Little Info

admin · Little Info

Little Info

IP: 4.230.132.111

May 22, 06 - 9:29 PM Tried to use hotshot

Hotshot's,

I have tried to use a hotshot truck 20-30 times in the past five months or so and your quotes are unreal. I call a few people and I get quoted 2-2.50 a mile for loads that do not exceed 10K. I can get big rig's in here for 1-1.50 all the live long day. Hell I can get big rig's in here loading 20k going 750 miles for $900. I know this is a tough business and sure tough when you can get a big rig cheaper than a hotshot, why do you want so much money? I have had some hotshot drivers not to call unless it is $3 per mile, $3 a mile??? Most say nothing under $2, I know people are not getting $2 a mile for 7500lbs 20'. What gives???
riserco

IP: 70.213.14.119

May 23rd, 2006 - 5:26 AM Re: Tried to use hotshot

it's about time, i've been weighting 6 months for someone to say that. u can answer your own question by looking over the forum, q & a,,, there are to many jack leg rooty poot people with a p-up wanting somthing for nothing... the turm HOT SHOT started from a small load ( or item ) needing to go somewhere FAST, and along the way it got classafied ? as a trucking industry, ha. most of these wanna-be truckers dead head back home instead of going around the country like the big trucks, this is why they must charge so much. JUST LOOK AT SOME OF THE DUMB QUESTIONS THESE PEOPLE ASK & YOU WILL UNDERSTAND IT.
D. Green

IP: 71.52.76.20

May 23rd, 2006 - 7:37 AM Re: Tried to use hotshot

The term hot-shot has become a term for classification of a truck/g'neck trailer, when in reality, it is a term for a business model.

True hot shot companies have a base operating area, serving customers needing quick pick-up & direct delivery of LTL freight. In this area (S. Tx) the oil patch/petro-chemical industry utilize our services for parts & equipment to maintain/repair equipment, that when down, cost many thousands of $ per hour in production losses.

Because our customer base is in one area, we prefer to return to that area for the next load, as too often, if you linger near the drop area, hoping for an LTL load back to or near your base, you will miss the next good paying load from your customers. So, consequently, our mileage rates generally exceed the standard OTR rates.

But, Little Info... if you are getting any trucks for the rate you stated above ($1.20 mile), enjoy it. Those operators won't be in business long. Heck, even the brokers I've dealt with are paying 1.40-1.50 for LTL freight...
Email: drgreenco@gmail.com

Kauai Transportation

IP: 209.169.99.79

May 24th, 2006 - 8:12 AM Re: Tried to use hotshot

Did you have a Hotshot load ?

I think that there is some confusion with the term Hotshot. Just because a person has a pickup with a trailer does not make them in the hotshot business.
You are just hauling LTL frieght for brokers over the road in a pickup instead of a big truck.

I run a Oilfield hotshot company. My customers (not brokers)call me anytime 24/7 and expect us to be there within the hour load and go directly to location ASAP. Time is money. And yes there is a lot of deadhead So we charge for that service $2.25 a mile and %25 fuel surcharge. That is the going rate in the oil field. With the cost of Insurance,fuel and maintenance as high as it is if you don't charge those rates you won't be in business long
Your Quote
"I know people are not getting $2 a mile for 7500lbs 20'. What gives???"

I do it every day, 1 pound to 15000 on a minifloat, my average load is 2800lbs around 32'long.

Hope this helps answer the question what gives?
Gordon Coker
Email: Gordoncoker@Kauaitransportation.com

