I think that in order to get an accurate reading of costs you need to pool your fsc into your total line haul rate. When I calculate my costs, I take all revenue on a load, including fsc.

lol

You need the Steve Booth approach to trucking. If your bills are paid, food on the table and some money left over, your doing good.

I cringe every time Merrick posts some info. He analyzes the crap out of everything then I get depressed. Not knocking him though. He's a lot more analytical then I am about this.

Lets see.

Steve = Happy trucker riding down the road listening to Captain and Toneil.

Merrick = Mathematician analyzing every which way he can using linear algebra and calculus.

Pepe = Just plain bitch bitch bitch

Doghouse = Not a real person. 12 year old kid messing with our heads.

I got a good laugh at this one. Seems like we have enough on this board to start a good sitcom. :)

Honestly though Steve, don't forget though we are each just one man with a truck we have much different goals and plans. You've got me by about 20 years, you have had a career went through all that hell with divorce and as you mentioned before are finally living for yourself. Very very few people can say that. Either the spouse they are with, the house they live in or the car they drive, half the time people are trying to live either for someone else or trying to live up to someone elses' or society's expectation or in general just not doing what they WANT to do. You are very lucky that you are where you want to be in life which is why I never agreed the term hobby trucker.

Me on the other hand am 20 years younger (and age isn't everything) and I kind of wasted a lot of time, never really had a career and never had to live for anyone else; never married til a few years ago and have been on my own since very young. Around 30 I woke up now need to get things right. I don't want to be in this truck for many years and I don't want to end up bagging groceries for my retirement. I need to watch every number cause if this isn't working then I need to either fix what's not working or move on to something else.

You know they had a program on NPR one weekend about some guy in Maine who makes furniture by hand and now has a huge company. I almost turned the dial because it was a weekend program and it sounded boring. I am so glad I didn't.

Anyway the guy had a hell of a life; ups and downs. Now his company is a multimillion dollar company. In the end he made the comment that he was always envious of those that drive the same road to the same job everyday for 40 years. As soon as he gets things right, he tears it down and starts all over. He's never satisfied I guess.

The girl doing the interview asked if he was like this in his personal life. He gave a heavy sigh and said that he is still with the same wife but they have had many rough times and that it hasn't been easy and he left it at that.

Yeah I needa see the wife soon n get laid so im less bitchy :-p

But then my negative outlook on life n trucking is accurate....whatever can go wrong CAN n WILL!

Im not bitchy! Im a cynic and a pesimist!

Oh yeah called the girl dispatching serivice today....more crap n papperwork to fill out n $ to fax upfront ;-p but it may work out as she seemed to kinda know her stuff...thks for the tip Steve :-D

Ohh yeah...n small wonder Foamy the Squirl is my hero, their is someone that can bitch n rant!!!!!!

http://www.illwillpress.com/vault.html

Hey Pepe,

I was at the Ontario TA today and saw a guy that looked like you and had a name tag that said Pepe. Was that you?

I truly wish I could do this. I am still at home as I needed to take care of a bunch of stuff, well refinanced the truck. With some moving things around my payment is half of what it was. And so now I'm worrying about getting out.

I made one call and got a load; not the best paying but averaging with coming in not bad.

The last few days I have found many resources to locate shippers, brokers etc. I wondered why there wasn't a compilation of those things and apparently there is.

I still wonder what can a one truck operation offer with these shippers. Capacity is the key I believe. Maybe Loadit can elucidate that for us.

Me personally I don't like getting on the phone; I talk to people as I learn something. Calling up and making sales calls is totally another thing which is very very difficult for me. I am extremely self sufficient and am not used to asking people for things. Sure I come here asking a million questions and people have been nice enough to send me leads but I have never, nor would I, ask for those myself. In the end we need to do our own work and not expect others to do it for us. Sales in a way is asking for something; probably a bad way to look at it but I just don't like it.

Anyway I don't like making sales calls but I don't like this feeling of not knowing where my next load is coming from so I said f**k it and picked up the phone and called the logistics department of a large produce supplier don't here. I was going to ask for shipping but they had a prompt for logistics and so I chose that.

The guy was real cool and didn't blow me off. He told me to send over my packet and then they would contact me. As soon as I heard that I thought great there goes that but then he said I could also check back with him daily if I'd like.

