The paradox of deadheading to a "good rate area"

[tracer]

I've been sitting in Idaho since Monday Nov-29th, right.. Tanks 1/4 full; 20 bucks in the pocket. All loads to Canada were going north into Alberta, Sasketchewan, some to Manitoba; while I'm trying to get back home in Ontario. There was one load from Nevada to Northern Ontario but it hardly paid anything and the shipper was delayed by the bad weather ... So finally - after my payday on Wednesday - I got fueled up, then gave it another day and headed south on I-15, then east on I-84, and finally east on I-80 - towards Rockford, IL where I have to take a safety class at Landstar Orientation Center. I shut down at Little America, WY (just west of Green River) and then logged on to the Internet to update my "available for a load" status. Did a quick load search and guess what? Those loads out of Nevada to Ontario are now back on the board and the shipper even increased the price! Darn. Just my luck ... But to get to the shipper I"d have to go back WEST on I-80 375 miles plus they promised snow tomorrow in Salt Lake City, UT, so ... no - I'd rather keep driving further EAST. Sooner or later, I should hit that magic "good rate area" Gman always deadheads to, right?

[GMAN]

Hopefully, you can find something before you reach Illinois, Tracer. I can understand why you would not want to deadhead that far back to Nevada, especially into a snow storm. If it weren't for the snow storm, it would only take about 60 gallons of fuel to get back to that other load.

[solo379]

That's not a "paradox", it's misconception on your part. The good rule of tumb is;-The truck goes where the money is! Not where you want to go. Especially since you are being limited to and from Canada loads only. And one other thing;-Once you've made a decision, don't look back. Look what you got now. You've wasted 3 days, and going nowhere...That's not a good game plan!

[tracer]

Hopefully, you can find something before you reach Illinois, Tracer. I can understand why you would not want to deadhead that far back to Nevada, especially into a snow storm. If it weren't for the snow storm, it would only take about 60 gallons of fuel to get back to that other load.

yeah, financially speaking it'd make sense to go back especially since they increased the rate per loaded mile to $2.50 from the original $2.15. the snow storm moving in from the west was probably the main reason I kept going east. I'm in Little America WY now and there's hardly any snow here and the temp was 35-40 F I see now loads in NE and IA up ahead. I hope to catch something there ...

[tracer]

That's not a "paradox", it's misconception on your part. The good rule of tumb is;-The truck goes where the money is! Not where you want to go. Especially since you are being limited to and from Canada loads only. And one other thing;-Once you've made a decision, don't look back. Look what you got now. You've wasted 3 days, and going nowhere...That's not a good game plan!

I had to sit in Idaho till Wednesday anyway because I needed money to buy fuel. I'm thinking of trying a new strategy: stay closer to my home in ON next time (1,500 to 2,000 mile radius)... and only go as far west as NE, IA, IL stuff like that. I learned that it's easy to get a good paying load going to Western Canada (BC, Alberta) or Western US but then you're stuck in the west and there's nothing going east. Which makes sense from the standpoint of manufacturers and shippers: if they work in Washington State, they want to trade with Canadians in BC and AB, not Ontario and Quebec. Many Ontario trucking companies by the way have a policy of "staying east of the Mississippi river".

[solo379]

I needed money to buy fuel.

You mean you didn't have credit card? I also have a Comdata card, limit i believe $900 in 24 hours period, but i rarely use it anyway. Can't believe that Landstar is that cheap.....

[Roadhog]

Many Ontario trucking companies by the way have a policy of "staying east of the Mississippi river".

We keep our flatbeds east of the Mississippi as well. We will run our reefers west, but know we will get cheap freight coming back.

We do allot of deadheading. Many of our loads will come back to Chicago or Detroit, then we deadhead 350 miles back north, to get home. I know the only reason we even bother going out west, is we have accounts with Sara Lee, and local Fruit Processors that ship to the west coast, and on occasion, I'll have to sit out there for several days to find a load back. I don't do the numbers, but I'm sure my boss has to figure the averages.

The brokers know they can get trucks to haul back east cheap. It's supply and demand. The longer a load sits, the higher the rate will go. Someone is always going to haul just to cover costs. That's a big problem right there. That's what sets the low rates.

They really have Ontario trucks by the short hairs. I think your new plan will be allot less stressful, if not average out better for you.

[no_worries]

We will run our reefers west, but know we will get cheap freight coming back.

Cheap rates for reefers off the west coast? Maybe they need to hire some new load planners. Van and reefer rates are just the opposite of flats; money moving east, garbage coming back. Good paying reefer freight headed west out of ON should make you a killing on the round.

[Roadhog]

We're a small O/O hauling out of N. Michigan.
I agree with you about the load planning, and maybe my boss just has better east coast connections. If we're out there, when there are allot of reefers looking for a load, the rates aren't as good. Our contract loads going out pays pretty good, and we do get some good paying loads coming back, but it's not consistent.

I guess what it comes down to, is not so much freight per mile, but revenue per mile.
Besides the competition at times, our fuel and equipment costs are higher, and seems our rigs get beat up more with the mountains, winter storms, and our deadheading is higher. West coast runs for us is borderline. Our more profitable lanes are to the eastern seaboard and back.

