Hotshot Connect Forum :: Cheap Freight

LBZ

Cheap freight/cars are posted daily, but have a story or question to ask what do you do when...?

I was building a load from IL to FL two weeks ago and it relied on three pieces to get the rate up. One main piece paying over a dollar a mile that was about 5k @ 12' & the other two were to take up no more than 5-7' of deck and were in the 1500-1800 pound range each.

After I had everything booked, the main piece cancelled but I was committed to the other two pieces with signed confirmations & expected delivery dates. I started digging all over the place to find something going the same direction. Even if someone wanted a frog transported down south, I probably would have thrown it on. Wink

Anyway there was a boat that I had watched for several weeks that originally was paying $900 from St. Louis MO to Miami, FL while taking up 26' feet of deck space. They finally posted a rate of $1200 and I tried to push up the rate to about $1.25 a mile or $1500 for it and of course they held their ground at $1. I lost out and another driver was loading the next morning.

So what point did I prove by this? What do you guys do? The rate was no longer totally in the gutter, but it was marginal. I have never played poker, but thinking they called at a time when I didn't have the cards in hand to be doing what I did.

Tom Cobb · Site Admin

I believe you did the best you could. If we could see results before the events we could make millions but that is not the way life is. We analyze the situation and make our decision and if it is wrong then we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and go after what we can get.

We have to trust in God and ask for wisdom to make good decisions. That is all any of us can do.

Don't beat yourself up...learn from it just like we all have to do and trust the Lord and go for the next load.

May God prosper you and all those that will trust in HIM. Blessings upon you.

bth9461

Last month I had the new trailer on the road with no personal time off needed and no mechanical issues. For 4 full weeks in May I did $14,200 on 9400 business miles, that 1.51 PM for my ALL MILE Rate ( DH included). My per week break down was 4050/3300/2500/4350 = $14,200.

Tried hard but that 2500 week was still there and this week was 2561 for 1900 miles. So things are never perfict. That is the nature of the business.

In your situation I would have booked the 1200 to get out from under the other contracts. Nothing you can do. It seems that when you need something it is not always there. You were in a tough spot, best to grab the best deal and start planing the next run.

This is the problem with small trucks and mostly brokered freight, when things are lined up, we clean up, but when it is not there we get stuck holding an empty bag.

Brian

LBZ

Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. I have learned NOW when to push and when to just run with what is on the table.

Thanks for the input guys.

mhlogistics

The starter piece is the most important part of your load. It needs to be paying a decent enough rate that you could roll with incase nothing else comes thru. Get it on the trailer then pickup the stuff that doesn't pay as well to fill your trailer out. Thats what we do here.

We never load the cheaper stuff first. If the money piece is out of the way then it's probably not the right piece of freight to start with.

You don't want to get in the habit of booking freight and then backing out of it because something better came along. Brokers and Shippers both will remember that. Wink

Remember the brokers that cancel on you and next time they want your truck kick the rate up on them an extra $100.00 or so. Tell them thats for screwing me up on the last load. And always hit them for truck ordered not used when they cancel on you. This will stop them from leaving freight posted and playing the what will you haul it for game. A lot of brokers keep taking bids for freight after you've booked it. It's chicken @%#& and they need to pay you for waisting your time.

bth9461

Good advice in general Gary,

Sometimes to keep your DHing down it can't be done, that is a risk that can't be avioded always. But if you can you should try.

For Freight hauling, I find that flat frieght pays better than most cars, so I look to find that good paying LTL that can at least cover your cost to run the trip, Then add Cars or other LTL's. But it helps to have at least one piece that pays well.

Just hauled a Brokered load 20' 15k for $2.32 on 325 miles. Loaded 20 miles from my house. Could be a new permanent customer, one of the office guy's ask for my card when he saw I was local, and he new one of my direct Customers too.

Now take that same load and put it on a BIG SHOT and add a car and another LTL, that could be $4 PM.

