[pepe4158]

Originally Posted by kblickster

Question? Have any of you been asked if you would drop and hook your own trailer? The shipper has 2 loads next week going to the same location and I can pick up my trailer on the second load. Makes me a little nervous leaving my trailer.

Hmmm i did 1.....wasnt concerned about leaving the trailer, they had good control there n security.
Ended up a disaster tho cuz Ohio flooded (heavy rains) n i lost 5 days cuz of weather that they couldnt unload my trailer n i didnt get detention wrote into the agreement (foolish me!).....all in all tho the freight payed well....just my dumb luck to get caught in a flash flood so try to get them to agree to any detention reimbursement.

[pepe4158]

Originally Posted by kblickster

For those of you who just started out:

Do you run freight at low rates just to establish yourself with a Broker?
CH Robinson and other companies have freight - but do I need to run it cheap just to get my foot in the door?
-----nope it just warms their heart if you will tho.

When you guys say you knock on doors - How do you sell yourself? Not a stranger to cold calls or sales in general but who do you contact? .........Mongo got truck...you got load? (pretty simple to me :-p)

I want to run - need to run - have funds put back - but can't sit still forever. I have a few contacts - but obviously need way more. I read these boards for a long time before starting this venture and understood that it is hard starting out - but geez - this is crazy.----------------------------Welcome to my nightmare :-p

Who is running all this cheap freight and why? How the heck is anyone staying in business?------------------------------Probably just me here...n extremly low overhead that everyone blasts me for doing that lol .....im the sam walton of trucking i quess....Example...you have things.....family, house n expenses....me dont have shit, just truck, trailer, n belly to feed....will drive for food n feul will be the next sign i put on the truck :-p ohh yeah broker pimp....plz throw in a PM, some tries ,n brakes... woo-woo if he will.

[LOAD IT]

KBlickster- considering, you are running a dryvan, you need to specialize it. Do you have vents? Do you have a pallet jack? Etrac? Blankets? You are in direct competiton with Schneider, USX, JHunt, Swift and all of the other megacarriers if you are just running dryvan freight. You may need to put together some LTLs, try your luck at building a full trailer load using partials. You can start with Yale Forklifts in NC, Add some dropdoor vents and haul produce or nursery, Have you looked at hauling furniture, NC is the furniture capital. STAY AWAY from brokers especially on your headhaul, you will go broke. Have you computed your cost per mile?

[rank]

Originally Posted by pepe4158

Hmmm i did 1.....wasnt concerned about leaving the trailer, they had good control there n security.
Ended up a disaster tho cuz Ohio flooded (heavy rains) n i lost 5 days cuz of weather that they couldnt unload my trailer n i didnt get detention wrote into the agreement (foolish me!).....all in all tho the freight payed well....just my dumb luck to get caught in a flash flood so try to get them to agree to any detention reimbursement.

I don't think detention would have been paid in that case anyway Pepe. It would probably come under the heading of "Force Majure" or "Act of God".

I'll tell you one thing about people telling you to have something put into the contract. It doesn't work. I tried a few times with some of the larger carriers and was told they would have legal look it over but that would mean I wouldn't get the current load because it could take weeks for legal to make a decision.

Believe me, big brokers and shippers are not going to allow their flunky phone people to modify a contract and I wouldn't either if I was in charge.

[Bigmon]

[quote="LOAD IT"]KBlickster- considering, you are running a dryvan, you need to specialize it. Do you have vents? Do you have a pallet jack? Etrac? Blankets?

Load It,
Are you suggesting he should have this stuff? Seems like a good idea.

[LOAD IT]

[quote="Bigmon"]

Originally Posted by LOAD IT

KBlickster- considering, you are running a dryvan, you need to specialize it. Do you have vents? Do you have a pallet jack? Etrac? Blankets?

Load It,
Are you suggesting he should have this stuff? Seems like a good idea.

Yes he should, how much/what depends on the freight he finds.

[merrick4]

Originally Posted by LOAD IT

STAY AWAY from brokers especially on your headhaul, you will go broke.

Now I've heard this twice today

[kblickster]

Thanks Load It! I wish that I could stay away from the brokers all together. Hate calling them and hearing their pitiful rates or I just booked that load and 3 hours later it's still posted.

I just don't have enough contacts yet to get me the miles I'd like to run without using them some. Apparently not many of the new guys do either. I figure I gotta pay my dues and hopefully will make contact with some decent shippers in the process.

[kblickster]

Week 3
Made a drop on Monday morning and then went to pick up a load. Got to the location and noticed something wrong with my trailer. The bracket that holds the airbag up was broken. I have only had this trailer a month and was pretty dissappointed that something broke on it. Fortunately I was only 2 hours from home so I drove to a local mechanic and for 75.00 he helped me rig it up to get it home to my mechanic. The part was going to take a week - so my guy rebuilds it for me.

I had to cancel all my appts and didn't have a concrete time that the truck would be ready so I was home for 2 days looking at the load boards and signing up with brokers, and knocked on some more doors.

Thursday I was back on the road - a little afraid to venture to far out - took a couple more short loads and ended up making enough to pay for my fuel and repairs. Have a decent load that delivers on Monday on the truck now.

Oh, the load I was to pick up this morning which I booked Wednesday afternoon called just before I arrived to tell me it was cancelled. This would totally screw me up and I was p----ed! I told her that I had a contract and that I was already there and would bill her anyway. She told me it wasn't ready yet - but she would check and see what she could do. She called me back a little later and told me that I could come and pick up a partial load and that they would honor the contract.

Is this a common problem? I guess what I told her was OK cause it worked out for me.

Still struggling to figure out how close I can book loads. I do not want to book jobs to close and not be able to pick up on time. This makes it really difficult for me as dry van freight gets snapped up pretty fast. I guess my judgement will improve with time.