Where Are Rates Really?

[OntarioVanMan]

We averaged 85.1% to the O/O trucks for April. Not trying to make a point. Just a slight clarification.
One of the few reports I run. Weekly & montly gross margins. Ruthless out there since about Thanksgiving.

hey I was doing some subliminal recruiting....LOL

 

[BigStickJr]

Does that lead to subliminal profitability ?

 

[Murraycroexp]

hey I was doing some subliminal recruiting....LOL

But 80% is the LOWEST % we pay. Albeit, of these lower bid rates out there.

LOL!! I hear ya, tho. There's usually room for one or two more as the grass is always greener, you know?
All good.
We're NOT easy to work with. We know that. No more than working for anyone else that thinks of their drivers as pseudo-family.

 

[Murraycroexp]

Does that lead to subliminal profitability ?

No more than about two regular incomes after our expenses. We're people. That's about all the goals we have, after the whole 110% effort thing.

 

[brokcanadian]

My carrier explained that the FSC went to other methods of transit in the chain eg. Rail and air...good excuse but why on my portion not 100 percent...anyway I don't see what I get paid for a month, saves me from pulling my hair out like the rest of you...im good with their minimum per mile so I don't worry about it, that's why I lost the route I was on, I was running it for cheaper than they'd accept (73 per mile, but freight ran both ways)

 

[Treadmill]

Watch what they do, not what they say.

Thry have always paid 100% of the fuel. I've been in a agents office and saw them put the correct fsc in the system and guess what it matched my qc screen. As a matter of fact I checked every settlement for 3 years straight and the fsc matched my qc So I guess I can say I trust them.

 

[coleman6566]

My point was I wouldn't see you and Diane entering in 1995 with primarily manual transmissions, low quality APUs, etc.

You are correct. Cab comfort was a factor in our entry. Sleeper comfort came later when we built a truck of our own. We drove fleet-owner, 77-inch factory sleeper trucks for the first three years. But you never know. If the money was as good in 1995 as the old-salt expediters are are fond of talking about, we might have jumped in then had the opportunity come into view.

If you were doing research now I don't think your numbers would have you leave careers to enter the expediting industry.

I would not rule it out. When we did our research, we spoke to over 20 fleet owners asking them "how much do your best drivers make and what makes them your best drivers?" Armed with that information, we entered the trade and grossed over $20,000 our very first month. (It also helped that FedEx gave us White Glove flags before we hauled our first-ever load and that we were in a fleet owner's White Glove truck.)

If you were a newbie entering the trade today, asking fleet owners those same two questions, what would the fleet owners tell you? Same for recruiters. If you asked them those two questions, what would they say about the best drivers in their fleets? Once you know who the best drivers are, what would they say if you asked them the same questions? By best, I don't mean those who are best known. I mean those who make the most money.

Who are the top money makers today? How much are they making? What are they doing that the average and below-average money makers are not? Once the answers to those questions are known and confirmed with multiple sources, an expediter wannabe who is willing to do what the top performers do can decide if expediting is worth a try.

With all that said, notable changes that developed while we were in the business or shortly after we got out include:

- Fleet owner fleets have gotten larger. At FedEx, when we started, no fleet owner was allowed to run more than five trucks and they all got the same deal. Now it is common to see larger fleet-owner fleets with many carriers and some boast about the special deals they have.

- Flat rate dispatching has become more widespread.

- With innovation and technology, Sylectus went from an out-of-place looking guy presenting his idea in a non-descript booth at MATS into the powerhouse it is today.

- The number of expedite carriers has increased.

- The regulatory burden increased, most notably electronic logging and CSA. Getting a ticket for an inoperative marker light became a big deal that haunts you for three years.

- The cost of credentials went up (higher license fees, fingerprinting for HAZMAT, TWIC card fees, etc.)

- Fuel is higher now than it was when we entered but lower than it's previous highs.

- Fuel surcharge became a factor.

- Telephone booths all but disappeared.

- The Expedite Expo (the expedite industry's defining trade show) grew bigger every year and continues to do so.

- A number of expedite carriers became subsidiaries of larger companies (Roberts to FedEx, Panther to ABF, Express-1 to XPO, maybe more).

- A lot of expedited freight is being moved by less-than-elite trucks (yellow trucks), with those trucks sometimes hired by FedEx (True when we were in, maybe no longer true.)

- A whole new class of freight appeared (TVAL).

- FedEx started running company-owned reefer trailers against owner-operator reefer trucks, giving them preferential dispatch.

- The FedEx dispatch system has been changed multiple times, not always in favor of the driver.

- Shipping alternatives to expedite carriers have developed like next-day LTL.

- Labor rates for truck repair have increased, as has most other costs of operating a truck.

- Custom sleepers have gotten smaller on new expediter trucks.

- By all reports, the industry-wide expedite fleet is increasing in truck age and declining in truck condition.

- The Great Recession drove a number of custom sleeper manufacturers out of business and no new ones have emerged to take their place that I know of.

Those are the changes that come immediately to my mind. Seasoned expediters can no-doubt add to the list.

But notice this. To have an impact on one's emotions and thinking, every one of these changes requires some knowledge about how things used to be.

When Diane and I began researching the business, we saw it through new eyes. The EO Open Forum was flooded with comments about how great things used to be. A number of owner-operators who boasted about their experience said we were certain to fail because we were not real expediters (whatever that meant).

As it turned out, the times were changing (just as they always do) and those who did not change with them got left behind. Seeing the industry with fresh (some say naive) eyes, the past did not matter. We saw the industry as it existed at the time and capitalized on the opportunities that then presented themselves.

In other words, to newbies, it does not matter to us how things used to be. It matters only how things are now.

I have not researched the industry in the present day, but if I wanted to know how to make a go of it now, it would not be learned by looking at how things used to be. It would be learned by looking at how things are now and at what the top money-makers are doing today.

