Ok, as a TT leased to Bill's company I can say with certainty I know exactly what any load I have hauled has paid. I don't want to veer this thread off topic but a few points here. I negotiate and book the majority of load I haul. These are all spot market loads from brokers. I get the original rate confirmation on every load, so there is no funny business there. I have the ability and freedom to book or turn down any load I find myself or that is offered up to me, with no consequences. I can go home and not speak with anyone at the company for a month or 6 months if I choose to with no consequences.
Some things I gather from a few months of reading various threads on EO. Typical expedite companies tend to be like ordinary general freight companies from my perspective. For example at my previous carrier it was "no forced dispatch" for owner operators, but, they were a 175 trucks 400 trailers carrier, with a solid contract freight base. They had lots of freight going out from TN and always got us right back to TN. You could go up to NJ, and yes, you could refuse to haul the load you were dispatched to reload on, but the consequences, were, well, unpleasant. More or less you just let them dispatch as they pleased, dont ask too many questions, and they'd gove you miles. Or life would be miserable. Of course I understand their predicament, but really all I was as a contractor for that company... ...I was just extra "cheap" capacity for them to keep their customers happy. There is no freedom in a situation like that. No way to grow as a single truck operation and really learn anything of value about the business.. Nothing but hoping to get all the miles one can possibly get....
I get the impression that as a sprinter truck, or even a straight, or TT that most of these expedite companies keep a tally and percentage of "how many loads this driver turned down" or how many that one did... ...That these expediters are told it is "non-forced dispatch" and they "can refuse any load" but that reality is life will become difficult if they do.. Now again I understand the reasoning behind that.. Cause lots of owners don;t run things like a business and oddly think of their company as a travel agency.. Or whatever... The point is that is force dispatch by hook and crook, no different than my situation at my old carrier. Really there was no say at all in which directtion the truck went... where it went etc... The company could easily broker that freight out of their contractors wouldnt cover, heck, most times they make more money off of it that way.. Operating in an almost truely independant sense (only the fact that it is not my own authority is what makes it different), I think of all the times I found a hot location all on my own where they had shipments going out round the clock and I was able to capitalize on it because I was the only one who decided where my truck went and for what price... That sort of thing would never happen at a carrier that dispatched me, I would just roll wherever...
If scores are kept on contractors for refusing loads then that is not a "no force dispatch" operation "without consequences" otherwise why keep score? Now onto the fact that deahdea pays zero in a percentage operation. That is completely untrue. You run that truck like a business and your price yourself to cover all deadhead. I average a lot of deadhead in the course of a month or a year's time. I deadhead as much as 400 or 500 miles to pickup a load every once in a while. No-one ever tells me I have to. I made a business decision there and did it without any regret. In other words, if you're gonna run percentage you need to know your costs, what you need, price accordingly and the deadhead's always bought and paid for... If you have a carrier paying percentage breathing down your neck for refusing to deadhead 300 miles, because you have decided the rate isnt worth it (or whatever), and they are keeping score with plans to make the next several days or weeks miserable - then really you have no control whatsoever over your operation. Now it's possible I'm all wrong about the feelings I have for "typical" the way it's done, if so, someone correct me.... To sum up my feelings here if an operator has a little common sense about them and the ability to pick and choose what they do they will never go wrong on percentage. Not everyone is cut out for it though.. And it doesn't fit the model or needs of most companies out there leasing contractors on... But the truth is most of them are force dispatching whether they want to admit it or not...