Website: http://www.kauaitransportation.com

Contact # Gordon Coker

Gary

IP: 71.118.24.192

May 24th, 2006 - 6:49 PM Re: Tried to use hotshot

Little info, 2 dollars a mile for a 20' partials are not unheard of. Ane move LTL for $1.20 per mile there's nothing wrong with that, especially when you can load 2 or 3 of them on the same trailer. Unless your in a specialized field like oil field hotshoting you just don't get $3.00 per mile on every load. My goal is to roll our hotshots up and down the road at $1.50 per mile minimum. Lately the freight rates have been off but we have seen $5.00 to $8.00 per mile before also. It's the same for big trucks and hotshots if you roll steady through the good times and bad you can make a decent living. In my early days in this business I was one of the worst for sitting waiting for that prime paying load. If it wasn't top dollar I would just sit and sit and sit. One day I decide to grab the next thing that came along. I hauled some cheap freight and some decent freight and all of the sudden I made $17,000.00 for the month. In this business what doesn't sound good to some looks real good to others. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and hope the next load pays better. I know plenty of people in this business that sat around like I was doing and never got up and pretty soon they had lost everything. I look at things alot different than I use to. I'd rather have the wheels turn at $1.50 per mile steady rather than waiting by the phone for a week or so for that $3.00 load. I guess I could of just said you have to take the bad with the good.

One little tip: A 10'000 lbs partial for $1.20 per mile is not something most hotshoters really want to haul. Broker that to the big trucks. 10k is 2 3rds of most hotshots hauling capacity.

Call me with your partials, I'll give you half a trailer if your partial doesn't exceed 7500 lbs anyday for $1.20 per mile. If I have a hotshot in your area.
Email: freightbroker@verizon.net

Website: http://www.flatbedcarrier.com

Contact # 760-868-4932

Tom Cobb

I have been an advocate to get rid of the term "hotshot". Even the load boards use it for freight. Hotshot applies to the oil field business and always did until the business started branching out into other freight.

There is need for the true oilfield hotshoters and a segment for LTL loads that are under 10,000 lbs. Some of this freight has to move fast and some does not. Ironically the DOT officers, truckers and about everybody else refers to RV and horse trailers, etc. haulers as hotshot. It is a term used for those using pickups and is being used incorrectly.

There also seems to be this idea that if you are a hotshoter that the freight rate should be cheap, except for those in the oilfields and the world knows they get premium plus rates because it is wanted now to get the rig to drilling again.

It costs money to operate a truck no matter the size and the other expenses are close to the same no matter the size. The loads are smaller in pickups but the per mile rate because of fuel consumption will be a little less but not a lot. The rates for big trucks may be slightly more but on average there is not very much difference in big truck vs little truck rates and that is as it should be.

The "hotshoter" business is what it is because of lack of availability of big trucks and slightly lower rate and sometimes a lot lower. The rate should be darn near equal because of operating costs.

Sometimes there is anomosity because someone thinks we want to much to haul the load. I have talked to several big truck owner operators that won't touch a load for less that $2.00 a mile. I suspect that are not always loaded.

There is room in this business for us all. If a common rate range was agreed to by all the trucking industry it would be better for us all. $.50 per mile loads do none of us any good, even when you put 3 loads like that on a trailer.

mhlogistics

Good post Tom,

This is cut throat business and I don't think we'll ever get anyone to agree on 1 rate. We can't expect someone that has a 20' load of scrap iron to pay $3.00 per mile just because the guy with a 20' expedited load of oilfield pipe is paying it. LTL is a risky business that many truck owners don't understand and steer clear of. I've moved 50 cent per mile partials that could fit in the passenger seat of a pickup and I've moved 50 cent per mile partials that take 20' of trailer. What matters to me is whats being put on the other 20' of my trailer. You have to be aggresively hunting for LTL. I'd love to have ten 50 cent a mile small partials on my trailer everyday going 1000 miles or so. You have to be a gambler to be running LTL. There's allways a chance you'll get one piece of freight that don't pay enough for the trip and not find anything else to put with it. And there's the chance that one piece of freight will be the start to building a monster LTL load. If I just moved a $3.00 per mile full or LTL load 1000 miles and all I see is a 50 cent per mile 20' partial where I empty out, I'm probabley going to grab it if it's heading my direction. That 50 cents per mile will put me at $1.75 per mile round trip instead of $1.50 per mile round trip deadheading home. If it's taking me back home or to a area where there's better paying freight available, Why not? Like I said in my previous post I didn't allways think this way . This is just the way I see things now. It's been working for me.