I need to put together a nice packet. Not that hard really I've gotten packets from brokers so I'll just go off that. Hell I sued the state one time and had no clue what I was doing and when the State lawyers started filing motions and all that I just copied the format they used and filed counter motions that looked just as professionsal as theirs.

Very good Merrick! 8)
That's how it's done by "professionals"!

Sounds like you are getting a handle on it now. I still find it hard to locate shippers to call, where are some of the resources in locating them on the internet. You should make more cpm going direct with a shipper. What is your comfort feeling for cpm?

I am working on couple web sites as we speak. One I hope to find shippers to sign up and place their loads on it. Not Brokers but Shippers. I need to advertise that when it is completed but am having a time getting the program the way I want it. I don't like Cold Calling either, I am like you, it is like begging for work but they call it sales.

BTW I am a new Transportation Agent with Regal Inc, working under their MC Lic 580320 and don't know what I am doing yet as you and steve jumped out to be O/O's so I have that same feeing.
I learned yesterday I am not to get loads from other Brokers, they say that is not good and a bad thing to do, Double Brokering. I didn't know as my Boss Marty didn't spell it out so I understude it. I had 4 loads working where I could of got the truck 1.75 to 1.90 pm and still made a few bucks. I pulled them back when I found out I was doing wrong. OOPS
One had to move today from Bakersfield and be in FL monday, Needed a Team I think to make it. Four others were Cotton Pickers from AZ to TX

Heck I even posted the load on a board I belong to.

It's a learning curve as Load It told me on another thread I started
about Brokers.

Well hopefully in the future I can even find a load for you and Steve that pays OK.

GB....Dude...You got a long row to hoe there!!!

If you are a former driver...what type trailer did you pull most? I suggest you stick with that type of freight.


Then..you need to start cold calling Manufacturers of that freight.

Flatbed...Stone Quarry's, Steel Mills, Lumber Companies, Sheet rock Mills..so on.

Dry van....Proctor & Gamble...Dow Chemical..DuPont..Johns Manville...

Reefer...Farmer brown...Sunkist..Farmer Jones...Dole..Farmer Jackson...Fresh Express.... you get my drift, right??

Long list...lots of calling to do! You gonna have to introduce yerself Dude!!!

gbtrucker wrote: I don't like Cold Calling either, I am like you, it is like begging for work but they call it sales.

I have worked in sales and don't consider cold calling " begging" and understand nobody likes rejection. BUT... How the heck are shippers suppose to find you if you don't let them know that you exist? So what if some jagoff blows you off over the phone. He can't see you and who cares what he thinks anyways. Move on to the next number. You might be surprised how many say YES because they are unhappy with their triple brokering broker who uses some yahoo that doesn't maintain his equipment or conduct business on a level that is expected.Be proud of your accompishments and build new bridges. I keep an index card with key terms and positive comments to help me during a brain fart to keep me on track. No need to trash the competetion..since some do a good job of it themselves. Stay Positive, Sell Quality, Service and Reliability.

As far as driving traffic to personal websites:
Traffic is driven to websites by paying google for key search words which you list in adwords.adsense is you posting google ads on your site and get paid for visitors who click and go visit the advertisers site. After a while your adwords will pay for your keywords so you should break even with the google expenses. BTW..Google is very knowledgable with click fraud and tracks the visitors ISP address which greatly reduces the chances of you getting screwed. Sometimes you end up advertising your competetion unless you specify who to omit.You can also advertise geographically to grab loads in your region only.

I look at the internet like it's a big fishnet..Some customers swim through..Some get caught. The main thing is to have alot of information listed in an easy to navigate format with dropdown windows,lists and neat gimmicks to keep them coming back to visit. Again reminding them that you exist. 8)


Cold Calling is a must...even if you attend a conference where numerous shippers gather.. you must call them and again to stay fresh in their minds due to the number of people they speak with. I also use my quickbooks ledger of past sales to remind me who to re call. :wink:

Manage your free time. Market yourselves accordingly and prosper from it. Now get calling........

Sales is an honorable profession. Both parties should get something out of a sale. The salesman will make money from his efforts by supplying a product or service that someone needs or wants. It is a win-win exchange. Something to keep in mind is that we don't have anything to haul until something is sold. :wink:

Actually for me I didn't mean to malign salesmen. I just mean, I personally feel like I'm begging. It's just not my thing. You know I know in business you need to network and all that and I never did that.

