Bolt express is a freaking joke...ruining our business

[moose]

. Expedite loads should go for expedite rates, no matter how many of them are being run together. .

You can't go to the store , buy food ,and pay for it with a novel statement .

to the point at hand ,
yes , it is up to the driver , to run a profitable business.
Dallas ,is a known Expedite pothole , if you are smart , you only take loads there that pay more then your set rate , that practice will allow you to get out with a lower rate , and even out .

 

[Zoli]

Yeah. I have run some cheap ones. But they were pieced together with other ones. One of the companies that I work for finds it easier to snag two loads going in the same direction at cheaper rates than it is to try and get full rate for a single load. Once again, I am the driver and I allow them to load me this way (upon occasion). I am being part of the problem too!

Please,please do not take cheap ones!!!!! Van rates are unusual low already ,we don't need it to go lower! In my opinion anything that goes under 70 cents + fuel it's unacceptable..... You must refuse the cheap ones! In this way in one year from now we will run for 55 cents per mile instead of 85....

 

[CharlesD]

You can't go to the store , buy food ,and pay for it with a novel statement .

to the point at hand ,
yes , it is up to the driver , to run a profitable business.
Dallas ,is a known Expedite pothole , if you are smart , you only take loads there that pay more then your set rate , that practice will allow you to get out with a lower rate , and even out .

I guess I should have clarified something. I won't take an actual expedite for an LTL rate, but I will take an LTL for an LTL rate, and there's plenty of LTL out there for the taking. If I get stuck somewhere, I can usually find a pallet or two that isn't that critical and will pay my fuel for a relocation. I will haul those for .50 or less, but I won't bid an expedite load that cheap. An expedite load should never go that cheap, period, and if it does go that cheap it ceases to be an expedite in my book. At that point, you can forget about exclusive use or running it straight through in anything like a timely fashion. If I'm running it like an expedite, I'm going to get paid an expedite rate, or I'm going to park my butt there until I get something that pays an appropriate rate for the type of freight it is, even if I'm in Dallas.

 

[buckeyewildman]

ouch apperently i was leased on with a joke for 3 years granted i am no longer with them but i would reccommend them to any one in the 3 years i had 2 loads at cut rate once was a load out of laredo which paid me .56 a mile i had been sitting there for 4 day and i just wanted to get the hell out of there it paid my gas going home and the other one was a load out of quebec going to maryland i did,nt feel like sitting in montreal over the weekend and if i remember that paid me .64 @mile i think tj has been sitting in the hot texas sun to long or something fried his last few brain cells does bolt have cheap loads sure they do but i think so does every other carrier my avg. was well over .80 @ mile anyways tj i hope you feel better

 

[chefdennis]

As Turlte said, my Company is me, not the carrier that finds my freight. As Letz said, I turn freight down that isn't what I want, it has to benefit me and no one else...And yes i sat in dallss for 2 days total, 30 hours in service last week and turned 2 loads down because of the rate...I don't care what copmoany you are with, how long you are with them or if you are the preieced "choosen son" or not, dispatch will try to get you to take cheap freight to get you out of spots that are slow, no matter what they have in the bid....

As with Rlent, i have run freight for everybody out there, from fedex to panther to prestiage...big and small carriers...because they all bid on the same freight off the same boards and alot of times they don't have a truck to haul it, or here is a shock, their own drivers turned it down....now i have only been doing this for a little over a yr, but i can say that in most cases, companies are paying the partener carrier more then their own drivers to haul freight they get and don't cover with their own truck, and thats not just from my point of view, other drivers from other companies have stated the same thing after taking the same run another driver for another company had turned down..

The other thing to keep in mind is that no matter who you drive for, the long you sit in one location, most often, the load offers are going to continue to come in lower each time you turn one down and wait...they figure that at some point, you will take whatever just to get out.....6-9 days in the same location is insane......

As Rlent said, i'll show you my fleet vison anyday, i have twice in the last 2 weeks when i was told by others that Bolt is the cheapest compnay out there...yeap, they will offer you cheap freight, just as all other carriers will, its your decision to turn it down or take it based on whatever reason works and benefits you. And as far as Bolt ruinning the industry....I guess most all drivers out there must be driving for Bolt but running other carrier names on their trucks, we all hear it in here all the time that freight is too cheap, so with the statements that Bolt is the one causing this, you all need to fessup that you are all really driving for bolt and they are really the biggest carrier in the industry and are controling ALL of the cheap freight everyone is complaining about......

