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A Few Questions

jkibbles

jkibbles

Seasoned Expediter
Hello all, I'm new to the forums and am seriously considering a career in expediting. I drove OTR when I was younger, but have no interest in driving the big trucks again. I dropped my Class A license due to a disagreement over career choices with my ex-wife (yeah, I know..).

I have a Class B cdl with hazmat, and am currently doing local and regional runs for an agency in Saint Louis. However, as much as I like my boss and the companies I work for, the pay is not where I need it to be, considering my wife recently lost her job and we have 2 small children. Due to the cost of child care and the difficulty she is having trying to find a job in her field, we are tentatively planning for her to be a stay-at-home mom for a while, possibly baby-sitting to supplement income.

I would prefer to start off as a solo driver with a fleet owner, but I'm willing to team with the right person. I'm not too particular about the type of vehicle I drive (van, flat, box) as long as it is in decent condition, has some minimum comfort, and is reliable. I may consider becoming an O/O in the future, if things work out, but I don't want to jump in with both feet until I get the feel of the water.

Enough about me, now on to the questions.

1) Can someone give me a reasonable expectation on yearly pay? I've searched the forums, and I realize that there are a lot of variables, so I don't need specifics, but assuming I'm out for 3-4 weeks at a stretch, with a downtime in between of 3 or 4 days, what is a reasonable average?

2) Are there any fleets based near the Saint Louis, MO area (within a couple of hours at least) that anyone could recommend?

3) I know that having a fund to fall back on to start with is recommended. What's a reasonable amount? Is, say, $1500 going to keep me rolling until regular paychecks start coming in?

4) What should I watch for when looking to hire on with someone? Are there any companies out there I should stay away from?

Thanks for any info you can help me with.
 
TeamCaffee

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Read and then read some more on the forums to get a lot of your questions answered and also this will also answer more that you have not even thought of.

You have two small kids at home though that needs a Daddy daily not just once a month if lucky. I would suggest you stay with your local job till you have your family raised then look at you and your wife coming out here and joining in on the fun!

We are from Lake Saint Louis and believe it or not have a hard time getting home and consider ourselves lucky to get a load through Saint Louis every six weeks and often those are loads we cannot even stop and get our mail with.
 
jkibbles

jkibbles

Seasoned Expediter
Unfortunately, staying with my local job will not pay the bills for much longer. And local companies in Saint Louis aren't hiring at a rate of pay that will pay the bills, either. As much as I'd prefer to be home with my family, I'd prefer even more that my family have a home.
 
moose

moose

Veteran Expediter
Sorry to Agree With TC,
I do not think you will reach your financial or home time goals driving Expedite.
How ever ,if you willing to get the class A back , there are many good dedicated run from St.Louis to LA that pay real well for a week in week out runs. (just google : Dynamics St. Louis ...)
Good luck.



Moose.
 
Turtle

Turtle

Administrator
Staff member
Retired Expediter
I've posted about this a couple of other times in other threads, and I might as well post it here. Keep in mind that when you're gone 3, 4 weeks at a time, what you have left behind at home is a single mom raising two children. She'll be making decisions on her own, most of them immediate, then moving on to the next problem and making a decision about that. Oh, sure, big decisions she'll call you and talk to you about, but the day-to-day decisions of running the house and raising the kids, she's gonna make. She will learn to become rather independent, 'cause she'll have no choice.

Then, you come home for a few days, and with you being the man of the family and all, you're going to want to make some of those decisions that she's been making all along, and doing it quite well, thank you very much. Tension in the marriage gets created, and will manifest itself in all areas of the marriage. Won't be that big of a problem at first, but later it will. Eventually both your and her will dread your home time. Both will be relieved when you go.

The money is not likely to be anywhere near what you'll need to support two kids and a stay-at-home mom. If you're driving for someone else, plan on about $500-$1000 a week. Use about $25,000 a year take home as a starting point for a van, $40,000 in a straight truck. It might be more, but it won't be significantly more if you are splitting the income with an owner. If things work out great and you're in a straight truck, it might be as high as $45,000. Maybe. You'll be doing very well if you can drive 90,000 miles in a year as a solo. More likely it'll be 80,000 or less. Do the math.