As you can tell from my posts I am very honest; I will be the first one to put here that I made a mistake. Not saying that salesmen are dishonest but of course if you are trying to sell something you really aren't going to mention the negatives. I was talking with a friend recently about this other kid with whom we grew up with and I guess he's now out in California getting small little roles in movies. He has a website and he's got pictures with famous people. The thing was this kid was dumb as a wet bag of rocks but he always did know how to sell himself.

And honestly I know I don't know the person telling me "no" and in the big picture of things who cares but we are who we are and I don't like it.

I read once that this Rabbi use to send his students into hardware stores for example and ask for eggs. I mean obviously they would look at you like you're an idiot. I don't remember why he did it; maybe cause they were Hassidic and dress differently and wanted them to toughen up to that. I don't know why it just stuck in my head. Maybe I should do that; go into Home Depot and ask what aisle the eggs are in. Probably do that for a couple of weeks and then I'll be ready to get the sales thing going.

By the way just an edit, but my brother does the sales thing. I'm trying to get him into the brokering thing but in the end until people see you making money they don't want to do anything. They had a big thing in the Sunday paper the other day about the Seminole Indians who I guess 30 years ago were poverty sticken and now of coures are extremely wealthy. People are always coming to them now with investment ideas and wanting to work with them.

As soon as you make it there never lacks someone wanting to join, yet to build the thing up nobody wants to help with that.

merrick4 wrote: And honestly I know I don't know the person telling me "no" and in the big picture of things who cares but we are who we are and I don't like it.

I don't think anyone really does. I usually wait until Im in the right mindset to tackle the task. Never grumpy, distracted or first thing on Monday etc...

merrick4 wrote: As soon as you make it there never lacks someone wanting to join, yet to build the thing up nobody wants to help with that.

Everybody wants to be important and a winner jumping right on the bus. That was funny and good lesson about the eggs. Just ask where the .99 cent diesel pump is next time you fuel. :lol:

Merrick, you are on your way!!! Work with this shipper to have an idea of what his inbound and outbound lanes are. Do your homework on brokers moving this shippers freight and remember you are selling them SERVICE, not CAPACITY. You popped your cherry, I'm proud of ya!!! :D :D

I've thought about going into sales. Especially, at SYSCO. That would be a good career to get into, but I dont think that I am pushy enough. My mom also told me that I am too honest. :lol:

sounds like you've read Zig.

Oh that's even better, .99 cent fuel one week of that and I'd be ready to sell ice to the Eskimos

Service not capacity, definitely great way of looking at it. I just wonder though, I mean sometimes when I'm getting offered a short run it sometimes seems not worth the pain in the a** to be signing up with new brokers. I kind of figured that these big shippers don't want to be signing up every one truck operation in town. But definitely if service is what they want then service is what they will get. Then maybe I can offer good service and two trucks etc.. :)

Actually I was thinking for down the road of other things I could offer. I read that the temperature of the reefer can be tracked and sent out by email. I'm not sure how it works but later on down the road I could have a website (and actually I just bought the domain name of my company at least for now so I can use a proper email name. I always thought it was unprofessional to have things like ***[email protected]. I've even found actual government email address that ended with yahoo.com. It was of a South American country)

Anyway I could offer a login where they could actually see the temperature of the reefer. Anything to stand out from the crowd.


I bet those salesmen at Sysco make very good money. I tried to get on with them right out of school. The drivers make good money and I personally don't mind the physical lifting of it as long as I'm in warm weather.

Every large trucking company is selling capacity to the shipper and preaching service to the driver. In your company you are the driver and you believe in service, so now sell it to the customer. As I type this I remembered you are bilingual. You should recruit some hispanics/cubans (whatever nationalities are in South Florida (i'm not trying to be racist)) who are drivers and offer them the opportunity to become owner operators under your authority and then you can sell service and more capacity. I have an O/O from south Georgia who speaks very little English. I've been using a program that converts english to spanish to communicate with this guy. I arrogantly tell him he has to improve his english, but really i could care less, he is safe and provides on-time service.

Merrick, I understand your loathing of the sales profession. Many people cannot stomach it. But if your product, service, or rate is something that can help your prospect, you should never feel like you are in a asking, or begging position. You are not. You are calling on them to see if you can help THEM and make THEM more money by using YOU.