The last LTL load I built that payed $8.00 per mile it all started with a piece of LTL that I thought was a exceptable risk. $400.00 for 10' of space going 357 miles. (not much of a risk if I was heading that way in the first place) I think it was 4 drops within a 25 mile radius and I still had 25' of trailer open. I would of held the truck another day and filled it out but I had promised one of the shippers his piece of freight would be delivered the next morning. I wonder how much per mile 1 more day of loading would've created?
Talk to you later, Gary

Gocart

I got a question for ya'll? I hauled a load from Meadville Pa to Lansing Mi, about 3000lbs, paid 600.............around a buck a mile. I was in no hurry, just an overnight run, cruised at 60-65 enjoyed the scenary got around 17-18mpg. Did I make money or loose money?

As to being a hotshot.......................I don't run a hotshot. The big rigs run "Big Rigs", little rigs run " Little Rigs"..............that's what I run, a little rig. I stay out from 7-14days, buy fuel, eat, shower and do laundry just like the big rigs. I get a few that stub there nose at me, most are receptive cause we haul what they don't want to haul. If I make a buck a mile with my inital load I think I am doing good, if I ad more freight I like it even better.

Those guys sitting around are still sitting around, you have to take the good with the bad.

How I work is like this: 2 weeks ago I dropped a load in So NY state on a Fri, dropped down to Newark, Trenton area picked up two and would have picked up a third if it hadn't fallen through, you have to hustle.

As to what you can make, well, I had a camper hauler ask me if I was making money. "I'm starving & living in glory"............I pay the bills most months is all I could tell him. Anyone that tells you you'll make a bunch of money, I would raise a serious eye brow too.

I have been lucky since starting out, I run into a guy on here who has become my mentor as well as my friend. If you get that lucky and you LISTEN....................things will be alot easier.

mhlogistics

Tad, The first truckers on the road drove smaller trucks with less power than these new dodges and fords. The ones that stub there nose just haven't figured out yet that these smaller trucks can produce a better income then the big fuel guzzlers there in now, Thats probably a good thing for us. As for did you make money on that run, I'd say yes. What did the fuel cost you $100.00? So at the end of the day you had $500.00 more in your pocket than you started with.

Gocart

hahahaha Gary, lets not go THAT far back, it shows off our age and that we're loosing our girlish figures.

Actually, pound for pound hotshoting is the lest economical way to transport a product. (Waiting for the boos to stop) Think about it, you haul 10k maybe 20k at 11mpg, you double or triple that weight with a full size rig at 5mpg. In that sense, it's not cost effective....................however, that largest business upstarts are the small mom n pop businesses. They can't fill a rig nor afford it BUT they can a little rig.

With that thought in mind, it's understandable how the little rigs are making it. On the flip side, has anyone been noticing some rigs out there hauling LTL freight? Some of those loads sure look like some of the loads we have been hauling. I saw a rig coming down I-81 with two cars and couple of generators on it.

mhlogistics

Hey now, I didn't say I drove one of those old trucks. LOL

Tad Just because a big truck can haul more weight does'nt mean he will make more money. Here's a good example;

I just loaded one of my regular hotshot Owner Operators with a LTL load from Texas to California for $3500.00 3 drops approx 9,000 lbs. Yesterday and today he picked up 5 drops 15,000 lbs paying $3975.00 heading back to Texas. If I would of been loading a big truck with these loads it would of paid the same but the operating expences would of been much higher.

I just purchased 2 new tires for a Dodge $329.00 mounted and balanced. If these tires would of been for my Peterbilt they would of cost me more like $1200.00 mounted and balanced . It was the first time I ever purchased truck tires with a smile on my face. LOL

Talk to you later Gary.

Tom Cobb

Tad

We were talking about trailer tires the other day. I had to buy a new tirefor the 5th I am taking to NV. The tread came off outside Lincoln, NE. The tire I bought is a load range G. It is a HI RUN (made in China) radial. Load capacity is 3750 at 109 PSI. It was $128.30 mounted and balanced. It is a good looking tire. Don't know how good it is. I have seen some of these on horse trailers recently also.

That load range would give you full axle capacity plus a margin.

