where are the loads
- Thread starter oops79
- Start date
I will take one of those Honolulu runs!! Hawaii is the ONLY State that we have NOT expedited in yet!!
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
There may have been a little room for the load out of Laredo. But look at it this way. The going rates for coming out of laredo to Michigan RIGHT NOW is about 1.64/mi. for a straight truck. Given that if my driver takes it for his usual 1.30, Im gonna make my company .34/mi. on this load. Thats less than 20%. Now, Thats about perfect margin for the driver and the carrier's office. Atleast my company does it that way. Especailly out of Laredo, Laredo is a gret location for us. But you must remember, we have to get paid too you know. My average pay is about $500/week. You know how many hours I put in? Try 70. in 6 days a week I put in 70 hours and make 500/ week. So yeah. I am on 5% commission, based on profits. so for a 1000 mi. load if I made the company .34/mi, I am making $17 bucks. So yeah we have some motivation to make the company as much money as possible, as we do to, but its not freaking rediculous, as a 0.02/ mi difference wouldnt really add up to be a loss on my commission. So it hurts us too when you guys dont get the load and we have to broker it. There goes my commission. But thats the way it works. Drivers too often forget that for us to eat and pay our bills and still dispatch and find loads for them, we need some money out of the loads we book. Thats why the the drivers dont generally get inside info from their company. Because if we booked a load nobody was covering, we get it for an extreme amount of money, then yes its payday for us. Hell if we like the driver, its payday for you too. Your normal 1.30/mi. is now 1.50/ mi on this load. But the company made 1.50 too? Yeah thats what we call a beauty. But thats what pays the bills. When we make only .34/ mi on most loads, we still have to pay all kinds of costs for insuraces, load board fees, phones, payroll, taxes, office supplies, etc. We aint making but like .05/mi. Trust me. I have seen the bills. Its quite rediculous. And btw, I have been working Loadplanner/Dispatcher positions for about 5 years now with 2 different companies, and I run 4 trucks myself with my own authrority. Believe me, There are no such thing as fatcat dispatchers and in most cases any wealthy CEO's either. Except Panther of course. I cant wait for them to come under new ownership one day, they dont know what they are doing to their drivers.
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
davekc, what do you consider cheap freight? Do you also work for panther? let me break this down to the panther drivers. Panther has 100's of office employees and poor communications with their drivers. Most of their team members couldnt even name any of the drivers by name. Thats bad. And they get straight truck loads for 2.63/mi. if not more. How much are they paying you? Less than half that. Remember that next time you receive a call from them about a load. Thats rediculous margins. And I dont see how they could possibly have any relationships with their customers with those rates, but I guess their customer's are ignorant. Id be willing to bet they have a higher dry run ratio than most companies. To me, I consider 1.70/mi for a straight truck the minimum unless the driver has been sitting and needs to move. Or its a high export area like Laredo, then we need to lose margins on that one to be competitive and keep the driver rolling. No I dont mean that there are a handful of companies tier 1 on NLM, but most of the ones that are, especially at nightshift for me, get a call from me about a load off of NLM that they didnt catch because they arent paying attention. I can name 3 companies that get calls nightly from me that have the same accounts we do, but are doing their job and moving their drivers. They are playing around on the computer.
greg334
Veteran Expediter
You just had to bring up Panther again. They seem to be making money, they don't seem to be hurting their drivers by worrying about 4 cents.
Well here is the thing.
The impression I get is the management of your company is pretty frickn' cheap and it reflects in how you present it to us. Not saying GO Away, NOPE want you to post your comments but rather I am trying to figure out how your company stays in business with all you have posted.
When dispatchers are on commission, they become more zealous with making a buck than actually using the internal capacity.
The internal capacity when not being used costs the company money sitting, not just the owner/driver but the company itself through lost revenue. If you are to use the capacity and look at not trying to achieve the margin with every load but to keep things moving, you would make more money in the long run - this is how a lot of people actually achieve growth.
