First my condolences on the weather . Actually it's been relatively cool here but today was real nice. I bought the local paper and was looking at the weather around the country and christ it's cold out there. Like 30 in Detroit and I saw Soutern Cal in the 50's I think. This is paradise here though I had to go into Hialeah today and that is one nasty part of the city. Also went through Liberty City.

So no_worries, it's not so easy to get here as I thought then. But you say on any given day... finding that good rate to FL might be tough but what I don't understand is why? I mean if there is no freight out of here and plenty going in, then in my naive way I'm thinking every load coming in is good. Why doesn't it work that way?

Actually I spent a few hours with my friend the other day. I was showing him some of the things I picked up since I've been out there like fuel routing and stuff. He was shocked. I was watching his dispatcher work, and really I think as far as just running the truck I am doing better on my own then if I was him. He knows I want to work with him again and he knows what I can offer. He even made the point that I am contributing more then he can (showing him all that stuff). He has 14 trucks plus 2 other he works with plus mine comes to 17.

So I can offer 17 trucks. I just need to capitalize on the capacity. Like I said he told me to try and find good inbound freight. Like I said though I remember LCT showing me their customer list and explaining why I needed to keep returning to Florida (I wanted to roam around the country) so from this I assumed that they could come in cheaper as they had good paying freight out. Well a lot of that was juice and that's not good paying so maybe they had freight out not good paying freight.

Boy the headaches of having drivers. When I was at the office they were trying to track down a truck who didn't make it to his delivery. They had to pull up cell phone records and they finally located him. The girl that answered said he had a panic attack and went to the hospital and was given a shot. This girl was supposedly his fiancee but the guy is married.
My friend was a lot cooler than I would have been. I don't brook foolishness nor irresponsibilty lightly. Finish you work then go fool with the girl. That was a possible claim situation.

 

Everything is not so cut and dried as it would seem. There are regions where you can probably find a good-paying load to FL nearly everyday. But there will always be some days when you can't. Maybe a shipper is shut down that week, so suddenly there isn't the normal volume of outbound in the area. Or there's a rush of inbound for some reason leading to more trucks looking for freight. That's what makes the spot market what it is, things vary from day to day. Wait until things start hopping in FL, you'll see rates headed south go in the toilet.

The thing about the spot market is things are fairly relative. Say you're in WI and on a normal day there are 800 outbound loads and rates to FL are $3.00. The next day there are 500 loads, for whatever reason. You wouldn't expect those loads heading to FL to still be going for $3.00. Sure they'll be higher than everything else, but that does you little good.

You can't count on any area always having good rates on any given day. Anything can and will happen in the spot market. You can count on trends. Rates to FL will usually be higher than anywhere else 8-9 months out of the year. Being small makes you nimble, you can sit, you can DH, you have options because you should be running at a higher margin. The larger a company the smaller the margin...generally. That's because a much higher proportion of your expenses become fixed rather than variable the larger you get. At some point those trucks have to generate a minimum amount of revenue, regardless of the margin.

You can't always find cheap freight out of FL...at least on the spot market. There will be days when you call on anything that pops up and it's gone. People with contacts, like LCT and your friend, have a ready source of loads. For them that statement is true. However, if it was true for everybody, they wouldn't get what they do on the loads coming in. Many carriers don't want anything to do with FL because they're worried about having to lay a truck over of DH out. If it doesn't pay enough to DH out, they won't go in. Your friend and LCT have a competitive advantage because they know they can get out. Even if it's cheap freight, they have a starting point. If they know they'll get $1.20 coming out, they also know they need $2.20 going in...or whatever their number is. Carriers that don't have an outbound source either have to get enough to DH or gamble that they'll find something. That's not a strong position from which to quote a rate. You have a competitive advantage too, albeit slightly different; you live in FL. This means that even though you don't have a reliable source of outbound, you can comfortably wait until something pops up. A company couldn't afford to do that with a driver.

 

First thanks for the replies no_worries, I appreciate it. So if I understand you right, there seems to be more of an advantage of trying to get steady freight, albeit cheap stuff, out of here. That's why I didn't understand my friends assertion that it's better to find good paying stuff in.

Really now that I think of it, he has the freight out but once he's out there he loses that competitive edge. So to find good paying freight IN is what's best for him, and probably not a good general statement.

