I used to be proud

davekc · May 1, 2009

piper1 said:
It's posts like this that make me glad you are back Greg..

Haul the freight at a rate you can live with, if you think the rate is low DON"T TAKE THE LOAD!! Just because somewhere in the accounting books the customer paid a lot more doesn't mean you deserve it. Every division of a company needs to take their cut, just like a load that has gone through a few brokers before it gets to you. Bottom line is the decision to take the freight at a given rate is yours.....nobody else.

Just playing the devil's advocate, Why indicate paying a percentage at all with your theory? You are saying if a customer paid more, you may not necessarily deserve it.
By what and who's measure? If you decide you don't deserve it, should you be paid based on your contractual percentage regardless? Just curious, but I understand what you are thinking. With depressed freight/rates, I think you will see more pass-throughs as carriers try to maintain their previous profit margins. I agree that it applies to brokers as well.
The downside for operators is you wind up running for less in these cases because others will run for so little.

DougTravels · May 1, 2009

As far as rates right now. A good friend of mine drives a non expedite TT for a co. He told me they are having trouble getting anything over a buck a mile for 30-45,000 (maybe more, I forget what his capacity is) lbs in a 53 ft box.

As far as % or mile rate, I believe part of the problem like Dave said, is not knowing if you are the only one taking the reduction. Example if you are contracted at 1.20 (old # I know) and they get 2 bucks (again I know) they don't give you extra, but when they get 1.50 they want you to take less. I like the % deal now , I hated it at first, in fact I left for 4 months because of it. Then I was with a carrier where you just wondered (No disclosure just stuff like 93cts mile allin) how much they were making when they offered you that cheap rate.

As far as asking for statment of billed amount, I believe most companies won't tell you NOYB (in their mind). It is a tough situation. If alot of CO's are running it through a sister CO. to show a lessor billing amount, I believe that is unethical and borderline Illegal, If you are contracted on %.

I guess the bottomline for me is, be with a carrier that you trust, or that will give you billed invoices. If you don't have either one than you can only wonder if they are cheating you.

highway star · May 1, 2009

If you run for percentage, they're obligated to show you the bill if you request it. The folks you run for seem to be pretty straight up, I doubt it'd ruffle their feathers.

piper1 · May 1, 2009

davekc said:
Just playing the devil's advocate, Why indicate paying a percentage at all with your theory? You are saying if a customer paid more, you may not necessarily deserve it.
By what and who's measure? If you decide you don't deserve it, should you be paid based on your contractual percentage regardless? Just curious, but I understand what you are thinking. With depressed freight/rates, I think you will see more pass-throughs as carriers try to maintain their previous profit margins. I agree that it applies to brokers as well.
The downside for operators is you wind up running for less in these cases because others will run for so little.

I guess my thinking is that as contractors we get the final say in whether we haul the freight or not and in that we control our destiny that way. If you have a percentage contract it likely says that you will receive X percent of what FXCC (or Panther, Bolt etc) is charging. For example, If I pick up a load that is me finishing off an air run, I know that I am surely not sharing a big portion of what FedEx Express got paid, I would be sharing in the contracted percentage that Custom Critical was paid by FedEx Express. If the customer got charged $10,000 and CC got paid 400 to finish the load so be it and It doesn't bother me one bit. I still get to decide if for the miles required if my cut of the $400 is worth it for me. In a company the size of FedEx with all the divisions it has we are bound to get loads that have originally belonged to another division (I think business geeks call it synergy). It is also completely fair that each division involved gets it's cut. If FedEx Freight initially had the load, they incurred some expense in getting it (sales, office staff??) even if it ends up being 100 % handled by a CC truck. If we as contractors accept those loads at what CC is selling them to Freight at 1) we get the load and 2) Freight will always try to get that price or lower. It seems crappy because in FedEx's case, we all have the big F on our trucks are we not the same company? The answer is no, they are all separate divisions trying to earn as much as possible so that when they report to the big F mothership (Fred) they can show that they are profitable businesses. If it really ticks you off that each division gets a cut before you get yours, you could go independent and try and sell your services to one of the high dollar FedEx divisions, They may use you too if you are the best deal for them!

In the Fed"s case, if you got blue decals on your truck you work for Custom Critical, and will be paid whatever your contracted rate or percentage with them is on the loads you accept.

It all boils down to who is the customer Custom Critical is hauling the freight for, you get your cut of that. The customer is not always the guy you see when you pick up or unload the freight!

And thanks Dave, devil advocate all you want, I had to think about this one a bit before I typed it!!

greg334 · May 1, 2009

Thank you Piper and Dave.

Wow, when you think about it, we talked about favoritism and how things actually work, is it me or are we finally having realistic conversations about the company?

Maybe the brownies are seeing the light?