W9er
Member
Has anyone thought of just boycotting shippers and brokers that do not want to pay decent rates? After reading a lot of the threads on this site and others regarding the strike I noticed that a lot of people share the same complaint of brokers paying low rates or not passing the fuel surcharge through to them. In most cases, if 50% or more of your freight comes from brokers and not shippers then you don't have a chance of staying in business even when fuel prices are good. Check the following link.FORTUNE 500 2007: C.H. Robinson Worldwide It shows that CH Robinson's gross revenue for 2007 was 6.5 BILLION dollars with a net revenue for 2007 of almost $267,000,000.00!!!! Think of all the $1.00 per mile loads old "Cheap and Heavy Robinson" sells to these poor operators who do not have another choice but to haul that junk because they do not have any customer in the area. It would send a message to the bottom feeders if they lost their carrier base because of a boycott against their rates.http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2007/snapshots/240.html
You CAN get shippers on your own even if all your company exists of is one truck that you operate! It takes work. There is way more work to running a successful trucking operation than driving--that's the half of it. Also, if you are a lease operator and are not making it you should re-think your company and your operating habits. Do you own your own trailer or are you losing a big chunk of the revenue pulling theirs? Have you done anything to save fuel? Have you curbed excess spending at home and on the road? FUEL IS A HUGE RIP-OFF right now but if you practice solid business disciplin you can still make a profit. I run 4 trucks plus 2 lease operators in a primarily flatbed business. With fuel being so outrageous we make it a point to stay out of the unprofitable areas of the country and watch our costs. As a result we have been fortunate enough to make a profit trucking.
I don't want to hurt my customers who have been paying good rates and a fair surcharge (or enough of a good rate without fuel) by striking against them if I shut my operations down. However, I did strike against cheap shippers and brokers years ago by choosing not to haul for them. Do the same if you can and things will change eventually.
You CAN get shippers on your own even if all your company exists of is one truck that you operate! It takes work. There is way more work to running a successful trucking operation than driving--that's the half of it. Also, if you are a lease operator and are not making it you should re-think your company and your operating habits. Do you own your own trailer or are you losing a big chunk of the revenue pulling theirs? Have you done anything to save fuel? Have you curbed excess spending at home and on the road? FUEL IS A HUGE RIP-OFF right now but if you practice solid business disciplin you can still make a profit. I run 4 trucks plus 2 lease operators in a primarily flatbed business. With fuel being so outrageous we make it a point to stay out of the unprofitable areas of the country and watch our costs. As a result we have been fortunate enough to make a profit trucking.
I don't want to hurt my customers who have been paying good rates and a fair surcharge (or enough of a good rate without fuel) by striking against them if I shut my operations down. However, I did strike against cheap shippers and brokers years ago by choosing not to haul for them. Do the same if you can and things will change eventually.