Money problems is one of the foundations for the breakup of a marriage. It causes stress in a marriage. Couple that with the stress of you being gone 3-4 weeks at a time, and then the stress of you being home and trying to make the decisions that she's been making all along, boom, you're divorced before you know what happened.

Seen it too many times in this and other professions. It just human nature. If you really want to get into expediting, you had better be fully aware of these simple facts before you jump into it, and have a good solid plan to circumvent the nearly-inevitable outcome.
 
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LDB

LDB

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
Well, I can't find my tactful hat and don't feel like typing a lot like some have so short and not sweet you'd be making a poor decision to leave your family at home 3-4-5 weeks at a time to run the road. When your kids are all 18 or older then you can go on the road as long as you want and your wife can go too if she wants. Until then you should be doing something that has you at home asking about school and homework and sports/band and everything else to do with your kids as well as being a husband to your wife.
 
TeamCaffee

TeamCaffee

Administrator
Staff member
Owner/Operator
Turtle you make really good points for the marriage which I totally agree with but there are also two small children in this mix that now will have a dad that visits if lucky every six weeks.

Kids need a daddy and not one that visits every once in awhile.

Saint Louis is a large growing city and there has to be something you can find that will keep you at home to take care of your family. Kids do so much better with two parents as role models.
 
B

broker

Seasoned Expediter
My wife and I are getting ready to be Expeditors.
We have been looking into this for a few months and we will wait until Dec. to make the final decission.
So, my opinion is not from experience but from someone that has been where you are now.
DO NOT DO THIS.

If we had any of the issues you have, I would run away from this idea as fast as I could.

We are 55 and have no monthly bills, no children at home and both our parents have passed on. This will be a "choice" not something forced to do because we need money. We will make no sacrifices to do this. Being together for long periods of time is not a sacrifice, it is a blessing.
We have a very good nest egg to fall back on when needed.
We will give this a 120% effort.
Once we make the choice, we will never second guess what we did.
Trucking and trucking in Expediting "business", has to be in your blood.
You have to want to do it so bad you have a smile on your face everyday.

Expediting is not for everyone, if it was, everyone would be doing it.;)
"BIG" John
 
Tennesseahawk

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
You have to do what is right for YOUR family. If you truly cannot find anything to support them in StLouis, then you'll either have to pick up and move, or go to find something away from them. If the jobs aren't where you are, then go to where the jobs are. That was a common occurrence during the Great Depression.

I have two young ones - 5 yrs and 21 months. Yes, I miss them and my wife every minute when I'm on the road; and they miss me. Ultimately, I want my business to grow enough that my wife can quit her job and stay home full time. Right now, it's necessary that both of us work. Part of it can be called selfish... I want my wife to have a new, safe car. I want my kids to go to private school. I want my family to be comfortable.

Me being gone a month at a time isn't terrible. In fact, we relate to it like the saying "You don't know what you've got till it's gone." Nobody in our family is taken for granted. I'm not tired of my kids climbing on me; in fact, I enjoy watching their shows more than mine (thus my avatar). I am involved... just not all the time. But the time I have with my kids is more dear to me than anything. I wish I had the same when I was a kid. Dad was there every night, but not there... if you know what I mean. I understand the sacrifice now; but it didn't mean squat as a kid. That's why I do my best to give my kids good memories with me, a week or so at a time. Those memories shape children more than you know. Yes, my kids miss me... but they adore me; and I them.

You have to listen to yourself and your family on this one. In a perfect world, we'd all have 9-5 jobs guaranteed until we retire at 50; with the wife at home. Perfection ended in the 60s when the bras were burned. Do what you NEED to do to make your family survive. No one on here can answer that for you. They don't put on YOUR boots. We can give great advice on expediting; but living, you have to do on your own.
 
jaminjim

jaminjim

Veteran Expediter
Larry said:

"Perfection ended in the 60s when the bras were burned."

Well not really Larry, when the bras were burned we could then see if they were really perfect.;0>
 
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