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Let's clear up the tax questions about tolls and then get back to the original questions if we can. A toll paid to drive your truck on a toll road (bridge, tunnel) is an expense. It does not matter if it is reimbursed by your carrier. It does not matter if you pay it under load or on deadhead...

Diane and I have been off the road on vacation for the last two months and are just now beginning to run. Significant hikes in tolls have taken effect after January 1 that we encountered for the first time this year on a run to the Northeast. The size of the hikes is obscene! A few years ago...

Back on the road hauling freight again! Our Florida vacation is over. Did not miss all of winter but avoided a good chunk of it (Jan and Feb). That leaves 10 months in 2012 to earn our pay for the year.

It is interesting that a new entrant into the trucking industry who will have many options with his new Class A CDL is drawn to expedted freight. May I ask, what is it about expediting that interests you? What appeals to you in expediting that you do not see in other sectors of the trucking...

Wow! Diane and I don't bank there and I don't think we ever will. I shudder to think how many people out there know or can find out the last four digits of someone's social security number. Someone who did would only be a user name guess away from gaining full access to that account.

The following quote came from another thread. I moved it here so as not to get off topic in that thread. I'm not sure I get your meaning. When Diane and I entered the business in 2003, we did so as drivers of a fleet owner's truck. We had no trucking experience whatsoever. From the very...

Land Line magazine provided more information late Friday. Read it here. It sounds like things are getting better but are not yet good.

Land Line magazine has done a story on this. See: TAB banking nightmare cripples small-business truckers This could happen to any bank, fuel card or credit card company. Whether your bank at TAB or not, it is a good story to read while thinking through your preparations for such an event.

I don't know anything about C&M or this fleet owner, and this is the first I have ever heard of a carrier that holds the first paycheck back that long. But as I think about it, I can see the advantages. Right off the bat the carrier frees himself of the undercapitalized wannabees who might...

That works for both of us. Please note that I have never encouraged anyone to leave FedEx or any other carrier for Landstar and I never will. Diane and I used to encourage people to sign on with FedEx when we were there because we were doing well and believed that if people did what we did...

This leased on with multiple carriers thread has been very informative. It is interesting to learn more about this no-authority, multiple-carrier model. How widespread is it? How many carriers operate this way and is this a growing trend? When you vanners are out on the road, how common is it...

Not so. We ran more miles with Landstar because they did not leave us sit and give us fewer long runs like FedEx began to do when they brought more and more company owned reefer trailers into the fleet and gave preferential dispatch to the flat rate trucks that pulled them (which is what...

If there is a fat flatbedder out there, I have yet to see one. Hell yes it's hard work. That's what keeps them trim.

I can see how a FedEx Custom Critical contractor would believe that. You get your freight by waiting for the beep, as Diane and I did for seven years. Since leaving FedEx, I have learned more about the significant use FedEx makes of outside carriers (including our truck at times) and how these...

It seems like those carriers are giving a driver two mirrors and telling him he is better off because he has three noses.

Let me offer this for expediter wannabees who may be unfamiliar with the term "white glove" and its use. FedEx Custom Critical White Glove Services® is a branded line of services offered by FedEx Custom Critical. As you can see from the name, it is a registered trademark. According to the...

I would recommend that he stay where he is and stay out of expediting, unless he is willing to learn how to not only use a computer but use one well. I can't imagine working as an expediter without having a computer in the truck and the skill to use it.

No-authority vans running with multiple carriers may not be new, but I wonder, is this a growing trend? Sylectus software is new to expediting (not brand new but new enough). To what extent are the no-authority, multiple-carrier business model and Sylectus software related?

There is no question that a person's view of the industry is conditioned by one's exposure to it. I have interviewed and written a couple of stories about vanners over the years but never delved into that part of business because it simply did not interest Diane and me. It might have been better...

So it's literally true that there is more to expediting than meets the eye.