I didn't realize how hard it was to be an owner operator and look for your own loads. We dropped off a load in XXX and it took maybe 4 hrs of looking on a few different boards (I signed my dad up for members edge, getloaded, and ITS) to get a load out of here. The load to and from where we are now headed are only paying about $1.80/mile. That is as good as it appears to get on the boards. Maybe Monday is a bad day for freight?

 

You two will get much better at it. Just takes a little time. Where are you right now looking for a load? Expand your radius also to like 100 miles which isn't that much if you can increase your rate much more.

 

I'm only here until Friday, then I have to go back to my real job. I think we are just in a bad area for freight to go where we want. I expanded the radius up to 200 miles and there was not much going where we wanted. Didn't want to dead head 1/2 way across the state.

There were a couple of loads which paid almost $2.50, but by the time we found them and called they were gone. I wish people would just put the rate they are offering in the comments section.

Thanks steve. I used you to order my dad a $25 OOIDA membership this morning so he could get the 30 day trial on the members edge board.

 

You need to charge a high enough rate when going to a bad area so you can afford to deadhead out or take a somewhat cheaper load as a last resort. It is not impossible to get a decent rate out of a bad area. Make sure to post your truck as available on getloaded.com and ITS. Those are the only two boards I use and I only call on a few loads I see since I get numerous calls when I post my truck. There is always freight somewhere that has to move. You shouldn't waste more than a day and a half finding a good paying load.

 

Do you have Progressive for insurance? If so, when I was with them they let you go out of your radius for up to 5 weeks during a 1 year period. I'm not sure if they still do that but you may want to give them a call.

 

We had 3 brokers call us yesterday while the truck was posted(about 4 hrs). None offered anything spectacular. I've been monitering the boards and nothing better than what we eventually took has showed up either.
We took a fair paying load to where we are almost at and scheduled a return trip at the same time because there was one and we didn't want to get stuck where we are now going.

I'm beginning to think that you guys just get your names out, some brokers get to know you and that is how the higher paying loads are put together. None of the brokers we called yesterday budged on their prices which were all flat rate and most less than $2/mile, some significantly.
Dad had been working the last 3-4 weeks with a load planner that took 5%, but he also got decent loads and did not have to moniter the boards. I wonder if this is going to take too much time for him to do by himself. He may be better off with the load planner...

 

yep sounds like you're right on target,taking loads that don't pay very good to areas that also don't have good loads and pre-booking return loads because you don't want to get stuck.Good luck and I'm sure the guys sitting in the ares you're in will be glad you took those loads and therefor killing the rates.

It really is no wonder that this industry will never get out of the 80's rates,always someone who needs to get out of the office and see the road who has just enough money to buy a truck and trailer and put their name on the door and start hauling for sucky rates,cause they have no idea what they should be charging.

 

Well, that is why I am here trying to learn how to do it better. Since few people are willing to share how they get big money loads I guess we'll just get the cheap ones and maybe do porn on the side like steve. :lol:


We pre-booked a $3/mile load off ITS this afternoon for later this week. I had the truck listed as available in the area for a specific date and they called us which was nice.

 

Can you clear up a few things?

Would that load be going here?

"We took a fair paying load to where we are almost at and scheduled a return trip at the same time because there was one and we didn't want to get stuck where we are now going."

Charged, This has turned into a pretty good thread.Thanks for starting it.

BTW, Mike is like EF Hutton. Whenever he speaks everbody listens. And he has a valid point IMO. Since your asking for advice and learning as I am. alot of OP's have been very specific and helpful. So in order for everyone to benefit, can you please post the "beef" so we can all get the nourishment on every trip ?

What's on the wagon?
How many miles was it from pickup to delivey?
And how much did it pay? etc....

Thanks