Five loads a day out of Dallas sounds about right and matches what we have seen on the boards in the time we've been here. But some of them have been E loads. When we arrived in Houston yesterday, we were the third of three trucks on the board. The first two were dispatched out under load. We were left sitting with no freight.
With the benefit of hindsight, that's our own d#### fault. We left Laredo on Tuesday, not for Houston or Dallas, but for San Antonio. San Antonio had no activity and we knew it. Houston and Dallas did, and we knew that too. But driving to San Antonio took us closer to where some of our relatives live and we have a great time when we visit them. Our four young nephews are a special joy.
We reasoned (unwisely) that San Antonio was a shorter drive so deadhead expense would be lower. San Antonio also remained within striking distance of Laredo, so if freight bubbled up there, we could return. We further reasoned that if we ended up sitting another day or getting dispatched on a load that picks up later, we would have the chance to swing by for a family visit.
As things turned out, our desire to visit family clouded our judgement on freight. All going to San Antonio did was put us close to two dead express centers, Laredo and San Antonio. We knew there was activity in Houston and Dallas but went to where the freight wasn't instead. Had we gone to Houston from Laredo, we'd have been running again by Wednesday at the latest.
We are dispatched now on a weekend run. We'll be back in the freight lanes on Monday morning. When we add in the self-imposed deadhead we did to go to San Antonio and then Houston, the load won't pay great per mile, but it gets us out of Texas.
In short, the problem was not that FedEx freight was not moving out of Texas. It was that it was not moving out of Laredo and San Antonio and we made a mistake choosing San Antonio.
Regarding DaveKC's questioning my month-to-date income claim, I do not make claims that I cannot substantiate.
Our fleet owner currently has 6 White Glove trucks on the road. He gives his drivers access to his info on the FedEx web site so all of us can see how the others are doing. As of April 13, our three loads made us the number 3 truck in April, month to date, in gross revenue terms. Others had hauled as many as 7 loads in the same period. We had hauled the least number of loads.
While exceptions can be found, in general, WG trucks earn more per mile, and more per month, than most other trucks on the road and most other expediting trucks of the same type. When I made my claim, I reasoned that if we were in the top half of a 6-truck WG fleet and the rest of the fleet had been running, we've also grossed more month to date than most of the trucks we saw running loaded out of Laredo and San Antonio.
I could shortcut this by stating our revenue number, and could easily substantiate that number with our Form 1099s. But the last time I did that, a number of self-appointed success police rose with loud voices to say either it is not possible to make that kind of money or that most people should not expect to do so.
Lesson learned. I'll leave it to Forum members to judge the meaning of my production claims, and the applicability of our curcumstances to theirs, but I will not let a challenge to the accuracy of my statements (and thus my integrity) go unanswered.
If I was trying to convince the world we're doing fantastic at all times, I would not write about nearly a full week of idle time and our mistakes, would I? I'm just telling it like it is for us, a WG team that drives as we do. I do so in hopes of giving expediter wannabees a view into how it is for SOME OF US on the road.
It would be refreshing and more informative for readers if my detractors talked more about how it is for them on the road instead of picking away at the FACTS and REAL-LIFE experiences I relate.
