slooooooooow

[miguy1957]

Hey, Twinpop are you making money on your short runs? Its better to turn a profit than to just have a small cash flow and waste your time being tide up for the best part of the day with little or nothing to show for it. My way of thinking, If its not profitable dont run it. Maybe we should run everything so what if we go broke....

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Live sex webshows

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Example: Yesterday 7am p/u 294 miles pod'd at 1.30 pm grabbed a nao. 3.30 pm load ready now 246 miles delivers by midnight...pod at 10.30 asleep by 11..with over 500 bucks in my pocket.

By the under 300m statement I shoulda refused both! What'd I miss? a 400 to 500 mile run?

Shippers aren't stupid neither if they see a trend of agents showing up for the short ones you just might not get called for the long ones.
There has to be some balance.
Customer service IS part of our business too!!

 

[fastrod]

What it comes down to is personal choice. If you want to take short runs, take them. If you want only long runs then just take them. It is your business and you should run it however you want.

 

[greg334]

You know that there is ways to make money doing short runs and there are a few theories that are applied form other industries here that work rather well.

But with that all said, there are two types of runs, one that has to be bid on and one where the customer calls the carrier.

The former is competitive to the point that you as an end service provider - the truck and driver - have to worry about the load, how is was bid on and if the bid was awarded to another company. In addition to this, and this is where I got frustrated with the CPM contract is the company will always make its margin regaurdless if you get the contracted CPM or not.

I for one like the latter for a lot of reasons I will not get into but are obvious and it means a lot less competition for the end service provider - the truck and driver.

BUT with all that rambling this morning, I have to point out is all comes down to two things;

The company makes money providing a service and if you are not willing to be flexible in giving that service, neither the company nor you will make money. Meaning short runs, long rus - it all comes out in the wash.

AND

Nothing moves without the customer's needs. Meaning that unless the customer has something they need moved, you are not going to move at all.

 

[davekc]

I agree that flexibility is the key for a carrier. The ones that understand that, are the ones that are the most successful over a period of time. I think many are seeing that now.

From an owners prospective, too many are working FOR the carrier, rather than WITH the carrier. We don't really look at a run by distance, but rather by its potential for the next profitable opportunity. And no, we don't accept every load. Our acceptance numbers are sometimes as high as in the 90's to the 60's.


"Businessman first, driver second"








Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[TJ959]

I was just reviewing my previous post including my comment to the Colonel. That sounded a lot more negative than it should have. There are times when I don't agree with him but there was no reason to get personal. There is enough of that crap on this thread already. Sorry Colonel.

We all make our choices. It's very frustrating when you find that your choice was unwise and unprofitable. Many vans are running very poorly at the moment regardles of availibility or whether or not they accepted short runs. Some vans are running fairly well. To adapt to the existing conditions would require either a change in vehicle size to to find a better carrier fit. One would require an additional investment and the other would require time, study and luck. Criticism of the slow guys without knowing the facts of their situation seems to me to be unhelpful and short sighted. One or two of the more recent posts seem to be headed in that direction.

 

[greg334]

"Many vans are running very poorly at the moment regardles of availibility or whether or not they accepted short runs. Some vans are running fairly well."

Well I wondered about this comment and came to this conclusion;

The van owner (me being one of them) really is set apart from the remaining classes of trucks. They are cheap to get, cheap to run, don't have to follow most of the same regulations (HOS and DOT inspections) and the owners don't have to deal with all the permits, apportioned plates or fuel taxes.

When I made the jump from the Van to the Truck I had to tackel a sharp learning curve and one thing was the changes in my thought patterns on how to handle the business end, a more serious thinking process is needed and I don't mean determining load offers - I still use the same formula.

 

[Twin Pop USA]

I don't like doing short runs just like most anyone else. My saying in the 17 years I've been expediting is- the shorter the load, the longer the problem. Seems like every time I do a short run, I find more delays at shipper/consignee, traffic, wrong pprwk, etc... I agree that sometimes you lose money on them. And, I do refuse a few loads that I know aren't the most profitable.