Just gave a direct customer a quote on a Dodge Sprinter to LI, NY $1600, he said why so much? I thought $1000 would do, I told him I would not go on to LI for any less. This Van is vey long I haul it into him with a Malibu on the back and it was sticking out 2' off the back of my 40'er. What if I can't find anything that will go with this load. I am not going to loose a day on LI for a 1.30 a mile. It is about 1.45 to Northern NJ for $1000 told him that was possible. I can make that in 1 day, reload the next and be back home. Got to make them pay to go to LI/NY. The return frieght on LI is very time consuming to get loaded and it does not pay that well usually, lots of .50 pm cars on there, very little LTL. NJ is better for return freight and easier to get to.

Brian

LBZ

I think it is an excellent selling point/strategy for Gary's business and the o/o's that works in terms that once the initial piece is confirmed the driver can go pick it up and load while having a staff search out freight to fill out the trailer.

However for those working on their own it is an awful big chance to head a direction to pick something up and possibly have to return home to look for more or chance the remaining pieces will be in the area when you happen to pop up online to look.

As far as cancellations go, I definitely need to learn how to adjust more quickly, though with time and more contacts made it should get a little easier.

On the flip side to that, I picked up one van down in Texas that was one of three headed to Indiana. When I arrived the owner of the business said I will make it worth your time if you can load another van on your trailer. I already had enough freight to go pick up afterwards to fill the trailer out, but the kicker was that he had a signed confirmation sitting on his desk from another transport company coming to get the other two that I saw when they were doing my paperwork. So cancellations need to be dealt with strongly for business owners such as him!

Thanks for the info on the posts above guys.

bth9461

repeat Customers helps when it comes to cancelations, New Brokers/customers is like Cracker Jacks, never now what the surprise will be, but there usually is one.

Not much you can do about cancelations, regular customers won't cancel very often, and will usually will pay for the truck not used.

Good regular brokers and direct Customers is what is needed if you want to improve your business.

Sometimes you get burned, we have all had that happen.

Brian

bth9461

Needed to get down to NW Indiana to pick up a car for a repeat customer going to NJ. Spent a lot of time on Monday lining up loads for the week. Did not want to DH the 300 miles so I got a good paying LTL 600 on 370 miles then boked a car to fill out the trailer that followed the route. couple hours later the (new) broker calls back and cancels the load while I am waiting for them to process the paper work. They had to call the customer earlier to get my price approved. Well thats the way it goes some times, had to fill the trailer with another car. Went from $859 to $537 for about the same miles. But that was the best I could find. Had to get moving for the other loads, $900 for the NJ car and a very long Cut-a-Way Ford van that Pay $800 to PA. I will always wonder if the broker got another call on the load as it was still posted while the paper work being processed, Thats Trucking the good with the bad.

The car to NJ, the guy really liked how I handled his last load and waited 2 weeks for me to get to him, plus paid a premium rate for a salvage car. Then I luck out and get a great rate on the Van from a car broker I have used before. This business is full of ups and downs, you need to try and stay on the up side most of the time.

Brian

LBZ

I am in central IN now and leaving in the morning for Elizabeth NJ. Give me a call if ya et a chance and maybe we can catch up. Brad

bth9461

Sorry Brad, I had a rough day, falling behind you. Stuck in Goshen, IN for the night. My load was not ready, missing paper work, nobody in the Office at 5pm, so I am stuck, till the broker gets it worked out in the Morning. Won't make it to NJ until Thursday night now. These brokers have been meessing me up this week. Not my normal ones. I give you a shout tomorrow.

Brian

LBZ

Sounds good, I am in Linden right now and cannot unload until 9 a.m. Kinda cool getting in here so late as you can cruise right on through, though am thinking tomorrow morning may be a whole different story going down to West Berlin.

Good luck getting out of Goshen.

LBZ

N.J. (SO FAR) isn't as bad as I had heard or thought it was going to be, but thinking I got extremely lucky with the three drop points I had to go to in Elizabeth, Linden & West Berlin. The tolls have left me curious....Crossing PA I had figured it to be $47 and the charged me $15.75 when I went through crossing 150 miles give or take, so happy there, but I-95 in NJ was about the same amount for 20 or so miles. Go figure....

Tomorrow is going to be the fun day, have to pick up a car in Philly @ 9:30 a.m. then run 900 mph down to the Baltimore port to get another. From what Brian told me this eve, it could get interesting.