In need of a MENTOR

moose · Jul 5, 2008

Hi , All.
well, obviously am doing something wrong out Here .and looking for an experience O/O that have figure out the system , and interested in making a change in someones life and helping out .
if you are the 1 please P.M me !
am driving a solo St. truck , and have a good Business plan and low costs of ops.
just having a hard time finding the freight .
Panther is a great partner ,i just need to learn how to work within .

Moose.

tblount · Jul 6, 2008

moose said:
Hi , All.
well, obviously am doing something wrong out Here .and looking for an experience O/O that have figure out the system , and interested in making a change in someones life and helping out .
if you are the 1 please P.M me !
am driving a solo St. truck , and have a good Business plan and low costs of ops.
just having a hard time finding the freight .
Panther is a great partner ,i just need to learn how to work within .

Moose.

Let me know if you figure it out. I just spent 8 days sitting waiting in El Paso. I got about 3 loads in the last 3 weeks. Going to have some terrible paychecks. I don't know how much longer I can pay the company $160 a week and sit and wait in the hot sun the entire week and not get a load.

Scuba · Jul 7, 2008

Why would anyone sit more than 34 hours in anyplace did you call backhaul did you look at the load boards? gerloaded internet truck stop landstar chrobinson those are all load boards and there is another expediter load board as well.

tblount · Jul 7, 2008

Scuba said:
Why would anyone sit more than 34 hours in anyplace did you call backhaul did you look at the load boards? gerloaded internet truck stop landstar chrobinson those are all load boards and there is another expediter load board as well.

Good questions.... here are the answers.

It's 600 miles from El Paso to anywhere there is a possibility of freight... like Lorado, Dallas, or California. With 3 avg loads a day I thought it was better to stay put since there were times I was the only truck there. They didn't want to put something on my truck that would require a swap so they kept using teams until a trip came that did not need to be delivered till over the weekend.

Yes.. I checked getloaded.com and posted my truck and called some of the LTL loads.... but they were way too low.

Have you ever found a load that even covered fuel on getloaded.com ???

moose · Jul 7, 2008

What part of that "Please PM ME " don't You get ?...

Seriously ,
as i get it , its kind of hard to explain to Tractors drivers the
frustration of looking at getloaded.com if you drive a 22' box.
most loads that are posted there for us are partial loads that take only up to half of a 53' trailer .
and they pay the same .
as i understand it , then Panther take a 20% off of it.

now i might be wrong about it , but this is exactly somthing for a newbee like me to get a good advice on.

How do you use Getloaded to find out where the loads coming from ?

Moose.

charlee · Jul 7, 2008

Pantehr takes 15% of a backhaul. When you search any site you need to look for LTL loads.....many of them are 1-2 skids. Look within the radius of where tyou are and how far you are willing to run empty. For examle if I have a strait truck in El Paso I may search a 200 mile radius....looking for a load or a couple of loads that only go to dallas or the CLOSEST place I can get to where I can get a Panther load out. I have found MANY loads for strait trucks on getl;oaded that have paid 1.75 to 3$ a mile, and yes you have to sift thru all the bad stuff. When you do find a decent paying load....keep a broker file with numbers so that you can call them again when in the area and see if they have anything they have not posted.
You can learn freight lanes by looking at freight within 100 miles of where you are or 300 miles and see WHERE the majority of freiht is being delivered......it will give you a very good idea of what the freight lanes arefor that area..(where does freight deliver to and from).

I get the please pm me thing but if one person is asking the question, then I bet several people have the same question and would like it answered. If you ahve any furthur questions I will be happy to answer them here for you.

Understand that I look for loads for all of my strait trucks and also tractors.....and there is a HUGE difference in tractor lanes and strait truck lanes.

-charlotte

tblount · Jul 7, 2008

moose said:
How do yoU use Getloaded to find out where the loads coming from ?

Moose.

They gave us the login name and password to use during orientation so you wouldn't have to pay to use the site.

You can easily look for LTL loads posted within any range of a city or zip code.

HOWEVER, the only ones I found for a van (I can't haul flatbed, gooseneck refrer freight, etc) offered around $500 for 4 pallets going 1100 miles.

Truckers with a few extra feet of floor space may pick up these loads if they are going to the same location anyway but there is no way anyone could run a truck with only freight at that price.

bludragon13 · Jul 10, 2008

moose,
not sure just what you are asking for? I thought you had expedite experience from previous posts you made? So it's hard to give any suggestions but ask your self a few questions ie: are you locating yourself east of the mississippi river,north of chattanoga,and south of rockford il? are you turning down loads of 150-300mi, do you go to canada? can you carry haz-mat? I'm certainly no expert and am a team operation which is different than single-- though some things we do are the same, never sit for more then 24hrs in a marginal area diesel is expensive but sitting 3 days without a load is more expensive than getting to a better freight area. Request an em if you've been sitting 24hrs you might get one but move to better areas. Where you say? well where does the freight come from,it comes from industry and the more industrial areas have more freight,so madison wi might have some freight chicago has alot more. don't spend to much time looking for that 550mi run take the shorter ones and you'll start running more and the longer ones will show up in the same areas when you least expect it will. Think long and hard before taking that high paying run to tx, if you do ,plan on your cost to get back to single freight areas and add that to the cost on delivering the freight then if it is still high enough pay go for it,just don't plan on a return run anytime soon as even teams may wait for a couple days.This has been brought up manys times in the past on eo but it is hard to say no to an 1800 mile run. However we turned down a 775 mile run this week as the unpaid dh to the pu and the unpaid dh to a decent area to get back was 388 miles. we limit dh to about 20% or so and it mostly works but sometimes you have to bite the bullet and take a chance.So let me know what it is you really want to know and I'll try to give my .02 worth,people like charlee,turtle,davekc,leo and so many more are much more experienced then I am so they would be of much more help. forgive my rambling ,am on a10 hr run that doesn't del for 24 hrs so had some time to ROAM.

good luck keep us posted.

Moot · Jul 11, 2008

bludragon13 said:
Think long and hard before taking that high paying run to tx, if you do ,plan on your cost to get back to single freight areas and add that to the cost on delivering the freight then if it is still high enough pay go for it,just don't plan on a return run anytime soon as even teams may wait for a couple days.

Excellent advice! And as Blu mentioned, it is hard to turn down an 1800 mile load. But you could make more money, sit less and have fewer deadhead miles running three 500 mile loads.

davekc · Jul 11, 2008

Really some good advice offered by all. If your going to go to places that aren't solo friendly, you really need to develop a skill in finding some freight, or don't go. Never, I mean NEVER, sit somewhere for 8 days. Places like El Paso are only going to have freight a solo can haul on a Friday. Most is auto related so you can't haul anything else. Or....possibly a team load that has to be transferred. Right now with many factories closed, those border areas are likely a expediter convention center. Have to have another truck that may or may not be available for that transferring load to happen. I certainly wouldn't advocate hauling cheap freight with any frequency but even a load that nets 70 or 80 cents per mile would cover your fuel and get you out of there. That would certainly beat 8 days of waiting.
I know there are some that will absolutely say "I won't run until I get my rate". Well....that then turns into to the question of:
Are you trying to stay in business, or are you trying to make a statement?.
Charlee's information on finding broker loads is spot on. I might add, if you are not afraid of a little work, buy some decking material and you have the opportunity to haul some light tractor loads. If you are inexperienced in this, find a furniture hauler and have them teach you. Just about every load they do is done this way. Running solo certainly has some limitations. I do believe I would want to capitalize on anything I could to remain profitable. You would be surprised at the opportunities if you think just a little outside the box.