Keep that as your perspective and your cold calling approach becomes a lot easier.

The best salesmen that I've seen in action are courteous, to the point, direct, clear, and ask for the business at the end of a short pitch, as they are busy professionals who must keep a schedule. If the person is interested, this is all they need, and will respond. If not, call on them later, and thank them.

Personally, I love challenges that seem impossible, and sales is a lot like hunting, and you will strike out many times, and win a few times. Plan on it, learn from it, and remember, even if 10 people say NO, you are not a failure, and will find an inner compelling motivation to get that next company to say YES.

Warning though, sales can become addictive and highly profitable. :D

I have used adwords before and still have some credit with them.
I get alot of traffic thru my many web sites where I sell stuff for the past 11 yrs

My problem with programming is I have not done any database applications for years and used the old boat anchor stuff like filepro, dbase, oracle and foxbase, I have to get modern and see what great stuff is available to me. I tried downloading a 90 day trial of MS Office 2007 but it kept bombing while trying to put in my name and address, some bug on their web site.

I will keep trying.

I bought my first computer in 1977 to interface with my Ham radio and then got a chance to get involved with computer projects while in Production Engineering, Then in 1994 Retired a GS 12 Computer Spec do to Base Closure, They made such a good offer and bought me out. Now don't know anything it feels like at times.

Used to go to Comdex and other showes every year, I always had a Govt Buyers Badge on and always came home with free goodies.

The technology is sure moving faster than before it seems.

I use email campaigns to sell my products to my customer base and also have a yahool group where more who visit my web sites sign up to get special announcements, Wish I could do something like that but most say you gotta call and beat the pavement and some say Cold Calling is a thing of the past. I have many idaeas and will try them all.

I wonder how many will get mad when I ask them to help me contact the Traffic Manager at their work if they have one. I been making them deals for years and provide good customer service.

Probably be considered as Spam and will loose a few off my list of hundreds.

New phone and new fax is connected tomorrow, never needed it before as everything was done with email and my cell phone.

This keeps me out of the bars 5 days a week anyway.

Thanks For your input.

Gotta find what is the acceptial Rate cpm to tell your prospective new client I would think. Or what are you comfi with taking loads. I know you have taken loads for 1.25/1.30 pm and GMan says he won't even move his truck for less than 2.00 pm. So what does the broker need for his service? What came first. Truck, Broker or Load?

Without the Load we don't need the other two.

And I agree you should not take Cheap Loads nor should the Broker do it for nothing.

IMHO

I like they way you put things Load It. I remember reading the company handbook for LCT and they were going on about service yet they had an on time rate of about 74% if I remember correctly. You are right they sell capacity and preach customer service to the drivers whom they will leave sitting there for days with no work and obviously no pay. I think changes are coming, anyone see about that overtime issue for drivers in Washington?

Anyway as for the bilingual things, I've already been collecting numbers. This definitely something I will be looking into. However I'm not ready to do that. I could take on someone else and even go get another truck but I need to take my time right now and set up work. If and when I take someone on I will consider that a responsiblity to that person. Right now I'm moving around trying to find my place and I do not have the pressures I would have trying to keep a driver moving and with a decent paycheck. Also I don't have 2 years on my CDL and my insurance costs are extremely high (a bit over $14,000)


Actually I've been told that I would make a good salesman because when I belive in something I get excited and go ranting about it. So you're point is well taken because in truth what I would be offering, good serive, is something I truly believe I am offering.

Even with these brokers, they seem to remember me. I had an issue with billing with TQL recently and I had to call all brokers for all the loads I did and they all remembered me. They have told me after finishing loads that it has been a pleasure working with me.

But even all that I still don't like sales. I know it's not rational but it's like phobias and as I like to say you can't ratonalize the irrational


However as I've mentioned before though I don't like sales, I don't like relying on brokers so I will be doing the sales calls. One thing I'm wondering though, this shipper I called the other day seemed eager to give me work. I'm wondering what the catch is. I mean why is the guy I was working with who has 11 trucks running off of Ch Robinson? It wasn't that hard to find the shipper. Why isn't he offering his trucks to these people?

