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| Posted Fri, Aug 17 2012 08:29 AM CST | ||
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BILL HENNING WHISPER WIND FARM WAYLAND, NY 585-728-5783 Posts: 9 |
At the risk of receiving the rath of many - here is something to think about. On 8-17 at 9:56 the trucks available on this sight exceeded the loads by 44%. The law of supply and demand dictates that the truckers at this moment on this sight are "not in the drivers seat" from a sales perspective. Now suppose you are in Florida having just unloaded and your looking for a load going west (home base is Dallas) There is a load available but the shipper looks at this board and sees what's available. He wants to low ball you. You have a choice: Take the load or run somewhere empty. I can't tell you the best choice - that's a situational decision. However, there is an OLD economic principle. When you can't maximize profits the next best thing is to minimize losses. Repairing a flat tire on an empty truck costs just as much as one on a loaded truck. It's easy to say "do such and such". It's a lot harder to run a business successfully. Truckers, especially bullhaulers, feature themselves as an independant lot. You do a unique operation and it's worth being paid extra. But if you really are that independant stop blaming others for minimizing their losses and except responsibility for your own situation. No one, yet anyway, forced you to be a bullhauler. And for those of you belling aching that your business is so unique when it comes to markets and pricing, and so many others have it better - then why don't you get into one of those "easy" businesses and let the truck board and the load board even out. |
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| Posted Sun, Aug 19 2012 08:55 AM CST | ||
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DENISE JOBE DENISE JOBE TRUCKING HEREFORD, TX 806-346-8438 Posts: 6 |
Seems to me that the shipper does not need to know where the truck is at when the driver calls for the load. The driver will know if her or she can meet the requirements of that load when they call. Looks like the truck board side of this may be generating that back haul rate. Maybe we need to be more discrete on posting the truck. If they know that you are setting on top of that load, guess what happens to the rate, down, down,. |
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| Posted Sun, Aug 19 2012 04:58 PM CST | ||
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TOMMY KIMBELL LEFT LANE CATTLE CO. ONTARIO, CA Posts: 7 |
AND YOUR POINT IS TO TAKE A LOW BALL RATE ??? | REPLY REPLY WITH QUOTE |
| Posted Mon, Aug 20 2012 01:55 PM CST | ||
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DENISE JOBE DENISE JOBE TRUCKING HEREFORD, TX 806-346-8438 Posts: 6 |
My point is this. If the load will not work for you don't take it. Some can haul cheaper than others depending on their bottom line. Fuel milage is a big factor. I will say this, I can't haul for a cheap rate and make it work on the bottom line, so I don't. That is why everyone has a different idea of what the rate should be. I think the load board is great but do not like the truck board. It gives the brokers more leverage to set a low rate and not back off of that rate when he can key up this web page and see how many trucks are in the area, complete with phone numbers and all. Bill are you a bullhauler? | REPLY REPLY WITH QUOTE |
| Posted Tue, Aug 21 2012 06:32 PM CST | ||
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BILL HENNING WHISPER WIND FARM WAYLAND, NY 585-728-5783 Posts: 9 |
Denise is correct. Why does there have to be a truck board? Truckers are looking for business. They can call the numbers on the load board. Why does anyone have to know how many trucks are available? I agree that everyone is in this together and all are dependent on the other. However, in my experience, allmost all of the folks on the meat end of the business have only one thing in mind - $ today. The short payers will eventually get their short end of the stick. No, I'm not really a bulhauler. Just a farmer who aslo hauls some hogs. I've learned a lot though from all of you. THANKS! |
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| Posted Wed, Aug 22 2012 08:14 AM CST | ||
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STEVE HILKER STEVE HILKER TRUCKING, INC. CIMARRON, KS 620-855-2378 Posts: 14 |
Another aspect of the truck board that doesn't help the rate is the destination column. If you say you need to go West and the shipper has a load going West, he isn't going to add money to the rate to send you West. Same with posting anywhere for a destination. Anywhere means you're just chasing loads. That's your perogative. But don't tell the shipper. Don't tell them how long you've been sitting somewhere. The more info you give a shipper the less you'll get paid. You don't sit at a poker table and play your hand face up, while everybody else is face down. Don't ever take a load that you can't just bounce back home from. If you need the backhaul to make the round work, you're in trouble. You shouldn't have taken the first leg of the trip. | REPLY REPLY WITH QUOTE |
| Posted Wed, Aug 22 2012 08:08 PM CST | ||
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DENISE JOBE DENISE JOBE TRUCKING HEREFORD, TX 806-346-8438 Posts: 6 |
You said a mouthful Steve and you are sooooooooo right. I'm with ya about not showing them all the cards. To you Bill, just like I said we need guys like you to not be afraid to speak your mind about this issue. We need input from all sides of the table to get anything going that might make it better for all of us including the farmers and ranchers. | REPLY REPLY WITH QUOTE |