The worst company to work for is where either the dispatcher has a quota or a commission to fill because of the push to get loads out or to turn that buck. The fallout to this is the relationship with the driver who feels it isn't worth working for a company that worries about 4 cents or a dime per mile and is judged by not the performance but the acceptance of the load. There is no over the horizon mindset that is allowed with quotas and commissions system, it is about the now and not the next week, month or quarter. It is like a company I worked for where quantity was king, one day a carpet salesman, the next selling customers $5,000 worth of electronics for their business with no concern if it was even possible for them to use it. ALL pretty bad in my opinion.
By the way ...
I wouldn't take that load if it is a $1.30 a mile, $1.64 is about right. BUT ...
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
See, I am here as a friend not a foe. This is why most dispatch/driver relationships are generally tense and there is a lack of communication there. Because they both assume about each other. You assumed that I make commission on brokering loads, in which I do not. The commission is set forth to further motivate dispatchers in keeping the trucks moving. But we have been having a real problem with truck drivers lately giving themselves raises or staying O.O.S. It ****es us off. Because some of our drivers are getting rediculous with it. If it was some of our nicer drivers, I would put for the extra cents/mi. to keep them running. But if you are a P.I.T.A., then I am not going to bend over at all for you. I dont know what company pays drivers 1.64/mi. I was told by other company's drivers (1099 drivers) that we at 1.30/mi are slightly above average. But 1.64/mi is a big jump. Is that company paying you deadhead too? How many miles are you getting a week?
the idea of you or any dispatcher having feelings one way or the other for a driver is a problem. bad feelings, you dont work as hard for that driver. one you like you may play favorites for. you have mentioned that twice. dispatchers are paid to do a job and it should be done all the time to what is expected and feelings should not play a part. sure some you may enjoy doing business with more than others but this is business, not personal. that would be like drivers saying, well i am going to take this load but since i dont particularly like this dispatcher im going to deliver late. [ i would have given the extra on the load but this guy is always turning down loads] or it was something very close to that. not your exact words. but the just of it. as far as drivers ****i!! us of for being oos or giving themselves raises. the oos thing in a small company, i understand. it can hurt. then again thats tough cause you dont own the truck and have no control on a owners work habits shy of cancelling their contract or some requirement in the lease. try the latter and see if that works for you. you all have to remember, you get to go home everyday to take care of things we dont. so when we do its no different than what you do everyday. so thats about that as far as feelings go. those are a two way street and should not weigh in in the job itself. as i tell the dispatchers i work with when we have a discussion on things. dont take it personal its just a business decision i have to make.
now, as far as pay. drivers giving themselves raises. heck yes we do. the misunderstanding though is where the raise is going. generally, not in our pocket but in the tank. minimums or at least the ones i have in place are figured on fuel and operating cost. of the two, operating cost ,with fuel not in that equation for this particular explanation does not fluxuate much. fuel on the other hand does. when fuel rises as it has lately the minimums in place rise also to offset that rise in cost. we cannot run a business and stay in business without doing so. if lets say, a minimum was 1.25 a mile and fuel was 3.00 a gal. then fuel rose to 3.25 a gal. thats a 50.00 dollar difference on every 1000 miles at 9 mpg. thats 5000.00 dollars a year out of are pockets. do you want someone taking that amount out of yours, no i think not. i know that the money is coming out of somebodys pocket, just not mine. i know not yours personally and the carrier doesnt want to lose it either. so lets guess where it should come from. but the pricing discussion that customers expect carriers to haul freight for is another can of worms and not the topic we are talking about now. now with that said, i know of no one who has any good business sense would allow their business to bleed money like that. you stated you made 500.00 a week for 70 hrs in 6 days like you dont think we dont. just because the truck is not loaded and moving doesnt mean we are not working and putting in hours. if you are single 500.00 bucks a week to live on is very doable. if there is a second income then that adds to the pot. you make close to what we pay ourselves each week. we have not given ourselves a raise in 10 years. you at 500 and we get 600, 300 a piece. yes we had, dont now, children to raise. three of them. in that a set of twins, twice the costs at the same time for somethings like dances, graduation, things like that. we payed for a home, new car, food, bills, vacations, all the normal stuff. we were not strapped, not alot left over but did ok. most drivers dont give themselves raises. they adjust their rates to offset cost.
