As you can see this is not the time to get finiky about where the freight takes you and what the rate per mile pays (within reason)! I do understand that it takes a considerable amount of money to operate a straight truck and a tractor trailer. But you guys have the option of chasing down your own freight, whether they be LTL loads, or loads brokered on the load boards at the truck stops. You guys in the bigger trucks can afford to take loads into dead areas simply because you have more resources available to you to find backhauls. But the guys in cargo vans do not have the same resources available to them to be able to find backhauls. Yet cargo vans are cheaper to operate and deadheading out of a bad area into a profitable area is not as expensive to do in a cargo van. So there are positives and negatives with each one of the different vehicle sizes that we choose to operate.
Now, we have to look at this situation in a very critical manner. Times are much different this year from that of years in the past. The sheer volume of companies competing for a shrinking pool of freight means that we are now operating our businesses in a shippers market. Something as insignificant as a late pick-up, a bid that has to be turned back over to NLM, a dirty truck, a poor attitude at the shipper, or a customer not being able to get a "mini" covered despite the fact that Panther has trucks in the area. Remember, these shippers can log onto the Panther website and check to see how many available trucks there are in the area! Simple things like this can cause a shipper to give their business to another carrier (and we all know that there are many carriers who will gladly take that business away from us if given the opportunity).
This is not the time to turn freight down. I'm not telling anyone to go bankrupt accpepting loads, but to turn down a load because it is paying 50 dollars less than you would have made under your contracted rate is just dumb. Refusing to take a load into a so called dead area is also a bad idea. Remember, there is always someone willing to take that load. We also have to take into account that our companies are thinning down their own profit margians in order to keep us alive out here. My friend at Panther just took a load that paid his truck 85 cents a mile and the shipper showed him the winning bid "guess what winning bid was...85 cents per mile!"
Also, one of the companies I worked at and will be returning to work at has taken a 10-15% pay cut across the board to their bottom line. The office (owners included) have taken a pay cut in order to be able to bid lower on runs and hold onto their most valuable asset; their owner operators. There is no conspiracy, your company is not waiting for higher paying loads while you rot away in a parkig lot. But your company is not going to go all out in a bidding war, take a hit to their bottom line, and do whatever it takes to keep your wheels turning, if you are just going to refues the load and make a "mockery" of their efforts.
I have worked with a few different companies and I can count on my two hands the number of loads that i've turned down in the past 3 years. I have found that being dependable is the best thing you can be to a carrier. If a carrier can call you up at 2 in the morning and get you rolling on a 400 mile run without hesitation; who do you think they will call? I have been called at 1 in th emorning, merely hours after I have laid down, and been in the truck "cup of coffee in the cup holder" rolling towards pickup by 1:15 AM.
I am always up for making money, because money is what I got into this business to make. Do I like waking up out of a dead sleep to head to a shipper; not particularly. But then again, I love to make 300 bucks for 7 hours worth of work. The poor schlep at McDonalds doesn't even barely make that much money for a weeks worth of burger flipping. I will give you one more examply of what the word dependable means. When I was at Express 1, I was offered a 350 mile load out of Tustin California. This particular load was turned down by the team they had sitting in Ontario. I was sitting at home and ready to go no matter what they sent me. Well, I ended up taking the load to Phoenix and guess what? It was not 2 hours after I dropped that load that I had a load picking up in Nogalas AZ goint all the way back to Detroit MI. I guess the team who refused that load because "it wasn't a team run" had to wait in Ontario for another week! So, keep this one word in mind when you are operating your business "reliable" and you will do just fine out there.
As I stated in the first paragraph, bigger trucks have more versatility to take loads into bad areas, cargo vans have lower overhead and can afford to deadhead out of bad areas, and everyone can make money for themselves and their carriers by keeping up their acceptance ratings. As for the holiday traveler "your days are numbered" this job is for people who are willing to do whatever it takes to service the customer. Expediting is not a job; it is a lifestye. We all chose to get into this business. It doesn't matter why. The only thing that matters is that we are here now and we must contend with the situation that we are in. We must do whatever it takes to keep moving and to get our carriers name and reputation out there as being the best. We have to make our companies dependable again. This can only be done by serious drivers; the drivers who can perform their jobs to the highest level of performance that this industry demands.