There is no catch. He has product to ship, he needs YOUR truck. The guy with the 11 trucks has NEVER, EVER cold called a shipper that's why he is a slave to CHR and all the other brokers he relies on. Brokers are very useful (not to pat myself on the back), but you shouldnt build your business around broker loads. Also, why do you think brokers dont want you to back solicit? They know the shipper will load you and cut them out of the picture.

You sure have a way of putting things. You know what I get from you, it's like when things become clear and you are trying to tell someone how to do something which is very easy but they are reluctant to do it. You know you just want to yell at them, HEY IT'S NOT THAT HARD JUST DO WHAT I'M TELLING YOU. I am actually constantly doing that as people do foolish things and you show them the way and they still do foolish things. And it's frustrating that they don't listen and then suffer the consequences for it.

So yes I am fighting you that it can't be that easy to just cold call and if it was really that easy everyone would do it. But I still am going to do it, cause what really is the worst that can happen? I know the alternative is that I am stuck to working for someone else who just happened to make that same cold call.

Anyway thanks for all your help and I will drive by and get that tomato info tomorrow.

AHHHH Grasshopper, you are a good student...you will go far. :P :P :P

Boy Load it, you aint a just kiddin there. :)

But always be respectful of the existing broker/shipper relationship, if you do decide to solicit.

I hate to be the guy who says X2..but X2

Loadit has some really good advice. Don't be afraid of the cold call. Be friendly and polite, don't interrupt. Just doing that will put you ahead of 90% of truckers.

If nothing else just think of how nice it will be once you have your own "headhaul"

Disclaimer=There is no such thing as a head-haul or a back-haul, just freight that needs to move from point a to point b.

I called the guy I use to work with today as I picked up the truck and wanted to park it near my house so I could load out tomorrow. (I must say I love being out there but today I got back in the truck and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. Hell it was 85 here today )

Anyway I asked why he doesn't have contracts with local shippers. He said he doesn't want them because once the season is over you will be stuck with nothing and CH Robinson keeps him rolling all year.

I mentioned I was talking about the produce suppliers that bring in stuff from the port. He mentioned that if he gets stuck with a load gone bad, CH will have it sold within two hours and he can move on as they have large resources. By yourself it's harder to get rid of the stuff. This was a good point and I hadn't thought of that.

However I persisted with the questions and he then said the magic words:
"I am not a salesman and don't want to be one by calling on these shippers".

LoadIt, I don't know who you are or why you are here dispensing advice but when he said those word all I could think of was the following:

So I believe in what you say Load It. All this will take time but I am slowly finding my way. And again I don't know why people like you and GMAN and others take the time to help us out that need it, but it is much appreciated.


The lights on the trailer weren't covered by warranty. They said that a tree caught the wires up top. That didn't make sense, are the wires along the top of the trailer on the outside? They put on the crossfire things for me so that's taken care of and tomorrow I'm back out. I hate to leave this weather but a day in the truck and I'll be back to normal.

A big pain in the a** getting the truck. Drive down to miami, pick up the truck and drive back to Broward. Get someone to pick me up and back to Miami to get my car. Some of you guys that park at your house, well that must be a nice feeling.

Have you ever heard someone say CH Robinson wouldnt load them :?:

Not a good position to be in, thats why you have to be on-time with produce, it isnt that the load went bad, youre 2 days late and they bought another load from someone else yesterday. Be on-time, pulp your loads, and ask shipper what temp he wants the reefer to maintain.

I dont make my living posting on this board, I make it running trucks at a profit and I give advice, shipper contacts, etc because its good to be around people in this industry that arent just interested in long hoods, stretched frames and chicken lights. I would like to see ALL O/O's succeed and understand what it takes to be successful, I learn new things in this business every day and I just pass it on. I WISH more people would listen, but I'm satisfied with 1 or 2 (not 2 the board member :D ). I hate it when guys call me and say" I sure should have listened to you", actually a guy left me last week Thursday and he called about 3 hours ago asking to come back. Decisions, decisions.

[quote="merrick4"]
However I persisted with the questions and he then said the magic words:
"I am not a salesman and don't want to be one by calling on these shippers".


Merrick,

Ask the guy if he's married. If he says yes, tell him he's a lot better salesman than he thinks......... He asked his wife to get married and she said yes. That's selling.

:lol:

I'll tell you Bigmon, the thing with this guy, and he is a very nice guy, is he really doesn't need to sell. He has a day job that pays $100,000 a year. His wife makes like $50,000 or so and they have no kids. So what he makes on trucking is gravy for him. He's not hungry as someone else might be.