with all that said, i to am glad you have decided to post here. the more involvement we can get from all aspects of the carrier help to educate all in one way or another. some of the responses may seem a little hard but they are not PERSONAL, ITS JUST A BUSINESS discussion. and at the end of the day we are all still acquaintances. its a matter of trying to get everyone to understand each other. keep on posting.
now, as far as pay. drivers giving themselves raises. heck yes we do. the misunderstanding though is where the raise is going. generally, not in our pocket but in the tank. minimums or at least the ones i have in place are figured on fuel and operating cost. of the two, operating cost ,with fuel not in that equation for this particular explanation does not fluxuate much. fuel on the other hand does. when fuel rises as it has lately the minimums in place rise also to offset that rise in cost. we cannot run a business and stay in business without doing so. if lets say, a minimum was 1.25 a mile and fuel was 3.00 a gal. then fuel rose to 3.25 a gal. thats a 50.00 dollar difference on every 1000 miles at 9 mpg. thats 5000.00 dollars a year out of are pockets. do you want someone taking that amount out of yours, no i think not. i know that the money is coming out of somebodys pocket, just not mine. i know not yours personally and the carrier doesnt want to lose it either. so lets guess where it should come from. but the pricing discussion that customers expect carriers to haul freight for is another can of worms and not the topic we are talking about now. now with that said, i know of no one who has any good business sense would allow their business to bleed money like that. you stated you made 500.00 a week for 70 hrs in 6 days like you dont think we dont. just because the truck is not loaded and moving doesnt mean we are not working and putting in hours. if you are single 500.00 bucks a week to live on is very doable. if there is a second income then that adds to the pot. you make close to what we pay ourselves each week. we have not given ourselves a raise in 10 years. you at 500 and we get 600, 300 a piece. yes we had, dont now, children to raise. three of them. in that a set of twins, twice the costs at the same time for somethings like dances, graduation, things like that. we payed for a home, new car, food, bills, vacations, all the normal stuff. we were not strapped, not alot left over but did ok. most drivers dont give themselves raises. they adjust their rates to offset cost.
with all that said, i to am glad you have decided to post here. the more involvement we can get from all aspects of the carrier help to educate all in one way or another. some of the responses may seem a little hard but they are not PERSONAL, ITS JUST A BUSINESS discussion. and at the end of the day we are all still acquaintances. its a matter of trying to get everyone to understand each other. keep on posting.
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
Im glad that you see it as a business discussion. Thats smart of you. Now, as far as driver's giving themselves raises, yeah I have come to realize they need to adjust for fuel offset. See, during the summer we were giving our guys (straight trucks) about 1.30 to 1.34/mi. Right now, we are giving them 1.36-139/mi. because of the fuel offset. Per their individual requests within this range. We dont have to check online fuel resources. Our driver DEFINITELY will have no problem letting us know. And we have no problem making our customers pay it. Where the problem comes along is this. And I think most of my frustration comes from this guy. We have a guy we brought on, actually its a team. They have never driven Expedite. He brought on his "straight truck" and we measured the dims and here they are copy and pasted -192x92x96, but wait a minute, he is only 90" high at the door. So he can only haul 5 standard sized skids! What does that make him? A freakin Dock High cube. But no, his uncle also works for us driving a 24ft. straight truck, and he gets 1.34, so he wants it too. Thats impossible most of the time, due to the fact he cannot actually haul any straight truck loads. But wait! He calls us one day, and says he wants 1.45/mi. I say what for? Because of fuel... well, it doesnt work like that buddy your new, and everybody else is getting x amount. Your lucky to get that much with your dock high cube. No I didnt say it in a mean way like it reads, I have been begging this guy to get a different truck. He is not really caring.
This is a ridiculous post . In what percentage of expedite loads would a 90" door height be a factor ? If it's 96"wide why can he only load 5 skids . Please enlighten me so I can move from crayons to colored pencils .
And while on the subject of fuel , what is your FSC policy ?
