What is the Dealio???!!!

[poopookitty]

Has anyone noticed that load offers at FXCC are getting lower and lower? I'm not sure if it's because it's "July", or if we got put on a poopoo list or what. Almost every load offer we've been sent this month has been 1.10 or less. Regardless of where we are (fuel surcharge), the weight, liftgate or hazmat. Although that is not terrible pay, we rely heavily on the higher paying runs. We've tried asking for more money and dispatch won't budge. Our acceptance rate is terrible as a result of the really ridiculous offers.

It’s not that we won’t take runs. We have stayed busy. I have two weeks of laundry to prove it, and it’s going on three days since we’ve showered. This has been the theme all month. Those who know me understand I would never skip these things unless I had no choice. I am a girly girl.

Before you say or think it, we have only had a few days down (while mostly in service, weekend etc.). So, that is not the problem either. One day down from truck problems, one personal day, and that was it. Of course, the holiday weekend didn’t help, but point is the same. We had a lot more time down last month and it was record month.

I spoke with our CC regarding this and like usual we were stonewalled. Anymore, I don’t trust their rhetoric anyway. The reply was it’s July and the average run called in was 350 miles, but that doesn’t account for low paying run offers.

Although, we are not WG certified we have all the necessary WG equipment, including a refer D unit. Oh did I mention we are a team? I should also mention, we do not own this truck. Because we pay for our own fuel we have to be very selective of load offers or we will not make a competitive wage. It hasn't been that difficult for the last two years, but if these offers are indicative of times to come...Houston we have a problem. Please, if you have any insight on this or if you have been experiencing the same thing let me know.

Have A Poopy Day!

 

[b4342]

poo kitty i am in a b unit and have noticed a drop in rate during june.
july per mile rate has been great, but not alot of freight. i was in atlanta 2 weeks ago at the petro {center of town} there where 12 d units
and 11 e units, all where waiting. i met a team/just drivers, not o/o
they where saying the same thing you are.
i doubt its anything you are doing-just hang tough-we are almost
through the month. august should be great. as for asking for more pay on a run, dispatch cant raise without talking to all other drivers first
in the area. for better pay have you looked into white glove???

 

[M A WEBSTER]

could it be maybe they dont have a chrysler account anymore??
have you hauled any chrysler loade lately?

 

[tec1959]

M A well when i was with Roberts Express and then FexCC heck chrylser never PAID that well anyway,So whats the point.The only good thing about chrysler is that they unlike the other major auto makers is that they would have you in and out in no time at least that was for when i went to any of there plants.

tec1959 Just my 2 cents.

 

[davekc]

Averages of $1.10 or less per mile on a white glove equipped truck isn't anything to get excited about. Certainly a place to be careful in buying one of these units. Your situation is not that uncommon, and validates many posts with regards to buying trucks with reefers ect.
Investments of that type have to pay for themselves or there is little reason to invest in them.
In my world,I don't think $1.10 per mile or less is covering that investment.

Davekc
owner
21 years

 

[RichM]

Well the main reason that Dispatch will no longer negogiate is that about 6 months ago a forum member posted and basically bragged that when he was the only truck in the area he would force dispatch to pay out more money. You can imagine how this post was received in Ohio. Management of FDXCC and other companies read these forums every day. If you remember we all received a letter and had the Voice message that they would no longer negoiate for higher rates that the standard tarrifs paid. Not to long ago I met a FDX couple at the Petro In Bordentown NJ and she was passing out copies of the post where the individual stated that he could essentially hold up FDX for more money.
She told me that "If we ever meet him he will get a strong profanity based earfull". I won't mention what her husband said. So this one individual in his naive fashion essentially upset the apple cart for all of us.

I agree about this July being slow,worst month I have seen in many years. the other day I was asked to deadhead from Tampa FL to Dothan AL(385 miles) to take a 105 mile run to Montgomery AL, total pay would have been about .48 per mile.So I refuse this and get hit with a negative check on my record. Life is not fair..

