Question on "Great Rate"

Jumbuck · Dec 17, 2011

Okay. Everyone is saying I got a great rate. or it paid a great rate or rate wasn't good etc.
Not to sound stupid but do you mean to tell me we don't all get the same rate? I mean, is a trip rate negotiable? If it is,can I ask how you go about negotiating.
Be gentle with replies...I am STILL new.
Thanks...
Jumbuck

Rocketman · Dec 17, 2011

I see alot of those comments myself and they are very misleading to newbies. There is, sometimes, mountains of bs to worked through before you find the real truth. There can be many reasons for this. Some just want to make it sound good, some work for a company which pays recruiting bonuses, and SOME actually had a good paying load! Lol

greg334 · Dec 17, 2011

It depends.

I mean that until you know what you are doing on the accounting front, it may be only about the money you see (hear) and not the potential (or lack of) in leveraging opportunities that happens behind the 'rate'.

jjoerger · Dec 17, 2011

If you are signed on with a carrier that pays percentage everything is negotiable.
You just have to learn when to negotiate and what you can get.

Steady Eddie · Dec 17, 2011

"...Great rate...Sprinter- 2.60 per mile!" Then they fail to post that it was for 50 miles or less. Then you have folks that go to a new carrier that pays a lot better than the carrier they just left,(most likely, FSC is higher) and they think it's the best thing since slice bread. As some of us just sit back and giggle.

Someone that has been getting low rates and then all of a sunden the rate is "Over the top", may not be a good rate to others. But to them it is great.

I wouldn't worry about it that much. If you are happy with the rate you are getting, then let it be. If not, then move on. It's like I tell my kids....You wanta make more money? Then why don't ya?

chefdennis · Dec 17, 2011

The carrier I lease to pays a % of what they get paid for the load plus a fsc that is also a % of that figure...we have a base minimum % and depending on circumsatnces, that rate can be pushed up...it is not unsual for us to get 15-18% over our base rate...

And yes, we can go into the dispatch office and be shown the "Alliance Trip Summary" trip sheets for any of our runs to see exactly what the company was paid for any load we carry....

60MPH · Dec 17, 2011

Everything is negotiable, even if you are on a fixed rate. All you have to do is ask, the worst that can happen is they say NO. Always make it worth YOUR while!!

mcavoy33 · Dec 17, 2011

60MPH said:
Everything is negotiable, even if you are on a fixed rate. All you have to do is ask, the worst that can happen is they say NO. Always make it worth YOUR while!!

Yea I'm a company driver and sometimes I ask for more. One time I was told yes and the other time no. It was like free money when it was a yes.

But most importantly, you need to know what your cost to run is, a good rate will be dependent on that.

Everybody's costs are different, what's good to you, might be bad for me. If you can run for .50 cents in a cv and it costs me .54, then I need a higher rate to make just as much as you.

davekc · Dec 17, 2011

chefdennis said:
The carrier I lease to pays a % of what they get paid for the load plus a fsc that is also a % of that figure...we have a base minimum % and depending on circumsatnces, that rate can be pushed up...it is not unsual for us to get 15-18% over our base rate...

And yes, we can go into the dispatch office and be shown the "Alliance Trip Summary" trip sheets for any of our runs to see exactly what the company was paid for any load we carry....

That is how it should be verses the secrecy and game-playing that some carriers indulge in.

ATeam · Dec 17, 2011

Rocketman said:
I see alot of those comments myself and they are very misleading to newbies. There is, sometimes, mountains of bs to worked through before you find the real truth. There can be many reasons for this. Some just want to make it sound good, some work for a company which pays recruiting bonuses, and SOME actually had a good paying load! Lol

And sometimes the expediter is BS'ing himself. Some have no idea what a good or bad rate is because they have no idea what their operating costs are.