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
Okay sorry I didnt explain, in our system it is in this order 192 long 92 wide 96 high. He cant put them double wide, he can put 3 on the bottom row, but only 2 on the top, seeing as how the door being 90" tall prevents them from getting the last skid inside. My bad for not putting the dims order in there. Make sense now?
And with the FSC policy, I am not sure if you mean with the customer or the driver, but I will explain both. With all of our load boards and customers, they auto rate it based on the national average for the week. With the driver, we pretty much do the same, but it fluxuates so much, that we pad it a little for the driver. So actually, the driver is making money off of their fuel. Like this week, most of our straight trucks are getting about .43/mi. for fuel if not more.
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that is an understandable scenario but unfortunately one that your higher ups missed. some carriers distinguish truck capacity and some dont. until yours does, you have to treat him the same as the rest. there are plenty of five skid or less loads out there. thats 80% of what i have most of the time. so paying him the same as a 22/24' truck shouldnt be an issue. if he is under cdl and weight is a problem that makes it harder. what is the issue is taking a look, now that this has arose and make a choice as to sizing the pay scale. that might make him decide to move up or move on. but none the less that is a carrier decision. thats where the carrier get to explain and say its not personal its business. we as drivers have no control over that short of upgrading or moving. we do have a choice though. you just have to do your best for this guy till its made different. you might have to call and let him know that he might be doing some sitting but you will do your best to get him that rate. also let him know tat this is his decision so dont get upset.
Math says 8 skids to me too. However, 90 inches won't allow much of a forklift in, and the truk prolly wouldn't take on anyway. A couple solutions to this is..... don't sign a truk like that on, i'fn you don't want to deal with it's restrictions, and, if you do....tell them precisely what their rates will be. Either way, problem solved.
BTW, I wouldn't even start my truk for a buk thirty, unless I already had a buk on there going the same direction.
BTW, I wouldn't even start my truk for a buk thirty, unless I already had a buk on there going the same direction.
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
We have been through that process. He has been sitting, and has been complaining anyway. We told him we dont have any cube loads for him but he still complains. yeah there are 5 skid straight truck loads, but it is a rareity for us, this guy is running stuff for regular customers locally. He was hired to do that and he knows it. But when he initially hired, we told him because of the size of his truck, he would have to be getting 1.15 to 1.30 mi depending on if we have it in the load or not. He said he was fine with that. Now, he wont take anything less than 1.45/mi. I told him that I will still call him with every load I find for him and offer the normal rates everyone else gets, and if doesnt like it, then he will stay home. I dont really care if he goes to another company. See, 1 day after he said he would take 1.15/mi. I called him with one basically picking up at his truck 0 deadhead, and 780 miles to Detroit. I offered 1.22/mi. I had already confirmed this load because he said before he would take loads like this no problem. So I call him, and he turned it back. Why? "I want to go to Laredo". I said "sorry dude, you and every truck that has tires on it. There are customers and expedite loads all over this country. No sense in turning everything back that isnt going to Laredo". Then he says "Well, I dont want to run it for 1.22/mi I want 1.42 or so." wow.
so lets get this strait, .43 for fsc on top of 1.30/1.40 a mi. or is the 1.30/1.40 a mi including the fsc. please do tell. and what do you pay for dh and a how many mi. must the driver give up.
Makes ya pull yer hair, don't it? Specially if'n you've committed. I'd cause that fella to find a new home.
Dispatcher03
Not a Member
I wouldnt give a buck to anyone that cannot spell it. I hate that smart *** phrase "I wouldnt start my truck for...." because those are the same guys that I say "Naw that load just dry ran man" because I wouldnt turn on my computer for less than 20%.
wrong attitude, in thinking that way, remember our discussion on minimums. rite now 1.30 is a minimum for alot of o/o running straights. here is a breakdown from our point base on a 1000 mile load at 1.30 no dh. pay 1300.00 - 355.55 [email protected] = 944.45 < 1000 mi = .94 per mi after fuel. .94 - .15 per mi for maint. = .79 - .20 per mi. driver pay figured on 3000 mi/wk to the 600 we pay ourselves = .59 - .02 per mi. for carrier fees based on approx. 50.00 =.57 - .20 per mi truck replacement cost based on a 135k cost running 135k mi per yr.5yr trk life = .37 - .10 per mi for bus. exp. based on 1200.00 @ the same 135k mi [ phone, ins., etc.] =.27 per mi left over or 700.00 a week not spoken for and there are alot of these figures that i just gave that are very minimalistic. and some i did not mention. one is pay for the o/o on off weeks. that 700.00 could be eaten up quickly. also we dont have co. retirement we have to do that ourselves along with medical and health ins. costs. just fyi from our side.
