WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU SAY NO TO CHEAP FREIGHT

I see a lot of why people take cheap freight is that they do not understand what their actual expenses are and what they are looking to earn. Or, they get stuck in “wheels have to turn in order to earn” mentality and forget that your net is more important than total miles. These are the guys that don’t call on 400-500 mile loads because it’s not enough miles. While I have taken some of these loads for 10% less than what is being offered on 1,200 mile loads.
Something else that O/O’s get stuck with is working with a broker first because they will advance money on fuel “cheaper” than using a factoring company (and I am not a fan of factoring). So they take loads cheaper than other loads because they will get an advance.
Too many people buy a job rather than starting a business. This is a business when done right you can earn in excess of $100k per year and not kill yourself.

Thomas, im glad you posted that , cause i was getting ready to. Alot of people dont figure this way in the trucking business, but let me tell ya people this is the way to know where your at. All businesses use this model to know where there at. Remember when you figure cost of goods do not use your insurance costs or maint. or truck payments. That is figured in later. Getting ready to haul a super good paying load for tommorow, you wouldnt believe the rate if i told you. Good luck and happy INDEPENDENCE DAY TO ALL.

That's the way it should work but normally it doesn't. A short load takes more time loading,generally waiting and unloading, so much time is wasted that you have fixed bills to pay and you need so much per day to satisfy those requirments. I see many short loads for 1.50-2 per mile and long hauls @ 2+ because the renegades want to be home every nite and weekend so they do it cheap. Happy 4th of July to all.

Mike when you take the time to lay out a spreadsheet and figure out what it would cost the shipper to do it for themselves. You will find that the shorter the miles cost the truck more per mile to do. It is really hard to explain the formula that I have come up with for this, but I have government reports that validate this and show this as well. My question is why the government reports show one thing but I keep hearing from the truckers and brokers another. Either the government reports are screwed up or those that are reporting those numbers are lying to one side or the other. I suspect that those that fail to take the time and run their own numbers and find the answers are the ones that are being constantly taken advantage of. We all take a load from time to time that sucks, myself included, but it only takes once to realize that I should not work for that shipper/broker again for those rates. When the shipper/broker calls again for that gig, I have my new numbers ready and will not do it for anything less.

While it is true that the more miles you run cause your cost per mile to decrease, if you are running at such a slim margin then you will find that all the miles that you are running will never make up the difference.

Whoever told others that $1.35 per mile will keep them in business was lying.
Whoever told others that $2.00 per mile will keep them in business was lying as well.

3000 miles per week @ $1.35 is $4050.00 gross, if it cost you around $1.70 per mile to inculde paying yourself, then how does this work? (The $1.70 per mile is not my number but the ATA's)

2.00 per mile for 10 miles that takes all day, Hmmmm, I don't need to say anything more there.