Does anyone do expediting part time? Yes, that sounds insane, but hear me out

DealerDave · Aug 6, 2013

Hi all, I've been thinking about picking up a van for my niche market low voltage business and it led me to this interesting forum. What I'm trying to determine is if expediting is something that I can work into the services that I already offer.

My current situation is that I'm a sole proprietor in southeast GA with 1 full time employee. We've been running on a boom or bust schedule for the last couple of years. Some weeks we have 140 hours of driving/onsite time between the 2 of us and some weeks I'm digging for makeshift jobs to justify my employee's 40 hours.

I use a half ton pickup and a little Hyundai hatchback as work vehicles. The Hyundai has enough space to cover all of the essentials while the truck adds a lot convenience.

I'm shopping around because the truck is 21 years old and is becoming a bit of a maintenance hog. My thought process is that I could replace it with something like a used Sprinter and start to do expediting. This makes sense to me because:

1. Cutting 1 of us out of the schedule for a week or 2 at a time is no problem.
2. My employee already has a CDL.
3. I have contacts to pick up impromptu tech work anywhere in the US.
4. Week long work trips across several states is normal for us.
5. A vehicle with a bed would be excellent for our current road trips.
6. A large portion of my work is done on the phone, often while driving (yea I'm one of those guys).
7. I keep my tools clean and organized. Going from a completely empty van to mobile tech facility would involve moving 6 variously sized tool bags. Other items can be shipped over night, rented, borrowed, or purchased from a local hardware store.

I'm interested in comments and feedback on the idea. If an old timer wants to stand up and tell me I'm an idiot then please do. Just explain why.

ntimevan · Aug 6, 2013

... O V M.........lol

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8secondbull · Aug 6, 2013

It's pretty much a full time endeavor to make anything at it and I don't believe a carrier would approve of the mixed interest in two businesses insurance needs. " Your worker just nailed my sink to the wrong wall and broke a water line, Im calling the name FedEx on ur van and giving them your truck number to make a claim. "

BillChaffey · Aug 6, 2013

I believe you will find most if not all companies will require you be available 21 days a month. Or close to it. Good luck.

spongebox1 · Aug 6, 2013

Part time? You mean I could possibly be working full time at this gig? I never made the connection!

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Murraycroexp · Aug 6, 2013

Look for local courier companies in your area. Being in Laredo for 2-3 days trying to get a load out wont help your current work.

mjmsprt40 · Aug 6, 2013

Part-time while doing this full-time is the nature of the beast. Even during "busy" time it's rare for me to fill out more than four days in any given week, and during quiet times it's not unheard of to do only one three-hundred mile run all week. Whether you can make that work with any other business is up to a lot of variables that won't and constants that aren't, so--- call some companies and see what you can work out. You're probably going to be looking at smaller carriers that have multi-carrier type contracts with their drivers. The big companies tend to want their drivers to sign exclusive contracts, so that would limit your ability to run your other business.

crich · Aug 6, 2013

Yes I expedite part time. I also farm and have another job I work at also. just keep in mind trucking is full time bills even if you don't run you will still have insurance and maybe some other deductions like qual-com, OAC maybe even workmans comp. plus the companies tend to want to hear from you each day. Not saying it cant be done I actually only run 1 or 2 runs a week and do better than I did when I was leased on living on the road.

DealerDave · Aug 6, 2013

Please ignore this if it comes out as a redundant post. I typed up another few paragraphs a while ago in response, and it appears to have been eaten by the forum...

Thanks for the responses everyone.

8secondbull, I am accustomed to wearing multiple hats and dealing with liability. I work for a pile of vendors, service companies, and individual customers. Some jobs are subbed 2 or 3 times before they get to me which can really confuse the customer. Your concern is valid. It would be a bad day if Fedex called me to ask about a broken water pipe. I would do what was necessary. Apologies all around, taking care of the other parties, and hoping that business relationships weren't damaged. I carry a 1 mil general liability policy and would expect to add on to that for this new work.

Bill, the 21 days of availability could be a sticking point if the carrier necessitated only a single driver on the agreement. Do most of you guys sign on with a single carrier and hope that they will be able to provide enough work to get by with? I've run into similar situations in my line of work. The bigger companies occasionally want to have their cake and eat it too. I've seen guys left out to dry on the slightest of whims. That's the point of this for me, more diversification. As long as I've got hours to burn then I want to make them count.

Mjmsprt, your comment about smaller companies offering multi-carrier contract is exactly what I'm looking for. I like flexibility. I don't have to be at the top of the list. I just want to be on it.

Murray, a big part of my job is being on the phone. Making sales, chatting with associates, or supporting customers, it can be done in any city. The local tech work wouldn't be affected because one of us would always be covering the home territory. If I manage to get overbooked then we get a helper, sub out the job, or hand it off to one of our more friendly competitors.

Cinch, that was one of my questions. What's a typical break even point? Can someone throw out rough figures of what they spend each month and how many hours of work it takes to cover that? I live in GA, so worker's compensation isn't required until I hire a 3rd employee. Checking in daily with a dispatcher isn't a problem. I already jump through multiple hoops to keep customers happy.

Thanks again for the responses. I'll need to stew on this for a while, look at numbers, and come up with a more solid game plan before I think about harassing the local carriers.

Turtle · Aug 6, 2013

BillChaffey said:
I believe you will find most if not all companies will require you be available 21 days a month. Or close to it. Good luck.