Now, we have to look at this situation in a very critical manner. Times are much different this year from that of years in the past. The sheer volume of companies competing for a shrinking pool of freight means that we are now operating our businesses in a shippers market. Something as insignificant as a late pick-up, a bid that has to be turned back over to NLM, a dirty truck, a poor attitude at the shipper, or a customer not being able to get a "mini" covered despite the fact that Panther has trucks in the area. Remember, these shippers can log onto the Panther website and check to see how many available trucks there are in the area! Simple things like this can cause a shipper to give their business to another carrier (and we all know that there are many carriers who will gladly take that business away from us if given the opportunity).
This is not the time to turn freight down. I'm not telling anyone to go bankrupt accpepting loads, but to turn down a load because it is paying 50 dollars less than you would have made under your contracted rate is just dumb. Refusing to take a load into a so called dead area is also a bad idea. Remember, there is always someone willing to take that load. We also have to take into account that our companies are thinning down their own profit margians in order to keep us alive out here. My friend at Panther just took a load that paid his truck 85 cents a mile and the shipper showed him the winning bid "guess what winning bid was...85 cents per mile!"
Also, one of the companies I worked at and will be returning to work at has taken a 10-15% pay cut across the board to their bottom line. The office (owners included) have taken a pay cut in order to be able to bid lower on runs and hold onto their most valuable asset; their owner operators. There is no conspiracy, your company is not waiting for higher paying loads while you rot away in a parkig lot. But your company is not going to go all out in a bidding war, take a hit to their bottom line, and do whatever it takes to keep your wheels turning, if you are just going to refues the load and make a "mockery" of their efforts.
I have worked with a few different companies and I can count on my two hands the number of loads that i've turned down in the past 3 years. I have found that being dependable is the best thing you can be to a carrier. If a carrier can call you up at 2 in the morning and get you rolling on a 400 mile run without hesitation; who do you think they will call? I have been called at 1 in th emorning, merely hours after I have laid down, and been in the truck "cup of coffee in the cup holder" rolling towards pickup by 1:15 AM.
I am always up for making money, because money is what I got into this business to make. Do I like waking up out of a dead sleep to head to a shipper; not particularly. But then again, I love to make 300 bucks for 7 hours worth of work. The poor schlep at McDonalds doesn't even barely make that much money for a weeks worth of burger flipping. I will give you one more examply of what the word dependable means. When I was at Express 1, I was offered a 350 mile load out of Tustin California. This particular load was turned down by the team they had sitting in Ontario. I was sitting at home and ready to go no matter what they sent me. Well, I ended up taking the load to Phoenix and guess what? It was not 2 hours after I dropped that load that I had a load picking up in Nogalas AZ goint all the way back to Detroit MI. I guess the team who refused that load because "it wasn't a team run" had to wait in Ontario for another week! So, keep this one word in mind when you are operating your business "reliable" and you will do just fine out there.
As I stated in the first paragraph, bigger trucks have more versatility to take loads into bad areas, cargo vans have lower overhead and can afford to deadhead out of bad areas, and everyone can make money for themselves and their carriers by keeping up their acceptance ratings. As for the holiday traveler "your days are numbered" this job is for people who are willing to do whatever it takes to service the customer. Expediting is not a job; it is a lifestye. We all chose to get into this business. It doesn't matter why. The only thing that matters is that we are here now and we must contend with the situation that we are in. We must do whatever it takes to keep moving and to get our carriers name and reputation out there as being the best. We have to make our companies dependable again. This can only be done by serious drivers; the drivers who can perform their jobs to the highest level of performance that this industry demands.
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