More Things to Learn in Your First 90 Days

[catshavestaff]

Now that we've been driving for all of 2 months we've gotten a taste of fuel prices and costs, load rates, DH miles, and such...so the question is this: How can we improve our bottom line by manipulating the factors under our control?

We use a GPS program for routing.
We have to pay for our own fuel, and so try to shop for the best price wherever we are.
We try to drive 55mph wherever possible, unless we've got to make up time due to weather, traffic, etc.

What can we improve on?

 

[jaminjim]

1. One way is to read and understand Leo's post on "Whose $20 is it"

2. Another one would be always try and deliver early, always.

3. Don't eat in the truck stop as often. After all PB&J is the truckers best friend.

4. Always try and pickup early.

5. Track where you get loads the earliest, and where they come with the longest dwell time and try to stay out that area.

6. Stay in Service.

 

[ATeam]

You are asking a great question. It's one that all expediters of all experience levesl should continually ask on an ongoing basis.

An area to focus on is load strategy. Which loads do you accept? Which loads do you decline? Under what circumstances do you deadhead to chase freight? How much importance do you assign to carrier numbers like availability and acceptance percentages? Etc.

The best tool for forming a successful load strategy is a detailed run journal. If you have not already done so, start a notebook or spreadsheet that documents your run details. Our carrier (FedEx Custom Critical) gives a run journal to every new contractor. More can be purchased as needed.

The more details you track, the better. Include things like the dispatcher's name or initials, time of day the offer was made, day of week, time of day, pickup and delivery zip codes, etc.

As you do more runs, you will be able to see certain patterns and trends that you can use to your benefit as you consider future loads. Knowing your own patterns and trends will help you learn more form others as you discuss load strategy with them.

Because drivers and trucks differ so much in what they are and are not able and willing to do, and because so many variables apply to the loads themselves, load strategy cannot be reduced to a simple formula that works the same for everyone.

By discerning patterns and trends from your own runs and discussing load strategy with others, you can do more of what works and less of what doesn't.

Listen closely to what others say about their load strategy but do not rush to make their's your own. Again, drivers differ and many variables apply. In time, certain rules of thumb will make sense to you and a lucrative load strategy will be part of your formula for success.

 

[LDB]

Lots of good advice from Jim. You should never care what the price of fuel is and you should always figure out what the cost of the fuel is. Those are two totally different things that make $2.699 fuel cost less than $2.619 in some situations.

Hopefully your truck has a microwave and refrigerator so you can eat out of your "pantry" most of the time. I try to limit myself to no more than one meal a day bought outside the truck although I will bend that rule if I can get a mcgriddle sandwich for breakfast. I always take my food back to the truck and have my own drink as that's the most expensive item in the joint relative to actual cost of providing it.

My truck does best at 60-62mph so that's where I usually drive. At 55 it's too low in rpm for optimum performance. You have to determine that for your particular truck of course but if you can drive a few mph faster at equal fuel burn then you can POD and get to the next paying load that much sooner. As mentioned, p/u as soon as you can and deliver as soon as you can so you're available to make money that much sooner.

You obviously are thinking about your options and decisions and not just holding the steering wheel looking for the next buffet. Keep at it this way and you should do well. Good luck.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

jamin has it about right...

Nothing like a 2pm pick up and you wait till 2 and the shipper says it was ready to go at 10am!! Don't wait!
Also deliver early where possible. Sometimes dispatch will say the customer is closed at night so you grab a 2 hour nap get there and find out they had a skeleton shift or overtime shift and you wasted 2 hours of your log book and had an interrupted sleep!
We always find the consignee and check it out...nothing to lose!
I understand NLM loads have certain restrictions about this..check it out.
Is 55 mph your trucks sweet spot? Some maybe 58mph and others 52 mph. All trucks are not created equal depending on your driving habits.

 

[jaminjim]

I forgot a big one. Don't idle the truck.

 

[catshavestaff]

Wow, guys, great information!

Speed and sweetspots - ours sits about 58...tach is at 1100, and the engine just sounds good.

Eating - we are big fans of sandwiches and chips (NOT), and eat out only once a day or less, usually less...our frig is very small and we do get really tired of soup and sandwiches. There is absolutely no room in the truck to do any real cooking, and I HAVE scoured the threads here for truckworthy recipes and methods for cooking.

Idling-we idled a lot more when it was cold, just to stay warm, and that was after layered clothing, etc. We do not idle now, thankfully, as the weather is improving.

Pickups and Deliveries - we have the same thought as Jim, we head for pickup ASAP, on the chance it's ready early, and deliver ASAP as well...sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Depends on the shipper/consignee and shift times, or whether or not the freight is ready for shipping, or the shipper/consignee is even open.

Being newbies, we haven't turned down any loads. We have 100% acceptance, and 100% availability (barring repairs or out of hours). Our on-time percentage suffers from Canadian run syndrome, and wrong-address viruses. It's still above 90%, tho. We just don't know enough to cherry-pick, we don't think.

We're still trying to understand your article, Leo, regarding "who's $20 dollars is it?", and how it applies to us as drivers vs. those who pay the fuel tax...see, I told you we were confused

We haven't kept any notes yet, except mental ones, and probably ought to start.

 

[jaminjim]

Do you have a laptop with GPS?

