Freight and Rates
 

Since we haven't discussed rates and freight availability lately, I thought that it would be a good time to see how everyone is doing with both. I see less freight advertised or posted. Rates are still up and down, mostly down from what I have been seeing. I am heading out tomorrow with a load that pays fairly well. I can haul as much as I want with these people through the end of the month. It may be a problem getting back to the freight, but we shall see. These loads were not posted, as far as I know. I am not receiving as many notifications on good paying loads, but I don't need that many. I seem to be having more difficulty getting back than out. The number of loads is down, but part of that can be attributed to the time of year, but I think much of it may have to do with the general sluggishness of the economy. With what is going on in Washington, some companies are waiting to see what is going to happen with Obamacare and the new taxes that this bill brings. I should say that I could be more busy than I have been lately. It has been my choice to spend time at home to take care of some things.

From what I'm seeing, open deck trailer freight has been fluctuating wildly. I've seen loads posted on the boards and booked in minutes for laughable rates, but if I wait and make enough phone calls, I can usually get something that pays moderately well and sometimes what I actually want. It still looks to me that we are stuck in a period of zero growth. I will say this, I've had more and more brokers comment on our safety rating while we are discussing a rate (our CSA scores are close to 0 and our ISS score was 32, last I looked), and I'm wondering if they are actually starting to look for a quality carrier instead of just the cheapest truck they can find. Another thing I'm catching more and more brokers doing is posting the same load ten different was. It used to just be Total Quality Logistics and Eastern that did this on a regular basis, but is seems to be catching on, so you really can't believe the Transcore demand and capacity reports anymore. Sure, 10,000 "loads" might be posted and booked in a couple hours, but how many of them are duplicates? More than the load boards would like to admit, I bet.

Hey there GMan,

I wanted a little more info from you about lanes and rates. I saw a thread you posted back in July about this same topic and another member:

firebird_1252 replied:

"my lanes have been dead all year. had maybe 2 good weeks this year. however, the "dead" lanes seem to be busy and decent paying. i'm noticing when people are booking loads cheaper i'm getting calls that the truck "fell off" the load. and i get a call to see if i'm still around."

Your reply to that was:

"I have had to change the lanes where I run completely the last year."

What are these lanes and rates that you're speaking of?
Is it a particular area or state?
Does this mean Independent Operators are only allowed to run freight around a certain protected area?

Thank you...

I believe at that time I had been running the northeast, mostly I-81. Freight became slow and rates dropped, so I had to look for other lanes. I found freight that paid well going into Texas. These were mostly over sized loads. They paid well enough that I could deadhead back to grab another load, but I usually was able to find something coming about 200 miles from my good paying loads. I was traveling I-20. That dried up after a few months and then I had to look at different lanes again. More recently, I have been seeing some rates over $2/mile going to the northeast, but few going into Texas that pay over $2/mile. I spoke with an owner operator that I know who recently hauled a load out of Florida for $1/mile. I won't haul anything that cheap. When the economy is soft it takes more effort to find decent paying loads. Finding better loads requires flexibility. I have known some owner operators who only want to run a certain area of the country. I have always followed the rates.

It has been more challenging recently with the storms. Rates that might have worked during other times, didn't work for me due to getting stuck in a bad area with a snow storm. I don't tend to talk much about my personal rates on a public forum, but I don't mind talking in generalities and what I have observed. I mostly deal with personal contacts that I have established over the years. That helps when the economy is down. But, I am always open to new opportunities. I will say one thing, however. The best paying load that I have seen recently paid over $7/mile. That may sound good, but it was over 13' wide and required escorts.

Thanks for the response and I did not intend for you to expose any real numbers of your financial gain, please forgive me on that.

I just hear so much about lanes and rates that i am confused by what it actually means. I live in Tennessee, so I'm just trying to get the "bearings" on which way to move. I mostly deal with dry van and I know this freight is everywhere. But just like all other freight, there's hot and cold spots. I can now see what you're talking about with how you handled getting in and out of areas that can keep you paid with what you're used to.

Thanks....

what i've learned about this business is that what works for one dont work for another. just gotta find your own way.

If you base in Tennessee, you may do better running north and south. I know one agent that told me that he did much better running I-75 and I-65. He was based in Nashville. I run open deck freight and my best lanes may differ from someone pulling vans or reefers. I know one agent who has good paying freight out of Texas for vans. His rates have mostly been in the $2/mile or better. That is a good rate coming out of Texas. It takes time to build relationships with shippers or brokers. I will tell you something that I have done for many years that helps me. I keep a record of any contacts that I have made. I make notes concerning rates, freight lanes and my experience with them. I now have software which helps keep track of them. There are some brokers who have cheap rates or that I won't do business for one reason or another. It would mostly be due to them lying to me or not being completely honest with me. I also make notes about payments and credit. When I go to an area, I first check my contacts and if nothing is available, then I go elsewhere.

I think I will keep my dedicated run with my dry van. 643 miles roundtrip, $1400 a round, 10 rounds a month. 0 deadhead miles and home all the time.

The details which are shared are very clear and informative.

logistics service providers

for my first year, I used Internet Truckstop as the load board for finding my loads. It's what the companies I was leased to gave me access. When I got my authority, I tried using OOIDA's Members Edge from Transcor. End of January, I sat down and took a hard look at my numbers. I noticed two things. I had better gross income off of ITS and the fact I wasn't paying someone else a percentage of my loads was masking that point.

Just a financial point of interest I found.

Talk about a cushy gig! GJ on finding that one!

Curious if you are still doing this or if someone's cut your rate yet...

Still doing it and have been for 3 years now. I am in pretty tight with the customers on both ends. It is food grade and they have trouble with some of the junk trailers other carriers bring in. They refuse to load about 75% of the trailers. They won't load a plywood lined trailer, trailer with any odor, trailer with any dirt.

I haul the finished good to a warehouse near Joliet Il and bring back ingredients which come in from New Zealand on containers.

I pick up the finished goods 30 miles from my house. The company where I pickup at is owned by the company in New Zealand where the ingredients come from.

Service is everything, they don't have to worry about my trailer conforming to their standards. I am only 30 minutes away if they need something in a hurry. If they need ingredients and don't have the finished good to send over I deadhead over and they pay me the same as loaded. They do that so I don't contaminate my trailer with some other product. They don't have to worry if I will be there or not. I have the pass code to get in the gate at the warehouse and I am sleeping backed into the door when they come to work in the morning.

I unload and load on the home end at 8:00am and usually back home by 10:30am. I stay home until around 3:00pm and head over to Joliet and get there about 9:00pm and back into the door. They come to work at 7:00am and usually have me unloaded and loaded by 9:30am and I am back home by 4:00pm

I raised them $25 each way on the first of the year because they wanted me to raise the value of my cargo insurance. The extra insurance raised my premium $200 a year.