thinking about a career in expediting

Check the free classifieds on Expeditersonline for drivers wanted . You must be 21 and fleet owners prefer teams but will hire solos . Experience is not required but preferred .

 

Most fleet owners will not accept solos and if you do find an owner willing to take an solo you'll need some experience first.As for general experience if you want to drive T/T you will need between 6 months to 2 years exp depending on which company you apply to.For straight trucks most required 6 -12 months exp but Panther Expedited and Fedex CC don't required prior exp for S/T, Fedex does a road test first,Panther doesn't. I think All State and Tri-State takes non exp drivers for S/T but i'm not 100% sure.Yea I can understand where your coming from for teamming,I did it for a year and in a year I had 4 teammates(an't going get into details)its not easy.In last few months when I was still in the biz I been finding that fleet owners are now pushing for husband and wife teams cause I guest non same house teams wouldn't get along which I know by exp.

Its a rewarding gig get to make good money only thing is you gotta stay out longer than reg trucking and loads are small and mostly auto parts loads but expedited loads can be any thing.Also get your hazmat cause it will keep you moving more.

 

A couple of reasons they want husband and wife teams is the income isn't really that great for 2 separate households .
Then you get in how and where to spend downtime . A lot of teams run 3 or 4 weeks then take a week off .

 

I ran expedited for a couple of companies and what it will come down to is revenue per mile. Expedited loads are not cheap, but they can be parsed out that way so it would be a good idea to find out what the rates are like ( play customer needing a move, see how much they charge ). Just because you are driving a smaller vehicle, it does not necessarily mean less risky and it could mean less $$$$$. Mileage pay versus getting a percentage of the trip? Get the %. I ran solo, I tried teaming once and it was no good.

You will run your butt off, and the attendant things that come with that will make you wonder if expediting is right for you.

As an aside, read "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyasaki. I'm not going to blow it for you but it will open your eyes.

 

I was considering expedite until I saw carrier ads saying $1.20 per mile for straight truck . Way too low . Expedite should be percentage with loads over $2 per mile . Used to be that way . I don't see how it's worthwhile for fleet owners .

 

Expedite loads pay the equivalent of 4.00 or more a mile, just because it has to be rushed. Too many times companies will scam the O/O by going to mileage pay. If you don't see the rate confirmation and know the rate that they booked it for, just assume they are lying.

 

There aren't that many true expedite loads any more . When the economy took a dive expedite carriers dropped rates to LTL rates just to get freight . They even gave contractors lists of brokers to use to get out of dead zones . Once they lowered the rates shippers really have to have a serious need to move freight ASAP to pay true expedite rates . There isn't that much of that .

 

LOL "Rich Dad Poor Dad" is the biggest waste of $20 I ever made. I thought it was going to be sound financial advice but found it be nothing but a looong motivational speech. With a constant rehash of if you want to be rich you have to start a business. Wow thanks! Tell me something I didn't know. Like what kind of business to start.

 

LOL!!!

I haven't read the book... I have never even heard of it. You can never be "rich" working for wages. That "dollars per hour" limits your income, because there are a fixed number of hours in a day. If you want to get rich, then you have to engage in something that's not limited by hours in a day (dollars per hour). There are only two ways to do that... Be in sales or be in business for yourself.

Either way, you're going to face the highest level of competition for the dollars there can be. That's just the nature of the game.

Having said that, however, the best thing you can learn is how to use whatever dollars you have to your best advantage. "Sound financial advice" is priceless, but of even higher value is "sound financial judgment". It looks to me like there's a lot of trucking companies that depend on a lack of the latter among the public to earn THEIR income.