Truck Driving Jobs

tracer · #1 12-02-2010, 11:11 PM

I've been sitting in Idaho since Monday Nov-29th, right.. Tanks 1/4 full; 20 bucks in the pocket. All loads to Canada were going north into Alberta, Sasketchewan, some to Manitoba; while I'm trying to get back home in Ontario. There was one load from Nevada to Northern Ontario but it hardly paid anything and the shipper was delayed by the bad weather ... So finally - after my payday on Wednesday - I got fueled up, then gave it another day and headed south on I-15, then east on I-84, and finally east on I-80 - towards Rockford, IL where I have to take a safety class at Landstar Orientation Center. I shut down at Little America, WY (just west of Green River) and then logged on to the Internet to update my "available for a load" status. Did a quick load search and guess what? Those loads out of Nevada to Ontario are now back on the board and the shipper even increased the price! Darn. Just my luck ... But to get to the shipper I"d have to go back WEST on I-80 375 miles plus they promised snow tomorrow in Salt Lake City, UT, so ... no - I'd rather keep driving further EAST. Sooner or later, I should hit that magic "good rate area" Gman always deadheads to, right?

GMAN · #2 12-03-2010, 12:19 AM

Hopefully, you can find something before you reach Illinois, Tracer. I can understand why you would not want to deadhead that far back to Nevada, especially into a snow storm. If it weren't for the snow storm, it would only take about 60 gallons of fuel to get back to that other load.

solo379 · #3 12-03-2010, 01:01 AM

That's not a "paradox", it's misconception on your part. The good rule of tumb is;-The truck goes where the money is! Not where you want to go. Especially since you are being limited to and from Canada loads only. And one other thing;-Once you've made a decision, don't look back. Look what you got now. You've wasted 3 days, and going nowhere...That's not a good game plan!

tracer · #4 12-03-2010, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GMAN

Hopefully, you can find something before you reach Illinois, Tracer. I can understand why you would not want to deadhead that far back to Nevada, especially into a snow storm. If it weren't for the snow storm, it would only take about 60 gallons of fuel to get back to that other load.

yeah, financially speaking it'd make sense to go back especially since they increased the rate per loaded mile to $2.50 from the original $2.15. the snow storm moving in from the west was probably the main reason I kept going east. I'm in Little America WY now and there's hardly any snow here and the temp was 35-40 F

I see now loads in NE and IA up ahead. I hope to catch something there ...

tracer · #5 12-03-2010, 01:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by solo379

That's not a "paradox", it's misconception on your part. The good rule of tumb is;-The truck goes where the money is! Not where you want to go. Especially since you are being limited to and from Canada loads only. And one other thing;-Once you've made a decision, don't look back. Look what you got now. You've wasted 3 days, and going nowhere...That's not a good game plan!

I had to sit in Idaho till Wednesday anyway because I needed money to buy fuel. I'm thinking of trying a new strategy: stay closer to my home in ON next time (1,500 to 2,000 mile radius)... and only go as far west as NE, IA, IL stuff like that. I learned that it's easy to get a good paying load going to Western Canada (BC, Alberta) or Western US but then you're stuck in the west and there's nothing going east. Which makes sense from the standpoint of manufacturers and shippers: if they work in Washington State, they want to trade with Canadians in BC and AB, not Ontario and Quebec. Many Ontario trucking companies by the way have a policy of "staying east of the Mississippi river".

solo379 · #6 12-03-2010, 02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tracer

I needed money to buy fuel.

You mean you didn't have credit card? I also have a Comdata card, limit i believe $900 in 24 hours period, but i rarely use it anyway. Can't believe that Landstar is that cheap.....

Roadhog · #7 12-03-2010, 02:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tracer

Many Ontario trucking companies by the way have a policy of "staying east of the Mississippi river".

We keep our flatbeds east of the Mississippi as well. We will run our reefers west, but know we will get cheap freight coming back.

We do allot of deadheading. Many of our loads will come back to Chicago or Detroit, then we deadhead 350 miles back north, to get home. I know the only reason we even bother going out west, is we have accounts with Sara Lee, and local Fruit Processors that ship to the west coast, and on occasion, I'll have to sit out there for several days to find a load back. I don't do the numbers, but I'm sure my boss has to figure the averages.

The brokers know they can get trucks to haul back east cheap. It's supply and demand. The longer a load sits, the higher the rate will go. Someone is always going to haul just to cover costs. That's a big problem right there. That's what sets the low rates.

They really have Ontario trucks by the short hairs. I think your new plan will be allot less stressful, if not average out better for you.

no_worries · #8 12-03-2010, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadhog

We will run our reefers west, but know we will get cheap freight coming back.

Cheap rates for reefers off the west coast? Maybe they need to hire some new load planners. Van and reefer rates are just the opposite of flats; money moving east, garbage coming back. Good paying reefer freight headed west out of ON should make you a killing on the round.

Roadhog · #9 12-03-2010, 07:11 AM

We're a small O/O hauling out of N. Michigan.
I agree with you about the load planning, and maybe my boss just has better east coast connections. If we're out there, when there are allot of reefers looking for a load, the rates aren't as good. Our contract loads going out pays pretty good, and we do get some good paying loads coming back, but it's not consistent.

I guess what it comes down to, is not so much freight per mile, but revenue per mile.
Besides the competition at times, our fuel and equipment costs are higher, and seems our rigs get beat up more with the mountains, winter storms, and our deadheading is higher. West coast runs for us is borderline. Our more profitable lanes are to the eastern seaboard and back.

GMAN · #10 12-03-2010, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tracer

I had to sit in Idaho till Wednesday anyway because I needed money to buy fuel. I'm thinking of trying a new strategy: stay closer to my home in ON next time (1,500 to 2,000 mile radius)... and only go as far west as NE, IA, IL stuff like that. I learned that it's easy to get a good paying load going to Western Canada (BC, Alberta) or Western US but then you're stuck in the west and there's nothing going east. Which makes sense from the standpoint of manufacturers and shippers: if they work in Washington State, they want to trade with Canadians in BC and AB, not Ontario and Quebec. Many Ontario trucking companies by the way have a policy of "staying east of the Mississippi river".

I have a friend who ran the west coast for years. He is now running a shorter radius staying in the Midwest and Northeast. He is making more money and getting home every week. I don't think that he has crossed the Mississippi in a couple of years. I like running the west, but the money isn't there, for the most part. You can make decent rates if you stay in the west, but heading east is difficult and rates are usually cheap, at least with a flat or step. If you run out of the east coast, it is usually more profitable to keep east of the Mississippi.