The way if figure it is that it costs me just as much to run my truck one way as it does the other. I am in business to make a profit. I see no need to perpetuate cheap freight by taking something which doesn't pay a fair rate.

I heard the owner of our company tell a broker "there is no such thing as a backhaul. there is a load going one way and another load going the other way, you want me to haul it, it's regular rate" you gotta love that.

I like your boss's attitude. :lol:

me too since I get paid percentage 8)

If everyone in every type of trucking would adhere to that philosophy then things wouldn't be all @#&%$ up the way they are today.

Re: Backhauls
 

Well, you pretty much got one answer, maybe the other. What I've been told as to why so many truckers don't LIKE the idea is this. If you drive back empty, you use less fuel and less wear and tear on the truck. So.... IF you're going to LOAD it down and spend more on fuel and maintenance... you don't want to do it for peanuts. I've heard one or two tell me that the freight charges were so cheap, they actually lost money coming home loaded! Kind of doubt it, though.

However, those who get a PERCENTAGE of the freight charges, and especially O/O's who are responsible for all their expenses, REALLY feel that they are working for nothing on a cheap "backhaul." THEY would be better off getting paid by the mile, probably.

But, the part about how the shippers have abused the situation is very interesting, and true. I was not aware there was a time when nearly EVERYONE "deadheaded" home! I suspect the rise in fuel costs can be blamed for this MAJOR shift in the economics of our industry. And we all know who to blame for THAT! :roll: :lol:

For a different perspective though.... my company makes a pretty fair rate for what we haul out to the West, but we make MORE on the produce we haul back home (backhaul.) So, we've been known to deadhead FURTHER west from a drop in, say, Salt Lake City.... JUST to "backhaul" a higher profit load from Salinas!

The trucking industry is not a "one size fits all" type of game. What works for some, doesn't work for others. What some people hate, others love.

Some companies who hauled their own products would deadhead home. They would take anything that they could get, no matter the rate, just to cover some of their shipping costs. Once shippers found that they could get their freight hauled for next to nothing, they began trying to get common carriers to haul for the same rates. Things changed when deregulation occured. Our rates were mostly regulated until around the late 70's or early 80's when rates were deregulated. I don't remember exactly when it occured. When we talk about deregulation of trucking, it is the rates. We actually seem to have more regulations today than ever.