ground-pound
Active Expediter
A 20' dry box.....is 1.5 per mile a good minimum?
Any big straight trucks dare say what their minimum rate is?
- Thread starter ground-pound
- Start date
Including FSC or not? Any "special" requirements or equipment?
Daffyduck528
Expert Expediter
That's a very broad question. Usually I have a certain minimum, that carries with it a little grace if needed (again multiple factors in that grace needed part) and that also depends on the truck I'm driving. Also, if I am trying to get home, say an emergency or something urgent, I may run with whatever is offered if it's going in the right direction with no negotiation and even in that scenario it would depend on how far away I am. If I'm within a 1000 miles I may be less likely to take a low offer home than say if I was in Seattle, 2500 miles from my home. And even that number again could change if it's a reefer load, because it's easy to be upside down on a reefer load if you low ball it. Lol. All that to say it's a rather complicated question.
ground-pound
Active Expediter
Yes, leased to a carrier.
just 20' dry box (no bells and whistles)
Just a general question...yes I understand that being desperate to go home would drive price down.
let's try this question a different way....what minimum should I charge so that I'm not low balling myself and other teams out here.
just 20' dry box (no bells and whistles)
Just a general question...yes I understand that being desperate to go home would drive price down.
let's try this question a different way....what minimum should I charge so that I'm not low balling myself and other teams out here.
ground-pound
Active Expediter
And yes ALL miles loaded and empty...when i said 1.5 per mile
Daffyduck528
Expert Expediter
A good way to gauge your idea is to just charge it and see if you get it. If you don't then you know your too high. If you get every load easily then you know your too low.
There is no way to use another persons rate per mile as none of us have the same bills or circumstances.
For some a 1.50 is very high and others cannot afford to run at that rate.
Use OOIDA's sheet to learn you cost per mile and use it. If you are on a percentage rate then I would also consider using averages to figure what you need per mile as every run does not have to be a home run. Also consider what it costs you to sit as fixed expenses keep marching on.
Figuring Cost Per Mile, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
If attending the Expedite Expo there are couple workshops that will address this issue and help people to understand how to figure rates and also to understand their fixed costs.
For some a 1.50 is very high and others cannot afford to run at that rate.
Use OOIDA's sheet to learn you cost per mile and use it. If you are on a percentage rate then I would also consider using averages to figure what you need per mile as every run does not have to be a home run. Also consider what it costs you to sit as fixed expenses keep marching on.
Figuring Cost Per Mile, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association
If attending the Expedite Expo there are couple workshops that will address this issue and help people to understand how to figure rates and also to understand their fixed costs.
ground-pound
Active Expediter
That is a good point, I know all of us have different bills.
Basically what I am trying to do is take a market survey, and see if I can get a better idea of what is going on out there.
Again, maybe everyone doesn't want to share.....that's understandable.
Basically what I am trying to do is take a market survey, and see if I can get a better idea of what is going on out there.
Again, maybe everyone doesn't want to share.....that's understandable.
It's not ONLY about the "bills". It's also about how much is your time, in other words, you life worth.
Rates have to keep up with certain realities, like the inflation we are seeing, increasing cost of health care, fuel price increases. Higher costs for repairs. etc etc. You cost per mile seldom ever goes down, it almost always increases. As payments go away, repairs increase, you have to be making enough to replace the truck, assuming you intend to do that.
There is a lot to it, that goes way beyond trucking itself.
Rates have to keep up with certain realities, like the inflation we are seeing, increasing cost of health care, fuel price increases. Higher costs for repairs. etc etc. You cost per mile seldom ever goes down, it almost always increases. As payments go away, repairs increase, you have to be making enough to replace the truck, assuming you intend to do that.
There is a lot to it, that goes way beyond trucking itself.
Daffyduck528
Expert Expediter
That is a good point, I know all of us have different bills.
Basically what I am trying to do is take a market survey, and see if I can get a better idea of what is going on out there.
Again, maybe everyone doesn't want to share.....that's understandable.
And you have to remember your asking on a forum that has a lot of variety in it's members. Some of us have $30,000 trucks and some of us have $250,000 trucks. Some are leased on to a sole carrier like fedex, landstar or panther and some of us are completely independent and broker their own freight. A $ per mile is going to be vastly variant in this crowd.
As a rule in my dry box surface freight we only accept loads that pay a minimum $1.55/mile loaded and $1.05/mile unloaded including fsc plus assessorial charges for things like hazmat. The least we will accept a load for period is $175. And I bet you could get at least that as well with certain carriers.
But that's my dry box. The reefer is a whole other story.
ground-pound
Active Expediter
Thanks for the input.
Here lately seems like rates have fell way down.....but maybe company is just trying to keep us rolling through bitter July..lol
the company system is not really designed for lots of negotiations. ..but I think I will have to be more aggressive with letting them now about our minimum "wage"
Again...thanks for participating in my thread here.
Here lately seems like rates have fell way down.....but maybe company is just trying to keep us rolling through bitter July..lol
the company system is not really designed for lots of negotiations. ..but I think I will have to be more aggressive with letting them now about our minimum "wage"
Again...thanks for participating in my thread here.
That's an interesting rate plan. How did you come up with it?
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Daffyduck528
Expert Expediter
Oh... Just ran it by my senior analysts and an outside consulting firm. It seems to be what most drivers wanted. Who'd have thunk it?
I've adopted the exact same rate plan.
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So, 1.30 all miles. 1.55 + 1.05 = 2.60 <2 = 1.30 all miles. That's a little below average !!!!
Daffyduck528
Expert Expediter
That's true, but we don't usually get a 50/50 split of dh to run miles so the average $/mile is usually higher than $1.30 and when you factor in accessorial fees that rate goes higher as well. A 500 mile hazmat trip to Canada with 50 miles of dh would be $1.83/ mile. Of course most of our canada loads are longer so a 1500 mile canada load with 200 mile dh and non haz load would be $1.55/mile. Plus, if you run in the prime expedite freight lanes you know that the dh is minimal.