Or could this be why some succeed in trucking?
1. Do your budget:
This is utterly important, without it you don't know if your turning a profit. What is going on right now is a change of thinking, people are use to spending $400 to $500 to fill the truck and that was 25% of the revenue they was making traditionally. Now its $800 to fuel the truck, and its jumped to 40% or if your working to cheap 60% of the revenue.
2. Learn lanes:
Run different lanes till your find ones that pay you the best, but be ready to and looking for other lanes, cause as the economy changes so does the lanes, also as produce moves from section of the country to another so does the lanes. Its a large country and as a small guy you can't learn all the lanes and markets.
3. Talk to your brokers:
Learn lanes they might have everyweek you can get good money one. Chances are those lanes are hard to cover for them. Be there to fill the gap, plan ahead.
4. Home Terminal:
Run from a home terminal and always come back to it, don't run 48 states, run lanes that bring you out and back, out and back, don't run all over the world, your regular brokers that you get the best money from will find someone else to fill the void when your running all over the country.
5. Backhauls: I hate this word but its only one that works.
Don't wait till the last minute to look for loads, it makes you desperate and then brokers know your not playing at industry levels, you'll get crap for rates. One exception to this is the occasion that a broker gets a load dropped on him at 4:30pm and it has to go, but if its not one of your regular brokers they aren't going to call you anyway.
6. Present yourself:
Always present yourself as a trucking company, not a one man pony show. Brokers have Company rates and Owner Operator rates. They will lie like a cheap rug, they can look up your MC# and see 1 truck but they can't know how many O/O's you have leased on. So always carry yourself as a trucking company!
7. Be sociable and polite:
Regardless how they treat you and how cheap the load is be polite and make a good impression, tell them "Our Rate on that LANE is" don't say can you come up $200, thats the way Owner operators talk, and your asking for it, instead of telling the brokers what its going to cost to use your truck.
8. Create demand:
Watch the trucks, and loads, as the trucks get loaded and freight moves some of in invariably get left on the board, pick a destination lane that you know what to expect coming back, then post your truck looking to goto that city/state but list other states too, this is fishing, I'm looking for that broker to call me, remember its supply and demand, you always get more money when they call you. I've used this same tactic to get $3 mile from brokers.
9. Ask questions:
Whats the load time? How tight is that if we can't get a truck there quick? Whats the delivery schedule? Is it a drop dead appointment? Can it be bumped if we have problems? All these questions lead to your knowing how HOT is the load, and how to price your equipment.
Real world story: broker calls just before Thanksgiving we're in KC MO, has a load delivering Friday before Thanksgiving at 3pm its Thursday morning, he also has a load going to same area but delivers on Saturday. I ask a few more questions, and I've already picked the load, the one delivering on Friday at 3pm. WE booked that load for $3.25 mile on whipped creme, from KC to Dallas.
10. When your going to have a truck in an area call everyone and their brother letting them know. Sure they'll say call back when the trucks gets here, they're doing that to control supply and demand, they want you to be in need, they know that you'll work cheap then.
These 10 points are known by alot on here but theres dozens more that have never heard these points and need to know it, they're loosing trucks for the lack of knowledge.
written by Zecatfish
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Originally Posted by YerDaddy
