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Which is better, flat-rate pay or percentage of the load pay? It is a common question, increasingly so since large expedite carrier FedEx Custom Critical now offers both options. Below is a simplified table that compares two trucks. Note the word simplified. Over-simplified may be the better...

When team drivers talk about expediting to would-be solo drivers, what are we blind to? What do we miss? What do we get wrong?

Five Questions Prospective Expediters Should Ask Diane and I will be leading a workshop on this topic on Thursday in Monroe Michigan. It is part of the EO workshop series, Preparing YOU for the Long Haul (details here). We are prepared but also know that, being human, we might overlook...

When Diane and I first became expediters in 2003, it was common for people to approach us on the street to ask about the life and work. People at the loading docks, Walmart parking lots, church and other places regularly approached us and asked the usual questions expediter wannabees ask. The...

Some trucks are being inspected in New York City as the tenth anniversary of 911 approaches and police respond to "specific, credible but unconfirmed information." Story here Expediters going in and out of NYC in the next couple of days should stay informed and be prepared for more than the...

The next ExpeditersOnline Workshop is scheduled for Thursday, September 15 in Monroe, Michigan (details here). Diane and I will be there to speak on the topic: Five Questions Every Prospective Expediter Should Ask. We are looking forward to the event and especially to mixing thoughts with the...

I shared breakfast this morning with a former FedEx Custom Critical team who Diane and I got to know when we and they leased our trucks to that carrier. We went to one carrier. They went to another. It was nice to visit, talk shop, compare notes, exchange information, etc. As former FDCC...

Tomorrow (Sept. 1) will be a big day in the history of Express-1 (NYSE Amex: XPO). Shareholders will meet and are expected to approve the deal that will make Bradley Jacobs CEO of the company, and his company -- Jacobs Private Equity -- majority shareholder. Shareholders are also expected to...

OOIDA scores another one for drivers. This will not be the end of the story but it is an encouraging development, methinks. Report here

This arrived in my e-mail box this morning via EO's The Wire newsletter. It is especially interesting that the bonus is paid not after a year or six months, but when orientation is completed. ------------------------------ Serve your country AND grow your business Every day, our fleet...

This is an encouraging trend. TA put in a few fitness rooms some months ago. They must have been well received. Truckstop Chains Upping Fitness Options

How's it Going at Landstar? That is a question Diane and I have been asked many times since we made the move in late June from FedEx Custom Critical (FDCC) to Landstar Express America (LEAM). I rarely share our financial results in public but given the amount of interest, I am making an...

Regular readers know that Diane and I moved our truck lease from FedEx Custom Critical to Landstar Express America in late June. No longer needing them and not feeling it appropriate to wear them any more, our FedEx shirts went into the dumpster. We would have happily given them to the first...

In another thread, The Enemy used the term Butterfly to describe an expediter who moves from company to company without doing homework. That got me to thinking about other terms. Can you add any more? Butterfly: An expediter who moves from company to company without doing homework. Also known...

In an August 4, 2011 press release, entitled "Express-1 Files Definitive Proxy Materials," Express-1 announced that a company name change will be put to a shareholder vote on September 1. If shareholders approve, the new company name will be XPO Logistics, Inc. At the same shareholder meeting...

It happened again. Yet another case has developed where a married couple team, new to expediting, signed up with a fleet owner without knowing the experiences of previous drivers who have been burned by him. Now burned themselves -- perhaps even financially destroyed -- the drivers are in a...

I posted a few minutes ago in the FedEx Custom Critical forum that Diane and I have left that carrier for another (Landstar Express America). The post was the post and I thought little more about it as we prepare to enjoy a quiet weekend. But with questions already coming to us by phone and...

To step out of the clutter and get back on topic, "Building Your Business Plan Spreadsheet II" (this thread) picks up clean from "Building Your Business Plan Spreadsheet." I've added a couple of monthly expense items to the list and request that interested readers provide more. We are...

As FedEx Custom Critical adds flat-rate straight trucks to its fleet (vs. percentage-paid straight trucks), people are re-thinking the FDCC contractor opportunity. Some are kind enough to share details here in the Open Forum for the benefit of others. This presents an opportunity to gather...

This is more of a rant than anything else. I'm sitting at a truck stop in weather that could not be better for sitting and sleeping in a truck without running the heater or AC. Yet a walk up and down the rows will show numerous trucks idling their fuel away. Why do drivers idle their trucks on...