[GMAN]

I had to sit in Idaho till Wednesday anyway because I needed money to buy fuel. I'm thinking of trying a new strategy: stay closer to my home in ON next time (1,500 to 2,000 mile radius)... and only go as far west as NE, IA, IL stuff like that. I learned that it's easy to get a good paying load going to Western Canada (BC, Alberta) or Western US but then you're stuck in the west and there's nothing going east. Which makes sense from the standpoint of manufacturers and shippers: if they work in Washington State, they want to trade with Canadians in BC and AB, not Ontario and Quebec. Many Ontario trucking companies by the way have a policy of "staying east of the Mississippi river".

I have a friend who ran the west coast for years. He is now running a shorter radius staying in the Midwest and Northeast. He is making more money and getting home every week. I don't think that he has crossed the Mississippi in a couple of years. I like running the west, but the money isn't there, for the most part. You can make decent rates if you stay in the west, but heading east is difficult and rates are usually cheap, at least with a flat or step. If you run out of the east coast, it is usually more profitable to keep east of the Mississippi.

[RostyC]

Once you've made a decision, don't look back.

This is a hard part of the business to master, I second guess myself a lot but my decisions always seem to work out.

[RostyC]

Tracer, maybe there's more details than you posted but if you have to wait until you get a check to be able to buy fuel, you need to make some changes in your business plan. Something is not right.

[RostyC]

Something else too Tracer, does Landstar have a "Hot States" feature on their board? Something you can look at to determine if you should go to certain areas.

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

I'm telling you Tracer, the money is in the Midwest. There are a ton of loads going from IL/IN/OH/KY to ON everyday on Landstar's board. Just keep a peek on them and you will see. You will get home more and make about the same money in the long run. I was doing MN to FL loads for them and making a killing, but always had to dh out of FL about 450 miles. Then, I started running short-haul stuff from Chicago to OH and back and made close to the same amount as the longer run and I got to be home on the weekends.

Sure, you will have to cross the border everytime and maybe 5-6 times a week, but that's the hand your delt when you live in 1 country and come to another. I still think you should contemplate buying a Condo or something in the US and switching over to our side. At least you can make lots more $$$ and have WAAAAY more options. Just a thought, we aren't that bad LOL

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Something else too Tracer, does Landstar have a "Hot States" feature on their board? Something you can look at to determine if you should go to certain areas.

Having ran for Landstar for a year, and almost going bankrupt I have figured out there "HOT STATES"......... which is everything north of TN, East of IA, and west of GA. So basically IN, IL, MI, OH, KY, MO, and sometimes PA.

As for Camada loads, MI is the hot spot and it's easiest for him too. GM/Chrysler/Ford all use Landstar to run their stuff to ON, unfortunatley this is all VAN freight. I did a few FOMOCO loads and they paid $800-$900 to p/u in Woodhaven, MI and drive 35miles across the border. I just didn't get my passport so I quit going.

[tracer]

You mean you didn't have credit card? I also have a Comdata card, limit i believe $900 in 24 hours period, but i rarely use it anyway. Can't believe that Landstar is that cheap.....

For some strange reason the Comdata fuel card they give out to drivers is a DEBIT card: it only works when you have money on it. Caught me by surprise first couple of trips. I hate it. All the cards I used before were CREDIT cards, so at least I didn't have to worry about getting fuel.

[tracer]

I did have a slight cash flow problem which I"m going to correct with Solution #1: I should stop taking freight that pays $2/mi gross to Landstar (posted rate) because then I only have $1.44/mi to the truck. Solution #2: stay within Mid-West US (closer to my home in ON).

[tracer]

They have something called "Load count" on the Search Window. I never tried it. I guess it tells you how many loads are in the area you specify. Thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

[tracer]

Landstar has a list of all US states subdivided into groups when you do a load search (West, South-West, Mid-West, Mid-Atlantic, New England) and just as Steel Horse Cowboy says 'hot states' are pretty much all the states included in the Mid-West group. I figure if I do 2 trips a week only I can make the same amount of money I make now doing circles aroung the entire North America: Trip 1 from Ontario Canada to Mid-West; Trip 2: from Mid-West back to Ontario or QC (then I'd deadhead from QC to Toronto). Then shut down for 2 days and watch TV. If I do 2 trips per week, I'll only be crossing the border 2 times a week.

Mid-West: IL IN IA KS MI MN MO NE ND OH SD WI

PA is a part of the "Mid-Atlantic" group, according to Landstar.

[GMAN]

The Midwest would probably work well for you, tracer. I would suggest that before you take a load that you check Landstar's loadboard and freight availability in the area where you are considering taking a load. It would give you a better idea of what is going on in that area. I would also start talking to different agents. Keep a list of those who offer better paying loads. When you are going to an area where you have a contact, give them a call before you get to the area so that they might find you something. Once agents find how you run and that you are dependable, they should start to call you with their loads, especially if you run the same lanes as where they have freight. At one time Landstar gave new BCO's a book with all of their agents. It made it much easier to establish contacts. I don't believe that they do that any more. You may already be aware of it but agents often have freight in other parts of the country other than where they are headquartered.