Dammit

After filling out and faxing appilcations I just got rejected twice based on my DAC report, which apparantly makes me look like Son of Sam or something to insurance companies.

I do have some legit stuff on it, I know, but no way should this information be preventing me from leasing onto a new carrier. Many truckers have bogus or distorted entries on their DAC report, and one organization exists to contest them.

I had been set up for a drugscreen and physical and assigned to a terminal with Universal Can-Am when the rectuiter informed me that their clearing division rejected me based on an unsafe record. I immediately contracted www.DACfix.com to get this crap cleaned up. Unfortunately, I was told that the process could take eight weeks or longer.

My pending application with Landstar will probably also get shot down for the same reasons. I've informed both recruiters of the actions I'm taking, hoping that they'll hold my applications and let me try again later. I'm also suspending applying to other companies for the time being, as it looks like a waste of time until my record is cleaned up.

I might catch on with an outlaw company, but the only way I'll find one is by wandering around the truckstops and interrogating drivers. I may do this tomorrow while waiting for my APU to get it's fourth starter replaced tomorrow (I'm at a hotel in Hebron, OH waiting for the SOB to get delivered to the shop next door. After this I have to go to Freightliner in Columbus to get my transmission looked at for a familiar problem that they fixed before).

I've been loadless for three weeks, and am bleeding my cash reserves.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going. I was always at my best just shy of rock-bottom or on the edge of the abyss. Something in me snapped, and, fighting a slow, slow wireless connection every step of the way, I started fighting back.

I Googled "load boards" and found several. To my suprise, some of them were free, and one I'm considering only costs 25/month.

For non-truckers, shippers have brokers handle their loads for a commission, and the brokers post these on load boards. Independant truckers, fleet owners, and trucking companies get most of their loads this way.

I'm not independant while wearing Jamestown plates, ie running under their authority. However, they told me that if I could dig up my own loads, a broker had only to fax some paperwork to Jamestown to form a standing agreement (if none exists), and the load I find will go to me.

This means I get 74% of the load revenue (but don't have to COLLECT, buy my own authority, negotiate my own insurance, construct my own statements, forego fuel discounts, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.)

Ok-ok so I found several loads at www.truckbuzz.com. I actually like it. After a non-intrusive registration, I had to list my truck as empty in a given place on a given date. I could then go to the loadboard where loads within 150 miles are listed, from that date backward to pickup dates to the day of the search.

A "watchdog" feature lets me request alerts for new listings. I can list one truck in several locations to conduct other searches, but of course after my intial investigation, I cleared all my empty truck entries except the one in Jamestown, OH for monday.

The brokers using this site will, I presume, see these listings and might contact me directly. Otherwise, their information is there for me to use, and since working for Jamestown I know all about talking to brokers.

My tentative plan is to return to Jamestown with my fixed truck--I hope on monday. I'll modify my empty-truck listing for several days ahead of that, and might even grab a load tomorrow.

(You see this is competitive. I know that other drivers and fleets will be grabbing the good ones early, and only the crap loads sift through as you go back in time. I'm prepared to wait several days for a good load, and to search ahead of the expected delivery date around where I'm headed).

It's a pain, really, since the brokers rarely list the rates on the loads. You have to call them, and a lot of times they give you bad news. But I did find one rate, on a load to LA; $1.40. After some calculating, I estimated a 300+ dollar net to me on this load, which I could run in ten hours easily. That includes my empty miles going after it and Jamestown's 74%.

I saw some Laredos (1488 miles) five days away. Often longer loads pay less, but at 1.30 for something I'd get there in two days, that's adequate money on one of my favorite routes--these are the loads I will reach for a whole week or more in advance to get started.

That's a trade-off. Rates coming from Laredo will suck. That's supply and demand. In Laredo, there are always tons of empty trucks, so I might only get 74 cents/mile coming back out. Still, that net would be 36 cents/mile. That would be fine in today's market, even if I got stuck waiting awhile, or had to chase it down 200 miles north (it's possible my weak connections couldn't get me a load at all).

I'll feel things out. I need little for subsistance--it's inflated by my hotel stays, but I can stay afloat and even save a few bucks this way. I might well pay the 25/month for the DirectFreight loadboard if I feel it offers better quality. When I get to Jamestwon, I'll interrogate some people about that prospect.

They might well work with me and help me out, since I'll be getting them in touch with more local brokers at a time when they're hurting. I'd like to think they'd appreciate the extra 26% of whatever I'm going out and getting for them, so that maybe they'd help me get out of Laredo (for example).

And think about this: What I'm doing is nearly identical to what Landstar does. I'm picking loads off a board and contacting brokers myself, you see? Only I get 74%--instead of 67 or 65%!!!

I remain determined to clean up my DAC report, but as of this moment am going to explore this load-board thing very seriously, and feel that it's just possible I may never have to leave this company!

Well...ok with Landstar, Schneider, or Universal, their trailers are all over the country. With Jamestown, I'd need to forego all drop-and-hooks, and mostly come back here from wherever I was.

But then...have trailer, will travel, right? Maybe from Laredo, I go to Utah for a live-load! Jamestown doesn't care--they get their percentage and don't have to dig up the load for me. Loads from Utah to Ohio pay a little better, too.

Oh yeah. Maybe by monday I'll have three or four loadboards saved to favorites, and by the time I get to Jamestown will have a deal to make with the company. I might just come out of this dispatching myself and making 7+% more than I would have made at any of the companies that have shot or will shoot me down because of my DAC.

How's THAT for counterpunching?