While reading through some of the Facebook trucking groups that I am involved in this past week, I ran across a little argument between an owner-operator and broker about why each of them had a stance on either side of the fence when it came to power-only loads and the cost to haul them. While the broker was trying to push his point that these types of loads should have a lower cost to haul because the trailer is provided for the carrier, the driver had a valid argument as well that got my gears turning. His comparison dealt with omitting items from a hamburger at a restaurant chain, ultimately leading to a cheaper cost to the restaurant for producing said food item, but in the end would still end up costing the same price to the consumer.
While both may have a valid argument in this rant, I tend to lean more towards the owner-operator’s point in this case. If a carrier is nothing but a power-only provider and is trying to procure power-only work, I could see the lack of trailer payment, maintenance and other costs playing into a potential bid situation for that work. From what I gather though this was a one-off situation, as it would be in my case if I had to drop one of my trailers and pull someone’s power-only load, with no long-term strategy to take on that type of work permanently. So like the burger with no toppings carrying a full price, a load being delivered safely and the trailer being taken care of without incident, stills carries with it the same responsibility as if it was hauled in my own trailer.
While some out there may disagree, that is completely afforded to you by your own viewpoints on this matter and how you perceive this type of hauling. I know a few drivers that make a great living doing nothing but power-only moves. That’s why I wanted to bring up the issue in this Team Run Smart article, to jar loose some opinions on the matter. Should the similarities between the two see through a premium price for one-off power-only trips, or should the lack of a trailer note payment and trailer maintenance be figured into the price like that of the broker’s perspective? Weigh on in and sound off!