Low Paying Load Opps

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
I do not know Phil why that is unless we run to cheap?

Doggie Daddy what was the dead head on those loads?
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
I do not know Phil why that is unless we run to cheap?

Are you saying you are accepting loads like the ones Doggie Daddie listed above?

If so, the first accept would, in most cases, keep you from seeing the rest and quiet C-Link. That may be the explaination, if you are accepting such loads. Are you?
 

MYGIA

Expert Expediter
Owner/Operator
Is anyone else getting inundated with low paying load opps?

I have not kept track of all the opps, but we have had at least 20 with rates below $1 per mile. Many way below.

Yes, and on a regular/daily basis....as many as 17 yesterday. And in the same price range as you referenced above. Then the real kicker is a great paying load- good miles/good $$$ comes out and you can't run it legal due to limited availabe hours. My reaction: URRR!!!!!!!!!:mad:
 

MYGIA

Expert Expediter
Owner/Operator
Why does that matter,we still have to run all the miles,so that is how we figure ALL of our loads $xxx for ALL miles.

I agree. It is total miles and total pay. It doesn't matter to me if I DH 10 miles and move a load 300 or DH 300 and move a load 10 miles. If the money is right for the total miles I'll do the load. If the money isn't what I need or even close, I decline the load.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
I agree with you dead miles are always figured into our total miles and PPM.

I was just wondering how far out they were looking for trucks to cover loads? What I wonder is does FCC need to be recruiting more trucks so they can position trucks better to be closer to loads? It seems as if the dead head is getting excessive which can only mean that there is not enough trucks to cover the loads.

If though we are sitting on the load and the pay is that low then the agents are taking to cheap of loads
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
MORE trucks? Won't that just drive down the rates further? What don't I understand? I understand covering loads, but more trucks? Leaving trucks sitting for days in dead areas is one of the problems.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
The way I look at it the reason the load offers go out so far is they need trucks in more areas. The dead head is what is getting to us.

It appears to me since we cannot pre plan emergencies or loads there has to be more trucks to cover the area or the other choice is to dead head them in to get the load.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Yeah, I guess that is it. I don't get all the "A" loads we are offered, not every day, but when they do there a lots of them. One dispatcher called and asked us why we would not take a load at .70 per mile. Then got upset when I said there was no way I would take it for less than $1.75 per. I thought she was going to cry. It was strange.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
I was just wondering how far out they were looking for trucks to cover loads? What I wonder is does FCC need to be recruiting more trucks so they can position trucks better to be closer to loads? It seems as if the dead head is getting excessive which can only mean that there is not enough trucks to cover the loads.

If though we are sitting on the load and the pay is that low then the agents are taking to cheap of loads


You have the same C-Link we do, so I would think you could answer your own question. We see a mix of both. WG loads tend to go cheap because of too much deadhead but there are many surface expedite loads that are cheap when the pickup is right next door.

Military loads used to be a no-brainer accept because the money was good but that seems to have evaporated. We now refuse more military loads than we accept because the pay is insufficient.

See this for another case in point. I don't understand why a competing expediting carrier can pay significantly more money for loads from the same shipper that pays government-mandated rates when our carrier seemingly cannot. Where did the money go that used to be in the military loads and that former FCC contractors now see again with their new carrier?

More trucks might be part of the solution but it was not a truck shortage that took the money out of milatary loads, produced the new dispatch system that drove contractors away and thinned the ranks at dispatch. Nor did a truck shortage produce the flood of money-losing loads we now see.
 

layoutshooter

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
We too have been refusing most of the DOD loads we have been offered of late. We take one once in a while when it pays right but most don't of late.
 

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
We are close to the company as we make it our goal to know everything we can about how our company works and how the policies work.

The more we know and understand how the system works the better we can position ourselves for the next load.

The thread is started by a person that is probably 60 miles from an Express Center and wondering why there is dead head on loads or the offers are low?

I am also frustrated over the low offers, the long dead heads, the time of day the load is offered, and also the repeat load offers of the same load. I choose to try and do something about this within the company and have my voice heard.
 

dieseldiva

Veteran Expediter
The thread is started by a person that is probably 60 miles from an Express Center and wondering why there is dead head on loads or the offers are low?

This response doesn't hold water as we are IN Richmond, an express center, as I'm sure you know.

As for the rest of your post....no comment.
 
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jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
The thread is started by a person that is probably 60 miles from an Express Center and wondering why there is dead head on loads or the offers are low?

We were a little bit away from St Louis and we did get a load picking up from that express center. However, most of the opps we were referring to came from 200-300 miles away. Most of them from Memphis.
We are now in Memphis getting low paying opps for pick up in St Louis.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
I am also frustrated over the low offers, the long dead heads, the time of day the load is offered, and also the repeat load offers of the same load. I choose to try and do something about this within the company and have my voice heard.

Thank you for being honest about your frustrations. I too have tried to have my voice heard. I am not unknown at the company, an unskilled communicator, easily dissuaded, unfamiliar with corporate ways, or lacking in activist skills. However, there comes a time when the truth must be recognized and I have concluded that unless I want to scream really loud, start some serious fires, and put my career at risk, the more prudent course is to give up on the company and haul what freight we can for as long as the opportunity lasts.
 

jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
When I first started this thread it was just to see if this was only happening in certain areas or all over the country.
From the replies it seems that there are a lot of frustrated contractors.
I don't think the problem is a lack of trucks. We are in Memphis and there are 2 C's and 8 D's checked in.
So far we have been offered 2 loads today.
1st at 87 cents for 1040 miles with a DH of 521 miles.
2nd at 92 cents for 480 miles with a DH of 370. (WG, RAD, HAZ)
We would have taken either run if the pay per mile was higher but we can not afford to run our truck at those rates.
I am thinking that there are too many trucks (at least in a given express center) for the available loads. The law of supply and demand states that if supply goes up prices will have to come down.
Are there too many of us out here? I don't just mean FedEx CC, I am thinking all companies.
I thought since the economy was "improving" there would be more demand and the prices would have to go up.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Other companies are advertising and contractors with them are reporting much higher rates than those listed in this thread. Something significant has changed and it is not the supply of trucks. If it was truck supply, rates would be low across all companies.

Regarding my post above, I want to also add that the reason Diane and I stay with FedEx Custom Critical is our belief that a serious, CSA-induced driver shortage is coming that will raise recruiting and retention competition to intense levels and, hopefully, motivate our carrier to recognize that for a company to be successful in the long run, its contractors must be accepted as something more than a necessary evil. We are holding out for a return of the win/win spirit that we experienced in earlier years.
 
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