THE DCAs OF EXPEDITING

[bubblehead]

DCA or Dollar Cost Averaraging should be a basic factoring in you business decisions. For Example;

Load 1 $ 500.00 @ 220 all miles
Load 2 1800.00 @ 1400 all miles
Load 3 500.00 @ 418 all miles
Total 2800.00 @ 2038 all miles

For an average of $1.37 surface truck C or D unit. The variables of course would be destination, DH options after del. Tolls, PU times and hold-overs (weekend) wharehousing etc. Cherry pickers are the cancer of the industry and I have no pity for the ones that fail.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I have been slammed many times in here by those advocating ...it ones freedom and right to cherry pick...it is their business choice....BUT I have the right to not listen to them whine when they claim it is slow out there as well...

IMO the sooner these type of expeditors are gone the better we all will be....

 

[jjoerger]

I don't know if this would be considered cherry picking, but I will no longer take any runs that take me into an area where I know I will be sitting for 5 days waiting to get out, unless the load pays enough for me to get back to an active express center.
It is a poor business decision to take a load that will end up being non profitable because of the delivery location. Sitting for 5 days or relocating on my own dime is not profitable. Carriers don't care where the load is going. All they care about is getting that load covered. And the only reason they will give you a paid relocate is for there benefit.

 

[bubblehead]

I don't know if this would be considered cherry picking, but I will no longer take any runs that take me into an area where I know I will be sitting for 5 days waiting to get out, unless the load pays enough for me to get back to an active express center.
It is a poor business decision to take a load that will end up being non profitable because of the delivery location. Sitting for 5 days or relocating on my own dime is not profitable. Carriers don't care where the load is going. All they care about is getting that load covered. And the only reason they will give you a paid relocate is for there benefit.

Wouldn't call that Cherry Pickin...From my OP, "The variables of course would be destination, DH options after del. Tolls, PU times and hold-overs (weekend) wharehousing etc".

 

[LDB]

I don't think dollar cost averaging is all that advisable. If the 2800 mile run is run at a loss but the dca shows some profit that's still poor business decision making unless there are other reasons to take it. Knowing your averages is good but each job needs to be appraised as a stand alone, not as what the average will be after it's run.

 

[bubblehead]

I don't think dollar cost averaging is all that advisable. If the 2800 mile run is run at a loss but the dca shows some profit that's still poor business decision making unless there are other reasons to take it. Knowing your averages is good but each job needs to be appraised as a stand alone, not as what the average will be after it's run.

True, I should qualify as in my example, none of the loads are at a loss...just some more profitable than others...inching the per-mile up past a pre determined base line. We do not take any load that cost us...as A-team eluded to in a previous post...we do not donate our truck or time to the shipper or carrier. Since we calculate truck replacement, unscheduled maintenance, retirement etc. (in our ever refining) expense analysis based on conservative annual miles, we feel we have a reasonable grasp of our true cost. With that knowlege, we have averaged out a reasonable net pay...but forever tweaking to improve.

 

[dabluzman1]

DCA or Dollar Cost Averaraging should be a basic factoring in you business decisions. For Example;

Load 1 $ 500.00 @ 220 all miles
Load 2 1800.00 @ 1400 all miles
Load 3 500.00 @ 418 all miles
Total 2800.00 @ 2038 all miles

For an average of $1.37 surface truck C or D unit. The variables of course would be destination, DH options after del. Tolls, PU times and hold-overs (weekend) wharehousing etc. Cherry pickers are the cancer of the industry and I have no pity for the ones that fail.

The "variables" that you mention could turn that $1.37 into
less than a buck in a heartbeat.
As others have said, each run has to be profitable.
Do I ever take a skinny deal, yes I do. Not often, but I have offered my services when "no-one" else was available.
Sometimes those "favors" had a deadhead of over 500 miles.
If you dont factor all your costs into the average, you are just fooling yourself.

Log the miles on Jan 1st. Take the difference on Dec 31st.
Total every expense occured that year and divide by the milage.
That is your true average.

 

[fortwayne]

I don't worry as much as I use to about where the freight is going. The reason is the carrier I am now with (Load One) has had great success at getting me out of areas where I would sit for two-three days with other carriers (Kansas City; Hartford, CT; etc).

I know what I have to make in a given day to cover my expenses and to bank some of that green stuff. I can afford to work a few days running local freight, but by Wednesday I tend to let dispatch know I need to get some serious miles and they meet my request.

We all need to know what we need to make AND to clear each day for this driving gig to work - no matter what formula we use.

The bottom line is to be with a carrier that has the freight, can send you to a "bad area" and get you out, and you can concentrate on YOUR business.

Yea, sure I am a company driver and I don't have some of those expenses an Owner Operator has - but, we all have expenses that plays into our formula of success.

 

[sparkle8859]

while I agree with what you have said I have to say that I would be one of thoes "cherry pickers," When we first started working in expiditing for panther,straight out of a big truck, we took everything thinking that if we helped them they would help us. We quickly learned that was not the case. For the first 2 weeks we were only doing 100-200 miles a day.Scince we were "helping" they kept giving us all the loads no one eles wanted. So now we are of the addage of if its not gunna help us we arnt gunna help you. Sad that it has to be that way,we dont mind helping but not if its gunna bancrupt us.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

while I agree with what you have said I have to say that I would be one of thoes "cherry pickers," When we first started working in expiditing for panther,straight out of a big truck, we took everything thinking that if we helped them they would help us. We quickly learned that was not the case. For the first 2 weeks we were only doing 100-200 miles a day.Scince we were "helping" they kept giving us all the loads no one eles wanted. So now we are of the addage of if its not gunna help us we arnt gunna help you. Sad that it has to be that way,we dont mind helping but not if its gunna bancrupt us.

Everyone has to find their balance they can live with..you know 1 for them, 3 for me....it is like, an as you go thing, a feeling that enough is enough..."don't make me the go to guy" for all your crap loads.

 

[ATeam]

When dispatch tells you no other truck is available, it may help to ask is it because no trucks actually are available or because everyone else has declined the load?

 

[OntarioVanMan]

When dispatch tells you no other truck is available, it may help to ask is it because no trucks actually are available or because everyone else has declined the load?

Phil, I've tried that many a time....I've run an update on my position and I'll be 5th say....3 minutes later I'll get a call...

I ask and sometimes they admit they've come directly to me or outright lie (or so it seems) saying I am the only one that can do that load...meanwhile it is just an ordinary CV load..

 

[roadeyes]

Hehe, and I'm sure you will do your best to make that dispatcher know in no uncertain terms that they owe you big time and that he or she will have that next cherry already picked for you if you do this crap load for them now right???

All part of the love hate relationship isn't it?