Holy Rate Cut !!

mrspeed19692006

mrspeed19692006

Member
Sep 29, 2009
137
3
18
Essa, Ontario
2
How can a person move multiple loads one week for $3,000 per load, with a certain company, and then they call the following week to order more trucks, which we are happy to provide, but now we're being told the rate is $700.00 cheaper this week??? Get flippin real people!!! :mad::confused: Did my costs somehow drop by 24% from last week...... I double checked, and NOT. I know the cost of O/D permits didn't drop, and I don't think I can cut 24% of my miles down (well maybe if I had a tank or a good dozer lead the way) and I sure as hell know fuel didn't drop by 24% since last week. How can anybody in their right mind even try to justify anything like that? Or even have the balls to say the rate is that much cheaper from 7 days ago? I hope his paycheck is 24% less than it was last week.
 
Diseased industry

It all has to do with the auction of freight. We are a breed of animal that will gladly feast on its young, and not hesitate to mate with our aunts and uncles. This industry is falling apart from within. The past 5 years were the golden years of trucking, and it won't be coming back anytime soon. I hear ya, and buddy, i feel for ya. This is so demoralizing, and depressing. Somedays i just feel like sitting at home and losing money instead of coming into work to do it.
 
Oh there's no bidding involved here, they were already awarded the contract before I even did the first load. So he can't try and tell me that overnight the rate dropped that much.
 
What pisses me even more is that it was Meadow Lark who started this whole deal, they offered a rate that the shipper couldn't say no to, but when it came time to move them, guess what? Meadow Lark fell flat on their faces because nobody would touch these wide loads for what they were offering. So this other carrier (yes carrier) got the contract, but for some reason or another rather broker them than pull them. Well looks like their stuck with them now. See if the US load "pimps" would keep their butts on the south side of the line, we would probably be ok.
 
Wow, that is extreme! A similar thing happened to us recently. 3 days after hauling one load, the rate suddenly dropped $100 when we called to get another one. Everything was exactly the same - same product, same weight, same shipper, same consignee. I asked how that was possible when we had just hauled this load 3 days before for $100 more. The answer was that another carrier had come in and was taking the loads for this "new" rate and they had to meet this rate to keep the customer.
I refused the load on principle but nowadays rates are ridiculous, insulting and unjustified.
 
Me too, I told'em where they could shove the rest of their loads. Sorry but I'm not stupid, they can't expect us to do O/D loads for the same rate we get on legal loads. I even asked him how can we justify to our owner/ops that a load they did a week ago is now $700 cheaper?? as suspected, he couldn't come up with an answer. Don't know about anybody else out there, but I doubt I'd show up for work if I found out I'm getting a 24% pay cut for doing the same job I did last week.
 
Well I guess Mint Transportation will be outta business soon, they actually did these for $2,300 each = $2.70 per mile (870 miles) plus they have to pay all their permits out of that ($375.00) After it's all said and done, they're moving 12' wide loads for $2.12 a mile, what a freaking joke.
 
I have used Mint in the past- but usually as a carrier of last resort. Maybe your shipper will see that the cheapest price is Not always the Best service.
 
This industry has been imploding/exploding and falling apart since I got in back in 1988. In fact..in my first week on the job I was asked what the heck I was doing getting into an industry with no future. Funny thing about it though...I started out as a lumper in July 88 and by September was promoted to terminal manager of a fairly large terminal in Montreal. Some of the truckers I was dealing with back then told me they were going broke...and I'm happy to say are still in the business today and still claim to be going broke today. I agree however, times are tough...but things go in cycles and the sky isn't falling.. there will still be trucks and shippers and brokers etc in 5, 10, 50 even 100 years from now.
 
What's your plan?

I see alot of people complaining about low rates. I got to ask...

What's your business plan?

What is your niche in the market?

What is your unique value proposition that makes you different from your competitiors? (and don't say service, that's a big word)

What value do you bring to your customers that they are willing to pay a premium for?

If you can't answer these questions, you will be subject to "the market price" because you're no different from anyone else. As long as you're no different, your competing only on price. SERVICE as you call it means nothing. Define service for me in terms of value for your customer? If I can move a load with a carrier for $1000 and you for $1200, why should I pay $200 more? Can you answer that in terms of value I get? "Nice trucks" and "service" just don't cut it.

If one gas station sells diesel for 88 cents/litre and another for 95 cents a litre would buy the 95 cents one on "service" probably not.

Now lets say the 95 cents a litre one has an additive that increases engine life by 20% and has a cleaner that reduces fuel consumption by 1%, would you take a look at the 95 cent one? Sure you would.

I encourage you trucking company owners to take a look at your business, what are you good at, how can you equate your "service" to $$$ and in terms the customer can understand.

Until you can do this, you'll be stuck at the mercy of the market.


