GetLoaded doesn't deal with too much cheap freight, they just make it seem that way. AS far as the rate/mile, I'd say $1.60/mi for a longhaul in a van, and $2.20 a mile longhaul on a flatbed, and even more when you have stops and accessorials.

 

Coolbreeze, it shouldn't make a difference whether you get loads from the load boards or direct. Your minimum is your minimum, regardless of where you find the loads. No one can establish a minimum haul rate for you. That is something that only you can decide. Before you can make that decision, you need to do some leg work and find out what your actual operating costs run. Everybody is different.

 

But that would be like going into Macy's and demanding T-shirts 3 for $5.00, when you know that you can only get that at Wal Mart. There are certain places where loads are consistently cheaper, and the load boards are the place, because you are feeding an extra mouth on the rate. By eliminating that extra mouth, you are giving yourself more power in setting the rate, because you are eliminating the markup that has to occur to feed that extra mouth.

GMAN, you've admitted yourself that the load boards currently have cheap rates, yet in the same breath you say that you can make a living on these load boards. You bring up a $10 per mile load, and then in the same breath say that this isn't typical, and requires special equipment. You can't have it both ways - so which is it?

 

It is both, Rev. You apparently didn't read my entire post. As I stated, the $10/mile load was specialized and would have required a specialized truck to haul the load. That load is NOT TYPICAL of load board freight, but was use as a comparison. There are fairly decent paying loads on the load boards, but there are also cheap loads. You will need to work harder to find the better paying loads. If you take the first cheap load offered, you may not make a decent living from the load boards. Shippers and brokers are both taking advantage of the slower economy and glut of trucks in some areas. Most of the rates I have seen lately on the load boards are lower than they were 2 or 3 months ago. Some brokers typically have cheap loads. I don't bother talking to them. There is no need to waste my time or their's talking about a load both of us know's that I will never carry. If all he wants to make is $1.30/mile he will be pleasantly surprise at the rates found on the load boards. If he expects to find a number of loads at or more than $3/mile, then those are more difficult to find. They are not impossible. You don't see a lot of $3/mile van freight. I have received calls on loads ranging from $1.30 to about $2/mile during the last week or so.

Most single truck operators may find it more difficult to solicit and service shippers direct. They don't have the resources. Notice I didn't say impossible, just difficult. In that respect, some could benefit from having a sales force, such as a broker do that work for them. The rub is that some brokers will try to rape you on the rate. Just as not all brokers are honest, not all carriers and owner operators are dependable.

It boils down to what you want to do. Unless you are willing to take the time to make sales calls yourself, you will need to either hire someone to sell your services or use brokers. Either way, you will pay a fee.

If people were not making a living using load boards, they would have gone out of busines long ago. Just because a rate is offered doesn't mean that you have to take it. It is ultimately up to the carrier or owner operator as to which load they take or let sit.

 

As GMAN would say, that is like comparing HHG and dry van - no comparison. :wink:

If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it. Kind of like going to a load board to get a load. :wink: