Short loads are they worth it?

[Sparticus]

Dated 10/7/07 in a fleetwide, and posted to the Driver Web...

I am pleased to announce a new Driver Council Action Item release related to First Outs. First outs are now prioritized in the dispatch program so all FOs show at the top of the dispatch screen. First outs are sorted by POD time and date so when there are multiple trucks with FO status, the offers are based on a true First in/First out system. The biggest change is that you will no longer lose First Outs status for turning down:

- a mini (CV 75, ST 100, TT 175 miles)

- a load that is 8 hours in advance or 24 hours in advance on weekends.

- a reduced rate load

- or being pulled from a load due to being held up on a previous load due to shipper/consignee error

- or load cancels

The rest of it snipped.

FYI, in practice, even cargo vans get minis for anything under 100 miles, and not just for loads under 75 miles.

Turtle, you are correct, but...
This message only pertains to those who already have a first out. If the loaded miles of the next load offer are less than (75,100,175) and you turn it down, then you will not lose your first out.

The actual rule is very simple. EACH truck could have a different mileage for a MINI. The calculation is as follows:

Pay rate of your mini / Your regular contract rate. Therefore, those that make .75, .77, .80, .85, 1.10, 1.15, 1.20, etc ALL HAVE DIFFERENT MILEAGES FOR A MINI.

 

[davekc]

I do agree on the first out. In the current turbulent economy, the carriers that can cover ALL of the freight rather than part of it are the ones that are staying busy.

 

[Bruno]

Turtle, you are correct, but...
This message only pertains to those who already have a first out. If the loaded miles of the next load offer are less than (75,100,175) and you turn it down, then you will not lose your first out.

The actual rule is very simple. EACH truck could have a different mileage for a MINI. The calculation is as follows:

Pay rate of your mini / Your regular contract rate. Therefore, those that make .75, .77, .80, .85, 1.10, 1.15, 1.20, etc ALL HAVE DIFFERENT MILEAGES FOR A MINI.

Like I said it's based on money not miles.

 

[Turtle]

I posted that up there only to show the last thing I have received from Panther that defines what a mini is.

In any case, the last two times I have ben offered a mini, in both cases the miles were more than 80 but less than 100, and both times I was told I'd get a first out after delivery of the mini, and in both times I did. I'm in a van.

Also, Bruno, yes, if you have a First Out and you your service status to Out of Service, then you will lost your First Out. You do not lose it, however, if you go Available-Sleeping.

 

[ATeam]

I guess what I'm saying is that we should never say no to a customer.

Are you serious? Have you never declined a load?

Of course we should say no to a customer. If the customer is not willing to make it worth a driver's time and miles to haul the customer's freight, why on earth should a driver do it? Long run or short, the principle is the same, is it not?

With our carrier, Diane and I have never accepted or declined a load because it had or did not have less-than-75 status attached to it. We accept or decline short loads because they pay or do not pay, and tie the truck up or do not tie it up for a certain period of time.

This approach seems to be working fine for our carrier and customers. When they are willing to pay, we are willing to work. Of the 111 loads we have hauled year-to-date, 11 are less-than-75 and 22 are less than 300 miles loaded.

We do not distinguish between a short load and a so-called team load. Our carrier makes it FINANCIALLY worth it to run loads -- short, long, or in between -- and we happily run them and provide excellent service.

It is not about turning down short runs in hopes of getting a long run later on. We are happy to do runs of any length, as long as our carrier, and by extention the customer, meets our price.

Telling drivers we should never say no to a customer is like telling customers they should always say yes to a driver. In the face of the business and profitability needs of both parties, neither is likely to happen.

 

[Turtle]

It'll be a rare thing indeed when I say no to a customer.

Saying no to a potential customer, sure, I'll do that. Not a problem.

 

[Bruno]

Are you serious? Have you never declined a load?

Of course we should say no to a customer. If the customer is not willing to make it worth a driver's time and miles to haul the customer's freight, why on earth should a driver do it? Long run or short, the principle is the same, is it not?

With our carrier, Diane and I have never accepted or declined a load because it had or did not have less-than-75 status attached to it. We accept or decline short loads because they pay or do not pay, and tie the truck up or do not tie it up for a certain period of time.

This approach seems to be working fine for our carrier and customers. When they are willing to pay, we are willing to work. Of the 111 loads we have hauled year-to-date, 11 are less-than-75 and 22 are less than 300 miles loaded.

We do not distinguish between a short load and a so-called team load. Our carrier makes it FINANCIALLY worth it to run loads -- short, long, or in between -- and we happily run them and provide excellent service.

It is not about turning down short runs in hopes of getting a long run later on. We are happy to do runs of any length, as long as our carrier, and by extention the customer, meets our price.

Telling drivers we should never say no to a customer is like telling customers they should always say yes to a driver. In the face of the business and profitability needs of both parties, neither is likely to happen.

Phil

I'm talking about the company should never have to say no to the customer. The company has to make it worth the driver to do a short load. Short load shouldn't be based on money they should be based on miles. If you offer me a 71 mile load that picks up at 14:00 and after I do the load I'm not going to get a 1st out then why do it. It has to be worth my time. That what I'm talking about.