 

[ATeam]

>Averages of $1.10 or less per mile on a white glove equipped
>truck isn't anything to get excited about. Certainly a place
>to be careful in buying one of these units. Your situation
>is not that uncommon, and validates many posts with regards
>to buying trucks with reefers ect.
>Investments of that type have to pay for themselves or there
>is little reason to invest in them.
> In my world,I don't think $1.10 per mile or less is
>covering that investment.
>
>Davekc

It would be unwise to invest heavily in a White Glove truck and equipment if you were not first a White Glove-qualified team. Just because you have some of the equipment, it does not follow that you will get the loads. There's more to WG than equipment. Picking up a pallet jack, a few pads, and some extra straps may pay off, but expensive items like reefers and liftgates should be carefully considered before investing in them.

 

[davekc]

It would be unwise to invest heavily in a White Glove truck and equipment if you were not first a White Glove-qualified team. Just because you have some of the equipment, it does not follow that you will get the loads. There's more to WG than equipment. Picking up a pallet jack, a few pads, and some extra straps may pay off, but expensive items like reefers and liftgates should be carefully considered before investing in them.


====================================
Yes I think you figured it out. Yes there is more to it. Alot of work and alot of investment that you likely won't find a return from. If you are running at double the rate of other expediters, then you would have a valid arguement. In the days of Roberts Express , yes, in todays market, not hardly. Look at the rates!
On your best day you couldn't prove on paper that this is a viable investment. Unless your running consistently at double regular expedite rates there is no valid arguement short of loyalty to a carrier. Why do you think they put a freeze on hiring these kinds of trucks? They can't keep the ones they have moving.
Again, this is not rocket science.

Davekc

 

[barbaba704]

We have noticed the same thing about low rates. If it isn't a discounted tariff customer the rates aren't too bad. Some have even been very good. But the tariff discount customers that we see, especially GE Medical are very low, and many of them refuse to pay fuel surcharges as well. Plus, many times you have to deadhead over 100 miles to pick them up. We just turn them down and to hell with the acceptance average. I spoke with our CC the other day about it and the adverse affect on our average and my concern about it. He said I was at 58% and to keep up the good work! I figure there must be a lot of drivers with worse averages.
We are a team with a D unit. We kept pretty busy in July but had a number of family things come up so we ended up at home every week for a day or two. Fortunately except for one week we had runs to the home area every time.
Re the reason for low rates I think is related to the high energy costs. No other cost of business has gone up more than all energy costs, not just diesel. When certain costs become so dislocated from the norm in such a short period of time, then businesses look for other areas to cut costs. Expediting has always been a relativley easy way, albeit an expensive way, to fix a production or poor planning problem. When forced to cut costs, managers look at these types of expenses to cut and find other solutions, such as do without the item until a regular shipment comes in, stretch existing inventory until a regular shipment arrives, or just do without, or pass the cost on to the customer if they can. Obviously, there are other solutions and none of them apply in all situations, but in my conversations with shippers, this is what is happening.
As industry adjusts to these higher costs they will go back to the usual way of doing business and expediting will pick up again. Meanwhile we all have to work smarter. I know we watch our fuel economy more closely (no more 70 mph and a lot more 60 mph) and all the other little things that effect our costs.
Fall is coming and so will the loads, so hang in there.

 

[ATeam]

>Yes I think you figured it out. Yes there is more to it.
>Alot of work and alot of investment that you likely won't
>find a return from. If you are running at double the rate of
>other expediters, then you would have a valid arguement. In
>the days of Roberts Express , yes, in todays market, not
>hardly. Look at the rates!
>On your best day you couldn't prove on paper that this is a
>viable investment. Unless your running consistently at
>double regular expedite rates there is no valid arguement
>short of loyalty to a carrier. Why do you think they put a
>freeze on hiring these kinds of trucks? They can't keep the
>ones they have moving.



>Again, this is not rocket science.
>
>Davekc


You are advancing what is called a straw man arguement. It's a technique in which one debater twists the point of the other and then argues against the "straw man" the twisting debater erects.

Your continual anti-White Glove rhetoric simply falls under the weight of the hundreds of White Glove units that are out there running profitably today. Yes, there is turnover in White Glove, but I doubt it is any worse than turnover in FedEx's surface expedite division or in any other carrier.

 

[ATeam]

Poopookitty's comments got me to thinking. It seems a month does not go by without someone posting about freight that is seemingly slow, rates that are seemingly low, and money that is seemingly not there. In many cases, the posters may be dead on, but how can you know for sure?

