What if EVERYONE was open and honest about their rates?
 

Do you think this would allow rates to go up or down?

I think rates would go up. This huge amount of secrecy hurts our business. Many trucks are moving for cheaper then they should.

This is not collusion. Collusion is when businesses get together and set rates, without the customer present.

What I'm talking about is transparency, not collusion.

Im honest, mine are in the toilet compared to what you guys think they should be even alowing for Im running dry van, all in all most people just rag me here about it n offer nothing usefull.
Only G-man and Load-it have offered any constructive criticism, most just gloat about their getting so much better (especailly the household goods people :p like dont you know you guys get more any way...well yeah wait till you scratch something and some rag bitch sues your insurance lol over a little ding you can barely see lol)....when I asked Big for some shipper referals then he of course declined lol....like i could do anything with them tho lol
Load its best advice was I need to specialize better...n I think hes right
Just wondering...I have a vented dry van....n he said something about getting a lift n jack....i think he thinks i should do nursery work, but havent got around to asking him yet.

I had to go out and sell my services, no one handed me my shippers on a silver platter. Had to work hard for them. I started by asking family and friends if they had any contacts and went from there.

He-he cant blame me for trying tho eh?...just 1 truck n dont plan to get any bigger lol....youl hardly miss it lol
n I am asking a friend, my good ol Pal Mr. Big :D ....hmmm you say im not your good ol pal (sniff) im hurt n wounded :D

Check your PM. 8)

Good Lord Pepe have you no shame! :) :)

I think it was Mark Twain who wrote Hunger is Pride's master. :)

By the way that's why I like this board. Maybe cause nobody really knows one another, but like my friend won't answer my questions (and I'm not even asking for contacts, just questions on the biz) but people here are really helping us that don't know.

Pepe, it takes time to find your niche. Sometimes you just need to try new things until you find something that works for you. Nursery stock does pay well, for the most part. You can also haul apples, onions, water melons, potatoes, etc., if produce is your cup of tea. Personally, I would stay away from produce without a reefer, but nursery stock could work for you. Seasons are normally short for nursery stock. They can be longer in some of the more temperate climates. I believe Load It was talking about a pallet jack.

Some people whom I have known who have done well with vans carry extra items such as blankets and logistics straps. They come in handy if you want to get into LTL freight.

There are pros and cons to any type of hauling. Household goods are much like hauling cars in that you can make good money but there is considerable liability. How well you manage your damage will determine your level of success. Simply having a high gross doesn't necessarily mean that you are making money. You can have a million dollars in revenue and still lose your shirt. You can't compare pulling a van to HHG or any other type of hauling. They are different. Don't worry about what others make. It doesn't matter. Each business is somewhat unique.

I'm honest about mine. If you do a search, you'll see I've posted each quarters earnings including all miles. Once I posted my last 10 loads including rates, trailer type, origin & destination. My rates haven't went down but I only move a couple loads per month these days.

Re: What if EVERYONE was open and honest about their rates?
 

The biggest problem with this is most truckers are at someone elses mercy and they have no idea what the customer is paying. They turn down a few loads, then they have to get moving so they take the next load cheap or not. If the rates werent a "secret" the backstabbing and under cutting would be worse than it is. There is a website called youship.com (not really spelled that way, but i'm not advertising for them) where you say what you can move the freight for and the shipper comes back lower and someone else quotes it even lower and this goes on and people complain about cutting rates. I always tell this story... There was a dryvan run from Neenah WI to Detroit MI that loaded Friday evening delivered Sunday evening and paid $3000. Once the brokers got into the shipper, they were trying to move that lane for $1.25 per mile. Were they pocketing the difference, probably not. They probably had no idea trucking companies were getting $3000 or maybe the shipper wanted to move it cheaper and called the brokers? I like the they had no idea theory.

I actually was signing up for that website I think but you had to write some stuff on you and they were asking some insurance things I wasn't sure of so I was going to get back to it later.

Actually some guy called me from Real Time Freight. I asked aren't you the website with shippers direct? Yes he said and seemed indignant when I told him I had heard the rates were very low on that site. He asked if $2.25 a mile was low. I told him no and as I was driving he was going to call me back and have me log in with his password while he was on the phone.

Thumbrule, anytime you find a shipper posting loads, they are looking to haul it for cheap, not necessarily bone cheap, but cheaper than their competition not posting loads, if you can get Real Time Freight for free then sign up. They have several produce houses/brokers posting. I have used it before, some of my shippers use it.

OK, I'll throw in a different angle:

What if all the old timers educated the newbies on cheap freight, what it costs to actually run a truck, etc..

And told them how crappy and cheap some of these companies are(england, hunt, etc..)

If they worked for better paying companies, both company driver and o/o, what do you think would happen to rates?

