Rates for heavy hauling and more

You first have to know how much everything is going to cost. Permits, fuel, route surveys, pole car, escorts, restricted travel days, etc etc. Time = money. The truck needs to earn a daily profit,.. the rate needs to reflect that. Take into account truck payments, insurance, salary, over head, maintenance, etc.

You can break it down to a per mile calculation or what you need on a daily/weekly basis to meet your financial needs. Then,.. what is your time worth?

I'm sorry if this is going to come across as offensive and rude,.. but your questions show a complete lack of understanding as to how this business works. These are the kind of questions that should have been asked and researched before any equipment was purchased.

If you dont know your numbers in order to make a profit,.. you have no business in heavy haul or trucking. This is a cut throat dog eat dog business. They will chew you up and wait for the auctions to buy your repo'd equipment. Sad but true.

As to your question about how to find customers not on the load boards?

This is how most of us found them.


The big money loads wont be posted on loadboards,.. and they wont be hauled by companies who lack the experience and expertise to get the job done.

Hurst

 

This is becoming a trend. Interesting. Best of luck OP, that's about all I can offer as @Hurst summed it up.

 

I dont know what your expenses are,.. my equipment is paid for. In my case I base my rates on a min of $1000 a day. I calculate for time,.. not mileage. If a load is going 200 mi, 340 mi,.. 500mi. My min rate will be $1000 no matter what. If a haul will take more than one day,.. again,.. $1000 a day. So lets say a 830 mi haul. After loading, 10 - 11 hrs a day of drive time,.. we know this will take 1.5 days to deliver. $2000 would be my min rate.Of course during negotiations,.. I'm going to ask for more,.. much more. The idea is to quote or bid a load high,.. so that your broker feels like you are reasonable when cutting your quote back $100 or $200. In truth,.. you are both cursing each other as cheap or greedy bastages depending on who got the upper hand.

With each load I take,.. I take into account where its going. From experience I know where other shippers are and I want a load that will take me as close to another shipper as possible to minimize my dead head mi. I dont want to end up in a dead area or no mans land that is flooded with other trucks and few loads to choose from. Unless I made enough money to cover my dead head back to a better lane,... thats a recipe for going broke. I have enough experience to know how long different shippers and receivers are going to take. I can then pre-book loads ahead of time,.. often 2 - 3 are set up this way on routes I have worked hard to create. I know who the brokers are for the shippers I like to haul for. I call and ask wht is available,.. if we can come to terms,.. then we lock it down. If not,.. then I'll call someone else and see what they have. With experience you will learn who to call,.. create lists of brokers and potential shippers and customers to call for easy well paying loads.

Loadboards are tough. Especially when everyone and his mother is trying to get into this business and does not have the experience to know a good rate from a bad rate. Good areas from bad. This drives rates down. You will find that most loads are spammed all over all the loadboards,.. the same loads,.. over and over. Rates are determined by supply (Trucks) and Demand (Freight). Too much supply and truckers will under cut each other in order to get loads. Only the smart and deepest pockets will survive the low periods. After the culling the supply dwindles and rates go back up.

Often loads are posted with out rates. When calling on a load,.. you need to know your rate and how to calculate your rate on the fly. Different loads require different things that may consume time. Remember,.. time equals money. So if a load means sitting for half the day to get loaded,.. then a full day to drive,.. then another half day to get off loaded. Your rate needs to reflect the time needed to do that load. Never be afraid to say thank you,.. but no thank you and hang up. You are not obligated to haul for cheap,.. or break even prices. We are in business to make money. The art is in the negotiation. If a broker wont or cant negotiate a price that works for you,.. dont do it. If you dispatched yourself smartly,.. there will be many other loads to choose from.

Hurst

 

Sad part is NOBODY should be hauling for brake even rates right now. The game shouldn’t be about your costs in a market like this.

It should be based on what the market will bare. I haven’t had a break even week in almost a year and a half.

I usually don’t judge myself on each load individually but a weeks worth at a time. Then a months worth then a Qurters worth.

 

That's true and here is the thing that seems to be growing, like the OP's friend, there are people out there owning trucks yp are completely clueless to how to run the business end of it. the OP's post tells me a lot, load board are not where to start a HH business and that failure is in the air at their friend's place, picking a segment that had a crap load of preplanning and hurdles to work through isn't the best way to make a buck.

The best advice I can give people is not to waste time trying to do something they have no knowledge in trying to do, this is not a hobby or some thing that is easily picked up on their own without huge risks. Buy a subway franchise.

 

This is type of thread :
Hey I heard heavy haul makes ton of money . I know how to drive a truck , I have seen youtube , time to ask questions from experienced guys on the forum who should say something like $12 per mile and there are plenty of loads on the load board , write down business plan for you , open all cards and put them in front of you ....even if that's the case very small percentage of people will be able to duplicate someone's success
Take it this way :
You and your buddy start 2 separate businesses with same trucks , same start up fund and list of loads . After several years one might go broke and other have 40trucks . Everyone is so different , ideas , efforts , luck etc

 

just get in and Getty up and go daddy