package first.

In the meantime something didn't seem right with my truck. As has been stated before, I know nothing about mechanics but when I stepped on the brake it seemed like the air pressure sound continued. I was thinking I never noticed that before so as I wasn't comfortable with the load I told them I couldn't do it and took the truck to the dealer.

When I finally did get their package and ran their credit, I was glad I said no. They had claims and paid late. A good paying load means nothing if I am not going to get paid.

The dealer couldn't take the truck right away so I called Enterprise and called to get a car to see my brother in Charlotte. Bastards left me there for 2 hours waiting. I may be a retired letter writer but I'll call quick and file a complaint (instant gratification). The area manager called today, he's sorry what can they do bla bla bla. They always think we want something and I always say the same thing, "I don't want anything, I just don't think people should be treated like that" Once they see you aren't trying to get something for free they take you more seriously.

So I called today to check on the truck as they didn't call and it's fixed under warranty. There was an air leak in the dash. I was surprised at that. Warranty ends in like 5 days. The dealer tried to give me a problem with the warranty so I called Freightliner direct. Very very nice those people. They had me on hold and called the dealer direct and then told me should I have any more problem to contact them.

Man I got to be honest though, it is brutal out here. I don't know enough to read market flucuations, but for some reason it does seem like the market changes by the week. Seemed ok a few weeks ago and now seems bad. I did make that mistake of not going into South Florida; Leanred from that.

Rates seem bad though. You look at load densitites and you see 200 loads going into an area and 5 loads going out and of course someone is taking that for less than $1.00. I was offered a dollar to go to Wisconsin, thinking I should have taken it.

Took my brother out to eat tonight, actually it was a bar which I hate as I don't like smoke, I don't like sports and it's generally not my type of place (he's happy though so what the hell) anyway I was looking at the menu and she came over and told us that they were out of most everything as the trucks couldn't get in due to the weather.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned here by the way that the Italian truckers have brought the country to it's knees by striking higher fuel costs.

My insurance is prepaid til June and I have low overhead so I am not taking these $.80 load. I will shut down for a couple of months if I have to and work on getting connections.

I talked with my freind, he is buying more trucks. I asked him what the secret is and he said volume. If he makes $300 a week which is nothing really on 10 or 12 trucks then he is up. I like him, very respectable guy. I think he was a little upset I left but he keeps telling me to learn out here as much as possible. Who knows I might end up back with him, but it would be different now. I know which loads to say yes to and which to say no to now a bit better and I can continue to work on other areas I want to work on.

I'm not a financial person, but I was reading that SRT, the Covenant company had an operating ratio of more than 100%. Tough business this one. The battle goes on.

 

What kind of rate did you get going into FL? It is very unrealistic to expect 2.00 a mile when there are more trucks available than loads. Especially in Fl. NC and Sc have some freight but not at a rate worth deadheading for. Neither does Ga. You will still come out to 1.35 a mile or less getting out of Fl UNLESS a broker or shipper calls and needs a load moved at the last minute. 1.11 from FL to Ca. is rediculous,but for some strange reason all loads going into Ca. from anywhere seem to be real cheap. :? There may be some loads from Ga. to Ok for 1.60 or so and than you will end up closer to a better area,like KS. That is why I don't take anything into FL. for under 2.00 a mile depending on the length of haul. The shorter the run the more I charge,otherwise I won't run FL.

 

About anytime you have an "air pressure sound continue", you have a leak somewhere. Just trace/follow the sound and you will find it. Sometimes it's just a gladhand not seated properly. If you hear it inside the cab, like you did, it's probably behind the dash like it was.