Just remember, so long as you quote a rate that you're happy with you should never have to beat yourself up about the fact that maybe you could've gotten more...just make sure you always quote a rate you're happy with :wink:

As far as your little side trips, here's my approach. When quoting a load I include dh and loaded miles and calculate on that. The miles for side trips I absorb myself. If, at the end of a month or quarter, I find that these miles are significant, I adjust my operating costs on a cents per mile basis. But I don't try to offset the actual miles each load. Maybe the following will better illustrate my reasoning. Say you have a load and right after, you have to get home for an appointment. The only way is to DH 1000 miles. Now, if you try to get a rate that will compensate for the additional 1000 miles DH, you might be waiting awhile. Those extra 1000 miles are an abnormal occurrence and likely isn't built into the market rate for that load. However, at the end of the year, you have that expense. I try to examine my rates no less than quarterly to make sure I'm staying abreast of my expenses. But I try to bid my loads on a standard. If I can't get a load because it costs me $.20/mile more than the next guy, so be it. I don't want to lose a load because have to calculate based on 50 miles further.

Sounds like the Heartland hasn't been to bad to you. Good luck in the Smokies. There's cheap candy in Chattanooga and cheap QVC stuff in Salem, VA. Obviously I'm not much help :lol:

However, I am back in the warmth of SoCal after my winter vacation...70 and sunny as far out as the weatherman cares to forecast 8)

 

The thing that has me pissed though was he told me it was a frozen load and when I get there I find out it has to remain at 28 degrees continuous.



ALWAYS check the BOL to make sure it matches with the rate confirmation. Last month I took a load to IL and the broker AND the rate confirmation said 25 degrees. The next day I take a good look at my bills and at the bottom it said KEEP FROZEN AT BELOW ZERO. :shock: I called the broker which in turn called the shipper and he called me back telling me it was indeed supposed to be frozen. He thanked me for looking at the bills and had to make 7 other phone calls to drivers about the temp. change. :lol:

 

Whats the difference between "frozen" and "28 degr continuous"? Is it having to run the reefer continuous vs just to maintain a temp?

 

28 degrees continuous means that the reefer needs to be on at all times to maintain that temperature. Frozen, you set it at usually -10 and put it on start/stop. It will shut off and then turn back on when the temp gets within a certain range. Less wear and tear on the reefer and much less fuel used.

I spoke to him today about it and he said why didn't you say something about it when I got there? I said you were so happy and he laughed. He is going to give me some more money. Really I could have really raked him over the coals so I'm just glad he appreciates it.

Hey Gman, guess what I'm drinking? Yep they started selling iced coffee in your beautiful state. You didn't mention something to someone did you ?

 

Well I finished that load and that actually wasn't bad. There were a bunch of stops but 3 out of the 5 were at actual Honey Backed Ham stores so it was in and out. Mileage came out to 738 on the hub for 1100 which was only $1.49 but it came out to really like $1.70 or so because I added the very short one before it. Just to clarify, cause you can always move numbers around to make anything look good, I did add these two together because the first load took me right to the second one and I got such good money on the first I went easy on the guy for the second.

I was talking with the broker today. He's new. I explained the thing about running the reefer continuous; he said he wanted to know about that as he wants to know what the carriers need. He told me he didn't understand why some carriers will quote as much as $400 difference on the same load. I told him we all have different costs.

It occurs to me, if you can really minimize your expenses and can run a bit cheaper yet more profitable PLUS offer good service...

I've been trying to figure out my costs now. At first I had no idea as it's kind of like waiting for the dust to settle til you can see what's what. I mean I got into this with no knowledge about any of this and on top of that I don't have a math mind.

Actually I'll have to get back to that as I think I just got a load.

 

I got to wait on the paperwork now. Looks like I'm going to Florida. I think I am going to go home for a few weeks anyway, then catch the Valentines Day rush out.

So the rate coming into Tenn wasn't that bad, but I kind of felt like I fell off the Carousel. This part of Tenn isn't so good and how I have been doing it is getting enough to cover deadhead to a better area. That going into PA and deadheading out with enough money to cover it was a good feeling. If I quoted this load better I just had I would have dh right to Kentucky or Memphis.

I remember first getting into this and wondering why some people were just regional. My first instict was look for a load to California. Now I'd like to just stay in the East. For now that is.

So now I'm going to central Florida with a dry load for about $2.00 a mile then will try and get a short one to South Florida.

 

Merrick4 wrote :

It occurs to me, if you can really minimize your expenses and can run a bit cheaper yet more profitable PLUS offer good service...

Now that is an excellent business model

 

You know I've heard that Knight Transportation tries to pay cash instead of financing which of course cuts down on interest expense. Heartland Express has very little debt.

