Sitting in Laredo, TX
 

All loads to Canada from here seem to be heading to Alberta only. They pay between 2 and 3 bucks per mile but then you're stuck in the tundra and will probably have to deadhead 1,000 miles back to US to get something decent heading towards my home in Ontario, Canada. What would you guys do in this situation? I can only move loads from US across the border to Canada and between any points in Canada.

I have changed the way that I do business somewhat the last year or so. I still won't haul the cheaper loads, but I may take a load that has a long deadhead as long as the rate going in will justify the rate. If you deadhead 1,000 miles and you only get 5 mpg, then you will need to purchase 200 gallons of fuel to get to a decent paying load. At $3/gallon you will need to spend $600 for fuel to get to your next load. Your truck will likely get more than 5 mpg, especially if you are empty, but it easier for me to calculate. If you can make enough going into Alberta and still have enough to have a decent profit after paying the fuel to get out, then it could still work for you. I don't think that you could come out by taking a $2/mile load, but at $3/mile it might work.

I was thinking along the same lines but I used my base cost per mile. During the Orientation we did this exercise and everyone came up with the number that would keep them fed and all the bills paid. Then you use your percentage pay to arrive at the GROSS revenue the load should pay. I think in my case it was 1.85 for gross (only because I'm still paying for the truck). It's 2300 miles from Laredo to Edmonton, Alberta. Plus - let's say - 1,000 miles deadhead. That's 3,200 miles. Times 1.85 equals $5,920 or $2.5 per mile for 2,300 miles. Funny enough that's what many of these agents offer to pay. If I use your method (fuel only for 1,000 miles; or $600 extra) than going to Alberta makes even more sense :)

Unless you have reason to believe that the freight situation will change, best take a good rate and figure things out when you get there. You'll be in the same situation but with a couple grand more in your pocket.

Until the last year or so I decided which loads that I would take based upon the average rate including deadhead. If it met my minimum haul rate then I would take the load. If not, then I would pass.

We all know that our actual cost of operations is more than the cost of fuel, but fuel is your major cost with most owner operators. If you can get $3/mile for 2,300 miles you will still have a decent week, even with the 1,000 deadhead miles. That still comes out to $6,900 for 3,300 miles with the deadhead added in. Granted, your mileage pay will suffer, but you will still make money. It will cost you a couple of days driving time for the deadhead, but you may find something with a shorter deadhead or get lucky in Alberta and find something that will get you out. Not likely, but it is always possible. In a situation such as that I feel that if I can luck up on a fairly decent paying load out of a dead area then I am ahead of the game. But knowing that I am going to a dead area I will get enough to make a decent profit going in because I know the odds of finding something to get out is slim to none. It would not make sense for me to take a load like that for $2/mile without something guaranteed coming out with a decent rate, but at $3/mile I would probably take it.

I don't know what happened but this thread locked too. I unlocked it. Will report it to to brass.

This is beginning to get annoying. Thanks for unlocking the thread, Ridge.

Tracer, it seems to me that you would be making a good trip if you could get that $1.85 per mile for the entire 3200 miles. Then if you were to get lucky and get a load with less than the 1000 mile deadhead, your just that much ahead of the game. To me, that's not really even a gamble since you know your going to make your minimum pay per mile for the entire 3200 miles. So, yeah, I would be looking for one of those loads for $6k. Negotiate as much as you can above that, then load, drive, smile :).

Your not in the best situation anyway since you HAVE to have a load that delivers in Canada. So, yeah, I would jump on it and run.

I'll second that! Let tomorrow take care of itself!

Roger that :) An agent just called offering to do a LTL trip to Northern Alberta - this time 2600 mi from where I"m sitting and there's another LTL that I can pick up on the way north and drop off BEFORE I hit Alberta. Added together, they pay pretty good.

OR: there's a VAN load that goes from here back to Ontario, Canada. I"m going to call them Monday and see if it might fit on my step. It pays just above my minimum $1.85/mi but it'd get me right next to my home.

