How much should you counter on a broker's offer?

Start from your minimum acceptable rate

Your minimum acceptable rate is what the load must pay to cover every cost and meet your profit floors. How to work it out. That's the least you can accept, so your counter should never be below it.

Take the sample load: Dallas, TX to Memphis, TN, offered at $1,150. After every cost and the driver's pay, it needs $1,241.76 to meet this operator's floors. That's $91.76 more, a gap of 8.0%.

Round up to a clean number

Brokers deal in round numbers. Round your minimum up to the next $50, never down, or you'll counter below your own floor. $1,241.76 becomes $1,250.

Is the gap worth negotiating?

A broker can often find a little more; rarely a lot. A reasonable rule: if the offer needs 25% more or less, counter; if it needs more than that, the call is usually wasted and the next offer is a better use of your time. This one needs 8.0%, well inside.

Things that should change your counter

• The broker changes the load. A different appointment, an extra stop or a heavier weight changes your costs. Work it out again.
• Accessorials. If they won't move the rate but will pay detention after two hours, or a stop-off charge, put that in and recheck. The total pay is what matters.
• Where it delivers. A weak reload area may cost you empty miles afterwards. If you expect them, they belong in this load's cost.

What a counter is, and isn't

A counter is an ask. It's only money when the broker agrees and you book it, and even then the final settlement can differ. Keep three numbers apart:

• The counter you suggested, here $1,250.
• The rate you actually booked. The difference from the original offer is your negotiated increase.
• What you were finally paid and kept after the load.

Counting suggested counters as earnings makes negotiating look better than it is. Estimate against settlement.

Doing it in KRYSTAL

Every report gives the minimum acceptable rate, how much more is needed, the gap and a suggested counter rounded up to the next $50, and labels the load NEGOTIATE when the gap is 25% or less and its risk is acceptable. After the call, record the rate you actually booked on the Value Meter. Only booked rates count toward your negotiated total. What to say on the call.