Deadhead Home vs. Waiting it Out

[PreacherRich]

Hey All

Three weeks into my expediting career and questions keep coming up. I drive a one ton cargo van.

Do many of you have success getting weekend loads?

Does anyone have a rule they follow about deadheading home over the weekend vs staying put and waiting for a load.

How long will you wait in one area before driving to an area you know to be better getting a load?

Put 7000 miles on in the last 3 weeks and WAY TO MUCH of that has been deadhead.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Hey All

Three weeks into my expediting career and questions keep coming up. I drive a one ton cargo van.

Do many of you have success getting weekend loads?

Does anyone have a rule they follow about deadheading home over the weekend vs staying put and waiting for a load.

How long will you wait in one area before driving to an area you know to be better getting a load?

Put 7000 miles on in the last 3 weeks and WAY TO MUCH of that has been deadhead.

Any advice would be appreciated

Over 25% deadhead?....

Marginal areas...I give the day of delivery usually 24 hrs and start looking around....

Expediting has been quirky to say the least...non producing areas have been producing and traditional lanes not so good...mainly because there are way too many of us fighting over the table scraps....

Experience over time will be your best gauge of what to do...when to move or not to move....
Do your best to ask for DH money when talking with dispatcher....get them to toss on 20-30 bucks for your fuel...

over 50% DH...turn it down....while your wheel are turning you are losing money....those extra miles will cost you in added maintenance costs....

 

[ebsprintin]

You're talking about a huge balancing act with all sorts of variables. Weekend loads and stuff like that are very much location, seasonal, carrier and luck related. The type of vehicle you drive also matters.

Some rules to try and tweek. 200-250 miles from home, stay out. Don't start heading home until Saturday morning or noon. If home is a good freight area it may serve as a good place to get your rhythm back if things get slow. If home is a bad freight area, find a different place to hang out for the weekends.

Forget about trying to be creative in your first three to six months with a carrier. Run all the loads they send your way and move when they suggest a move. By six months you should have a good idea how their system works. At that point you have a record to compare any experiments to. Start to experiment without a foundation of experience invites floundering.

eb

 

[OntarioVanMan]

You're talking about a huge balancing act with all sorts of variables. Weekend loads and stuff like that are very much location, seasonal, carrier and luck related. The type of vehicle you drive also matters.

Some rules to try and tweek. 200-250 miles from home, stay out. Don't start heading home until Saturday morning or noon. If home is a good freight area it may serve as a good place to get your rhythm back if things get slow. If home is a bad freight area, find a different place to hang out for the weekends.

Forget about trying to be creative in your first three to six months with a carrier. Run all the loads they send your way and move when they suggest a move. By six months you should have a good idea how their system works. At that point you have a record to compare any experiments to. Start to experiment without a foundation of experience invites floundering.

eb

Well said EB.....

There is no one size fits all in this business...no real rules...
Example: I have great luck out of KC and Dallas...while others go there to die a slow death....

 

[paullud]

I have averaged 1 weekend load a month and don't DH home on the weekend. When deciding to stay or go I use past history or if I am completely unsure I PM chefdennis since he knows Bolt's running lanes because of his experience. The length of time I wait depends on where I am and how much the DH will cost.

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[purgoose10]

Your first six months to a year in this business is like someone not leading a duck enough when shooting at them. Your just behind and trying to catch up. You have to ask a lot of questions of other drivers and operators in your company about traffic lanes. If you can watch the load board on the your site. I know most don't have that. Next time you get to your home office talk with your main dispatcher, sit down with him or her and get to know them and them know you. It's all politics. If they like you and you do a job where your on time all the time, not complaining at everyturn they will help you. Yes some dispatchers just don't get it. It works both ways. All the posts prior to mine make a good point, listen to everyone.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I have averaged 1 weekend load a month and don't DH home on the weekend. When deciding to stay or go I use past history or if I am completely unsure I PM chefdennis since he knows Bolt's running lanes because of his experience. The length of time I wait depends on where I am and how much the DH will cost.

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Paul...if you are only say 250 miles from home that is what 30-35 bucks in fuel....How much to stay out? I'd be at home in a flash...

 

[fastman_1]

Deadheading home I'll spend a tank of fuel to get home if I've been out for at least 2 weeks.weekend loads are far and few for me.

 

[purgoose10]

Paul...if you are only say 250 miles from home that is what 30-35 bucks in fuel....How much to stay out? I'd be at home in a flash...

That's what I'd be doing. Not only that but 5 hrs or less from the house, by the time you think about it your unlocking the door to the house.

 

[paullud]

Paul...if you are only say 250 miles from home that is what 30-35 bucks in fuel....How much to stay out? I'd be at home in a flash...

Agreed, I might plan a quick vacation depending on the last time I was home but I would need to be within 250 miles. Other than that I will stay out for a few months and try to get a load closer to home.

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[PreacherRich]

You guys rock, lots of good info. Just got a load, be back on soon!

 

[jaminjim]

Get a Mentor!

 

[tbubster]

If I have been out more then two weeks anything up to 300 miles from home and im there.If more then 300 to me its not worth it.Living just out side stl it is so so getting a load out.Some times its on mondays once it was thursday befor I got back out.To me it really depends on what home time means to you to make it worth it.

