Recruiting Manager

[paullud]

Ok ,but here we talking 88 cents all the runs....

Yeah but if I run a load at .80/mile then one at .95/mile I end up at .875/mile. I do understand people make more but I would go with a company that paid .88/mile and didn't have all the extra fees. I have looked at LRT and talked to their drivers and they are on top of the list if I decide to run for multiple companies.

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[lrtexpedite]

We never ask our drivers to take a reduced rate , I will take a hit and you wont !

 

[OntarioVanMan]

So again I'll point this out...the no fees part is a wash....all you've done really is cut out the middleman...you the carrier...instead of the money coming out as deductions from the settlement...the operator pays the fees directly to the vendor....hence the operator might have monthly payments instead of weekly....

 

[blizzard2014]

Maybe there is someone out there who can run things without a "babysitter" but when are you going to sleep? Say you take a 600 mile load over night. Are you going to stay up the next day hunting your freight? Or are you going to sleep so you can actually run freight?

Also, I think .85 -.88 a mile is low. It has become the bid board price because of companies undercutting the market. The problem is that many drivers will run for that rate.

That's why I'll work with two outside companies when I get access to all the boards. If i'm sleeping and a company calls me with a load, i'll just get up, log onto the boards and bid the load up myself. If I get the load, i'll just say carrier x got it for me. lol

 

[OntarioVanMan]

That's why I'll work with two outside companies when I get access to all the boards. If i'm sleeping and a company calls me with a load, i'll just get up, log onto the boards and bid the load up myself. If I get the load, i'll just say carrier x got it for me. lol

Careful....giving away all your tricks...LOL

 

[blizzard2014]

Now in all honesty Fastrod is right about getting your own authority. If you have the insurance it's not that much more per month to run your own loads. When you have your own authority you will make all of the money from the load. You will effectively cut out the middle man. You will never have to take a load you don't want to take because you won't book any loads that you do not want. You'll never have to worry about someone calling you in the middle of the night after you just fell asleep begging you to do some run you don't want to do. You can go out and get some regular customers to call you with loads and if you can't cover them, broker them out to another carrier. If you drove all night, you can have your wife or girlfriend watching the boards for you. In my case I know a few other guys who are doing the same thing and we talk to and help one another find loads when we are sleeping or what not. Having your own authority is having total control!!

 

[jjoerger]

And you can bid lower and undercut the bigger carriers because you have little or no overhead and still make more per mile.

 

[fastrod]

And you can bid lower and undercut the bigger carriers because you have little or no overhead and still make more per mile.

Actually when I first started I could not match the low rates that Panther was quoting shippers. Fedex is in the same area rate wise now since they wacked there vans down to .85 cpm. Its the larger carriers that are driving the rates into the ground.

 

[Camper]

Actually when I first started I could not match the low rates that Panther was quoting shippers. Fedex is in the same area rate wise now since they wacked there vans down to .85 cpm. Its the larger carriers that are driving the rates into the ground.

The Macro-economics dictate what the larger carriers can charge which in turn trickles down to what the small carriers can charge.


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[Turtle]

Here is the bottom line we are not panther at .72 +fsc per mile...

Neither is Panther, actually. The rate is dependent on Canada or not, HAZMAT endorsement or not. If you have neither, it's .72, if you have one or the other it's either 74 or 75, I forget, but since Panther requires a CDL of some kind, most van drivers have a Class C with a HAZMAT endorsement. FSC is currently at 24 cents on top of the base rate.

I'm on the 77 cent rate and the variable FSC. The 850 mile load I just delivered was a 21 cent FSC, for a total of 98 cents per mile. Last week I ran one for 932 miles with a 36 cents FSC, for a total of $1.13 per mile. Also last week ran a 350 mile load with a 28 cent FSC at $1.05, and one for 550 miles with a 25 cent FSC at $1.02.

As for the UAW mentality, that's why contracts get canceled, and mowing grass seems more appealing. The UAW mentality fosters and even dictates an entitlement attitude, and it's why former union members have a hard time adjusting to independent contracting. Some make it, but they're the exception rather than the rule.

 

[LisaLouHoo]

My boyfriend has never held a union job, he has been self-employed since he graduated college. Requesting fair pay and consideration and treatment for exemplary service isn't "union", it's human. He, nor anyone, doesn't have to put up with being cussed out by a dispatcher when said dispatcher gives the driver the wrong pickup info, wait 120+ days for pay and the carrier won't respond to calls, contract for one thing and get something entirely different...if that is "union mentality", then expediting could be considered sweatshops on wheels.

