Quote:
Originally Posted by merrick4
Just want to add that it is also confusing on who is paying for these trucks. For instance I was in Delaware one time picking up corn and I was asking questions and he said sometimes they hire trucks but as I was picking up for Publix, he said they always obtain their own trucks (me through CH Robinson).
Then you have third party buyers, like right now I picked up apples in Washington and it's for Country Fresh,but I think they distribute to others.
I screwed up in Washington, cause I really got to talking with those kids in the office and I was asking on the harvest times and if they have work all year round. But I do this as I am by nature very curious but I need to put that curiousity to work now. The big question like how many loads you send out a day and stuff like that and leaving my name and number or even getting theirs I didn't do. I have to start doing that.
Shippers vary in size, we are all competing for the same freight. I am not 100% against brokers, but if you want your loads to go smoothly 98% of the time you need to be hauling shipper direct. When you go into a place to load, ask how many trucks a day do you load? ask the loader who to talk to to get some of those loads, get the address and mail that person your flyer with all contact info including fax and email, they will contact you with available loads. Also you can mail flyers to both shipper and consignee on the BOL (they wont tell the broker). If you mail 25 flyers and get 8 contacts to give you freight, you only spent $20, you can stay busy with the 8 contacts and use brokers to move you back to your shippers. Look to do more regional work versus long haul OTR. Maybe make it a point to only run I-95. You have to figure that out.