One thing I wonder, these big companies have it seems a 3 yeard trade in cycle. On the one hand it seems the longer they keep it the better yet on the other after 3 years most warranties seem to end.

Another "problem" I'm having is the wife asks where I am going and I hear it in her voice every time it's not back to Florida. Probably a lot of you go through this. It's aggravating cause I'm not out here on a picnic (though I do kind of like it ) but we are not going to be moving forward with me home sitting on the couch.

But really I don't mind getting home now, I have that shipper I need to meet and there are other things I need to do.

 

A good, understanding wife is a huge part of the success equation. Sounds like you have a good one Merrick, and appreciate her support while being left at home.

Sounds like your efficiency has improved a lot in the short time you have been otr. Keep looking for any other ways to increase your margin as you go.

 

Thanks Orange Andy, and yes I did got lucky in getting the woman I have. Sometimes it's even like "what am I doing out here?" I mean I got into this with no knowledge; I mean what I did was basically insane by buying all of this stuff, and I could just go home and get $20 an hour driving for South Eastern or something but she knows that would be slow death for me. So she supports me being out here.

As to improving my efficiency, I've been thinking how to reduce expenses but I guess you can only go so low. I watch where I fuel, I get the cash back on the fuel purchase which is HUGE with the credit card. I refinanced the truck to a much lower rate, the other equipment is all at 0% and when that ends I will either pay it off or just roll it over.

In less than 90 days I will have 2 years on my CDL so when I renew my insurance policy I'm hoping I won't be paying $14,000. I paid the insurance up front too to obviate unecessary monthly fees. I don't pay monthly parking as I'm not home that often. I don't idle either to wast fuel. So basically I got it as low as I can.

Another thing is I try and plan my fuel that I run til almost empty to not carry excess weight but make sure I will not suffer by end up in a more expensive state and pay more for fuel to wipe out any savings I get running lighter. Actually I heard a thing on the airlines recently that they even took out most of the magazines to cut out excess weight among other things.

The guy I use to run with rents parking spots from this other trucking company. I spoke with the son of the owner of that company today. I asked his opinion of this industry and he said that anyone that gets into it now is insane. He said you use to make good money before but fuel is just too high. They have quite a bit of trucks and have contracts for freight out of Florida. They want to get out.

More and more as I ask questions out here it does seem that this industry is heading for much more consolidation and I still think at this point that anyone that can hang out as things get tighter and tighter will do all right.

I need to meet with my friend while I'm back. I'd like to work with him again but in a different way. I don't want to be dispatched but he has trucks already and if I can find shippers then if I'm with him I can offer more capacity. Besides he has his day job which he loves and he knows I look into things. Actually he just bought 2 more new Kenworths and I was reading in Landline magazine about OOIDA members getting a rebate for buying KW's so I told him and he got the rebates.

I believe in working with people. We all can't do all things. I don't know mechanics so I need to find someone who does. Actually I remembered that I drove local before I went OTR and the guy who use to service the trucks from the local leasing place had such an eye for these trucks and as I'm home I am going to go see him to see if he would be interested in taking on side work.

Anyway, I woke this morning about 5 miles from my delivery and I called to see if I could come over and she said they were closed today but she would try and get someone to unload me and call me back. I called the broker and I was pissed but I had no_worries words in my head to conduct myself professionaly so I told him very calmly the situation. I didn't get into "you need to pay me if I sit til tomorrow". He said he would call the lady himself. I had never worked with this broker before either. But the lady called me back and said she would be there in 10 minutes.

I tried to get a load from there, Ocala, to South Florida and found one from CH Robinson but with DH it would have been about $1.30 a mile and didn't pick up til later in the night and deliver the next day and so I just drove home empty. After I was thinking that wasn't too smart, it was about 250 miles.

What a difference the tone of these brokers voice when you are calling an area with no freight. Boy they are cocky as hell. Call them in Chicago and they are so humble.

Hey no_worries, about the extra deadhead, I mean I understand not trying to capture it in the next load, but for instance I have put about 60,000 miles on the truck since I have had it. I divide that by total revenue and I get a certain number (not sure off the top of my head) but do you subtract basically extra deadhead from the total miles? It would make sense cause I did it real quick and it came to about $1.40 but that's every mile on the truck and really that's not a true reflection on the rates I'm hauling for.

Tomorrow I take the truck in to get the APU serviced. I've put just about 1000 hours on it already. I know I could probably change the oil myself, but I need a place to leave the truck for a couple of weeks so it's cheaper to pay to get work done on it and not have to pay for parking. I hope he lets me leave it there for a couple of weeks.