My Experiance With Expediting

Long time no see
Could you give us a break down of what a normal week is like for you?
And maybe a little hint of what pay is like ?
Down times, average length of trips?
Describe your truck?
How is it teaming?
What kind of product are you hauling?
Do you have to finger print your loads?
Are running any certain lanes?
Favorite part of the country
Worst
Best run?
Worst
Are you getting any west coast runs?


Details young lady LOL

 

Well I want to know EVERYTHING:How did you find your O/O? What kind of runs are you getting?What about deadheading--are you getting paid for it--and if so how much? Do you have a CDL with Has/MAT? How long are you staying out?

I only ask because I will have my CDL with Has/Mat sometime at the end of FEB. and I am thinking of doing EXPEDITING.

 

I'll throw my $.02 in here.

My darling wife and I started expediting right out of trucking school in February of this year. Wish we would have found it 20 years ago.

We found an owner-financed truck in June of this year, and paid it off exactly 6 months after we bought it.

None of the things we haul are anywhere close to regular. We are leased onto FedEx Custom Critical. The money is phenomenal; however, we are very committed to it. We spent the last several years digging big holes, and FedEx is doing a great job of helping us fill them in and build a retirement. What I mean by committed is that we stay away from home for up to 3 months at a time.

Our plan is to build a small fleet (say, 5 trucks), and we will come off the road in 9 more years. We want to offer our exact scenario to new drivers. Someone offered us a leg up, and we will continue to pay it forward.

Hazmat is a plus (and required by FedEx). Must prove that you can run to Canada, but may not have to go, depending on whose fleet you drive in. Canada is sometimes a pain, but is a big part of our success. Went WAY up into Quebec in August, and we do Montreal regularly (say it with me...."lobster in a 72" sleeper").

Teams do much better than solo drivers. There are times when our truck did not turn off for 9 days except to fuel. We do not sit much....maybe 2 days at most; but that is rare. One full day is usually a blessing and a good time to get laundry done and get the truck cleaned inside and out.

As someone stated previously, do research before deciding to drive for someone, and GET A CONTRACT. We looked for our truck because we thought our first owner was about to lose his trucks. Turns out he hasn't, but I don't believe he's out of the woods yet. Look for someone that has a good reputation of on-time pay and well-maintained equipment. Just because you drive a fairly new truck doesn't mean all of the other pieces are in place.

We're looking at our next truck now. Plenty of people financed way over their heads, and there is a glut of expediting trucks on the market. The time is ripe for picking.

I hope I've helped. My wife and I enjoy our career immensely. We take it very seriously, and are true to our customers, our carrier, and our profession.

Feel free to ask any questions. May take me a day or two to answer. Did I mention that sometimes you have to make a choice between sleep or a shower? Responding to a forum post would fall third.

Good luck to all of you. This is the greatest and one of the simplest businesses in the world, if you approach it that way.

AJ

 

Hello Andyjk9,
My name is Greg Sevcik and I want to say a big Thank-You.
I will be out of truck driving school in late Feb.with HAS.MAT.
What kind of truck do you and the wife drive?
I was thinking of going with a cargo van to start and drive solo.I am 50 yrs.old and was laidoff in March when the Co.that I worked for 15yrs moved everything out of the Country.
Did you and your wife form an LLC or something else?Do you keep track of all of your expenses on a special account so it makes it easier at tax time?

The way I'm thinking is to have a special Cr.card and keep track of everything like that-what do you think?I also would like to know -just how did you find your O/O and just how did you ask about the contract and what do you look for in a contract?What are the things that should be in the contract to protect you two and the O/O?

As you can see I have a lot of ?s that I hope you can help me with.I have read a lot here and it has helped a lot and as time goes by I'm sure that I will have more.
Thanks for your last post and I hope to here from you soon--stay safe out there.


Greg Sevcik

 

Just keep in mind that shippers just love to see companys cut each other's throat. By lowering prices we are only hurting each other that includes freight companys and we the o/o.

Just look at the rear of some truck's ooida sticker about CHEAP FREIGHT and think about what that means.

 

Hey All I am back not with Panther brokering my own loads doing Expedite along with working for another company will answer any questions

 

We sure are. we run team for LS actually pretty happy here, we take an inordinate amount of time off and they don't harrass us as other companies have. They know we run like wolves when we are inservice. Expedite truly is a if your in the right area, at the right time business, the other loads are there, sometimes you have to really weigh the pros and cons of one run over the other.It also helps to have as many 'special endorsements' etc as one can have, have your truck equipped for what you want to haul, realize your not going to get every load, be prepared for what's out there, and yes, be prepared for the rainy day when you need to get a tow to the repair shop.

 

My brother in law and I are looking to go O/O team. Not sure if we want to buy a tractor/trailer or a box truck yet, still researching choice of chariot. I have a few questions for you:

1. Hows freight right now? We're currently running a bit slow for our boss, but he's "slow" with loads when we're busy.

2. Which area do you work in, T/T or straights? Which would you recommend for starting out in a single truck/ dual driver operation? We both hold CDL A's so either would be fine.

3. I know expediters run vans/sprinters, box trucks and T/T? Which area seems the most in need right now?

4. Anyone else know of anyone hiring a team in Denver? One driver has over 2 years exp, the other (me) has very little (a monthish now). How about solos? (same boat, but I would actually prefer a straight truck!)

 

if you are going to run team, a straight truck is best. It pays almost as much as a t/t and they are the most rerquested truck by shippers. The top companies pay ( with fsc and linehaul ) usually ends up being right around 1.40 mile.

 

It is really tough to feed 2 familys out of anything smaller than a straight truck, agreed!