Getting a percentage instead of flat rate

[TeamCaffee]

Wondering how many of you on percentage rates use something like truckstop.com to check rates in certain areas of the country?

Do you expect the same rate or minimum rate no matter where you are?

Do any of you pay to belong to any of these services?

 

[rollincoal]

I have a subscription to DAT Power and access to the company's ITS account which is also a broker's package (not just the basic ITS subscription). In the 5 years I have been working spot freight I have never bothered with what DAT or ITS said the average rates were on lanes. It never enters consideration on any load. I couldn't even tell you what they say those averages are on my lanes.

To me the most valuable and important information to keep track of every day are load volumes, truck postings within 100 miles of me, and load to truck ratios. Incoming calls or lack thereof are a big indicator also. I consider rate info from DAT and ITS to be untrustworthy and not reliable although representatives of those companies will swear by it.

 

[TeamCaffee]

rollincoal that is what I was wondering about thanks for your reply. What I have seen so far is that expediting had to many variables on the load boards and is lumped in with other stuff such as LTL.

 

[redskunk]

We do not normally consider what part of the country we are in when determining what rate we will run for.

We look to accept loads that pay what we need to cover our expenses plus what we consider our pay. If the load requires addition services or difficulty we will factor that into what we ask for as well.

We will run cheaper if the load is taking us in a direction we want to go e. g. towards home. Other considerations include if we are in an isolated part of the country, or some place where a lot of trucks are sitting waiting to get loaded.

 

[TeamCaffee]

redskunk do you consider rates when going to remote areas of the country where there is little chance of getting out besides dead heading?

 

[BigStickJr]

We do not normally consider what part of the country we are in when determining what rate we will run for.


We will run cheaper if ............we are in an isolated part of the country, or some place where a lot of trucks are sitting waiting to get loaded.

Huh ?

Will my IRT decoder ring work on other's posts ?

 

[rollincoal]

Lots of brokers try to pass off expedite for LTL. From what I've seen it usually isn't brokers who specialize in time critical services doing this. The carrier/brokers represented here on EOL that I have worked with aren't like that.

 

[BigStickJr]

Isn't what most expediters are doing really just LTL ?

 

[Steady Eddie]

Huh ?

Will my IRT decoder ring work on other's posts ?

No! But your OVM DECODER should work fine.

 

[jjoerger]

I expect to get more money going to a bad location and less money coming back.
I've never heard of those services and I don't pay to belong to anything. (Never even paid for an app) If it's not free it's not for me.

 

[rollincoal]

Isn't what most expediters are doing really just LTL ?

No. Not similar at all. LTL has up to a week to get where it needs to go so you can piece more freight with it. Expedite is time critical delivers ASAP so pays full truckload, actually better. Now a customer may decide to ship as LTL. Some LTL service is quick. I suppose there too you get what you pay for mostly. These shysters selling expedite as LTL are robbing and cutting rates. And the customer wonders why their shipment shows up late mixed with other LTL when they paid exclusive use pick/deliver ASAP FTL, or ST, or Sprinter, etc.

 

[redskunk]

Yes we would ask for a higher rate if we were going to a remote area like Montana. After delivery we usually wait about 24 hours before we decide to DH to a better area.

 

[BigStickJr]

I didn't ask for a definition of expedite freight. Which you described very well.
I asked if most here really run LTL thinking they are expediting.
Beach bums trip with an extra week. Expedited ?
The guy that hauls the Monday thru Friday one pallet that picks up at 07:00.
I'd say most here aren't even hauling time sensitive stuff.
They're picked because they're cheap and the dock to dock /exclusive use cuts down on pilferage and damage.
The one pallet loads paying more than truckload ?
Not hearing that too often anymore.

 

[Lawrence]

Isn't what most expediters are doing really just LTL ?

LTL can be time critical, making it expedited. In fact, most expedited freight is less than a truckload - meaning it can be a small package or 3 or 4 skids, etc.. Is LTL expedited? Only if it's time critical and exclusive use.

 

[rollincoal]

............

 

[rollincoal]

If I'm doing spot LTL the delivery date will be determined by me. I'm sure though that many LTL companies offer different levels of service. Not exactly certain how that works but I do know they pretty much have set rates they go by classifications based on size and weight.

And there's always someone out there somewhere with a critical need having to pay FTL or more on a small shipment. Of course they exhaust all options and likely not as much of that as in the past with all the excess capacity out here. But those kind of needs never really go away. They just get covered by the first available opportunistic carrier and you never hear about it. Loose lips sink ships.

 

[ATeam]

LTL can be time critical, making it expedited. In fact, most expedited freight is less than a truckload - meaning it can be a small package or 3 or 4 skids, etc.. Is LTL expedited? Only if it's time critical and exclusive use.

Every load we did in our straight truck was LTL in the sense that it did not fill a semi trailer. With rare exceptions, every load we did was exclusive use in that the entire truck was dedicated to that load. Not every load we did was time-critical.

When we moved from FedEx Custom Critical to Landstar Express America, we learned that many of the loads we carried were not that urgent. The urgent, straight-through delivery times FCC imposed were imposed by FCC (automatically calculated by a computer), not by the shipper. While the freight was exclusive use, it was not time critical in the shipper's eyes. We continued to call ourselves expediters but much of the freight we hauled was not truly time-critical.

It mattered to all shippers that the small, exclusive-use load got on the truck, but once it was there, it did not matter to a good number of shippers if it was delivered the next day or the next week.

 

[Ragman]

I would venture to guess, about 90% of my loads are not truly time sensitive, as most are scheduled days in advance for pickup.

 

[ATeam]

I would venture to guess, about 90% of my loads are not truly time sensitive, as most are scheduled days in advance for pickup.

That raises an interesting point that goes to the original question in this thread. Drivers do not have visibility into the true urgency of the load. Shippers and brokers certainly consider the urgency when booking trucks for various services at various prices but how does a driver know before the pickup how urgent the load truly is?

While you often find out at the pick up or during a dispatch conversation, can true urgency info be determined by looking at a load board alone? To the extent that urgency affects price, it's an important question.

 

[ATeam]

I would venture to guess, about 90% of my loads are not truly time sensitive, as most are scheduled days in advance for pickup.

On the other hand, Ragman, while many expedited loads are scheduled days in advance, the nature of the freight makes them time sensitive once it is on the truck.

An example would be a custom-made gear needed to get a big crane back in service. The load is scheduled days in advance while the gear is being made. Once it's on the truck, it's important to get it there ASAP. Another example may be a run booked days in advance in anticipation of a certain chemical is being produced and the special tank to transport it is being prepared. Once it's on the dock, it becomes vital to the shipper that this load get delivered straight-through.

Another interesting example is full truckload produce that is time critical but not especially high-value. It's exclusive use in that the entire truck is dedicated to the load and time critical because the produce will spoil if not quickly delivered. In that sense, is a load of lettuce an expedited load?