Negligence or cheating?

TheRebel · Feb 26, 2011

I remember that I had a run few years ago from Beaufort, SC to Sacramento, CA. They told me it's 2300 miles, paid a buck per mile... ok, I took it. I know I was supposed to take I-40, but it was end of october and anyway I had plenty of time to reach the destination, so I took the I-20/I-10 route, to avoid any possible early snow. By the time when I reached El Paso, I had already 1700 driven miles, and I said in my mind something isn't right here. Sacramento can't be only 600 miles away, so I checked with my laptop. Of course, they were wrong, but I'm still not sure if instead of 2800, the guy read 2300... anyway, yesterday I saw this run from Indy going to Anaheim, CA - 2060 miles. Everything seemed to be ok, mileage ok, time ok. But, here comes the big Q: there was an extra stop, in Laredo, TX, which raises the mileage to 2720 miles. And it's not just that, but the driving time too... you had only 48 hrs to reach Anaheim. What y'all think about that, it's negligence or cheating on mileage?

CharlesD · Feb 26, 2011

Call it what you will, but it's a good idea to always check the mileage yourself to see if the load is going to be profitable. We do a lot of loads out of New England and when one of them goes to Michigan, I always bid based on U.S. miles instead of routing through Canada and I always tell the customer that we will not be going through Canada just so there aren't any different expectations regarding transit time. Your carrier should verify the mileage the customer is telling them and you should double check what your carrier is telling you so you can make an informed decision.

idtrans · Feb 26, 2011

TheRebel said:
I remember that I had a run few years ago from Beaufort, SC to Sacramento, CA. They told me it's 2300 miles, paid a buck per mile... ok, I took it. I know I was supposed to take I-40, but it was end of october and anyway I had plenty of time to reach the destination, so I took the I-20/I-10 route, to avoid any possible early snow. By the time when I reached El Paso, I had already 1700 driven miles, and I said in my mind something isn't right here. Sacramento can't be only 600 miles away, so I checked with my laptop. Of course, they were wrong, but I'm still not sure if instead of 2800, the guy read 2300... anyway, yesterday I saw this run from Indy going to Anaheim, CA - 2060 miles. Everything seemed to be ok, mileage ok, time ok. But, here comes the big Q: there was an extra stop, in Laredo, TX, which raises the mileage to 2720 miles. And it's not just that, but the driving time too... you had only 48 hrs to reach Anaheim. What y'all think about that, it's negligence or cheating on mileage?

I saw that run also on the board and was like wow doesnt make any sense to me. Sounds like a short stick for some driver and company.

Indianapolis, IN to Anaheim, CA - Google Maps

dhalltoyo · Feb 26, 2011

Like Charles, we always run the miles and time before committing.

My favorite is when the carrier asks you to run for a particular rate and you respond with a upward adjusted rate. They reply, "This is a 1500 mile run." We reply, "And you think it costs us less per mile to drive 1500 miles as opposed to 300 miles?"

nightcreacher · Feb 27, 2011

your first load had the wrong mileage by as much as 400 miles.You taking the southern route, went about another 150 extra miles.October Isnt bad across 40,58, 5 up to Sacramento,should have been 2728 miles.
This other load is so far off,it's rediculous.Indy to LA is 2038 miles,go thru laredo and its another 325 miles
As a business man in the trucking business,before you ever except any load,you have to know the mileage you are going to run.If I tell you your going 1000 miles at a dollar a mile thats 1000 dollars,but if that 1000 miles is actually 1200 miles,your only making a little over 83 cpm.Are you doing your job by just accepting any load without checking?That is a fast way to go broke

TheRebel · Feb 27, 2011

idtrans said:
I saw that run also on the board and was like wow doesnt make any sense to me. Sounds like a short stick for some driver and company.

Just wondering if the one who took it, realized that there were lots of missing miles...

TheRebel · Feb 27, 2011

nightcreacher said:
your first load had the wrong mileage by as much as 400 miles.You taking the southern route, went about another 150 extra miles.October Isnt bad across 40,58, 5 up to Sacramento,should have been 2728 miles.
This other load is so far off,it's rediculous.Indy to LA is 2038 miles,go thru laredo and its another 325 miles

I had a heavy load at that time, and that was another reason to stay away from the mountains as much as possible...

The extra-stop to Laredo raised the run to a little over 2700 miles...

TheRebel · Feb 27, 2011

CharlesD said:
Call it what you will, but it's a good idea to always check the mileage yourself to see if the load is going to be profitable. .

At that time, I was working with this co. for over 6 years, and they weren't cheating on mileage more than 20-30 miles on long ones (runs over 800 miles), and not always, but time to time...

Jefferson3000 · Feb 27, 2011

PC Miler doesn't have a feature on Sylectus to add the extra stop, at least not one I am aware of. If someone posts a load from Indy to Anaheim, with an extra stop in Laredo, you will get the miles from Indy to Anaheim. There is an override miles feature, where they could have put in the true miles, but many times the agent has the customer on hold while the load posts.

As far as the transit time goes, many just take the customer's "need time," without checking it and just let the carrier offer options. I've seen some that I questioned, including one that would've required my driver to travel at 107 miles an hour nonstop. When I made the broker aware of it, she called the customer, called me back and said, "Sorry, we're going to have to fly this one. They definitely need it by the time listed."

Unfortunately, my driver had removed his pocket helicopter the last time he was home.

greg334 · Feb 27, 2011

A lot of people seem to forget that when these rates are quoted, it is zip to zip, not door to door. With that, there could be a 30 mile difference.

TheRebel · Feb 27, 2011

greg334 said:
A lot of people seem to forget that when these rates are quoted, it is zip to zip, not door to door. With that, there could be a 30 mile difference.

That's why I never bothered to tell 'em "hey, you're 30 mile short..."

ErieBigDawg · Feb 27, 2011

What I have been led to believe is that trips are bid using the shortest route, not the fastest.

I have found upwards to 77 miles difference between the shortest and the fastest route.

I take the fastest, mainly because the shortest route usually takes you through every little town!