For me I would quit that day job he has, fire the staff he has to hire to run the trucking company and then get to work. He has an easy job but it's still a job. I would be happy making $100,000 a year in a day job but only for so long. Money is not my main motivator. Personal achievement is what I'm looking for to put it in a concise way.

Of course honestly if I had a job that paid $100,000 a year I'd move into a shoebox and eat mac 'n cheese and deal with it for about 4 or 5 years and then with what I have saved I would find something to do :)

I was talking today with some guy today and I mentioned I drive a truck. He asked who I drove for and to make a long story short come to find out he has a cousin who works for CSX. He said his cousin said that they were killing the truckers as they can haul things for cheaper. Seems like with fuel prices and everything else there is a lot of pressure on this industry. So far the only thing I've heard on this board about the trains was from no_worries (hey no_worries where you been?) about the apples in Washington.

I'm wondering what the old timers here think about the trains and what types of shifts need to be made to work within this new environment.

I even read recently that I think it was Martin had an increase in profit due to their use of intermodal. These big companies can make that shift; where does that leave us?

Made a couple of more sales calls today. Actually both were to follow up on previous contacts. I see you have to be persistant with this thing and it's not just one call. Couldn't reach the appropriate people so will just call back.

Today I picked up a tire I had sent to get fixed a couple months ago. So now I will be carrying a spare but this spare is almost a new tire so I'm wondering if I should be carrying two tires as if I need to replace a tire that is worn then I will be putting on this new tire right next to a worn one. I know you are not supposed to do that, so then carry two tires as spares that have the same tread depth?

The interesting thing about rail is that it has been supported by trucking for decades. In recent years we have seen train loads of trailers being shipped across the country on rail cars. Trucking cannot compete with rail on price, but can on service. It can take 2 weeks or longer for a load to get across the U.S. by rail, but 3 1/2 days or less by truck. A good team can get a load all the way across the country in about 2 days or so. Rail cannot compete with that type of service. Rail can also haul a lot of bulk and more weight than trucks. Again, it cannot compete on service.

The same thing can be said of the large carriers. The large carriers can't compete on service with the small carriers. They can supply capacity, but cannot compete on service. I had an opportunity to talk with an individual with one of the top 10 carriers a few weeks ago. They are afraid that they cannot compete with the small carriers. That is why they are pushing the black boxes and speed limiters. It was an interesting conversation. He was concerned about competing on a "level playing field" with small carriers. One would have thought that the opposite would be true. One would think that the small carriers should be more fearful of competing with the large carriers.

Rail has limited capacity. The large carriers cannot respond to rapidly changing economic conditions, nor can they provide the same level of service as the small guy. Now, when you are talking about a company such as General Motors, that is a different situation. Most of the large carriers have brokerage departments to book excess loads. There is a good reason for that. They cannot handle the business that is currently there. They are going after the smaller carriers to run their freight. That should tell you something if you are a small carrier.

Stop trying to compete with the mega carriers. Not every shipper wants to do business with a J.B. Hunt or Swift. Some prefer doing business with smaller carriers who can provide more personalized service. The large carriers only handle a small percentage of the freight. Eighty percent of the freight in the U.S. is hauled by carriers with 20 or fewer trucks. You don't need to compete with the large carriers. Find a niche and you can do well. There is no need to worry about competition. It exists, but your primary concern should be to do the best job you can and earn a profit. Let the large carriers and soon to be broke owner operators carry the cheap freight.

Thanks GMAN for your insight. You know I picked up this book last year on freight brokering and I remember one of the statements right in the beginning was to stay away from the mega companies.

As for the level playing field, other than being on time which is a big thing of course I don't see how they aren't playing on a level playing field. I mean I wonder what Swfit pays for their trucks? I bought an ex Covenant truck for $63,000 and I wonder what they paid for it new?

Of course they must have massive back office expenses. I mean every single person sitting in those offices of the big companies are paid from the truck driver. We don't have those types of expenses. Maybe we are on a much more even playing field than I thought.

Hey GMAN if you don't mind me asking, you said recently that you once employed 91 people. I know you have been in trucking most of your life, did you at one time have a big fleet?