Tracer,

Wouldn't it make sense to get a nice paying trip to Alberta, and then look for something out of Alberta going East?

Or is there just nothing going east out of Alberta?

Sam

Get out of Laredo. Imagine if the US got attacked and the last place you saw was Laredo?

I was offered four loads going to Alberta this week and another to Manitoba. Like you, but just the opposite, I can take loads into Canada and loads out, but not intra Canada. It is a hit or miss propisition, sometimes I get loads out of Canada, sometimes I bounce. Canadian drivers I talk to in the Edmonton area all seem to get loads.

I don't know how local drivers get out of AB, but each time I check our web site for loads, there's nothing, except for a couple of occasional loads going WEST, to BC. The only way to get out of that 'tundra' is to deadhead south into USA and then find something going EAST, to my area - Ontario, Canada. That deadhead can easily amount to 1,000 miles!

I told you that Landstar is sneaky... well the agents are at least. The main problem you are having is our using the loadboard to get you loads. Why not call some agents out of the directory that are located in Laredo, Houston, Dallas and Ontario and tell them your looking for a load? Thats how I got 80% of my loads and they always paid well. The problem is, the agents NEVER post good paying loads because the second they do, the phones blowup in the office for a few hours, just ask them, they will tell you the same deal.......

If I were you, I'd deadhead to Dallas or Houston and go get a load. Houston would be good for you because with the step your able to run jet-engines too..

Just my .02

Tracer,

Are you allowed to book your own loads if Landstar doesn't have one? Check out loadlink.ca

Not sure how much it is, but it's a Canadian based load board, I am sure you know of it, I think I have seen you talk about it.

Well, I almost made it out today :) but then the company that brought my load from Mexico across the border gave it to another carrier, which was a total surprise to my Agent. Back to the drawing board ... I left my phone number with 3 or 4 agents that work the area (one is from San Antonio, TX) so I"m hopeful. But this is probably the last time I've come to this dead-end Laredo. IL, IN, MI, OH, WI have much more loads for Canada.

Landstar used to have a large agent in Laredo that had a lot of freight, but that has been quite a few years ago. Sometimes it is cheaper to deadhead that sit. If I were you, rather than continue to sit, I would see if I could find something around Houston. There was a lot of pipe coming out going to Alberta that paid well.

Holy crap Tracer,are you still in Laredo....didn't you deliver there last Wed. ???

For gosh sakes man dead head out or something!sometimes you gotta spend a little to make a little.Beats sitting there for days with no prospects.

Those Celadon guys are sitting too. Some of them are CAD members.

As recent as a couple months ago, LS had van freight coming out of Laredo going into London. There's a LS guy on CDLofit that had a regular run AND a back haul out of London IIRC.

Well, I ended up deadheading to Houston, TX (350 mi) and taking a good paying load to Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 500 miles North-West of St.Paul, MN. Getting to Ontario, Canada might be easier form here.

When I was at Landstar, I did notice a lot of loads going from the Chicago area to Ontario. Most were automotive freight but paid well. I didn't do them because I did not have my passport........ something to check out.

Figure if you can run 1 load to chicago then 1 back, then once again, you will have a 4 day work week, be home 3days and prob make a good deal. Not sure if you have payments or not tho.

I am glad to hear that you found a load, Tracer. Most of the time, if I take a load to Laredo or somewhere near Brownsville, I don't hang around very long. I have previously done better coming out of Laredo, but if I don't find something in a day or two at the most I deadhead out. Usually, I will head up to Houston. I figure that is is cheaper to put 50 gallons of fuel in the truck than lose all that revenue sitting. Hopefully, you can find something to get you home out of Minnesota or MB.