TGPILOT

Gary,

Got you beat in the tire dept. On my dodge I got seven, count them (7) including the spare replaced for FREE. I will get seven new tires each time I wear these out.

Now, on the other hand I wish I could say the same on my other truck. On that one I have to pay $350.00 each...OUCH that hurts. But, at least they don't cost me on my dodge.

Tom

mhlogistics

I have to hear more about these 7 free tires.

TGPILOT make sure you pull over a few times and let those tires cool down on your way out west. Brent just blew one heading east thru AZ or NM this weekend. Brand new tires too!

You'll get a laugh out of this.
Me and a buddy went down to TJ one night having a good ole time. This was 22 years ago. It was about 2:AM and we decided to head home but first I had to get some gas. I pulled into the gas Station and seen stacks and stacks of brand new mud and snow tires. I asked the man at the gas station how much they costs and he said 4 tires $80.00. I told him if someone could install them I'd take 4. He went over to a trailer and woke up his entire family, they came out and went right to town on my truck. They were faster than a nascar pit crew. They started to roll my old tires away and I told them no no I'm taking them home with me. What a deal 4 new tires for $80.00 mounted and balanced. They would of cost me $400.00 in my town. I crossed the border and was heading north on I-5 and I though man what a soft ride they were, did I get a deal or what. The only thing is everyone that passed me was kind of looking at my truck funny. I pulled over and my tires were melting, soft sticky black rubber was stuck all over the side of my truck. What a mess. I sure was glad I had my old tires with me. I pulled into a chevron and paid a man to put my old tires back on. My good deal sure went bad fast! $80.00 to a TJ tire bandit, $60.00 to the chevron gas station for remounting my old tires and I still needed new tires. It's funny to think about now, but it sure wasn't when it happened.

TGPILOT

Hey Gary,

It's 3 a.m. here. Just made it home. Maybe for a day, maybe three before heading your way. Dropped two units so far. This deal is going to pay me a little better than 11K for a bit more than a week of loafing. After that got to go to work.

Passed my first DOT check that I ever had in 39+ years in FL the other day. Sure glad of that. But have found out that next month I have a local audit...ouch....What a week.

Had a fight with TA and the way they over charge. Found I had nails in two of my trailer tires. They could not fix them. So, they mounted my two spares, checked the air in the others and charged me over a hundred bucks. The GM said they would make it right on my next trip through....

Bout those new tires I get when I wear mine out on my dodge. Seems that when I bought the dodge, I got free tires for life as long as I got my maint. from the dealer. He cuts me a break on the service and I get free tires.

First time I did it, the spare had never been on the ground. They replaced all six plus the new spare, mounted and balanced at no cost to me. What a DEAL!!!

Going to bed now....talk to you later guy.

Tom

mhlogistics

I remember now, you told me about this tire deal once before. Wish I would've made a deal like that when I purchased my dodge.

Looks like you get a mini vacation beings your next drop isn't until the 26th. LOL

There goes the phone, talk to you later.

Tom Cobb

I was in a chevy dealer in WY (I think it was) and they had this free tire deal going. If you know the miles we drive in a year they might not want to make that deal again.

Gocart

Tom, this whole tire deal just gets more confusing. I researched the tires from a big tex trailer I looked at in Joplin, they were rated at 3600@80psi. Can't find them anywhere, tried to research the F&G rated 12 & 14 ply tires that was a deadend too. I wound up with a BF Goodrich after the hub blew out in Harrisburg, looks like a pretty good tire. The same rating as the Pirelli but about 50 bucks cheaper per tire. Btw, I went back to look for the tire and hub.....................that puppy was GONE.

I got one more hurdle to finish up my class A cdl, road test, then I'll be done.

Tom Cobb

Someone must have seen it come off and took a liking to our tire and wheel. Then again maybe it went so far into the woods that you couldn't find it. Sure glad it didn't have a collision with someone.

Gocart

Yeah, me too.........................I don't think it crossed into oncoming traffic cause there was a concrete seperator wall. It may have hit it hard enought to bounce off it and go into the woods.