greg334
Veteran Expediter
I was going to do this the first time I was back in town but my wife had me running too much before I went back out.
Well I took everyone’s advice about how to get this all started the right way and now I am an expediter. I want to thank everyone for their help and comments, both negative and positive.
Here is an update of sorts. Sorry if this jumps around a bit. Too tired to proof read it and shorten it.
As some of you may remember my choice was a sprinter, I said ‘was’ because the down payment went to pay medical bills, which are more important and caused me to look at other (less expensive) vehicles.
I ended up with a 1999 GMC G3500 cargo van that has been pre-scratched and pre-dented. I don’t worry about adding scratches because it is not a new vehicle. I did add a good scratch on the side door during a very bad day this past week. Oh well, I will get to the body work someday.
Of course I stuck to my convictions that I won’t own anything but a diesel, so it is a 6.5 Turbo. I know the history of the van which makes me feel a lot better in buying a used vehicle. I have not been happy with the dealer, who I have to say needs to understand time is money. A nice person at GM ran the VIN and I got the build sheet and the history of all the work (and recalls) that were done at the GM dealer. Oh yea the dealer I bought it from messed up the grill and replaced it with a Chevrolet grill, so again I have another van with the wrong grill.
I am simulating Terry and Rene’s interior, but because of my time constraints and lack of help, it won’t all be finished until the fall. I am working on the bunk while I am home. I hope I can finish the bunk and the electrical system before my next run.
As for the performance of the van, can’t ask for better; 17 MPG all the time loaded/unloaded, except idling. The most I had on the van was 1600 lbs and it drove like it had nothing on it. Handled hills better than I thought and actually may out pull my Dodge Cummins TD.
I am contracted to Express – 1 and am happy with them so far. I won’t lie that there are things I am unsure about with them, but I understand that is with anyone that starts with a new company, so it is not Express – 1 issues. So I won’t bore you with that stuff.
My first week was good until I had to come home to get my plates (see the dealer forgot to get them while I was in town the first time and they processed them the day before my temp tag expired, this really screwed me up and he heard a monolog of what it cost to bring me home). This past week I did OK, not what I wanted to do BUT it is what I expected. This upcoming week, who knows? I hope to be out of the Detroit area and at least make a 1000 miles. Actually I need 1500 but….
This past week I did have a run where I didn’t make any money at all and I had one that I made $2, but I am still learning and I think I am too eager to get running and seem to forget my business model formula. The one problem that I have, which some people will think is stupid is I am still waiting on my laptop to arrive and need this to actually function out there in the world. (Dell Screwed me up with refusing to fulfill my lease order even though I purchased $40k of equipment from them last year so I turned to HP and got a great deal on an HP laptop with everything I need. I still am trying to figure out where to put the color laser printer in the van (hehe). But most of my stuff I need to do is with a laptop, like navigation.)
So why am I home? Well….I took a load to Champaign Ill on Thursday and sat for half the day waiting to get out of there. I asked for a suggestion and was told to move back toward Lafayette or Indy which used up all my loaded profit and than some. I ended up in Crawfordville Indiana at Wal-Mart which is centrally located. I sat next to a bunch of RV’s which I thought was odd because the KOA was just down the street.
For a day I sat in the heat and decided to move back home after moving out of Wal- Mart, Yes I know that I won’t make any money if I do this and lost $150 on paper doing so (actually the direct cost was around $75), but I could not take the heat. I spent about $7.50 in fuel a day just idling my van every 15 minute for 4 minutes in a 14 hour window and when it came to 14 minutes I was dying.
A sidebar here...I have an A/C unit to install in the truck so I don’t have to idle the engine. It is actually part of a solar A/C unit that I traded for a refrigeration unit for a cube truck. I have to replace the compressors (they went through a hell of a lightning strike), which are the same ones that they use in the refrigerators in trucks, norcold etc... It is not a big unit but it will keep my 125 sq. ft of space cool (not cold) and where I can wait out a weekend or even a week without killing my budget through idling all the time. It is made to be attached to a solar panel and small battery. Well I have a large battery and no solar panel yet.
I figure it this way, if I sit for two days out of 7 it adds up to $60 a month which the A/C will pay for itself after 8 months. Now I considered that there is something called winter but what if I get stuck down in Laredo TX in December, it’s still sort of warm down there isn’t it? Also the neat thing about this unit is that it is actually a heat pump, cool in the summer and hot in the winter.
Well back to the update
I was offered one load, a 250 mile DH to some place in KY to take a load down to Laredo TX. No problem with the miles or DH but I would have to sit there until Thursday to get something out of there, maybe. Let’s see, Monday to Thursday….this scares me because of the heat I was dealing with in Indiana, so I turned down the offer. I actually tried to make it work, but even though the pay would have been good, I would have made (according to my business model) around $123 profit for the trip but after I took in account of possible lost revenue for the time I would be sitting, it could not work.
