[mike3fan]

Originally Posted by pepe4158

but I suppose like on the CB your just a HECKLER not a helper!

Blue man group and others have stated that to be succesful with your own authority you need to find some customers(shippers) of your own,sell them on personal service and reliability and grow a relationship with a few good ones in a couple areas and then use the load boards to fill in the holes.

Obviously this will take some time and some work on your part,but from what I have seen from all the talk on here,since I don't look at the boards,is that the only way to be profitable and not just making drivers wages is to find loads that are not posted on the boards and find some shippers of your own.

I ran the miles and LA>Dallas>Marianna>Augusta>Los Angeles =4,941 on $5,700 comes out to $1.15 a mile(not nearly good enough for owning your own truck and trailer w/authority).I agree that this one round trip will not hurt you in the long run,but do you see where you have to imrove?

If it was me I would go where the good freight goes and would not worry about the weight in the least,you claim 3-4 mpg difference in hauling lighter weight,I cannot believe this at all,my truck will get about .5-1mpg better if I haul lighter at the most.My driving speed affects my mpg more than the weight,just slow down more if heavy.I don't even remember you pulling a heavy load yet? so how would you know what it will or will not do?

Get out there and make some contacts and talk to people and get some good freight and have fun.

[pepe4158]

Thks Mike.......yeah looks like this back trip is where I came out the worst......Say what is just the west to east trip that I got 3k for?...the mile rate there?
That was La to Dallas then to Marianna....got 3k for that.

If I didnt want to get back to set this IFTA thing up with Bracken I would have just stayed out n said I am not moving till you make me a better offer lol.
Yeah I never hauled over 22,000 pounds and the dallas to Marianna was 12,000 pounds only.The mpg I am going on was my old freightliner centuary with USX...I got between 5.5 and 6.0 when maxed out ...am just quessing my same truck will be pretty much the same.

Hmmm yeah dont know any brokers, shippers or anyone right now, been out of the country too long......yeah hope to make cntacts but who knows where for now, just getting loads of the board for now.

[mike3fan]

Originally Posted by pepe4158

Say what is just the west to east trip that I got 3k for?...the mile rate there?
That was La to Dallas then to Marianna....got 3k for that.

2215 miles or $1.35 a mile

[pepe4158]

Originally Posted by mike3fan

Blue man group and others have stated that to be succesful with your own authority you need to find some customers(shippers) of your own,sell them on personal service and reliability and grow a relationship with a few good ones in a couple areas and then use the load boards to fill in the holes.

Obviously this will take some time and some work on your part,but from what I have seen from all the talk on here,since I don't look at the boards,is that the only way to be profitable and not just making drivers wages is to find loads that are not posted on the boards and find some shippers of your own.
Get out there and make some contacts and talk to people and get some good freight and have fun.

Hmmm doubt that will work for me, hope to be in Asia, with the wife and her family.....so I wont be in the USA between Deecmber and possibly all the way thru to April....doubt any shipper would like me gone so long. Thats why buying a truck straight out was a must for me. I will put it in storage for appx 100 a month I was quoted....and OOIDA said I could suspend my authority and cancell my insurance, if I have a few grand to spend in the Philippines for 4 and a half months I can live well ...really all I need to make plus a couple hundred to send the wife a month lol
Yeah now before you guys jump down my throat I said thats all I HAVE to make...didnt say all I WANT to make Of course the truck maitence comes first, maybe Ill have an all chromed out truck if I do well LOL

Wow these big companies seem so paranoid I will steal their clients too when i broker loads from them so doubt I can get any shippers LOL
Man all these agreements I sign that I wont steal their freight :twisted:
Quess it happens?

[no_worries]

You've learned a ton in your first trip out and nobody should fault you for anything. The key now is what you do with it all. Make sure you don't have to learn the same lesson twice.

[Orangetxguy]

Pepe...Do you mind a suggestion from the cheap seats??

Carrying light loads is ok. However..have you looked at how much room those light loads occupied in your trailer?

Did you have a full trailer leaving out of LA for Odessa?

Ok...My suggestion...When you start looking for freight for your next run, look not only at how much the load is paying, but also look at how much SPACE it takes up on the deck. If you find a partial going to say Atlanta GA for your next trip, that weighs 20,000 pounds, look at how much space it takes once inside the trailer.
Is it stackable? should be one of your questions. If it is stackable, what type of material is it, and are the pallets all the same weight, should be another question.

Once you know where your headed as far as a turn around point is concerned, THEN you should look for another partial, or even two more partials, to fill the space left in your trailer, but not put yourself over weight.

