It's a Team's Life

To Accept or Not Accept, That is the Question

To Accept or Not Accept, That is the Question 

As usual, last week was more of a wait and see game than a week filled with work. We did manage to snag one load for the week. This year is shaping up to be similar to last year in that some weeks we have more work than we know what to do with while other weeks we can’t seem to find work to save ourselves. Has this been your experience also? What do you do to fill the gaps? Do you take loads that may not meet your business goals? Or do you go home and work on projects around the house or catch up with family and friends? In the past, we have done both. 

The week before last, we were hoping to get a load for early last week. A load became available; however, it would not pick up until Wednesday of last week. So we decided to wait and see if something else might become available for earlier in the week. When Monday rolled around work was still limited. Finally, on Tuesday a load came available and we accepted it. The moral of this story is that if a load presents itself we should take it. Unfortunately, we also believe in Murphy’s Law. If we would have taken the first load that came along, another better paying load would have come along that we would not have been able to accept. These are some of the difficult decisions we as truck drivers and business owners face every time we turn down or accept work. There is no right answer.

Except…

We have come to the conclusion that when we accept a load that load met the criteria that we have in place to be a profitable business. We cannot worry about what loads may come after we accept work. If the load was good enough to accept in the first place, then whatever comes after it does not matter. Which brings me to discussing what criteria do you use to determine what loads you will accept. For our business it is about knowing how much we need to earn per week or per month that helps guide the decision. Another factor might be location, location, location. As with any business, where we end up is nearly as important as what the load pays. If we end up in an area that is more of a challenge to get out of, then we have to make sure that the load pays better so that we can drive more miles to get to a better location. In the trucking world we call location to location freight lanes. Some freight lanes have more product to move than others; however, not all freight is delivered within a good freight lane. For this reason we may have to drive several hundred miles to get back to those good freight lanes.

Until next week….

Here’s to millions of safe, profitable and WORK-FILLED miles.

Kelly Plumb