What is your marketing strategy?
Where do you rank on Google?
How do you find and retain new customers?
How many outbound sales prospecting calls are you making each day?
What defines a qualified prospect for you?
What's your prospect to qualification ratio?
How do you define an opportunity?
What's your qualification to opportunity ratio?
What's your close ratio on opportunities?
Do you have a CRM system?
How often do you send out a "touch" to nuture potential clients?
How big is your list of potential clients?
Are you on Linked in, what about facebook?
Do you tweet your customers?
What's your web experience like?
What's your aquisition cost per new customer?
What How much do you invest in your brand?
How do you promote your brand?


There's so much more to running a business than the "operations". I know that's important too, but if you have the customers, figuring out how to service them is the easy part.

I challenge each one of you to take a hard look at how your marketing your business and are you getting the business that you're looking for?

There is good paying freight out there. Why aren't you finding it?
 
Hey Pablo, we're not marketing Wheaties here. Operating decks for equipment, 90% of the goods we move depend on crane appts. riggers for loading and off loading etc. so to put it bluntly, it is our service history that sells. We have customers that have been with us for 15 yrs now, and they're actually sick of people banging on their doors trying to under cut and make promises that in all actuality they can't keep. Put it this way, as a shipper, do I save $200.00 on the trucking and use the cheaper guy with the fancy web site, or do I use a guy that has an impeccable history of being on time as promised and potentially risk hundreds if not thousands of dollars on cranes, crews, riggers, penalties etc when the cheaper guy doesn't show on time? Hmmm I guess service is a HUGE selling point eh!
 
Service IS a huge selling point..but Pablo has the right idea about marketing. Many in this industry..brokers and carriers...get themselves into trouble because they don't have a cogent marketing strategy. ..and as a result they bang away at the phones as a "me too" provider with no compelling reason for shippers to use them let alone pay them premium rates. Marketing always starts with the customer...find out what he or she wants and provide that. More often than not we try to sell what we can do regardless of what the customer wants..and the results are predictably poor.
 
Your missing out.

I got to tell you, you're missing out. I recently had my eyes opened up to the possibilities. The point I was trying to make is you ARE selling wheaties. You just don't know it. Why do people buy Wheaties over the no-name brand and pay twice the price?

Do you know Freightquote.com gets 7500 web hits a day?

The transportation buyer these days is not longer the guy with 20 years experience in the trucking industry. Its a 20 something customer service rep googling for trucks trying to get product delivered to their customers.

Anyway, you touched on some value there, but it needs more work. What type of flatbed work do you do? Do you specilize in tanks, steel, pipes, how can you differentiate yourself. What systems do you have in place that ensure the delivery appointment is booked with the crane? As a value add, why don't you take care of the crane work and partner with a crane company and add VALUE by taking care of the whole project? Just some thoughts. I'm trying to help.
 
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I can only speak for myself but I don't want to sell wheaties. I move freight. I don't tweet, nuture or care how I rank on google. My customers don't wear khakis and certainly are not on facebook. I am a carrier and broker moving everything under the sun. My customers enjoy working with us and we give great Service.
 
Wow

DIETCOKE said:
I can only speak for myself but I don't want to sell wheaties. I move freight. I don't tweet, nuture or care how I rank on google. My customers don't wear khakis and certainly are not on facebook. I am a carrier and broker moving everything under the sun. My customers enjoy working with us and we give great Service.
Click to expand...

Do you run a business or a hobby?

Say hi to all the buggy whip manufacturers when you see them.
 
Pablo, I understand your point of view. We just have different niches in the industry. At least you will know who to call when you need a new buggy whip.
 
This post has gone off the deep end. I agree with Mrsspeed and Dietcoke. Service maybe ???? We could have a fine running buisness at the size we need it to be with the customers we already have now giving them a normal rate. If every f@#king day some a hole wasn't banging on there door cutting the rate to nothing. Yes please tell me what can the broker do for a cheaper rate than us? As we to make many many crane appointments. Now we are suppost to network with every crane company across the US??? I know. We could google that and see if "we" could find the cheapest ahole crane co with the best web site. Or maybe send out a tweet? WTF????? So much for that rant.

That seems odd for mint to do that to you they have never been cheap b4 that I know of.
 
Think about this...

Imagine opening up a restaurant down the street from McDonalds. Your business strategy is "I just sell hamburgers with great service". Your not actively engaging or seeking new clients. Your totally dependent upon walk-in traffic. There's really no tangible difference between your hambugers and McDonald's hamburgers except for the "service".

Where do you see this restaurant business going?

If it's so obvious in this example, why do you guys think this is an acceptable business strategy for a trucking business?

You'll spend $100 grand on a new truck that just loses money. Why don't you spend that $100 grand on hiring a marketing company that will help you define your market, your target customers, and your unique value proposition? They'll help you develop a marketing message and a way to communicate that to your customers.
 
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