"Bruises fade and bones will mend-but a psyche can be ruined FOREVER" : LisaLouHoo, c. 2008

 

[paullud]

Couldn't agree more with Lisa, there really is no union mentality in expediting. What is wrong with placing a value on what you do and not accepting less. You can place a low value on your service which may put you out of business or put to high of a value on your service and end up bankrupt. Either way it is purely business and we are not holding businesses hostage with the looming threat of a strike.


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[Camper]

Requesting "fair" rates doesn't and shouldn't entail complaining about them in an open forum and vilifying the carriers in question.




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[Camper]

Requesting "fair" rates doesn't and shouldn't entail complaining about them in an open forum and vilifying the carriers in question.








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[greg334]

As far as loads go, absolutely. If the freight I'm offered would fit on your Sprinter, don't expect me to hand it over - this is business.

I find it rather hard that you have that choice but if you did, than I can understand your reluctance.

But we also ought to think outside ourselves, and do what we can to improve things for all of us, because everyone profits when people cooperate for 'the general' good. Example: maybe a lot of people pressuring a carrier for 'the dime' would have had an effect, whereas a few didn't. There IS strength in numbers, beyond what any one person can accomplish.

We are all our own little island and nothing will ever change that. Unless we want to run our business in sync with others and put an odd but concerted effort into making sure we are on the same page, it really does not matter what the other guy/gal is doing or if we can help them.

What matters is what we make, what we do and how we run our business. When that 'dispatcher' calls with an offer, it is not our concern what others may or may not accept as reasonable but what works for us as individual businesses.

The bottom line is this - the company can make or break you. It is their business and you service them as your customer.

A certain amount of selfishness is healthy, but too much can be counterproductive: what happens when you need a hand? [That's the generic 'you' - I know you personally would help if you can.]

BUT see that is what this business is all about - the need to be selfish and not to worry about what happens to others. As bad as this sounds, if we base any of the decisions on what it may or may not do to others, then our business is in trouble and our thinking is skewed.

there really is no union mentality in expediting.

Really?

I think it is all over the place - from the "why am I being offered cheap freight" to "I deserve to be treated as a partner".

 

[cheri1122]

Why is the expectation of being treated as a professional [including sharing the profit generated] a 'union mentality'? When a carrier lowers rates with the explanation 'hard times, sorry', shouldn't contractors expect the rates to go up again when times are clearly better, and the carrier is reaping greater profits?
Or do we just say 'yes sir, massa, whatever you want to give is just fine'? [I swear I can hear some saying it!]
Being a professional should require being treated with respect - including the compensation.
The carriers chose to use independent contractors to save the headaches & obligations of employees, and those who do the job well should be valued and paid as such.
If that's a union mentality, where do I sign?

 

[greg334]

Because you are providing an on demand service.

Your customer isn't the shipper or who pays the freight bill but the carrier and you are providing them that service ad hoc. Compensation is an individual thing and this is where you either are a business or need to grab every penny you can get your hands on.

The problem with many carriers is their arrogance, they are the problem with the subject of treating people with respect but on the other hand, the quality of the people in the fleet all matter a lot to cause the carrier to lose that respect. I sat and listened to one FedEx contractor call up dispatch and scream (I MEAN scream) at the dispatcher because he sat for more than 6 hours without an offer. Outside of that, he was always on time and very dependable. He just felt he deserved those runs. This is what I am getting at, he is providing a service at their behest but felt he was important enough to scream at the dispatcher when things didn't go his way.

Now if you had ten like him, how do you make sure you respect the others who don't act like children when you have 20 dispatchers and 124 trucks in your fleet?

 

[Dakota]

Respect is a two way street, you have to give respect to earn respect.

 

[paullud]

Really?

I think it is all over the place - from the "why am I being offered cheap freight" to "I deserve to be treated as a partner".

We should be treated as a business partner because that is exactly what we are, we are not employees, we are business owners working with another business and questioning the rate being paid is part of running a business.

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[Camper]

We should be treated as a business partner because that is exactly what we are, we are not employees, we are business owners working with another business and questioning the rate being paid is part of running a business.

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Yes, very true, indeed. Negotiating rates in good faith is part and parcel of being a business partner. However, moaning about them and trying to rile up others is not negotiating in good faith. Doing so only discourages carriers from posting available opportunities- opportunities many out there are in need of.

At the end of the day, we are all adults who can decide for ourselves what a good rate is for our own particular businesses.



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