What amazes me is he didn't understand much about the IFTA stuff, he was letting his drivers fuel up wherever (and for some reason most people that aren't paying for fuel themself hate the Flying J which means he's overpaying) and he is doing some things financially wrong, yet he is making money. Maybe not much but he isn't losing.

This is a tough business. Me personally I am very impulsive and I am always looking to get things done quick. This is not going to be a quick venture. All in all things are going well I think but I still have no idea where I am going to take this.

I was reading yesterday about the guy that founded Citrix (some computer thing) and he's loaded and he retired then got into chartering airplanes or something but realized that it was a tough business with low profit margins. He's into airplanes again but another angle.

But reading that reminded me that I should not get too fixated on this trucking thing. If this doesn't work then move on.

I think as you say no_worries a small operation is much more flexible. I am reducing my expenses month by month and I think in the not to distant future everything will be paid for. Which means I will have a decent stream of income and there is where I get stuck.

What's next? I ask this over and over daily, what's next? In my heart, I believe becoming very wealthy is not that hard. If one is disciplined then that is more than half the battle. I just recently got a check for a little over $11,000. I knew it was coming but didn't know when. It has been a few years pending. You know what I did with that money? I paid off two of the credit cards I have. I didn't even so much as go out for a fancy supper.

If you are disciplined and are smart with money, then success can't be far behind. I'm hoping anyway

Anyway this more has been just me musing than anything else. I appreciate the feedback no_worries and all others too. I have been thinking I wish I had more people like this around me; I wish I could get involved with an investment group. You talk to people sometimes and it's just nonesense.

That's why I didn't mind not being home for the holidays. I remember not too long ago one member of the family (by marriage) and who's always in a finacial mess, well I was over his house and he was standing there pointing to his new flat screen TV to show me and I'm thinking you are an idiot.

Don't get me wrong, nothing wrong with those things for those that want them but this guy is always in a mess, well him his wife and 2 kids, and looking for people to bail him out. I get around people like that and I cringe. (don't get me started on the $900 dog he bought).

It's one thing I like about this board, for the most part it's a positive exchange of ideas. I have more of a hope of making tomorrow a better day reading things here than I do standing there looking at an idiot pointing at his TV that he can't afford.

Ok that's enough. You see, the wife leaves me for a few days and it's like I'm back in the truck pondering on things .

 

LOL, I'd tell you to hit the road but I've seen the FL loadboard :roll: Enjoy the sunshine 8) We're getting tornado warnings and lost power for an hour and a half this evening :shock: I wish I could afford to work right now :lol:

 

If you looking for stock/mutual funds investment groups you might try American Association of Individual Investors (www.aaii.com).

 

I am glad to see that you used that money wisely, merrick. Most people would have opted for short term gratification and blown the entire check.

 

Merrick,

Their is a salesman at Best Buy that's pissed of at you for not coming in and spending it all on TV's. :lol:

 

Thanks ncnewbie, but unfortunately I live in a truck so that is out for now.

By the way Cramers book came yesterday, Stay Mad for Life and so far it's good.

I signed up with a new broker today that I had read about in a produce journal. They haul stuff into Florida and then load the trucks out. He said that unless you take their product into Florida you will not be first on the list to get the stuff out.

Those things don't seem to work out too well. It's like when H&M wanted me to do a free ltl back to their warehouse and then they would load me out to Florida. They wanted me to tie up the truck with a multi-drop load to Florida that would have taken me about 4 days for $2300.

Seems like I am doing best just putting my truck in an area that they need a truck and getting those last minute deals. That seems to be how I'm operating. That's all good for one truck but that's not possible for a multi-truck operation.

I'm itching to get back out already. I was talking to someone in Ecuador today. She stated that interest rates are about 19% there. I think that was for homes. There is so much opportunity in this country. Constatly I am trying to figure out the best way to proceed. Probably the answer is right in front of my face and I just don't see it.

 

I appreciate the comments. Actually I shouldn't be praised for not spending that money.

I read something once in one of those old religious texts (I'm not religious) "Who is strong? He who controls his passions".

So as Gman said I could have gone for short term gratification but in truth I have no desire to buy anything; better the praise for someone who really wants to buy something and then holds himself back.

Well I guess it shows I'm bored; I should have went to Mexico with my wife. She was in an office all day, but I'm sure I could have found something to do in Mexico City