You are a nice guy TJP, but as Xiggi said, it might be time to DH out of there.......And a few of us know that you DO NOT haul freight for E-1, but your carrier isn't the biggest of the small carriers either, i have heard good things about them, but letting you sit for as long as you have in the last 3 weeks in dallas, should tell you , that they don't get much freight out of there.......so what they do get even if not a partener load has a better chance of being cheap, or 150 mile DH to mcallen.......

 

[Darmstadter]

The way NLM scores carriers isn't that complicated. I have a copy of their CE (Carrier Excellence program) that a friend of mine sent me. On time performance makes up half of the score. As turtle stated, it is linked to how many NLM shipments you handled (how many shipments you handle outside of them doesn't factor in). From the way it looks, if you handle a low # of shipments and have one late--yeah it's gonna hit your score pretty hard--just the way the math works. The other half of the score comes from 10 or so service failures--anything from late updates to communication problems, etc. The only way that the carrier's bidding comes into play is that they can get bonus points for saying yes to a certain % of shipments offered to them. Carriers can also get bonus points for being 100% on time (based on the number of shipments handled.

If you are with a carrier that does a fair amount of NLM freight---why not ask them if you can see a copy of NLM's CE program? What is it gonna hurt for you to see it? You can always use the argument that if you understand what is being scored, it will only help to make sure you're providing the service the customer expects.

 

[Darmstadter]

Almost forgot:

As far as Bolt goes--I'd use a popular saying around these parts:

"Don't hate the player, hate the game."

I understand your frustration though.

 

[simon says]

I have been trying to tell people: stop working for no-name, no-freight companies, who live off the crumbs that others cannot handle. Vote with your feet and leave...

 

[CharlesD]

I have been trying to tell people: stop working for no-name, no-freight companies, who live off the crumbs that others cannot handle. Vote with your feet and leave...

Those big carriers had to start somewhere, and most of them were where I am at one point. How did they grow to where they are today?

 

[Tennesseahawk]

You're way off the mark on some of this stuff, and a lot closer to some of it than people will admit. But, you were doing fine until you said it was illegal to bid NLMI and then broker it out. The word "illegal" means something very specific. It means not legal, it means in violation of the law. Now, if you know of a federal or state statute that makes bidding on NLMI and then outsourcing it to be illegal, please cite the statute. Otherwise, calm down, because your rage is what is causing you to be off target. Games are being played, to be sure, but not necessarily the kinds you think. Outsourcing NLMI bids is risky as all get out, but it's not illegal.

Actually Turtle, I believe it is illegal to double broker (there's another name for it I forget), without consent of the original broker. Since NLM doesn't usually condone it, then it would be illegal.

Yes, this is a problem in the industry... brokering out just to make a buck. In some cases, however, it's a way to get loads covered. My company prides itself on double brokering; and have a reputation of being able to get nearly every load they handle covered - at a fair rate. In this case, however, I have to agree with the author... bidding just to take a cut, then pass off the scraps to some poor shmoe is just wrong.

Those of you who defend your company's practices, but have no idea what goes on behind the curtain... that part of the business isn't shared with you for a reason. Not saying Bolt is doing this, but I know it is going on... and it IS destroying the business. But ultimately, it is the one accepting the rate that is the problem. No one made YOUR company take freight for 40 cents.

 

[Dakota]

All carriers do this, one reason freight rates are so low, bad for us but good for the shippers
If we don't have a Ceva truck to do the job there is a list of 30 or so places they call to get the job done
For Ceva I do alot of Towne Air/Rocket, Bax/Schenker, Panther and a few Express 1 runs. Everyone bids on these loads and shares the work. This is part of this business and Bolt shouldn't be blamed.

 

[aristotle]

One hour ago, I turned down a cheap load. Deadhead of 160 miles, loaded miles equalled 502. Total pay offered was $350. Of course, I said "no, thank you."

Dispatcher curtly says, "Fine, I will move on to the next truck."

I don't know why they ever call me with the cheap stuff... I will always say no until my minimum rate is offered.

Just to clarify... the example given above was all inclusive. The total pay of $350 included fuel surcharge.

