[catalinaflyer]

First Off I'm a company driver but that doesn't change anything here.

I'm with an 80 year old company that is just getting back into heavy/specialized. With that being said our HH division is less than 1 year old and most of the year we haul wind towers for one of our sister companies. But, this time of year we haul just about anything and with that being said we haven't developed a nation wide customer base for heavy/specialized. Our load planner has a truck unloading this morning so yesterday morning he posted it as available on one of the Mega load boards. Within 30 minutes of posting it (a 4-axle tractor with a 3+stinger DD RGN) one of the "Owner/Operator Only" companies called with a load. The load is 375 miles from where the truck is getting empty and goes 740 (permitted) miles. The load planner asked for the rate so the salesperson on the other end danced around that and started telling him that they would pay for permits and pilot car and again our load planner asked the rate. Well this person on the other end of the phone was so excited they were going to do us a favor and only keep 1/2 of thier normal fee. Again the load planner asked the rate so finally the salesperson told him the "good" news, they were willing to pay $1.00 per mile (for the permitted miles) plus fuel surcharge of $.28 per mile. Our load planner thought it was someone playing a joke on him so he asked for thier number and said he would get back to them in a few minutes. He called the number and it was legit, they are wanting 8 axles for a 13 wide load grossing 138,000 and are "doing someone a favor" at $1.28 per mile. Now as a company driver I would get $.41 deadheading over to get it and $.66 under the load. This load will pay a gross of $947. The driver pay would be $642, the fuel at 5 mpg (that's pretty high for that size of load) and $2.20 per gallon would be $490. That would net my company $-185 (just in wages and fuel let alone the expenses of the truck and trailer) and this salesperson got p!ssed off when we wouldn't take the load. They then said they would consider taking us off thier "approved" carrier list if we didn't take the load. Needless to say we are supposedly off thier list. Now I have a grasp on why the owner-operators leased to that company usually have junk trucks and are sitting around truckstops complaining that there's no freight.

Do these companies think they have to prostitute themselves to get these contracts? This is a major company and the load was a new piece of machinery coming out of the manufacturer. Who the f--k bid a rate that low and why do they have a job? Or was this salesperson trying to pay off all thier christmas bills on one load? Or are there really trucks out there moving for that kind of rate?? I know that during the winter months the rates go down for heavy/specialized because there's an abundance of available trucks but that was less than a low rate, that was an insult!

I just wanted to vent a little bit. I was blown away when I walked into dispatch and they were sitting there laughing at this salesperson and told me the story.

[solo379]

Wow! That's all i can say! And you are absolutely correct. It is an insult!

[thbogle]

This does not shock me in the least. I've seen it happening and the O/O company your talking about Ive seen some of their rates on the boards and its sickening. Ive seen freight lately for .60 cents a mile moving from some areas.

[Rev.Vassago]

What's the name of the "owner operator only" company that did this?

[Red Clay Rambler]

Originally Posted by Rev.Vassago

What's the name of the "owner operator only" company that did this?

Yes, please share.

[steeringwheelbracket]

That ship happens to us all the time. We are a very small company and deal mostly with machinery. Most of the time people are just trying to push there limits and see if they can get you bent over. They may call tomorrow and offer a better rate. I swear if it wasn't for our ability to haul thebig stuff complete that most take apart we would be out of work.

[thbogle]

I don't know the carrier for sure but it sounds like one of the bs landstar loads.

[catalinaflyer]

Not Landstar.

[thbogle]

WOW i stand completely corrected and admit I was wrong. My appologies to landstar.

[GMAN]

I bid on an over-sized load coming out of Texas going to Maryland a few months ago. It needed escorts due to the width. If I remember correctly the load was over 14' wide. The escorts alone were going to run about $3700. I believe my bid was somewhere around $11,000 or so. A guy took it for about $4,800. The guy could not have known anything about over-sized loads or he should have known about what the escorts would run. If I were the shipper I would have been afraid to let someone who would take a load that cheap to take my property. There is no way the guy could have legally hauled this load without an escort the entire trip. So yes, there are some people who will take a load at about any price.