Ok for all the newbie expediters out there this is not as easy as it sounds….sometimes.
You have to have a lot of working capital (I am actually down to my last $2000 and hope to see a move to a positive cash flow situation soon)
A lot of understanding how to get to where you need to be at; i.e. navigation. I mean Maps are great but GPS/Computer or GPS navigation unit is the way to go.
A lot of patients for stupid stuff. Like trying to find a dock where you need to drop your load. It is easy for a d unit, but a van? I went to one plant that had 54 docks broken down in 10 sections and just parked at the one nearest the entrance and went in. They took the load and even gave me a tour but said that the load normally goes to the docks on the other side. Opps. Well they didn’t mind this; it was a break for them. But on the other hand you also have to have patients for the stamp game as I call it. I looked for someone that would even admit to having the stamp for my BL at Ford and ended up taking it to the guard shack to get stamped. They did but ok I made the mistake not to move the truck until I get the stamp that receiving had all along.
You also have to have something to kill the time while you wait. This business is customer driven, not company driven and it is the customer who runs the show. I read three books, one by this writer most people younger than me never heard of, Dashielle Hammett. Interesting writer to say the least but seeing that he wrote a lot of books, I have some reading to do.
Also to all the newbies I did not expect to even turn a profit in my first month or two and this would not be big profits, something like a few hundred or so after paying off things I needed to get.
There is also a puzzling thing I went through I want to share. I went to a Pilot truck stop in Indiana and put my small cargo van in the auto lanes to fuel up. The assistant manager came running out (she was really running like the place was on fire) and yelled at me to move it to the commercial aisle to fuel up “or else”. So I did and when I went in she made me go through this crap about “let me see your DOT #s, driver’s license and truck registration”. She went through my entire book like she was Customs and than told me to fuel up. I put $50 into the tank and went back in and she again did the DOT#, Driver’s license and truck registration thing before I could pay. I did pay and went on my happy way (yes I am lying – I was not happy). The next pilot I pulled up to the commercial aisle and was told to move to the auto aisle. The next one I was told always go to the commercial aisles regardless and fuel up and if I am told to move, call pilot and complain. So I now pull into the commercial lanes to get fuel and go through the whole “what’s your dot#” stuff.
Well that’s about it for now.
If you have any comments about Express – 1 or questions, please PM me.
Well I took everyone’s advice about how to get this all started the right way and now I am an expediter. I want to thank everyone for their help and comments, both negative and positive.
Here is an update of sorts. Sorry if this jumps around a bit. Too tired to proof read it and shorten it.
As some of you may remember my choice was a sprinter, I said ‘was’ because the down payment went to pay medical bills, which are more important and caused me to look at other (less expensive) vehicles.
I ended up with a 1999 GMC G3500 cargo van that has been pre-scratched and pre-dented. I don’t worry about adding scratches because it is not a new vehicle. I did add a good scratch on the side door during a very bad day this past week. Oh well, I will get to the body work someday.
Of course I stuck to my convictions that I won’t own anything but a diesel, so it is a 6.5 Turbo. I know the history of the van which makes me feel a lot better in buying a used vehicle. I have not been happy with the dealer, who I have to say needs to understand time is money. A nice person at GM ran the VIN and I got the build sheet and the history of all the work (and recalls) that were done at the GM dealer. Oh yea the dealer I bought it from messed up the grill and replaced it with a Chevrolet grill, so again I have another van with the wrong grill.
I am simulating Terry and Rene’s interior, but because of my time constraints and lack of help, it won’t all be finished until the fall. I am working on the bunk while I am home. I hope I can finish the bunk and the electrical system before my next run.
As for the performance of the van, can’t ask for better; 17 MPG all the time loaded/unloaded, except idling. The most I had on the van was 1600 lbs and it drove like it had nothing on it. Handled hills better than I thought and actually may out pull my Dodge Cummins TD.
I am contracted to Express – 1 and am happy with them so far. I won’t lie that there are things I am unsure about with them, but I understand that is with anyone that starts with a new company, so it is not Express – 1 issues. So I won’t bore you with that stuff.
My first week was good until I had to come home to get my plates (see the dealer forgot to get them while I was in town the first time and they processed them the day before my temp tag expired, this really screwed me up and he heard a monolog of what it cost to bring me home). This past week I did OK, not what I wanted to do BUT it is what I expected. This upcoming week, who knows? I hope to be out of the Detroit area and at least make a 1000 miles. Actually I need 1500 but….