I did get out of Laredo :) This was first trip, remember? I should have just taken one of those prime loads to Alberta but I was waiting for something going north-east, and then it was ... the weekend. That's why I spent so much time there. I called one of the agents who was active with Houston loads and he got me a load out of Houstion to Manitoba, Canada. I deadheaded to Houston, TX and picked up this 40,000 lb load going north into Manitoba, just 10 miles on that side of the US border. Paid pretty good. I then deadheaded back into USA, and shut down at the Petro in Fargo, ND. Will start looking for a load to Ontario or Quebec on Monday (tomorrow). Already sent a few emails to agents around this area.

I've been getting a lot of those offers, lately.

I actually saw an ATS truck delivering some containers to the same location in Manitoba. It's where they are building all those wind power generators.

That's what I'll do next time if I ever get back to Laredo. Landstar board now shows some loads in LA, and that's an easy deadhead out of Houston. Laredo is a dead end, unless you want to head out into Alberta tundra :)

Not much action on your twitter. What is LS policy on starting your blog again? BTW...did you notice the accent from the people in Fargo?

I don't think they have a policy, but they did say I wasn't allowed to use the corporate name on my business cards. I probably should ask them about blogging... Speaking of Fargo, I just had a great lunch at a Chinese Buffet restaurant on Main St. and I only heard the usual type of accent you notice at Chinese stores :)

Fah Rah Rah Rah Rah......

Ah you were in my neck of the woods! Delivered to Letellier? I was just in Fargo last night on a flight from Vegas. We made it from Fargo to Winnipeg in 3 hours.

There's not much coming out of Winnipeg. You're already too far to load here anyways.

That.........was one of the funniest parts of that movie. That was one of those out of breath laughs. GOOD ONE!:thumbsup:

That's why as soon as I dropped that steel in St.Joseph, MB I headed right back into US. The poor US border guy blinked a couple of times when I told him I had no plates on the truck :) but after a truck search and X-ray they did let me in, having found no weeapons or illegal aliens in the sleeper. I deadheaded to Fargo, ND and on Friday I'm picking up a load in Iowa that goes right next to my home in Ontario. 10,000 lbs of machinery, $2.41/mi gross. This will be my Load #3 with Landstar. BTW, I got this one from Internet - again. The Internet method didn't work so hot in Laredo, TX so this time I called all major freight brokers ("agents") working for Landstar in North Dakota, MN, and WI and ... nothing! Almost booked a load going to SK, Canada ($3/mi) but couldn't do it because my truck right now has no transmission :) Looked at the lOad board again this morning and - bingo! - some guy posted an IA load for Canada. It can be picked up as late as Friday afternoon. The gear that was supposed to be trucked in from Minniapolis, MN this afternoon failed to show up because the shipper chose "2-day delivery" instead of "overnight". The Fargo's International here says I should be ready to lock-n-load by Friday morning at the latest. It's 5 hr drive from here to my pickup in IA ... I hope to make it. Have to... because I already got the cash advance from the trip to help me cover the costly transmission repair :) This is the thing I like most in working for LS so far: as soon as you book a load, you can get up to 30% of the line haul imeediately on your Comdata. Great when you know you're going to be needing money, let's say for some urgent bills or repairs. It also helps to keep the motivation and morale in high gear.

I am glad to see that you got a good load. One thing to remember about Landstar is that their agents have freight all over the country. An agent may be in California and have freight in Massachusetts. Or he could be based in any other state and have freight in Canada. You may already know that, but I thought that I would mention it anyway.

Thanks, Gman, that's a good point but it only makes finding good loads harder. Now next time I'm stuck somewhere I won't know who to call :) But actually - no, I know: I'll use their "Lane Match" tool: it'll show what agents have had most loads out of the area in the past 1 to 6 months. And you're right: it doesn't matter where they're physically. What matters is the area of the country they're ACTIVE in.

He is correct, I always booked loads with agents in completely different states. Just look at the board and get the agent codes with loads coming out of the area, not just agents IN that area. Also, the freight lane match works well too

Is this the same gear in your tranny. :)

No, this is a different transmisison all together, has more gears and lasts around 85-100 years without overhauling.