 

[TeamCaffee]

We use Streets and Trips software to chart where we pickup and also deliver loads. This is a quick over view of the country and all loads are dated. I have a spread sheet that we use to track all loads including dead head, dispatcher, load weights, and all miles and pay. We also use the cards that each fueling station has to get discounts. We really like having our Flying J card linked as we always have showers this way. We try to take our time off during a slow time and stay out as long as possible. Our sweet spot in 59 mph and it is hard to shake us off of that speed. We also agree with the philosophy pickup and deliver early. While on a load we hustle and if we end up with extra time we take it near the customer, if we run into a problem on the road we have all ready made up time.

 

[catshavestaff]

> Do you have a laptop with GPS?

Yes, we do..using the CoPilot for Trucks version 9, with the Canada dataset...we like it very much, and only wish our truck had a mount for the laptop..we put it on the seat facing the driver with the screen brightness turned down at night...it's not perfect, but it's definitely helpful.

Oh, and Wayne reminds me that being on the road with me, in spite of all our mistakes and hassles and stress, sure beats wearing Kevlar and watching your six in Afghanistan!

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Then there's outright lying!!*LOL* dispatch doesn't have to know you delivered early or p/u early...you can hold off telling them for abit! The computer only knows what you tell it...After all your "just aroiund the corner" or "i'am at the receivers waiting for a dock assignment" or" theres 6 trucks ahead of me and only one dock"

 

[jaminjim]

http://mapshare.delorme.com/Consumer/V.aspx?p=vwl23rnp

While you are new and unfamiliar with hot spots you can do a macro eight several times a day. Taking this info you can color code the map with the load boards, ie dark green for five loads a day, lighter green for 2 a day. after you have the load boards on your map you can then but "stick pins" on the map blue stick pin for deliverys and red for pickups. After awhile you can place yourself on more than one load board, and still close to your red stick pins.

Make sure that you update alot because one hot spot today is not next month.

 

[catshavestaff]

>We use Streets and Trips software to chart where we pickup
>and also deliver loads. This is a quick over view of the
>country and all loads are dated. I have a spread sheet that
>we use to track all loads including dead head, dispatcher,
>load weights, and all miles and pay. We also use the cards
>that each fueling station has to get discounts. We really
>like having our Flying J card linked as we always have
>showers this way. We try to take our time off during a slow
>time and stay out as long as possible. Our sweet spot in 59
>mph and it is hard to shake us off of that speed. We also
>agree with the philosophy pickup and deliver early. While
>on a load we hustle and if we end up with extra time we take
>it near the customer, if we run into a problem on the road
>we have all ready made up time.


Applying for discount cards at each major Truck Stop was one of the first things we did, and although we haven't racked up many points yet, we are glad for the showers.

We're planning on taking off next weekend at home in Lubbock, and made that choice because it's the first week of the month, which we heard in orientation is the slowest week of the month. We really just wanted to spend Easter with my nieces and nephew Easter-egg huntin':7

We'll probably take time off next in July, for the 4th, which is our son's favorite holiday. He's autistic and mentally retarded, and although he'll be 18 in May, he's still stuck around 20 months to 2 and a half years. He loves fireworks! That weekend is likewise the first weekend of the month and from what we've heard, July is the other slowest month of the year.

 

[catshavestaff]

What are those green circles on your map, Jim?

 

[jaminjim]

Read my update. they are load boards, inside the green is within 50 miles of the board.

 

[catshavestaff]

Gotcha.

 

[LDB]

>We're still trying to understand your article, Leo,
>regarding "who's $20 dollars is it?", and how it applies to
>us as drivers vs. those who pay the fuel tax...see, I told
>you we were confused

If your owner handles the fuel tax no matter what then it won't apply to you. With my teams if they create a credit balance on the quarterly fuel tax report I give them that money back since they are buying the fuel. It further encourages them to become professional in every area of the business and potentially saves me a little money too. It may not be a whole lot but it will take them out to steak dinners a time or three.

Leo Bricker, 73's K5LDB, OOIDA Life Member 677319
Owner, Panther trucks 5508, 5509, 5641
Highway Watch Participant, Truckerbuddy
EO Forum Moderator
----------
Support the entire Constitution, not just the parts you like.

 

[catshavestaff]

That's kind of what we thought as well, unless we were really missing something. We figured we would have to become good at fuel shopping, though, and manage the aspects of consumption that we could, such as idling and speed, and keeping up the maintenance and getting repairs ASAP.

 

[scottanhelen]

Macro 8 is a big help but keep in mind this is old info. alot alot of times the numbers are close but not exact.

 

[nightcreacher]

with the price of fuel,the cheapest states are not always where you want to over buy your fuel,you need to find the fuel taxes for the states,subtact that from you pump price,and you will know which state to over buy in,getting a fuel tax rebate each quarter
for instance,pump price in georgia is less than fl.but its better to buy in fl as their fuel is actually cheaper before taxes.
now about manipulating your time,dead head and load acceptance,i treat my load acceptance as a pool game,if you play pool,you know its not the shot you are making but what happens two or three shots later.with me and dispatch,i may take a load that makes no sence to anyone but me,but when i get done,i'm in an area with no other trucks,and get loaded pretty quick.i do run team,sometimes i turn short loads down,other times i may turn down high paying long load.
i dont believe in the back haul load programs,as you may miss a much higher paying expedite load,oh and i wont work on a mileage program,percentage pay gives me more options,if I lose money its my fault,if i'm on mileage,i have to keep moving,and the carrier may not want to pay me to dead head,and i havent found where a flat rate mileage in any of the companies that have offered it,benefit anyone but the company
it may take a little time to put together a game plan,if you accept most of your loads for a couple months,it wont take long to figure this game we are in called expedite,I'm not a paid tourist as most feel they are,but the owner of a well balance team