This past week I did have a run where I didn’t make any money at all and I had one that I made $2, but I am still learning and I think I am too eager to get running and seem to forget my business model formula. The one problem that I have, which some people will think is stupid is I am still waiting on my laptop to arrive and need this to actually function out there in the world. (Dell Screwed me up with refusing to fulfill my lease order even though I purchased $40k of equipment from them last year so I turned to HP and got a great deal on an HP laptop with everything I need. I still am trying to figure out where to put the color laser printer in the van (hehe). But most of my stuff I need to do is with a laptop, like navigation.)
So why am I home? Well….I took a load to Champaign Ill on Thursday and sat for half the day waiting to get out of there. I asked for a suggestion and was told to move back toward Lafayette or Indy which used up all my loaded profit and than some. I ended up in Crawfordville Indiana at Wal-Mart which is centrally located. I sat next to a bunch of RV’s which I thought was odd because the KOA was just down the street.
For a day I sat in the heat and decided to move back home after moving out of Wal- Mart, Yes I know that I won’t make any money if I do this and lost $150 on paper doing so (actually the direct cost was around $75), but I could not take the heat. I spent about $7.50 in fuel a day just idling my van every 15 minute for 4 minutes in a 14 hour window and when it came to 14 minutes I was dying.
A sidebar here...I have an A/C unit to install in the truck so I don’t have to idle the engine. It is actually part of a solar A/C unit that I traded for a refrigeration unit for a cube truck. I have to replace the compressors (they went through a hell of a lightning strike), which are the same ones that they use in the refrigerators in trucks, norcold etc... It is not a big unit but it will keep my 125 sq. ft of space cool (not cold) and where I can wait out a weekend or even a week without killing my budget through idling all the time. It is made to be attached to a solar panel and small battery. Well I have a large battery and no solar panel yet.
I figure it this way, if I sit for two days out of 7 it adds up to $60 a month which the A/C will pay for itself after 8 months. Now I considered that there is something called winter but what if I get stuck down in Laredo TX in December, it’s still sort of warm down there isn’t it? Also the neat thing about this unit is that it is actually a heat pump, cool in the summer and hot in the winter.
Well back to the update
I was offered one load, a 250 mile DH to some place in KY to take a load down to Laredo TX. No problem with the miles or DH but I would have to sit there until Thursday to get something out of there, maybe. Let’s see, Monday to Thursday….this scares me because of the heat I was dealing with in Indiana, so I turned down the offer. I actually tried to make it work, but even though the pay would have been good, I would have made (according to my business model) around $123 profit for the trip but after I took in account of possible lost revenue for the time I would be sitting, it could not work.
Ok for all the newbie expediters out there this is not as easy as it sounds….sometimes.
You have to have a lot of working capital (I am actually down to my last $2000 and hope to see a move to a positive cash flow situation soon)
A lot of understanding how to get to where you need to be at; i.e. navigation. I mean Maps are great but GPS/Computer or GPS navigation unit is the way to go.
A lot of patients for stupid stuff. Like trying to find a dock where you need to drop your load. It is easy for a d unit, but a van? I went to one plant that had 54 docks broken down in 10 sections and just parked at the one nearest the entrance and went in. They took the load and even gave me a tour but said that the load normally goes to the docks on the other side. Opps. Well they didn’t mind this; it was a break for them. But on the other hand you also have to have patients for the stamp game as I call it. I looked for someone that would even admit to having the stamp for my BL at Ford and ended up taking it to the guard shack to get stamped. They did but ok I made the mistake not to move the truck until I get the stamp that receiving had all along.
You also have to have something to kill the time while you wait. This business is customer driven, not company driven and it is the customer who runs the show. I read three books, one by this writer most people younger than me never heard of, Dashielle Hammett. Interesting writer to say the least but seeing that he wrote a lot of books, I have some reading to do.
Also to all the newbies I did not expect to even turn a profit in my first month or two and this would not be big profits, something like a few hundred or so after paying off things I needed to get.
There is also a puzzling thing I went through I want to share. I went to a Pilot truck stop in Indiana and put my small cargo van in the auto lanes to fuel up. The assistant manager came running out (she was really running like the place was on fire) and yelled at me to move it to the commercial aisle to fuel up “or else”. So I did and when I went in she made me go through this crap about “let me see your DOT #s, driver’s license and truck registration”. She went through my entire book like she was Customs and than told me to fuel up. I put $50 into the tank and went back in and she again did the DOT#, Driver’s license and truck registration thing before I could pay. I did pay and went on my happy way (yes I am lying – I was not happy). The next pilot I pulled up to the commercial aisle and was told to move to the auto aisle. The next one I was told always go to the commercial aisles regardless and fuel up and if I am told to move, call pilot and complain. So I now pull into the commercial lanes to get fuel and go through the whole “what’s your dot#” stuff.
Well that’s about it for now.
If you have any comments about Express – 1 or questions, please PM me.