But people on here are saying they turn EVERY SHORT LOAD down?? That's unacceptable for the other drivers in your fleet, the customer, and the carrier. Oh yea, that's right. SCREW everyone else. Forget any cooperation between carrier and owner-operator. Since the companies all are no good thieves anyways, right?? Heard enough of that in the truckstop parking lot

 

[davekc]

TJ does have a million dollar question. At what point do you change or endure a slow bleed? Hard question to answer sometimes. Does it require selling a vehicle, changing carriers or both?
We are basically at the busier point in the year. If they (the carrier) isn't producing jobs now, they likely won't when it is slow.

How much capital one has usually determines which path to take. If you are under funded, then bailing earlier makes more sense. If you have the capital to do the above, than take the steps on the one that has the most potential for opportunity and profit.











Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[x06col]

Thats OK TJ, didn't see a thing personal about it. No biggie if it was. Dave, most of em that are not doing well, it seems to me, have no clue about if their working for or, with a Carrier. They simply are working for them. The words we/us are not in their vocabulary. Them is tho. Seems many have no interst in the Carrier, the Customer or any type of cooperation to git r done for the good of the them's, the us's, or, anyone. So, they fail, and make it very difficult for everyone else. And thats too bad, because this can be fun and profitable if they'd just let it.

 

[TJ959]

Here's an other question. If things aren't working out in your size vehicle is it worth it to invest in a different one whether you have the money or not? It's all about return on investment. I you have the winning formulae, the return is there. If you don't, very little will change. I seriously doubt the majority of owner operators have the time and abilities that Dave and a few others have. The majority of drivers need a good carrier they can trust and it wouldn't hurt to be a team either.
As for the short runs. I take em unless they're going somewhere I can't get out of, based on recent past experience. I feel that we all need to take a little chaff with the wheat. Still, that's an individual choice. We all have our own game plan.

 

[Black Sheep]

The customers are putting more pressure on their expedite carriers for these shorter moves. From their perspective, a lot of the short moves are just as important and just as time-sensitive as the long ones. They expect their expedite carriers to take both, and the ones that accept the short trips will get the long ones. The carriers that cherry pick the runs offered will not be their first, second or even third call in most cases.

 

[x06col]

That is correct. We had a D in Detroit yesterday that run a 10 miler and a 8 miler, while waiting to load a NY. Those needed to move as much as the NY run. Many reading here don't understand/care, that, if their Carrier's phone quits ringing - - - so will theirs.

 

[davekc]

I you have the winning formulae, the return is there. If you don't, very little will change. I seriously doubt the majority of owner operators have the time and abilities that Dave and a few others have. The majority of drivers need a good carrier they can trust and it wouldn't hurt to be a team either.
========================================================
I can't say I really have a "winning" formula because it changes all the time. That is where experience has its value. Applied correctly, one can make fair assessments on when to make those changes. Sometimes we win, and sometimes we don't. But, staying the same will likely get you that same result or worse. If I had ant advice it would be to move to the places where there is the most chances for success, coupled with the opportunities to create your OWN success. If Panther closed the doors tomarrow, my expediting world would be far from over. They would have only created for me and my teams an opportunity.









Davekc
owner
22 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[miguy1957]

I guess the point I would like to get across, Is that you have to look at the big picture on each load. Like where you are , where you end up and what time of day it is. Like 100 mi load to another hot spot...good...taking you 100 miles into no mans land .......bad Early in the day or late in the evening..good.. In the middle of the day...bad. toward somewhere you want to be ...good. Each load has a different reason to take it or not. saying someone should quit for not taking short loads is just dumb..............I thought we are on the road to make a profit...........not to just drive our trucks......

________
Sick From Prilosec

 

[TJ959]

Sorry Dave. You just proved yourself wrong. You just layed out the basics of the winning formula. It's harder than you think for some folks. It may seem simple to you but it's thinking independantly. Thinking outside the box. It takes a lot of experience to make it work. Several owners are doing it but most are not.