I've never heard of any carrier with that requirement.

DealerDave · Aug 6, 2013

Here's a poll type question: who on here works for multiple carriers? For those that do, what sort of logos are on your vehicles?

spongebox1 · Aug 7, 2013

DealerDave said:
Here's a poll type question: who on here works for multiple carriers? For those that do, what sort of logos are on your vehicles?

We haul for multiple carriers and our company authority is the only logo on our door!

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crich · Aug 7, 2013

if your use to making sales calls just pay the $300 filing fee get a mc number add 100k cargo and contact someone to file you boc-3.thats your process agents so if someone in a different state wants to sue you. Cargo insurance is fairly cheap and the process agents cost like $35 for the life of your company. As far as fuel I run older vans myself 2001-2006 and I tend to drive a little over the speed limits at times so I am sure you can beat me on fuel mileage but on average I run 2000-3000 miles per unit so $500-$800 per week per unit. when I just had a dot number insurance ran around 2500 per year per unit now with the MC number I am paying around $5000 per unit per year. progressive claims its because of the federal filings. I don't run any signs for any carrier not even myself I don't think you have to if you stay under 10,000 lbs gvw

BillChaffey · Aug 7, 2013

One of the first things Panther & Bolt said at the Orientation's I attended was "We would like you to be available at least 21 days a month"

8secondbull · Aug 7, 2013

crich said:
if your use to making sales calls just pay the $300 filing fee get a mc number add 100k cargo and contact someone to file you boc-3.thats your process agents so if someone in a different state wants to sue you. Cargo insurance is fairly cheap and the process agents cost like $35 for the life of your company. As far as fuel I run older vans myself 2001-2006 and I tend to drive a little over the speed limits at times so I am sure you can beat me on fuel mileage but on average I run 2000-3000 miles per unit so $500-$800 per week per unit. when I just had a dot number insurance ran around 2500 per year per unit now with the MC number I am paying around $5000 per unit per year. progressive claims its because of the federal filings. I don't run any signs for any carrier not even myself I don't think you have to if you stay under 10,000 lbs gvw

I think this is great advice. I didnt even think about this. I have one truck under my authority and I can do anything that I please with it. If I want to put hay on it Monday and then take steel to a job that I bid to build a building on Tuesday, then on Wednesday haul oil field freight for one of the 4 customers that I do that for, I can. Your not going to get that flexibility out of one of the major carriers under their authority. There are too many rules, but you might actually be able to pull off a multi carrier aproach with the small guys if they will let you run under your authority and give you the work when you want to be available.

crich · Aug 7, 2013

when you run under their authority they take the cream and leave you with such a low rate you have to stay in service to survive. they have overhead they have to keep you in service. me I run one or two loads a week per unit my guys are home more than on the road. I would not advise a single truck operation that the owner drives himself all the time to do this cause by the time you find the great loads you will wear yourself out. for every great load I find I most likely have 10-12 hours bidding waiting and calling. people need to take advantage of this so called driver shortage and realize the true worth of being an owner/op a lot of van owner/ops are running for less than they would make being a company driver by the time they take out the cost of doing business. But there are limits to what one can accomplish as a small time operator that is what I can do for myself and a couple of guys I could not do for a hundred unless I wanted all the overhead so its kind of a catch 22 so I am not saying big carriers don't have a place. and some people are not cut out for sales if I knew of a carrier that paid $2 per mile for cargo vans and let me run 1000 mile +runs I to would go that route. but until then I will stick to finding my own freight.

Turtle · Aug 7, 2013

BillChaffey said:
One of the first things Panther & Bolt said at the Orientation's I attended was "We would like you to be available at least 21 days a month"

I'm sure they did. But, "We would like you..." and "We require you..." are two very different things. The former is a want and desire, while the latter is a demand which requires compensation. Most contracts plainly state that the carrier is under no obligation to guarantee getting you a load, which by direct implication means you are likewise under no obligation to guarantee acceptance of any loads. Any contract that has within it a 21 day requirement will also carry a direct implication that the carrier is under an obligation to provide either direct compensation for that act, or to provide a reasonable number of loads to the contractor to support the 21 day demand.

An employee may be required to work or be available full time. This indicates control by the employer. An independent contractor can work when and for whom he or she chooses. In trucking, a lease contract running under authority of a carrier precludes an independent contractor from working for whomever he chooses, since permission must be granted by whoever you are leased to. But it doesn't preclude you from working, or not working, whenever you want.

Granted, a carrier isn't likely to lease on a contractor with severely limited availability, and will soon stop offering work to one with limited availability. Many carriers will view someone with limited availability as more unreliable and more trouble than they're worth. My only objection was to the use of "require" in that regard.

I do know a guy from Chattanooga who works 1-2 weeks a month for Panther. He started out many years ago full time, but the last few years is more or less retired and goes in service when he's bored. I honestly don't know why he bothers anymore, since he's still paying those weekly insurance and QC deductions every week whether he's working or not. But it works for him.

All this really goes back to the "You can't serve two masters," kind of thing. If you want to run expedited freight part-time to occasionally pick up some extra income when your primary job is slow, then a lease contract with a carrier is not likely to work very well. Trying to run for multiple carriers part-time is likely to work out even less well. You're better off with your own authority and obtaining loads on your own. I also think that once you see what all it entails, to do it legally, running expedite part-time is more expense and trouble than it's worth.