[quote="merrick4"]

Originally Posted by GMAN:

Merrick, I never do business with a new broker unless I check them out first. quote]

Gman when you say check them out, what do you mean. I mean besides the obvious of looking up their MC#. I do you check their credit worthiness?

Merrick, I check their references and if I have any doubts about their credit worthiness I have a factor I can call who keeps current credit information on most brokers. If they are willing to take them, they are usually OK. You can also subscribe to one of the credit reporting companies. So far I have only lost money on one account during the last few years. Barn Hill Nurseries out of Florida still owes me money from a load which I hauled for them about 2 or 3 years ago. Fortunately it is only about $800. They were supposed to have paid within about a week. I didn't really check them out prior to hauling for them. I only took the word of a owner operator who had done business with them. They told me that they have never had a problem with them. In retrospect I should have taken a closer look. Now, I do.

Trinity's board http://www.tticarriers.com/?pid=20

England http://crengland.com/logistics/index...sub=Load%20Map

This might be a dumb ?? but i have to ask.

With all of the on line billing, credit card pmts, paperless fund transfers,
Why don't brokers pay you by debit cards with google check out or paypal? Then you would have your money quicker, easier and more efficient. You can create an invoice in paypal, email it and the brokers could pay immediatley. Paypal charges 2 or 3 % but if you add it into your fee it's covered. One less trip to the Post office and Bank, one less thing to mail etc. $3000,00 x ,02% = 60.00 - Time,errands,fuel =$$

Is anyone trying this in any way with willing customers or brokers?

The thing is, alot of brokers are on terms with the shippers they deal with. They cannot pay out all that is owed because they don't have it. They must wait for it just like us. Those who can't wait pay the extra % out of their pay. Brokers do this because they make more money then, for that they are willing to dish it out. Most places are net 30 days.

Thanks Sidman, for explaining that. Makes sense.

To make the world smaller, I used to have a house in Ormond by the Sea.
Sold it right before the market went up. Damm :x Bought it for $47,000.
My parents stay down there from Dec. till May. (Snowbirds)

Nice area up there. those little beach houses are going for over 100k now.
But it's expensive to buy homeowners Ins.

Originally Posted by Sonny Pruitt:


Go home and sign up with
TQL
Allen Lund
Sargent
Trinity
CHR
RMX
RFX
HM Bay
it will probably take you all day to do this
These are some of the basic frozen brokers
If you want to run your ltl butt off and make $$$$$$$$$$$$$
kiss H/M bays butt

Yeah I am beggining to see the advantages of being set-up ahead of times with these major and trusted brokers. Steve had mentiioned that he didnt, cuz there are just so many, and for flatbed I can see his point. But for us van haulers, (both dry n Refer) things are just sooo competitive and cut-throat, that being set-up with these major ones can be quite an advantage and give you the little extra edge you need.
I am ust curious off hand if these carriers are all good for dry van too....I know of course Robinson, trinty and Lund are.....I am geting set-up with them hopefully as we speak.

I was wondering about the paypal too. So far I like the Quickpay from CH Robinson. 1.5% and the money is in my account within 48 hours.

I've only been out just under two weeks and I think what Pepe said about feeling like a small fish in a big pond sums it up. You know you go through all this big rigamorole setting up everything, I mean I set up a company, with credit cards bank account and tax ID and of course when you are buying equipment they all treat you so nice and then you realize you are just one tiny fish out here. Everyone talks so fast (I'm from the North too and talk very fast myself) and they are saying things that I don't understand. I ask as many questions as possible without showing too much of my ignorance.

In just under two weeks I've billed $6568.40. About $100 was lumper fees. I've spent $2287.07 on truck fuel and $168.77 on reefer fuel. The truck fuel is based on starting out empty and now ready for a next load with 3/4 of a tank full. I've put for mileage on the truck 5159 actual miles. This includes deadhead and driving up the road to get to a Walmart or any other stop I've made. Actually with what I figure it cost to run this truck, I've only made abut $1100. This is bad, but I've made a couple of mistakes, had a load cancelled at the last minute. I'm learning every minute out here and am keeping track of the numbers. This is a business after all and I don't expect to be making a ton in my first a couple of weeks. I need to improve; I will improve. By the way, I'm in Wisconsin right now and this is a good paying area right now so as I'm already figuring my whole two weeks expenses in the above numbers, anything I pull with a load tomorrow will increase the profit numbers.

I should add that the fuel figure is paying with a credit card with cash back so it's small amount less. That cash back is something else. As I put the trailer on a card, I got about $400 back.

Anyway so revenue/miles and I come to $1.27 not good I know I'm working on it. Also I'm wondering when people are quoting their per mile rate as they are in the above O/O vs leasing thread, are they including their deadhead? If I took out deadhead and small personal trips it would be higher of course.

I can't say that in the last two weeks I haven't thought "man what did I go and do" by buying all of this. There is somethig to be said of working for a company and not having too worry about much, but in truth I can't truly be happy like that. I was making $1,000 a week local (after taxes) but I'm seeking something else in life besides a good paycheck. The thing with an O/O is you can go home when you want but in truth if you are a valuable employee you can go home when you want too at least that's how I found it to be. That can be for anything really. Local we were supposed to wear uniforms. I wouldn't but they let me be (I showed up in one and changed in the truck that's all they asked of me) cause the customers I had were happy with my work. They actually said don't send anyone there but me. So if you are a good worker they let you be.

I do have one question, a stupid one, but what the hell. How do you guys fill the air in your tires? If you don't park at a truck stop by the time you get there the air is warm. I bought one of those things that hook up to a gladhand last night but I heard it is a slow process. Also the company truck I had, had these caps on the stem where you could still fill up the air without removing the cap. I need to buy somethig like that cause these stem caps are a pain.

I have Cross Fire fittings on all my tandems so I can see at a glance if they need air or not. The one good thing about them is that they connect both filler tubes together with one nice stem sticking out in the front to fill up. I then went to Walmart and bought a air nozzle that has a clip so you can attach it to the tire and it stays on without having to kneel down and hold the air hose on. It fits right onto my hose that hooks up to the glad hand connection.