 

[Pilgrim]

A few random thoughts:

• As has been stated before, the way to correct this rate problem is for drivers to refuse freight with cheap rates. There will always be exceptions to this rule - .45/mile + fsc for a cargo van to get out of Casper, WY might sound pretty good if you've been sitting there a day or two.
• I assume the .40/.45 rates stated would also have fsc added - that's really cheap if that's not included
• Which brings to mind, are there any carriers that DON'T pay fuel surcharges? I've seen some pretty cheap van rates in the .65 to .70 range mentioned lately but they all seem to have an fsc attached to them

 

[guido4475]

As far as high pay per mile is concerned, most of my van loads pay close, if not over, $1.00 per mile.Sounds great, right? I had 1-280 mile load in the past week and a half, so does it sound so good now? No.So sometimes (I can't believe I am saying this, after preaching against this all these years) More is not better.I get load offers all the time, but I can't begin to tell you how many cancellations I have had, or loads we just didn't get because of someone cheaper out there.The bottom dollar will dictate over everything else now and days.

 

[LDB]

One thing to consider that I didn't see mentioned (but might have missed in scanning topic) is fixed costs. My fixed costs are $32.945 per day. What are yours? (I don't really want to know, just pointing out that you should know what it is). If you are sitting and get an offer on Tue. of 650 miles at 55 cents a mile and say no becuase it's reduced rate and wait till Thu. to take a 650 miler at 75cpm then you made the same money after you paid your fixed costs. Oh, but wait! What if you'd have gotten another load on Wed. or Thu. from the delivery point of the Tue. 650 miler?

I'm not saying you should say yes to every load. I'm saying that once in a great while in some locations it's better to take the first half way reasonable offer that gets you out of there and into a good area, regardless of what size unit you are in.

 

[greg334]

Leo,
You are right. Daily cost is something that a lot of people don't figure. It gets me to hear this "don't take cheap freight" when I am sitting in a place that I can DH out of at my expense or take something at 60 cents a mile to get me moving.

Many people forget that the truck/van sitting still makes no money.

As far as Bolt, they are not affecting my business doing this, to be exact that's alright because I can take that 55 cents a mile drum of paint, stick it with the two 45 cents a mile pallets which is right next to the 60 cents a mile bin of parts. So what if they deliver within 150 miles of each other, it still works.

The other thing that many still look at is what they do every day or week, it is the month that counts, not the week or day.

 

[Dakota]

One thing to consider that I didn't see mentioned (but might have missed in scanning topic) is fixed costs. My fixed costs are $32.945 per day. What are yours? (I don't really want to know, just pointing out that you should know what it is). If you are sitting and get an offer on Tue. of 650 miles at 55 cents a mile and say no becuase it's reduced rate and wait till Thu. to take a 650 miler at 75cpm then you made the same money after you paid your fixed costs. Oh, but wait! What if you'd have gotten another load on Wed. or Thu. from the delivery point of the Tue. 650 miler?

You have a good point there. Fixed cost is important!!!!
Every day I sit is another Motel room charge when I am OTR
Also most of our business is M-F so I run my fixed costs on a 5 day work week. It makes the number scary and higher but is what is realistic.

 

[Jefferson3000]

Theyre bidding on everything even if there arn't Bolt Trucks to do the loads, Ive heard other instances of this happening a lot lately, I never said anything cause i've never witnessed it, but now I have...And its wrong!!!

It's never wrong if they are a broker. If they can move the load, it's money in their pocket. By the way, if they are a good vendor to NLM, NLM doesn't care, as long as they get the loads covered.

So help me understand: Are you a leasee with Bolt, or another carrier?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

It's never wrong if they are a broker. If they can move the load, it's money in their pocket. By the way, if they are a good vendor to NLM, NLM doesn't care, as long as they get the loads covered.

So help me understand: Are you a leasee with Bolt, or another carrier?

tjpohio44 works for a small independent....

 

[Jefferson3000]

tjpohio44 works for a small independent....

Well, then you have every right to turn it down. No one can make you run a load for that price. More likely, Bolt put up the load on their bid board and it was the partner who bid that .45 rate. Some companies play auction more than others. If there are way more trucks than freight out of Dallas, then expect that the bidding will be cutthroat. Bolt may not have even been awarded the load when they put it out, so some things are still contingent.

This is a free market society. You're welcome to run it for .45, and you're also welcome to take your chances and sit in the heat a couple more days until something better comes along, like .65 per mile.