I've been having computer issues :roll: but got it all taken care of today. Truck went down last night 5 miles from the house, so I had to get it towed to the dealer where it now sits :roll: I'm liking this autoshift less and less all the time :evil:

As far as industry information goes, there has been a ton, and I do mean a TON, of info coming out over the past two weeks. The industry rags have some decent articles (pick up a copy of The Trucker and your issue of Landline) and there's been a bit coming out of the financial markets. I came across an interesting article on trucking and the rails a few days ago, but I can't remember where I saw it. I've been reading so many lately I can't keep them all straight. 3PL's have even been contributing to the subject. TIA is starting up an interesting program that all independents should familiarize themselves with.

Merrick, I recall hearing a few years ago a figure of around $80,000 for a new Freightliner to one of the large fleets. Some of them have interests in dealerships. I believe the people who own Covenant also own a couple of Freightliner dealerships. Whether true or not, when you buy several thousand trucks you can get some serious discounts. I believe these large carriers buy their trucks direct from the manufacturer but take delivery locally. The local dealer receives a prep or handling fee to coordinate things. That is the way some of the large companies who buy a lot of cars do. The major car manufacturers sell direct to the large volume buyers and the company takes delivery at a local dealer who receives a handling fee.

I have owned several other businesses over the years, along with trucking. The 91 people was in another field.

It's amazing GMAN how much money flows when you get up to that level. You know there is a lot of money down here in South Florida and sometimes it's amazing when you find out what some of these people do or who lives in that big house on the beach. My first local job out of school was hospital laundry servicing. I mean the place where they cleaned the sheets was just one building out of thousands down here but the owner had so much money it wasn't funny. He actually was there a lot too standing outside smoking.

As you can tell I ask a lot of questions. Sometimes some of these people just own companies of common things but reap a ton of money.

I remember in Texas one time at one of those Mop & Pop truckstops I saw an old man in one of those expensive Rv's from Florida so I got to talking to him He was the owner of a couple of Chevy dealers or some car dealer. There must be thousands of those dealers and he just owned a couple but he was a millionaire (I looked into him after). His name was Red something Doghouse might have heard of him as his dealerships were near where he is from I think. Salesman to the end too cause as we shook hands goodbye he told me to come see him when I need a new car (I never buy new).

The point of all of this besides I'm sitting at home waiting for my load to be ready (now they say 10pm) is that it seems once you get to a certain level then it doesn't seem too hard to make it (keeping it of course is another thing.) I mean we all are working trying to get ahead and a lot of times I think that it can't be so hard. I don't know just musing I guess.

Glad to hear you are ok no_worries. Thought you fell in back in the Chinese Buffett in Charlotte which was where you were heading last I heard. :) It does seem that when things go wrong they all go wrong at once.

There sure is a lot of ink being spilt on this industry. Massive in scale honestly. I have been reading Packer about the produce market and also Inbound Logistics which is free to get. I see why they say to find your niche because this industry is so wide you can never encompass it all. Information is definitely key, otherwise you are just another pawn on the board. Me I don't want to be a pawn. Not saying I have to be a king or a Queen either but a Rook wouldn't be so bad. :)

By the way, I was listening to the Democratic debate today and one of them said that 80% of our food is imported. I found that hard to believe as from the little I have seen in the short time I have been doing this is that there is a lot of food produced within this country. I don't think I heard him wrong either.

Just a quick question on competing with CSX. I live along the CSX line through Daytona and very rarley see a reefer on board. usually see auto's,intermodals, containers and van trailers. Am I missing the 2am express loaded down with all frozen food to Miami or something? Because I honestly can't recall a bunch of refridgerated freight on csx cars going north or south. :?:

I'd be surprised to hear a candidate misquote a statistic in a debate...especially a poignant one :shock: :lol:

Didn't fall in, but I did hit that buffet again :D Tried to go twice but the gf wouldn't have it. Luckily the hotel had an exercise room 8)

What are you getting out of FL? I tell ya, CA is looking more and more like FL the past week or so :cry: I must have gotten the last good load out when I went to FL.

Some of the world's greatest fortunes have been built with a very simple idea. Some people think out of the box and put action to their ideas. Many overcame insurmountable obstacles to attain success. With great success comes great sacrifice. I have yet to meet anyone who has attained a high level of success who hasn't paid a price for their achievement. I am not talking about their descendants, but the one who made the family fortune.