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Looks like it is time for another reality session.
Seems like your mad because the larger carriers (Panther being one of them) obtain freight at a much higher rate than your carrier. Thats a shame. Seems like it would be more of a incentive to locate the higher paying loads.
Without pulling out the pom-poms, your assessment of people there is not accurate. When I call they know exactly who I am and know me on a first name basis unless they are new. Yes they have some new "high schoolers" and of those, a few are geographically challenged, but then I don't call them.
If your total rate is say 1.64 for a total bid as you indicated, yep....we would be poor performers. No interest in doing 1.30 straight loads unless we follow the Colonels lead and throw it with another at that rate. You do know that drivers can book their own freight at Panther?
Does Panther sell freight for a higher rate than they pay their drivers. Absolutely. Been that way for years and that model is used by many other carriers. Where do you think I find my other loads?
As for dry runs with Panther. Last year...average of three per truck over a 12 month period. Yes, they exist, but not with a high frequency. Oops and we got paid a DR.
If you pay as you indicate, .43 cent FSC and your bid rate is 1.64, what is your actual rate to the truck? .90 cents....maybe.
Might be hard to fire up the laptop for that rate.
At the end of the day, if your rate to the truck is 1.30, (many but not all) have a base rate higher than your total rate.
On a side note. Quite a few Panther trucks have a higher base rate than what your total bid rate is without counting the FSC.
That is what I would pay attention to rather than how someone does or doesn't answer the phone.
May want to try to break away from the budget runs and locate some worthy freight. Customers don't use Panther, the Fed or Landstar because they are uneducated on rates. Service, qualifications, and coverage is what they are paying for.
There my contribution to the Sunday morning entertainment.
Seems like your mad because the larger carriers (Panther being one of them) obtain freight at a much higher rate than your carrier. Thats a shame. Seems like it would be more of a incentive to locate the higher paying loads.
Without pulling out the pom-poms, your assessment of people there is not accurate. When I call they know exactly who I am and know me on a first name basis unless they are new. Yes they have some new "high schoolers" and of those, a few are geographically challenged, but then I don't call them.
If your total rate is say 1.64 for a total bid as you indicated, yep....we would be poor performers. No interest in doing 1.30 straight loads unless we follow the Colonels lead and throw it with another at that rate. You do know that drivers can book their own freight at Panther?
Does Panther sell freight for a higher rate than they pay their drivers. Absolutely. Been that way for years and that model is used by many other carriers. Where do you think I find my other loads?
As for dry runs with Panther. Last year...average of three per truck over a 12 month period. Yes, they exist, but not with a high frequency. Oops and we got paid a DR.
If you pay as you indicate, .43 cent FSC and your bid rate is 1.64, what is your actual rate to the truck? .90 cents....maybe.
Might be hard to fire up the laptop for that rate.
At the end of the day, if your rate to the truck is 1.30, (many but not all) have a base rate higher than your total rate.
On a side note. Quite a few Panther trucks have a higher base rate than what your total bid rate is without counting the FSC.
That is what I would pay attention to rather than how someone does or doesn't answer the phone.
May want to try to break away from the budget runs and locate some worthy freight. Customers don't use Panther, the Fed or Landstar because they are uneducated on rates. Service, qualifications, and coverage is what they are paying for.
There my contribution to the Sunday morning entertainment.
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First of all, I haven't read through & through all these posts. But I was under the impression when Diesel prices rise FSC rises also. If this is true why would an O|O have to keep raising his price to meet his\her operating cost?.