If you haul a 20,000 pound partial to Atlanta, for say $2,300.00, that only needs 20 feet in the van, you could find a 15,000 pound partial going to say Birmingham, to put on the truck, and maybe that partial pays say, $1,600.00. If that 15,000 pound partial only took up 20 foot of space, then say you had 11 feet of available deck left, you could find a 5,000 pound partial to haul to say Dallas, for say $900.00. Once you had that partial off in Dallas, you could find another like partial headed to Birmingham if it was available, that pays say...$500.00, get to Birmingham and drop both those partials, and look and see if there was a partial headed to Atlanta, out of Birmingham...heck...maybe there would be a 20,000 pound partial that pay's you $475.00 to Atlanta. You would have about 2500 miles invested in the run, with picking up and delivering each partial, and could make roughly $5775.00.

Yes, it would involve time. You wouldn't be hot footing it straight to Atlanta. However you would be making $$$ that you would otherwise be passing up. When you see LTL loads available on the Broker boards, they are not paying Expedited prices to get the load to it's destination. Most brokers expect that you are going to be picking up small partials along the way, and accept that you may not get to your final for as much as 2 weeks after you pick the partial up. If it is a HOT load, that needs exclusive use of the trailer, then they should, and most honest brokers do, pay expedited prices to you, so that you will forego picking up any other freight.
One thing you gotta remember. LTL pay's really well, if you piece the loads together, so that you stay in a decent line of travel, and you will make $$$ doing it.

Now...some might say I am full of BS with this, but I can tell you for a fact, that I loaded my Brother-in-law out of Seattle WA, with a final in San Diego, with a flatbed load that did not ever weigh more than 22,000 pounds, into San Diego, with 1500 miles of travel for picking up and delivering the 4 partials, took 4 days to do, and made us $5700.00 to the truck. Of those 4 partials the longest was the item that went to San Diego, a helicopter blade for the Navy, that we picked up from a broker, took 30 foot of deck length, but only 2 feet of width, and weighed 450#. That blade paid the truck $2,300.00 The second partial was a pallet out of Seattle that weighed 7,000# and paid $400.00, that dropped in San Marcos, The third partial was a tank 5 feet in diameter X 18 feet long and weighing 6,000# that paid the truck $1,750.00 and dropped in Miramar, and the 4th partial was 2 pallets of flanges out of Vancouver WA, that delivered to the General Dynamics, in San Diego, and paid $1,250.00, and weighed 7,500# combined. The pallets were something that a broker called us about, while my brother-in-law was fueling his truck in Toldeo WA, the first night out. He stopped in Vancouver for the night anyway, so we had him pick those pallets up. All in all, a fairly typical LTL load.

[pepe4158]

Yeah i agree, and easiest to do with flatbeds as oppossed to dry van (a flatbed O/OP had suggested the same thing one day"); although theoraticly possible with dry van.
The first trip I ran, from Stevens, had already considered that themselves and gave me three p/u spots...all of partial floor loads, and they crammed my trailer full of lightweight cheap butt family dollar clothes
They were paranoid about the seal issue on their loads(had drivers breaking the seals i bet to load other stuff before lol), so even had there been room it woulda been tough.
Yeah the second family dollar ...with schneider left me a little room,they were less paranoid about a seal, but i didnt really have time to look around for another partial, not a rush job, but had to move at a good pace.
Now this next load could hmmm well give it a try for another partial if I am motivated and industrial enough
Well its just three John Deer parts supposidly.....only weighing 20,000 pounds. I am cluless how they will fit n the trailer and what kinda room I will have.....will see I quess..May be able to slip something else on...will see.

[GMAN]

At least you are moving and getting some experience. I would not worry too much about the weight. I would look more at how much it pays and where it goes. If the load goes to a bad area, you need to get a better rate than if it goes to a good freight area. Rates running back and forth to the West coast are rather flat right now. In that past, it has usually been easier to get something better going West but coming East typically pays less unless you do some LTL's. Someone mentioned doing LTL's. You can do well with those, but it requires planning. I can usually come out of California with $2/mile by putting LTL's together. I could also take a cheap load for $1.20/mile and not have the hassles. I don't haul freight that cheap, so it isn't a factor with me. You can spend some time working on LTL's or finding better paying loads or take the cheap ones. You may want to find a couple of brokers who can keep you loaded with decent paying loads. It isn't about the miles but the rate. It is better to run fewer miles for more money than more miles for less money. :wink:

[Cam]

Pepe, just go to Schneider, will you? :lol: :lol: :P

[no_worries]

GMAN, where do you get better rates coming west than east? In my time out here, my experience has always been the opposite and it's not even close. It's more pronounced when I'm hauling refrigerated but dry freight is the same story. Since I never have trouble finding good-paying freight out of CA, if I could find all this good-paying west-bound freight y'all keep talking about, I'd be set :lol: I was in TN a few weeks ago, and the phone was ringing off the hook with available loads. Hardly a one even going west, let alone to CA. Are you sure you're not talking about flatbed freight, because I understand that's a different ballgame out here.