A technique that might help drivers and owner/operators evaluate the pace and pay of freight and of load offers is to maintain a log of each over time.

Someone on EO - I don't recall who and I hope he identifies himself in this thread - posted wise advice about maintaining a run journal. He said to use the journal to develop a personal history of your truck that will show where your best freight centers and/or layover locations are. That information will help you in the loads you accept and deadhead plans you make.

It strikes me that maintianing a journal of the load offers you refuse could be of equal value. After a few months, you'd have the hard data you need to answer the question Poopookitty raises here, and others have raised in the past.

It saddens me to think of the career decisions people make based on nothing more than what they hear from others on the Internet, CB, and at truck stop lunch counters. Keeping journals enables people to make more informed decisions. Run journals elevate your decision making from "seems to be" or "people are saying" to "our numbers show."

My wife and I have not kept a refused load journal in the past, but we may start. To date, we've not had occasion to worry about declining rates or slow freight. Business has been good for us.

However, absent a refused-load journal now, the best we can do is call our Contract Coordinator and have her run our numbers for the last few months. Our monthly load refusal rate will give us a rough idea if rates have declined. More refusals would indicate lower rates since we seldom refuse loads for any reason other than pay.

To answer Poopookitty's question, July was an average month for us. We noticed no change in freight or rates outside the usual fluctuations (some loads are better than others, loads come in sometimes faster or sometimes slower).

Poopookitty, we know the feeling. We've had months where we did everything right and made way less than friends we talk to on a regular basis. Some months are better than others. You're a FedEx team. If your managing your business well, that's a good place to be in the industry. Keep the faith.

 

[tec1959]

A TEAM this isn't really for you but I'd like to know when alot of posts say the rates or down or alot lower now,That really doesn't make since to me how can a company like Fedexcc or Panther just say one day were cutting our rates say 35%- 50% just to get a load,Or does the companys take more of the profit and give less to the contractors and drivers?Whats up loads paying less than $1.10 a mile for a full D load,Heck the old automotive loads paid more than that.I'm sorry i just don't understand it now costs more to run a truck and to run a company where's the going if less and less is going to the contractors and drivers i know fedex and panther is not saying well we'll give you folks 100% of the pay since the rates or so low now...The only reason i'm saying this is it seems like lately everyone is complanning about the rates whats up guys and gals.P.S. I know some of you are going to come back and say I'm being stupid or i must be kidding but,I'm just asking.

 

[jackdixon_2000]

A Team
Once you become an owner, all of the run information and refusals this and the prior year are available to you in chronological order in the Vehicle Activity section of the extranet You could have you're owner run a printout for you.

 

[truckerbse2]

Just a thought on your journal, while I agree it is a good idea, if you wanted some hard evidence, go to the CC site where you get your settlement and stat info, click on vehicle activity. You can go back over a year on that info and if you spend a little time you can get exact info on the load you refused including your explanation for turning down the load.

 

[truckerbse2]

Ok, my husband and I have been expediting now for 5 years. We have been with Panther II and now with FedEx for nearly 2 years. We also made a short bad move to a smaller company, but I will not bash them for now. What we have learned is that in the last 3 years all automotive loads are handled through National Logistics (NLM) You remember getting those messages saying you could not go in for pickup or delivery more than 30 min in advance without prior approval?? That was an NLM thing. They set the rules, they pass out the loads. Once they got all the auto companies on board, they started playing games. Initially Panther, FDCC etc would put in a bid for the rate they would haul loads for. Then there was a series of criteria, basically a grading system where the company is punished even for things like and early delivery without prior approval. Then the loads are put out there. It is NLM who lowered the rates on automotive and quite honestly until they get their hand out of the pot, I don't care if we haul any. They will come back after they are tired of getting the poor service they are paying for. Believe me when NLM makes a mistake they try to pass it off on the carrier. The automotive companies never got a break on their rates and I don't believe that the Expedite carriers were keeping more than their share. It is NLM who is getting greedy.

 

[ATeam]

That's one of the reasons we're looking forward to being owner/operators instead of fleet drivers - direct access to more information that our carrier provides. Thanks, guys.