 

[ATeam]

I'm talking about the company should never have to say no to the customer. The company has to make it worth the driver to do a short load. Short load shouldn't be based on money they should be based on miles. If you offer me a 71 mile load that picks up at 14:00 and after I do the load I'm not going to get a 1st out then why do it. It has to be worth my time. That what I'm talking about.

I don't know well the compensation arrangements or rewards programs at Panther. At our carrier, Diane and I don't haul freight for rewards. We haul it for money. The good news is short runs that can be completed in a short time frame are often lucrative runs too, so they are easy to say yes to.

If you offer me a 71 mile load that picks up at 14:00 and after I do the load I'm not going to get a 1st out then why do it.

Whether the load was 71 miles or 76 miles (which would negate the less-than-75 "reward"), we would haul the load for the money. If the money was right, we would happily move the freight. At that time of day, if we were not already dispatched, we might not be dispatched at all.

We'd take the load because the alternative is zero. A load on the truck is better than one in the bush (or something like that). Being on the load would not keep us out of the cue for loads being dispatched for the next day. Choosing a short run over no run is not a hard choice to make, as long as the money is right.

With a run that short, the money would almost always be right as minimum charges come into play and make the money good. It would be an easy few hundred bucks in the bank with little fuel burned.

I just took a look at recent runs to find the worst short run we recently did. It was an 18 mile run. We used the liftgate to pick computer servers up from a downtown office building (shipper brought them to the sidewalk) and deliver them immediately to the airport. The load paid $287 and we completed it in an hour. What's not to like about that? It was after business hours when we would have been driving out of town anyway to find a place to sleep. Loads like that are easy money. Rush hour was over. We had the streets to ourselves. Why not take runs like that?

That was our worst recent short load. Others have paid in the $500 to $700 range. Those we like all the better!

 

[kangar0085]

I love these little minis I'll run them all day in Ohio and Michigan if they offer them to me. One time I cleared 800 bucks after fuel from running minis all day.

 

[dabluzman1]

We gladly take the short run IF it picks up early and drops early or if it is at the end of
a completed run and we arent tired.
We have done really well pay wise on short runs.
We have had several runs that were 1 or 2 miles, little DH and paid 500 to 800 dollars for 1 or 2 hours work.
Good morning, now bring on the rest of the day.

All you have to do is add them in with the rest of your ENORMOUS runs, and tada,
your gross isnt as gross as it would have been without the little guys.

if its profitable, run it.

 

[Bruno]

I don't know well the compensation arrangements or rewards programs at Panther. At our carrier, Diane and I don't haul freight for rewards. We haul it for money. The good news is short runs that can be completed in a short time frame are often lucrative runs too, so they are easy to say yes to.



Whether the load was 71 miles or 76 miles (which would negate the less-than-75 "reward"), we would haul the load for the money. If the money was right, we would happily move the freight. At that time of day, if we were not already dispatched, we might not be dispatched at all.

We'd take the load because the alternative is zero. A load on the truck is better than one in the bush (or something like that). Being on the load would not keep us out of the cue for loads being dispatched for the next day. Choosing a short run over no run is not a hard choice to make, as long as the money is right.

With a run that short, the money would almost always be right as minimum charges come into play and make the money good. It would be an easy few hundred bucks in the bank with little fuel burned.

I just took a look at recent runs to find the worst short run we recently did. It was an 18 mile run. We used the liftgate to pick computer servers up from a downtown office building (shipper brought them to the sidewalk) and deliver them immediately to the airport. The load paid $287 and we completed it in an hour. What's not to like about that? It was after business hours when we would have been driving out of town anyway to find a place to sleep. Loads like that are easy money. Rush hour was over. We had the streets to ourselves. Why not take runs like that?

That was our worst recent short load. Others have paid in the $500 to $700 range. Those we like all the better!

Phil

We know loads at FedEx under 75 miles pays very well. I have done my fare share of less than 75 runs at FedEx. At FedEx your not on a flat rate either. No Phil most people don't do runs for a reward they do it for money but at FedEx you are rewarded for doing a less than 75 mile run. You go to the top of the board in most cases with DVA after you do a less than 75 mile run.

 

[ATeam]

Phil

We know loads at FedEx under 75 miles pays very well. I have done my fare share of less than 75 runs at FedEx. At FedEx your not on a flat rate either. No Phil most people don't do runs for a reward they do it for money but at FedEx you are rewarded for doing a less than 75 mile run. You go to the top of the board in most cases with DVA after you do a less than 75 mile run.

Your are correct about going to the top of the board, but your question was about rewards and my answer is that non-financial rewards are irrelevant. If the freight don't pay, we don't play. You can't pay for groceries with less-than-75 rewards. They want cash at the grocery store checkout counter and we want cash to move freight.

