If you were thinking of getting a truck or own authority....

[Sonny Pruitt]

You can talk about busness models until you are blue in the face. It looks great when you re read it on a message board.
I have yet to meet an o/o who has one.
Buy a truck,
buy a trailer
get authority
subscribe to IT and GL
Start truckin

[DD60]

The cost of fuel is so high now that trial and error can become very expensive.
You have to come out with a load out and a load back from day one.
Trust me with 30 yrs exp as an o/o and a couple of years as an independant
Unless a new entrant has a proven game plan given by a friend or mentor, the 3.25 per gallon of fuel will bury them.
I am basing this on what I had to go through for the last 3 months to put a decent weeks work together
on a consistant basis
To be able to connect the dots of a load board takes time + mistakes
To determine what is cheap freight and what is the market rate also takes time + mistakes
Unfortunately mistakes are very expensive.

I have every reason to believe that a new entrant will wind up with the crappy load.

What is your definition of a crappy load? Since I had my authority I haven't relied a lot on loadboards. For the most part they seem to be a waste of time. I haven't had a lot of trouble putting 3 weeks worth of loads together so far. A little frustration here and there yes,but not any major troubles as of yet. Mistakes can be expensive in any type of business. Just make sure to learn from them. :wink:

[Sonny Pruitt]

you are one of the lucky ones
and probably an exception to the rule
most people reading these posts
with aspirations of getting their authority
are going to work the boards
both ways


When I started out with my own authority
I just started booking anything to get some momentum
fortunately I had a list of reliable brokers
(which is also an exception to the rule)
Good for you
You don't need brokers

[GMAN]

There is a learning curve to anything we do. If we lease to a new carrier, it takes a few months to learn their system. The same holds true when you get your authority. Learning can be expensive, especially when you are learning on the job. Learning on the job has always been expensive, but with $3/gallon fuel the stakes have been raised. There are so many getting their authority who have never even owned a truck. Unless you have money set aside to sustain your start up, you are taking a great risk. A new carrier can survive using only load boards, but there are a lot of cheap loads that you must traverse to find the better paying loads. Not knowing areas where freight is good and rates at a reasonable level is something that one must learn as you go along. If you continue to travel to bad freight areas where rates are cheap you can easily go broke. On the other hand, I have gotten decent paying loads out of so called bad freight areas. I think one major pitfall so many make starting out is not knowing their operating costs. It is difficult to make a sound business decision about rates when you don't know your operating costs. You cannot haul for less than it costs you to operate and stay in business. Any business MUST make a profit to remain viable.

[rank]

yeah solo, we pay off the hub. we even pay out of route so the guy can sleep at home before the delivery. nice huh?

[merrick4]

Not to mention the extra fuel needed to run a reefer. CH Robinson pulled me back into Florida and then tried to get the load on my truck to New York or Long Island and wouldn't tell me the rate as there "was going to be another stop added". He calls me in the morning and starts with the general talk about his high school football days. Yeah so what? What's it paying? you don't know? then bye. (by the way one of the other persons in the office told me it was a good rate of $1.34. Let them put it on one of those broke down Miami trucks cause I'm not competing with them.)

I deadheaded out of Florida. Sick of running this reefer for cheap money. You can drive slow and get good mpg but a reefer running on continous, well there's nothing that I can do about that except refuse to turn it on for cheap money.

[GMAN]

Merrick, perhaps you could ask them if they want the reefer turned on. If so the rate is higher. Just tell them you have a minimum reefer charge in addition to the haul rate and that rate doesn't include the reefer running. :wink:

[Sonny Pruitt]

you should definately tell them you have a min reefer fee
you wont get any more money
but you might catch the broker with a mouth full of cheerios
and he'll spit them on his screen from sudden uncontrolable laughter

[DD60]

How much did the load going into FL. pay? There was a load here in Dallas going to Fl. for 2.00 a mile but I didn't book it and instead took a load for 1.30 a mile to socal. From socal I reloaded for 1.90 a mile going to Oh and reloaded in OH for 1.70 coming back to Tx. After some intense searching I found a load for 1.60 going to Oh again and another one coming back for 1.60. Where the load delivers to at times can make a big difference. Had I have gone to Fl. for that rate I would have easily given most of it back. I have found it easier to just stay off the east coast alltogether unless a friend of mine needs a special load moved to Tx,which is next to none. You don't have to bounce all over the country to make a profit.

[merrick4]

The load to Florida was like $1.60 a mile for 2700 miles plus the deadhead; I don't remember I got like $4500 and was supposed to get right out.

Anyway Gman thanks for the comment cause in all this abuse I'm letting myself go through, at least that made me laugh. I like that. $1.34 to haul you tomatoes? Sure no problem. What's that? The reefer set at 35? Well you didn't mention you wanted the reefer on, I'm sorry it will now have to be $1.94.

Today I spent all day delivering mail in MO. and Kansas. Sucked but was pretty fascinating to see these mail facilities. Massive in scale. Well I'll be ending up in Kansas City and I'm going to get myself a load this time. These people are running me into the ground.

By the way Sonny (sorry to digress in this post) I signed up for H&M Bay but I don't have shellfish on my insurance. Plus someone told me that by the time I am done with H&M I will owe them more than I make as they are always hitting people for claims on their fish. Don't know how true it is but I can't haul fish anyway.

By the way, I found out the other day that my "friend" just got a nice load for one of his trucks for $2.85 a mile. Needless to say I don't get rates like that.

[Doghouse]

Good to hear from you Merrick, I'm with you on the DH from Florida. I have been watching the boards for about a year now, and Florida South of Jax. is a dead zone.
When are you going to try it yourself?,..or have you and didn't like the way it turned out?,...I still think you can do better.
But don't take my word for it,.....I'm still at home

[merrick4]

No I did try it myself and I got the best load and pay I've had yet. But I couldn't get no internet out in Idaho and I called them again and that's how I ended up in Florida (and to be honest the quick $4500 from CH made me take it. I'm paying for that now). I had a long talk with my friend and he was all upset saying that this is not right what's been going on with me and then I get another bs load.


So I am here and will get a load myself. I have been calling this broker that has freight out of here so I'll try them. Dry freight too.

I will say one thing, GMAN is right when he says that if you take cheap freight you will get a rep for that. Now I need to break that rep. When I call people that don't know me, it's a whole another world. You can hear it in their voice that they are testing you. One guy offered my dirt to go to Pa and I said no but he just said very politely thank you very much anyway. I can tell he was just calling till he finds someone who will take it.

Damn Doghouse, I can't believe you are not out here yet. I don't log on much cause half the time the internet is too slow or I'm tired. Wait are you going to do, make getting out here your New Years resolution?

[Doghouse]

I'm working to get out Nov. 1st,......but don't hold my feet to the fire on that one

[rank]

I will say one thing, GMAN is right when he says that if you take cheap freight you will get a rep for that..

yep. your next rate is based on the last one you pulled.
Whenever I screw up and agree to a cheap rate (I'm speaking hypothetically here ) I always try to set it up to negotiate upward the next time I call because I know it's going to start low.

"But last time you moved this for $2." Then I might reply with, "But fuel was only $2.85 at that time, I had only 50 dead miles in it and there was no tarp"

Now I need to break that rep. When I call people that don't know me, it's a whole another world. You can hear it in their voice that they are testing you.

it's tough out there.