Operating costs vary depending on how much fuel an individual truck consumes. Anywhere from 1.00 to 1.10pm. 1.15-1.20pm is not uncommon for a reefer. So a load paying 1.20pm would be nearly break-even.In other words,nearly zero profit. Nursery stock DOES pay well and runs pretty strong in the northwest during March thru May. Most of them have at least 5 drops,but they all come off very fast. I was able to get all 5 off the same day when I used to haul it. The broker that has those loads is Pacwest. Pepe,you may be able to use a vented van to haul those. The best way to get higher revenue living in Ca. would be to get a load going straight up I-5 to the northwest in March and reload with nursery stock going to the midwest. You should be able to average 1.80-85 for these turns depending on how much you deadhead. Pepe,it is all yours since that area isn't my cup of tea. :lol: I usually move the produce out of Ca. during the season with my reefer.

Merrick, I subscribed to Real Time for about a month or two. Everything I saw was very cheap. I don't recall seeing anything for $2/mile or more. Most everything I saw for a flat bed was around $1.30. I cancelled my subscription.

I'm new to this site, but not to others. This thread caught my eye and I wanted to post my experience as an o/o. In the interest of time I've provided a link to my experiences.

http://www.layover.com/forums/layove...-oo-80870.html

I know Gman I remembered you mentioned that before. He was supposed to call me back to day but never did.

[quote="GMAN"]What do you think about a flat bedder carrying his own forklift? I see a lot of the sod guys with these hanging off the back.

Carrying a forklift on the back of a trailer is a lot of extra weight. Unless it is something you need on a regular basis, I would not carry one. There are some brick haulers who also carry them. They mostly have then because they deliver to construction sites and that is the only way to unload them unless you want to do it one brick or block at a time. I don't know of any owner operators who haul them around. It is mostly company trucks and that is all that they haul.

For flats I would consider a side kit and perhaps extra tarps, especially a couple of smaller tarps, such as 16 x 20 or 16 x 16 if you plan on doing much LTL freight. Other than that I would carry hand ratchet straps, 3" or 4" and 2". I have kept as many as 10 of each on my truck. It is only extra weight unless you need them. I would not rush out and buy a lot of extra tarps and straps. The hand ratchet straps do come in handy and can be used a little easier than the larger trailer straps in some instances. You can manage without going out and buying a lot of extra tarps, etc., I would wait to see what type of freight I was hauling before going out and spending a lot of money on things you are not sure you will need. You can use the larger tarps, but the smaller ones are easier to use if you have several smaller LTL's that need to be protected.

GMAN, with a side kit, does it make securing a load more difficult or time consuming? What do the straps or chains attach to? I can never tell when I see one on the road.

RostyC...you beat me to the keyboards as I had almost the same question....

GMAN: What benefit does a side kit add over plain ol tarps. Also....what would you consider to be the better of the following two options and why...(1) a side kit or (2) a roll back tarping system like Roll-Tite?

The advantage of the side kit is that it is much faster than having to throw tarps. I have D rings inside my kit which may be used with chains or straps. Some have chains that drop into the trailer. I have those on my step deck. I can also put straps underneath the side panels, but don't like to do that if it is raining since there is a slight chance of spray making it's way into the kit. I usually only need to remove a couple of panels to load with a side kit. Another advantage of a side kit is that you can keep your chains, binders, etc., inside the kit. You don't need to pull them from your headache rack or side boxes and throw them on the trailer. They are already there. When I go in with my kit to load, I unhook my bungee's on one side of the trailer, throw the tarp to the side, pull the bows aside and take down as many panels as needed to load. Once loaded, I simply revers the process. I use my hand ratchets and straps a lot in my kit. They are much faster than chains. If I load steel, I usually use chains, but with other things I may use straps. The down side to having a kit is that they can be a pain to tear completely down and stow. You will need to take it down for some types of freight. I always keep tarps with me in case I need to tear the kit down. There are some types of freight which need no extra securement. For instance, I used to haul a lot of valves and pipe which were strapped to pallets. They fit snugly in the kit so there was no need to do anything else to them. If I didn't have the kit I would have needed to use straps. The shipper for which I hauled these mostly shipped by side kit. It was pretty much like loading a van. The only thing is that most receivers unloaded from the side, so I would need to take down panels on one side so that they could unload.

Any of the moving tarp systems would limit you as to what you could haul. Conestoga, curtain-side and Roll Tite trailers have their advantages, but limit you in some ways. For instance, you could not haul over-sized loads with them. You can buy a side kit for about $1,500-3,600. Most of the others I mentioned will run about $15-17,000 over the cost of your trailer. I am not too sure about the cost of a Roll-Tite system.

I rarely took down my side kit. It seems that most drivers whom I have had pulling it have kept it down more than up. Much of the reason is the type of freight we pull. Some driver prefer to tarp rather than dealing with a kit.

So what if I make more than you. I earn every penny. Its more than opening the back doors and bumping a dock :roll: And I never razzed you, even gave you options before you bought your truck. And there is no "lawsuit", so I'll leave it at that about claims. I could break things left and right and still do great.

I see lots of $2+/mi dry van freight on getloaded. In the demo, they changed it to loads with rates only and there is some good stuff on there. Theres stil garbage too, but its out there.