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>If you're thinking about getting into expediting, here's >something to ponder. You WILL be at a HUGE disadvantage >while you're learning. That is where research plays an important role. The more you learn about the business BEFORE you begin, the less significant your inexperience will be...

What you say, Randy, is true. It is also true that there are numerous team success stories out there where they began with fleet owners and then either went on to become successful owner-operators, or chose to continue as team drivers and are getting from expediting what they want. There are...

Nice of you to ask. You are not the only one. The trouble with blogging is you let your readers down if you get behind. I am sorry about that. The original blog concept was "You Learn Something New Every Day." As the blog shows, I really do. But writing about something new every day takes a...

>Too bad he followed someone's advice on buying the >truck..... It is also too bad that he either never heard, or heard and ignored, the advice repeatedly offered here in the Open Forum and other EO publications about not buying more truck than you can afford and preparing for the slow times...

>By tomorrow morning, November 13, we will have completed >three loads in November. Our monthly average is 12 loads. >About half way through the month, our November revenue is >about 25% of our monthly average. In a "normal" month it >would be closer to 50% of our monthly average. > >That...

The greatest challenge as an Owner Operator in 2008 is... ...running with the slower freight and reduced revenue that the economic slowdown and possible recession will serve up. Your Name: Phil Madsen Your Carrier: FedEx Custom Critical Truck Size: CR-unit.

If a team in a fleet owner's truck grosses $150,000 to $200,000 a year, and the fleet owner pays for fuel and all truck expenses, and then pays the team 40% of the gross, the team is paid $60,000 to $80,000 per year. The amount the team nets after expenses and taxes will vary with the team's...

Ours is an Onan generator with a Carrier roof unit. We specifically asked for the Carrier because we liked the low profile and felt it would help keep the unit out of the tree branches. Like the Colman, the Carrier is common on RVs and widely serviced.

In four years, we have driven 7 different straight trucks (Freightliners, a Western Star and a Volvo), all with auto-shift, ultrashift, automated manual or whatever other name you want to call these kind of transmissions. Transmission manufacturers included Eaton (10 speed, three pedals on the...

By tomorrow morning, November 13, we will have completed three loads in November. Our monthly average is 12 loads. About half way through the month, our November revenue is about 25% of our monthly average. In a "normal" month it would be closer to 50% of our monthly average. That would...

>call me an old wonder butt OK. For whatever good it does, buckeyewildman, you are an old wonder butt.

Consider the difference in a man in a >8X8 jail cell with a few creature comforts to a man in a 4X8 >solitary confinement cell and see who loses his mind first. It's a heck-of-a business we are in, that analogy actually makes some sense.

Here are some additonal numbers to consider. I called my Volvo dealer this morning to get them. A new Volvo day cab costs about $99,000 now. A new Volvo 780 tractor (Volvo's biggest sleeper) costs about $123,000. Thus, the Volvo factory sleeper costs $24,000. If you spent $75,000 on a custom...

>CR revenue (gross to the truck, fuel surcharge factored out) >is higher than it was when driving DR trucks with factory >sleepers. > >WHY???????? I don't know for sure but the increased productivity we gain by having a large sleeper (see above) is a big part of it. We have less down time...

On second thought, MAYBE a large sleeper can pay for itself. If realized savings on food and hotels are $5,000 a year (realistic numbers reported by some teams), and if the additional sleeper cost is amortized over say 10 years, is also $5,000 (probably a high figure since we are talking not...

When assesing the benefits of large sleepers, quantifiable items include: 1. Reduced food costs of $500 to $1,200 a month (as reported in testimonials on the A.R.I. web site) 2. Reduced fuel costs because you do not have to go out of route to find showers and bathrooms (especially important to...

Best to you, Nightthrasher. I hope you keep us posted about your journey. Expedite Solutions is one of several ways to get into expediting. I know little about Expedite Solutions. It would be very interesting to hear from you what your experiences and observations are as you proceed.

Twice. Once we arrived at a pickup for a nice run from IL to NJ. The shipper thought she had booked two stops, not one, and surprised us saying, "what about that freight?" when we secured what we thought was all the freight and got ready to leave. The second stop was in Florida and the run was...

Spec a new, class 8, day cab truck and note the price. Call that price "A." Add a factory sleeper to it and note the price. Call that price "B." Subtract A from B to get the cost of the factory sleeper. Call the factory sleeper cost "C." Spec a large (100 inches or more), custom-built sleeper...

Thank you, LDB, Packmule and Riverrat2000. While we are happy at FedEx Custom Critical and have no reason to consider other carriers, Landstar Express America has always been our plan B company. It is nice to see that more than one carrier is doing high-end reefer freight and that we have...