Goofy Loads

[layoutshooter]

Anyone else been getting goofy load offers? Like WG loads with all the trimmings that only pay $1 per mile? Last 4 load offers have been that or less. We are home so we won't take loads like that. In fact we hardly ever take those kind unless it brings us home after we have been out for a long time. Strange. Layoutshooter

 

[ATeam]

After driving overnight, we delivered this morning in New England, went to sleep and were woken up four times with load offers. Two of the first three paid over $2.00 per mile. The one that did not involved a lot of deadhead but still paid well enough to accept.

We turned them down because Diane has a dental appointment coming up and we need to end up close to an airport from which Diane can easily fly home and back to the truck. A fourth offer came in that we accepted. It puts us close to a good airport and also pays over $2.00 per mile.

The bad news is the load picks up on Monday and delivers Tuesday. Diane will fly home on Tuesday for her Wednesday appointment and likely return to the truck on Thursday. In other words, between now and Thursday, we will haul one load.

This is why 2008 will be a lower-revenue year than 2007. Going home, even for a short time, means spending money to get there and giving up loads to the time we lose.

Back to your question, we sometimes see goofy loads, but so what? We turn them down and don't give them a second thought. This is nothing new. There are always a few stinker loads in the mix.

I have no idea why they are there but they always have been. I am 100% clear in knowing that dwelling on the stinker loads is a good way for contractors to drive themeselves nuts. Turn them down, and don't give them a second thought.

I gave that advice to a long-term veteran a while ago who was discussing stinker loads with me. He quickly said he did exactly that; turn them down and not give them a second thought. But he grew silent when I pointed out that the load he was talking to me about just then was an offer that had come in weeks ago. Not only was he giving the offer a second thought, he was running it through his mind over and over again for weeks.

You do not succeed in this business by focusing on what does not work. You succeed in this business by focusing on what does.

As long as there enough loads to keep us busy and profitable, I could care less how many stinker loads they send our way. We are not goin to accept them, so why think about them, except for the moment it takes to turn them down?

 

[layoutshooter]

I agree but I have NOT ever seen 11 in a row. That is how many we have turned down since Friday. It will turn around. We too have had a rough year outside of the business. Home problems etc. Now we have been out for a week with a dumb repair. Oh well, 2009 will be here soon. Layoutshooter

 

[ATeam]

Even with 11 stinker loads in a row (we have never seen anything close to that), I would not worry. If you cannot afford to run them profitably, it is not likely that someone else can. The desperate people who take unprofitable loads will put themselves out of the business. Shippers who try to get by on the cheap will learn that they get what they pay for.

Now if the load is a stinker to you because a lot of deadhead reduces your pay per mile for all miles driven, it may not be a stinker for someone else who is closer to the pickup. That is a different matter driven by your location and not the price of the freight. If the offer is being widely distributed, it probably means there are no trucks in the area of the pickup.

Loads like that present opportunities for counter-offers. If dispatch is reaching out to you to cover a load at a distance, telling them how much you need to profitably cover the load may turn a load refusal into an accept.

 

[layoutshooter]

Not worried, just a little surprised. Some had a lot of dead head some did not. We are at least at home so waiting is a lot easier with home cooked meals, a clean shower and your own bed.

We have an appointment on the 11th with Morgan to go over the specs for the new box. I am quite sure we won't lose our cargo box to a hurricane two years in a row. What a year this has been.

I only asked about the loads because a couple of friends of mine have seen the same thing over the last two days. These appear to be van loads. Are they being dispatched to all trucks under the new system? That would account for it. It is a bit hard on the acceptances stats. Not a primary concern but we do like to keep them up. Layoutshooter

 

[ATeam]

I know what you mean about the acceptance stats. Last year we were proud as could be about our acceptance percentage. This year it has declined, perhaps because of the new system, perhaps because more bad loads are being offered. But the new system does not change market forces.

People who run non-paying loads will weed themselves out of the business. Shippers who try to get by on the cheap will learn that you get what you pay for. These things do not happen overnight but they do happen in time. Keeping yourself in a financially strong position enables you to turn down loads that do not pay and accept those that do.

Now, let me say I already feel nightcreachure's breath on my neck. So let me point out that a short run is not a stinker load. We take short runs if the pay is good. A stinker load is a load that does not pay well per mile, not a run that pays a little because the run is short. We take our share of short runs and are happy to do so, as long as we can profitably run the truck on the run.

 

[layoutshooter]

We run on the same idea. We don't like to take too many short loads in a row unless they pay very well. We once got stuck in CA running one day loads that paid good per mile but it was a pretty bad week in the end. It is not always an easy call. The best of this bunch we turned down was barely over 1 per mile and it went to Canada. Would have to dead head out most likely which really drops the overall pay. Things will come around, we just have to get past the next 2 months. Lots of things coming up to hurt our bottom line but we will be in good shape to start the new year. Layoutshooter

 

[TeamCaffee]

There are two ways to look at short loads. What do you need a day to move your truck? Often a short load will more than pay what we want for day pay.

We have our figures of what we want per mile to run and also what we need per day to run. We do not care if the load is ten miles often that is over what we need a day to move the truck so we jump on that load.

We also seem to be seeing loads with long dead head which brings the total pay down but like Phil we refuse them and go on. We have found that in certain parts of the country we turn down many loads due to total pay and then we get out west and we turn down very few.

I do not think as of yet you can look at your percentages and see what your refusal rate is as we are still running on two systems. We cannot see yet how many load refusals have been counted against us.

Joe, I do feel for you as it is very disheartening to turn down a lot of loads in a row. With the new load opps we turn down many more then we would have before and even at times feel like cherry pickers. Part of this is we are seeing so many loads we would never have seen before which is a good and bad thing. We now know that freight is moving as we see the load opps instead of wondering if we have dropped off the face of the earth.

With the decrease in FSC the load offers have went down some as last I looked fsc was .25 a mile for us down from over .40 not long ago. Of course with that our fuel cost have went down significantly.

In October our average cost of fuel was 3.21 and in June our average cost of fuel was 4.58. A lot of that savings is due to using the TA discounts and as the result we can accept loads that do not pay as well as they did in June.

 

[layoutshooter]

WE have noticed the drop in the FSC as well and I know that it accounts for some of what we are seeing. We look at short mile loads the same way that you do. We have a good idea what we need to make per day, more important to us, than what we need per mile. A $4 dollar per mile load that is only 100 miles and ties up the truck for the entire day may not always be worth it. One has to be flexible in this business. Every run gets vetted on many things.

I am seeing A LOT of "B" loads showing up. I think that accounts for most of what I have seen in the last 3 days. Under the old system we rarely seen these van loads and I was under the impression that turning down a load that was for a truck 2 sizes smaller than yours was not counted against your stats. If that was the case they still need to not count these van load turn downs against us. I can hardly start my truck for $.80 per mile let alone run 500 miles at that rate. I might take a load like that if it was taking me home or to a better freight area but I don't think I would take one like that very often while I am warm and comfortable in my own house. The owner I used to drive for had a saying that I tend to go by. Not a hard and fast rule, but close to that. It was: Never leaver the barn with cheap freight. Things are changing out there every day. Most everything is changing except my fixed expenses. This business is always in flux and we have to be quick on our feet to keep up with it.

Layoutshooter

 

[nightcreacher]

I load in morning,even with 360 miles to pick up,im still at 1.76 for all miles,and my dead head to layover should be small,if I go where they tell me,but im not fond of Trenton