Looking for someone who knows expedite trucking... (I want to pay for advice)

Well if you are new, I will give you free advice. Been doing the expedite thing for a while and now moved onto better things.

The first advice is this - ask yourself what you want to get out of it and I don't mean money. Do you have goals you want to meet (like down payment for a house or business) and are they divided up between short and long term goals?

The second bit of advice is this is a luxuriating business that is solely dependent on the customer and their needs. So be prepared to sit for a bit (sometimes two days) and not make money.

The thrid bit of advice is never ever ever use money from retirement accounts (borrowing from 401k/403b) or mortgage your house to get into this business. If you have money sitting in the bank, borrow money to get started and leave that money in the bank.

The fourth bit of advice is that you have to explain more than just what you have. I mean are you going on the road as a solo driver or as a team?

There is nothing special about expediter trucks, they are trucks. Using the same procedure as if you would buy a tractor will do. Get it inspected by someone you know and trust, get an Oil Analysis (OA), have the ecm dumped and printed out to see if there are hidden errors, see what the idle/driving times are and to see if the odometer matches. AND get a dyno to see if the engine is producing the power it is rated for (it should be at least 70%) PLUS a blowby test. ALL OF this should paid for by YOU not the owner of the truck.

As for which one to buy, it all depends on your preference to what truck you like. I would look for a class 8 truck because they seem to last a bit longer but I know a bunch of class 7s which have a million miles on them and still going. I would stay away from Izuzu unless you buy new and maybe some internationals. There was a Volvo up for sale a little bit ago that may be sold but the owner was a world renown famous expediter and kept his truck in such great condition that I would have bought it without hesitation. So back to what you like is what you should look for. I would also look for at least a 72 inch sleeper, do not bother with anything smaller.

IT all depends on whether or not you are a solo or team. Load one isn't bad for solos but FedEx still is a good company. Many like panther, others like C&M and others like BOLT and so on. Again this all depends on what you want out of it. You will sit with anyone so that's something you need to understand right from the start.

ANOTHER THING is that expedite freight isn't what it used to be, it was freight needed for automotive companies for production (a simplified version) which was part of the Just-In-Time (JIT) production practices used in many companies. that's pretty much gone now so you may or may not get a "hot load" from a shipper but most of the time the company you are leased to will put the time limits on the freight to attract customers. The other thing that goes with this is that many many many companies do not get their freight directly from the customer or even the customer's broker but from a load board and a lot of that freight is just "spill over' or even one pallet that needs to be off the dock (imagine sending a full size 24 foot truck with three axles to pick up a single pallet that weights 100 pounds total).

OK read the previous paragraph a couple times and then think about this - every company is different. You have to learn how they operate, the dispatchers and their customers. FedEx isn't like FedEx freight or supply chain but they can pull freight from those divisions. Load One is more of a hands on type of company where you can even talk to the ceo (he is on a couple forums), Panther has a completely different system where you move ten feet, they know about it and Landstar is where you compete with other trucks for work (it is worth the hassle in the long run).

YES learn how to properly drive a truck.

Learn how to manage your money and account for every penny.

Don't be like those weekend or part time retired people who just do this for something to do and take any load no matter what the rates are.

You don't have to pay anyone for anything, just post it in the open forum for others to read and learn too.

There are no really experienced people in this market, not too many people will venture into being involved to learn a lot more than they need. I have a bunch of years doing it, worked with three companies and now have a truck on with one of the companies I mentioned (won't say who). I would also recommend posting on the expediting forum Specialised Hauler Exepditers' on line is an ok place but they have had a problem with being mean to people asking questions (they will tell you to search for answers) and chasing newbies off (before anyone says anything, I know many of the people on EO and been a member for a long long time).

 

Great post Ridgeline. I'm assuming op is going the company driver route so this advice may not apply. I'd say get on with an expedite company that has class 8 tractor trailers. For me as an o/o this allows a lot of flexibility jumping back and forth from expedited time sensitive freight over to general or seasonal freight - wherever I can get the best rates. Might find an expedite hotspot, a customer who's behind and over a barrel, and work that for a while (days or weeks) until the rates start going down from normal competition or they get caught up. Move on to the next gig. Perhaps someone with a general freight load is desperately looking to move their freight, score, jump on it. With the smaller trucks you just do not have that flexibility. You're going to be trapped in a limited segment that is oversaturated with trucks. Sometimes it is good but if it's not you will sit and wait. I don't know if any of the big expedite companies with TT operate how I do but I assume they do. Some do it better than others. I know of several small companies with 20-50 TT's around me who operate generally as I do. Mix it up and follow the money. Expedite is very competitive. It can be great in spurts but the good ol days are long gone.