One could argue that big shippers have both short loads and long loads to offer, and to take care of the customer, we should do the short loads at a loss. I do not disagree, if the loss is borne by the carrier and not the driver. Unless the driver knows for certain that he or she will get some of the long loads as part of the overall load distribution from that customer, the driver has no assurance that he or she will benefit by taking a money-losing short run.

Large shippers have contractual relationships with carriers that include certain rates for certain kinds of loads. The contract may include some attractive features for the shipper regarding short loads, which is just fine, as long as the carrier is willing to take the loss on those loads and pay the driver enough to make the short runs worth the time and effort to cover.

Shippers and expedite carriers are not charitable organizations. If they want our truck and services, they are welcome to them if they pay money (not rewards) to obtain them.

Let me emphasize that Diane and I have never had a problem saying yes to short loads offered by our carrier. The pay is quite good and the money is easy. We have never had it happen where a short load paid too little to seriously consider. Whether less-than-75 status attaches to the load or not is meaningless in our accept/decline decision.

I presume the reward is attached to short runs to give people an incentive to take them. That is because there are a lot of people out there that will decline a short run in hopes of getting a longer run instead. We are not of that mindset, so to us, the reward is meaningless.

There is one scenario where the reward is appreciated. Say you are in an express center with 10 other trucks and a short run is offered. Taking the run would bump you to the top of the board. That is a morale booster and the reward is nice to have in that situation. But reward or not, we would not take any load that did not pay real money to haul it.

If we were the tenth truck in a line of ten and they offered a dollar a mile to haul a 74 mile load that would reward us with top-of-the-board positioning, we would decline the load. That is a luxury we have being a fully-credentialed team in a fully-equipped truck. There are a lot of loads that the other trucks in line are not eligible to haul. We may well be first in line for those.

If we were in a dry box truck and on the same playing field as most other trucks out there, our view of taking short runs not for cash but for rewards might be different.

 

[TeamCaffee]

Phil you hit the nail on head for how we look at the short loads. When we are offered a less than 75 which just pays ok but there are 10 trucks in front of us we jump on that load. Our ok though is always over $200.00 for a less than 75 load. We just did a lift gate less than 75 load and we did work for our money on this one! Still paid off as we were offered a great load to back this short load up.

 

[Bruno]

Phil you hit the nail on head for how we look at the short loads. When we are offered a less than 75 which just pays ok but there are 10 trucks in front of us we jump on that load. Our ok though is always over $200.00 for a less than 75 load. We just did a lift gate less than 75 load and we did work for our money on this one! Still paid off as we were offered a great load to back this short load up.

You both hit the nail on the head. FedEx is is rewarding you by putting you at the top of the board and paying you a fair rate to boot.

 

[davekc]

If there are ten trucks in front you, I don't think a short load would be my first response.
But.....that is just me.

 

[blueblooddog]

I take the short ones when offered. Every little bit helps. But I have a sprinter so I can drive home after a shorty and not get killed on the dh.

 

[CharlesD]

It all comes down to the money for me. The best way to be profitable in this business is to maximize the amount of money you get per mile. Sometimes, especially when there just isn't enough freight moving, those short ones can be a gold mine if you get enough of them. Three weeks ago I did nothing but short runs for a whole week and was home every night. I didn't make as much as I have made some weeks that I have been out all the time, but guess how much money it cost me to sleep in my own bed those nights.

The bottom line is this: I go into a week with an idea of how much money I want to make that week. If I get it all on one run, like I did this week, that's fine and dandy, but what I do is figure out how much I need to bring in each day to meet that weekly goal. If I can get that amount of money with a shorter number of miles, then that's just more profitable.

 

[davekc]

It all comes down to the money for me. The best way to be profitable in this business is to maximize the amount of money you get per mile. Sometimes, especially when there just isn't enough freight moving, those short ones can be a gold mine if you get enough of them. Three weeks ago I did nothing but short runs for a whole week and was home every night. I didn't make as much as I have made some weeks that I have been out all the time, but guess how much money it cost me to sleep in my own bed those nights.

The bottom line is this: I go into a week with an idea of how much money I want to make that week. If I get it all on one run, like I did this week, that's fine and dandy, but what I do is figure out how much I need to bring in each day to meet that weekly goal. If I can get that amount of money with a shorter number of miles, then that's just more profitable.

That's how I would look at it. It is whether you are operating profitably or not.

 

[pjjjjj]

You both hit the nail on the head. FedEx is is rewarding you by putting you at the top of the board and paying you a fair rate to boot.

Bruno, is the honeymoon over already?

 

[Bruno]

Bruno, is the honeymoon over already?

No Panther is a very good company. I'm just set in my FedEX ways I guess. I was just pointing out what I see. I will say that at FedEx a "less than 75" is a less than 75. It's not base on how much money is paid to the truck. Thats why FedEx can cover the short loads because they pay well and reward the trucks with going to the top of the board. If everyone turns it down someone who is 10 on the board is going to do it to get to the top of the board faster. It's really a win/win for the company and the customer to be honest. Trucks that are offered the load 1st may think hard about turning it down as fast. I know if I was number 8 on the board and the load paid well I would always do a less than 75 at FedEx.