 

[Moot]

I took last week off and didn't go back in service until 09:00 Tuesday. I had to wait 7 hours before I got a 339 mile load. Unloaded Wednesday morning and waited about 6 hours for a 515 mile load. Thursday morning after only a couple hours of sleep my phone rang. I won the lottery! Yipeeee! I had to go to a clinic in Decatur, Ill and pee in a cup and blow a breath-alyzer.

Thursday afternoon I turned down two 900 mile plus loads because I was unable to get any more sleep. I guess if I wasn't in a van I would be alot busier. Oh well! I chose the van thing. I will just have to live with it.

 

[ATeam]

Short runs. Long runs. It does not matter. What matters is the money you make, per day and per mile.

After some time off at home (the freight took us close and we were ready for a break), we went into service Monday and soon received a load offer that got us running on Tuesday.

Pick up Tuesday morning at the Minneapolis/Saint Paul airport, make a couple of stops in town and deliver back to the airport 9:30 PM Tuesday night. We took the 58 mile run (all miles) because it paid well and we had no reason to belive that anything better would come along on or before the Tuesday pickup. We would rather make money than sit around waiting to make money.

We returned home Tuesday night (30 miles), slept there and remained in service waiting for our next load offer. It came Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.

Pick up ASAP close to home and deliver straight through to Buffalo, NY on Thursday morning (931 miles, all miles). We accepted the load because it paid well and we had no reason to believe that anything better would come along if we waited another day or so. We would rather make money than sit around waiting to make money.

On the way to Buffalo, we received a load offer: pick up in Buffalo Thursday afternoon, drive to 474 miles (all miles) to Rhode Island to deliver Friday morning. We took the load because it paid well and we had no reason to believe something better would come along if we waited in Buffalo.

On the way to Rhode Island we received a load offer: pick up Friday morning near Boston, MA, about 66 miles away, and deliver two miles away around noon. We took the 68 mile run (all miles) because it paid well and we had no reason to believe something better would come along between our Friday morning Rhode Island delivery and our Friday noon Boston delivery.

While making the Friday noon delivery, we received an offer: Pick up Monday morning about 200 miles away and deliver 2,580 miles away on Wednesday in a western state (2,780 miles, all miles).

The short run in Minneapolis gave us the opportunity to earn a good day's pay that we might not otherwise have.

The short run to Rhode Island moved us out of Buffalo and positioned us in a very good freight area, which is an especially important consideration with the weekend approaching.

The even shorter run in Boston was quick and easy to do and added a few hundred bucks to our weekly total. If you do that every now and then, those-few-hundred-buck weekly additions add up to several-thousand-buck annual additions.

The "good," 2,780 mile run pays well enough, but here we are on Friday, dispatched on a load that will deliver 4.5 days later on Wednesday. The best part of the long run is not the money and miles. It is that the run gives the weekend off to rest up after stringing together a very nice week of short and medium runs.

Consider this: Monday morning to Friday noon, is 3.5 days. In that time, we did four runs totalling 1,381 loaded miles and 182 deadhead miles, or 1,563 all miles, or an average of 395 miles a day. Friday noon to Wednesday morning is 4.5 days. Our all-miles for that time period will be 2,780, or an average of 618 miles per day.

In both pay-per-day and pay-per-mile terms, the Monday-Friday period is MORE profitable than the Friday-Wednesday period.

How do you change a busy week into a slow week? Turn down the short runs.

How do you change a well-paying week to a poor-paying week? Turn down the short runs.

 

[are12]

Tom,

Hate to disagree that it "takes a lot of experience" to make it in this business. Jim and I have only been in expediting for 3 1/2 years and we manage to do very well for ourselves.

I agree with Dave on change. If things aren't working the way you are doing them, then do something about it. Talk with other drivers, be willing to DH to a better location - on your dime - sometimes it pays off. Don't keep doing things the same old way and expect different results!

We are not rocket scientists and we figured this out!!:+ :+