Rates from brokers

Not all posted rates are correct.
Bait and switch

You would also think that no one would haul a load for $1.40@ mile either but it happens everyday.

Coy, I consistently post loads that $2.50+ a mile that load in and out within 80 miles of where you live. Not everyone is posting back hauls.

agreed, if the rates and commodity was posted we would definitly consider more loads off this site

We have been in business for 17 years and we post rates on 99.9% of our loads and commodity is posted as well. There are "shady" folks on BOTH sides of the equation but as a rule most players are honest.

Check us out if you wish!

Trick you into calling

Howdy Ed

I don't want to start a "thing" but there are most certainly backhaul and headhaul rates. For better or worse, our brokerage has survived and grown on pushing lumber around the country on "backhaul" rates. Also, there are many business factors that influence when a carrier will/should and will not/should not take a load.

When I worked pushing reefers we had good customer freight from AR to NJ, PA, NJ, MA at $3+ a mile. But when I am in Philly or Buffalo, no load home and I had to get back for customer capacity commitments and driver hometime, you bet i'd take $1.25-$1.50 to get home. I didn't like it, but it worked big picture. Just my $.02

How about take weekly income and divide it by weekly miles. And do your simple math. $1.50 a mile is better than running empty like in a parade or something.

With all due respect, my example is not a round trip. They are two distinct transactions that are decided on individually.

I think some people just don't truly know the cost just to drive the truck. And the cost is different load compared to empty. Not calling anybody dumb, because 6 months ago I was of the opinion that taking a load for 1.70 a mile was making me more money than driving empty....wrong. it costs me 1.25 per mile to drive empty. It costs me 1.90 to drive loaded, that 1.90 is just the cost. Not profit. I learned that by doing a balance sheet after a discussion I had on bulk loads about farming, so thanks to Alfred for teaching me to not be an idiot.

I totally agree, it's a waste of my time to email them about rates and what's being hauled because most don't respond anyway,nor if they do more times than not you can't negotiate the it anyway!!!!

please elaborate on your statement about companies with farm in our name? because without an explanation i assume that you believe that just because we handle manure and dirt, our business education is less relevant than yours? we just provided our input. nobody is forcing you to read what we type. i dont think any of us farmers are claiming to be better than anybody, but if my post about my personal costs to drive help someone out that is just getting started, (because that balance sheet would have helped me alot back in february) then i feel pretty good about that, if my farmer named posts annoy you, dont read the dang thing

Please keep in mind that many of us kept the farm name strictly because we had a tax id number. We still pull vans, refers, hoppers. Still have ifta. Still have e logs. Still have pro rated and commercial plates

I personally am not exempt from anything except hauling my own product. 12 mile haul. I put on close to 2000 miles a week commercially and follow my hos the same as a refer or flatbed. We don't get any special treatment...unless someone is cheating

Some customer let me post rates - others do not.

One customer - really large ethanol and everything else billionaire company - got really upset with me for even posting their loads on BulkLoads - other brokers they use and employees they have that "can do the same thing" (but didn't) saw my posts paying more or whatever and got upset with the competition... and now I don't post their loads anywhere excpet internally... too bad because no one broker can know ever truck looking at these boards and their availabilty. Public posts are the best way to offer competitive pricing for the customer if you don't engage in bid wars with other brokers to a point where the customer is getting hurt by it.. I never do and the rates I do post when I post them are firm usually.

Other customers we have for grain runs in the midwest who also have access here don't seem to mind me posting up the rates - they have a set rate anyhow and will pay any broker that brings them a truck that same rate - they just want their loads moved. I love those customers - no limits on where I can get my trucks as long as they are legal and vetted.

Normally, I post new lanes up here and when I get a few local contacts I can rely on I just call them first when we have similar or repeat loads and it just goes without saying. Sometimes posting rates here causes backlash with drivers on contract to another company when they see they are getting $2-4 less per ton than what I am posting it for. Sometime I get pushback from drivers that know more than everyone else and me included and tell me how cheap I am - 5 dyas later they tend to ask for lanes that I have though.

Posting rates helps in some cases - others it more of a personal matter and needs to be discretely posted or worked so as not to cause heartache or other more complicated issues like contract changes or concerns with vendors and their suppliers.

Politics can be fierce. We just go with the flow and do what our clients tell us. For our bulk loads we don't have much guess work.. We get a rate usually from the shipper and we have to stick to it. Sometime there are random new lanes and we have to feel it out a little before giving a set rate... not the norm though..

A good broker might be a little less on one lane but slightly more than others on the return or another project right after... Brokers fill a void and can help keep you moving. Be nice to them when they deserve it. If they keep you busy and you are making fair wages - stick with them. I know a few I would avoid as a driver but that's because of the games and BS... We just stick to " Can you do it? When? Is this rate fair for you?" and get trucks rolling...

Cheers!

Mr. Henderson, not once in your post did you even hint at advocating for the truck. Trucks are a dime a dozen ?

Art Pfluger

Thanks for your honesty and admitting your part of the problem. What is your cost per mile to move 80,000 down the hwy? Hauling for $1.25 is a losing proposition. You are paying money to haul freight! Does that make any sense?

They don't seem to want it easy. Probably don't want any competitors knowing their rates.

One year after the ELD mandate everyone is still complaining about brokers and their rates. Barron's, Bloomberg, Wall Street journal as well as several other publications have all been talking about skyrocketing shipping rates and declining profits across the economy. The Dow Jones index seems to back this up. However it would appear that these increased rates we read about are not making their way into the carrier's pocket. Well if the shipper paid it, and you didn't see it, where did it go?

CA being the exception!!! I have a new DOT # Drug testing and realy expensive Inc $10376.00 and not for hire!!!! I don't understand how anyone can make this work!

If loads are posted without rates, that just simply means that they are negotible. USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.

I am a broker and I can honestly say it comes with its risk. I cant tell you how many times I have had a load drop back in my lap 45 mins before a shipper closes and it ends up costing me dearly. The big brokers like CH and JBHunt are killing the market. It's nearly impossible to make margins anymore. They will swoop in steal your customers freight promising them $1.25 a mile freight cost and the product sits there for two weeks. I hate screwing over drivers and seeing it done. I always pay a fair rate. It forces us honest brokers to lower the rate just to keep revenue coming in. If drivers would stop taking their crappy freight shippers would be forced to pay more.

no kidding...I called about a haul for 600+ miles from a trucking company... it came out to $1.26 a mile and they wouldn't budge...I told the to load it on their own truck.

#219 on the frustration list for OO....ever get tired of calling on a HOT LOAD, ONLT TO BE TOLD ITS 2.00pm, and I have learned that a 2.00pm load is a hot load for certain brokers!

Why is it that most rates set as back haul.

All you do is work for fuel that is waist of time and money.

It's that way because the carriers want it to be that way? When rates go up folks get greedy, they add more trucks to their fleet and flood the market, until they drive rates back down into the toilet. Then one day all of their drivers get pissed and decide to vote for someone who will implement Hourly pay, and Bernie sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and AOC show up promising to do just that? Hymmm

its like this I still have to sign for the load still responsible for it and have to get it there so its a job to

They are just words. Don't be fooled. Some of my "backhauls" are at a higher rate than my "outhauls" Free market capitalism. Supply and demand.