 

[asjssl]

For me living in SW Michigan is no problem getting loads from my house ...so I don't ever think twice of going home....me it is usually if I am with in a tank of gas....but then if I'm stuck in a bad area I just go.....my phone rings of the hook @ home...tend to be a little picky.....

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[chefdennis]

Everything posted above has been good advise...Your carrier can be a asset or deterent to you getting home in alot of situations. Some carriers have the mindset that contractors need home time as often as possible, My carrier is like that and sincebeing with them, I have had more home time then I really need, lol and my wife really doesn't like me that much anymore so it can be good and bad!!

In the past, i would stay out 21 days and then head home. Now that being said, if i was 4 hrs or 250 miles from home and i hadn't been home in more then 10 days, id head home. Now, I average being home at least every 10 days if not more often...my carrier is within 45 mnutes of my home and they have alot of freight going to their yard, which gets me home..I don't go out of service unless i have plans, so it might be just a day or 2 home then a load out...

Now all of that being said, I also have a few places that i enjoy staying at over a weekend and if there is no freight, i have been known to DH 300 miles for dinner!!!...It all takes time to learn the how your carrier works and where they get the bulk of there freight from.

1 thing you might do that will help you decide if you stay, move or go home...use your atlas and mark WHERE YOU PICK UP AT...when you start to see a location that you get more freight out of then where you are sitting after unloading, then make a decision...do you stay put, head to that location (within reasonable distance, or do you run past it and head home??...

Time is your best friend right now...As has been said, right now take whatever they offer you that is profitable based on your needs and gain experience and keep track of everything, in 6 months to a yr, you will then beable to make decisions based on your experience with your carrier....and as was said, find that mentor and ask...

So with all of that being said, change carriers, and you can start all over again!!!

 

[leezaback]

I live in Florida, when we need an attitude adjustment, we put it in the wind-extremely rare we were given a load into FL.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

Depends where we were, how long we had been out. His personal experience led him to know if he didn't get a run by 6 pm Monday through Friday or 2 pm Saturday, it was more than likely not going to happen. Only once in the last year did he get a 9 pm call out of Kentucky to Austin, TX.

Most times if he didn't get a run by 2pm on a Saturday, he would go OOS til Monday. If we were in Indianapolis, Chicago, Cleveland and had been out more than 10 days, we'd head home (SE Michigan). If we were farther south, we would take the time to sightsee and hold on until Monday. He took a load to Naples, FL in June knowing full well Florida is hard to get out of; we had been on the road 10 days. He went OOS for 3 days as a mini vacation, as I had never been to FL or the ocean. He took me through the Everglades via Hwy 41, to Key West and Miami Beach so I could swim the Atlantic. It depends on your personal tolerance and patience level.

We know an expediter who won't wait. He may get a load from SE Michigan to Nashville on Tuesday, and if he has nothing by noon Thursday, he starts heading home. He just got burned AGAIN, he left Antioch for home at noon last Wednesday. Three hours into his deadhead home, he found out he would have had a load from Smyrna, TN to Farmington Hills, MI had he only waited. He always calls Jeff to complain how many loads he misses, LOL. Jeff always tells him the same thing about waiting just a little longer...but it falls on deaf ears.


"Bruises fade and bones will mend-but a psyche can be ruined FOREVER" : LisaLouHoo, c. 2008

 

[mjmsprt40]

I'm in an outfit where it doesn't pay to wait. I clean up, I call in, and they tell me to head back. I can count on two fingers the number of runs I got coming back in the past six months.

Now, I'm starting with a new outfit (along with the one I'm already with) and they seem to have some indication they may have other freight as well--- but so far, the same game plan applies. Clean up, call in, start steaming back--- with calls along the way "just in case".

Reason this works at all: I'm based in the Chicago area, and there seems to be sufficient freight to support this kind of operation. Otherwise, I have to agree with OVM. Almost half of your miles being DH is not one of the better ideas.

 

[tumbleweeds]

We get weekend loads about one out of every three weekends. We almost always deliver on a Saturday morning and then wait. We have only been home once since May. Except for a couple of drive throughs while we were loaded and we just picked up the mail at midnight and kept running. If you are in the main freight lanes, weekend runs are likely. If you are in an out lying area, you might want to move in closer. We write down every load in our book and refer back to it often to see where we have the best luck for where we want to go. Keep good records and they will pay off in the future. We also talk to every expediter we can find when we are parked to get ideas of better areas. Gather as much info as you can and write some of it down for future use. It has helped us alot.
Good luck and best wishes.

 

[PreacherRich]

I guess the more I read and study on this it is a matter of personal preference and how much money you are comfortable spending on deadhead.

Right now I am in nashville and have been for 24 hours, I see a ton of vans sitting in a row waiting for loads, I have been playing with the idea of heading toward bowling green/franklin where there shouldn't be as much competition for loads. I just dont want to be "that guy" that leaves 30 minutes to early.

One person mentioned in a previous post that I should get a mentor. Anyone out there want to take that on? I am three weeks into my expediter career and currently running with 3 different companies, plan on getting by own authority in a month two, get some local accounts with shippers to get me off the porch, then use load boards and these other companies to get me around and home. I know that it may not be as easy a I outlined, have a ton to learn and am willing to change everything i am doing to be successful. So if anyone has had success heading down that road, send me a message and I will get you my phone number.

The advice here has been awesome, thanks all.