In general, it seems that there is less money to be made than was once the case (smaller sleepers, lower rates, older trucks, higher costs, etc.). But is it not also true that people continue to enter the trade today? And is it not also true that some of them do better than others?



For a newbie looking at this business, there may yet be much in expediting to make one's spirit soar while fattening the wallet too.

Don't let the wails of the old-salts get you down. A number of old-salts thought the world was coming to an end when FedEx gave two inexperienced drivers the White Glove flag. Many of them could not imagine non-truckers like us lasting more than a year in the business.

If you are a new person considering this opportunity today, listen to the voices of experience, of course. But understand also that with the fresh eyes you have, you may well see a path to success to which some old salts may be blind.

As time passes, the value of experience fades. The acquired knowledge of common telephone booth locations gained over the years is irrelevant today. An expediter who knows every major road in every state may be quickly passed over by a carrier who values more a newbie's desire to keep all marker lights functioning. An expediter who remembers dearly the ability to run a couple of loads and take two weeks off has nothing meaningful to say to a newbie who may conclude today that it is best to stay out and run hard for three months before taking time off.

Fresh eyes are not a liability in today's world. Indeed, they may be the very thing one needs to spot the opportunities expediting presents today.

One of the best posts I've seen here. Thank you!

 

[rollincoal]

Around my home area in TN truckload expedited options used to be plentiful and the money was good. In the past 2 or 3 years though I rarely if ever haul any real expedited freight.

Granted, my expediting was always limited to the auto industry. Working spot and getting freight through whatever connections I could make from open sources. I never really see any of the more specialized real niche kinds of expedited freight that some of you guys on here at these big companies haul routinely.

I remember when booking truck loads from Sylectus partners was lucrative but only experienced that for a short time frame. And then it wasn't anymore. Just the same as any other spot source with a lot of low priced load options.

I remember when NLM was owned and managed by Landstar. Boy those were the days. All you had to do was find an agent plugged into NLM, show them you were a person of your word, and you could bid/land a LOT of lucrative work.

Then XPO took it over and expedite rates took a nosedive in my region. It really has never been the same since then. XPO must be loving that with their huge network of cheap carriers and all the flat rate operators they have running under their own numbers. A virtual money printing machine for them.

I guess if the economy turns expediting might return again in full force. I will be here. In the meantime other ways of paying the bills are front and center now.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Around my home area in TN truckload expedited options used to be plentiful and the money was good. In the past 2 or 3 years though I rarely if ever haul any real expedited freight.

Granted, my expediting was always limited to the auto industry. Working spot and getting freight through whatever connections I could make from open sources. I never really see any of the more specialized real niche kinds of expedited freight that some of you guys on here at these big companies haul routinely.

I remember when booking truck loads from Sylectus partners was lucrative but only experienced that for a short time frame. And then it wasn't anymore. Just the same as any other spot source with a lot of low priced load options.

I remember when NLM was owned and managed by Landstar. Boy those were the days. All you had to do was find an agent plugged into NLM, show them you were a person of your word, and you could bid/land a LOT of lucrative work.

Then XPO took it over and expedite rates took a nosedive in my region. It really has never been the same since then. XPO must be loving that with their huge network of cheap carriers and all the flat rate operators they have running under their own numbers. A virtual money printing machine for them.

I guess if the economy turns expediting might return again in full force. I will be here. In the meantime other ways of paying the bills are front and center now.

I remember the loads of cash BEFORE Landstar bought NLM....at least back then NLM had some rules and some class...not anymore...its a wild west shootout now..

 

[rollincoal]

Well there were some sleazy Landstar agents that screwed it up over time. I should have put a caveat in there. These things were good to me when the brokers could not find empty/available trucks and it was open up the checkbook time.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Well there were some sleazy Landstar agents that screwed it up over time. I should have put a caveat in there. These things were good to me when the brokers could not find empty/available trucks and it was open up the checkbook time.

I understand...its many years ago...NLM ruled its board with an iron hand... 1 load = 1 truck...no doubling up..had to have a minimum of units...NO solo players....NO sharing of login....get caught...you got the boot

 

[rollincoal]

I'm sure it kept quality and qualified carriers on that freight too. Strict standards are a good thing.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

I'm sure it kept quality and qualified carriers on that freight too. Strict standards are a good thing.

People used to say NLM was cheap..well when I went to the % pay I was able to see that they paid pretty well depending on amount of competition in a given area...on flat rate never knew good paying loads existed, it was just a rumor...
UPS seems the same way...they have some cheap loads and some a very good paying...

 

[xiggi]

This week was like that bid boards loads were out there multiple dollars per mile.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

This week was like that bid boards loads were out there multiple dollars per mile.

feels like the stock market at times....

 

[rollincoal]

Just the holiday thing. After New Year's business as usual.

 

[T270_Dreamin]

when things are going our way...we all, at one point, contract with the best carrier and owner until something changes.

A great owner does not make you anymore money then a miserable owner....My biggest money maker carrier turned out to be one of most crooked carriers out there...

Shot in the dark... let me guess? Express1-XPO

 

[OntarioVanMan]

when things are going our way...we all, at one point, contract with the best carrier and owner until something changes.

A great owner does not make you anymore money then a miserable owner....My biggest money maker carrier turned out to be one of most crooked carriers out there...

Shot in the dark... let me guess? Express1-XPO

1 of my Canadian carriers now owned by Transforce aka TST..we have a lawsuit in process last 5 years...

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Shot in the dark... let me guess? Express1-XPO

To tell it straight...never had a bad carrier really per say....Just a carrier that changed their business plans and didn't match MY needs anymore..when that happens....the phrase "Bad Carrier" is inappropriately levied on them....