Eclipse expediting pros and cons

[LastChance2]

I think I have read most all post let me set afew things right.
Eclipse Expediting LLC. Eclipse Expediting LLC.
Owners myself James Ray and my brother Shawn Ray , Tom Ray runs the billing department.
AmericaExpedited llc Owners were Tom Ray , Bruce Barrett and other company was Closed in early 2011.. in good standings
Allinexpediting Owner Bruce Barrett relationship Toms Brother our uncle. no longer in business
LRT Owners not sure nothing to do with that company. no longer in business

Allinexpediting was started before Eclipse Expediting we were doing their billing to start and then Bruce wanted someone else to do it after that the 2 companies did not do business together.
We had our own fleets own websites and own way of doing things.

LRT went out of business and some time after we found that some that working there were looking for work. So we currently have one that works with us.

Eclipse Expediting LLC Pay we require most of the time the original BoLs in order to pay drivers yes their was drivers that took alot of calls to get the BoLs to us very few remain due to at the end of the year we were excepting fax or email copys once we got these in they were payed.

PS to drivers that currently work with us if you are not happy with your dispatcher or the company please give me a call at 616-299-0837 I would be happy to talk with you and address any problems you may have or just to talk for a min or two. Thank you all and have a Great new year.

We have been with Eclipse (and others) since April and we are happy with them. Yes, I too, have had a few issues with Tom, but not that he's been hateful, just that he has a tendency to talk over me when I'm on the phone with him. Not sure if it's because I'm a woman or the owner of our company and not a driver, or what, but hey, in that case, I just choose to be nice, say yes, sir, and thank you, and get off the phone as soon as possible.

I have also spoken with Shawn on a couple of occasions and liked him immensely.

As far as dispatchers and loads, we had a dispatcher who was a little ditzy and a bit difficult to work with, but she I believe has decided dispatching wasn't for her, and we have a new one who is working out great.

We don't get a "ton" of work from them, but they are always calling us about bidding loads, so I at least feel they are doing their job and trying to get us runs. We do get enough runs that we wouldn't decide to drop them for any reason.

As for pay, we are set up for direct deposit and let's say my driver has a run on Monday, delivers Tuesday, he then trip packs his BOL, and we will get a pay slip emailed to us the following Monday, pay in the bank on Friday, sometimes even Thursday. In my few months' experience with them, they actually are paying faster now than when we first started with them.

We do have one super slow broker when paying, 21 days from day of load until day you get your paper check in the mail. However, they are never late, I know it's 21 days, I know the money's coming, and we have three other carriers who pay weekly, so it's money in the bank.

 

[subzero89]

Hello all I am one of the owners of Eclipse Expediting LLC. Just doing some reading I dont get on here to much. For Trip pack this was put into place to try and pay faster being many were being lost as we were told in the mail. We never have had money problems and in general only time it would take longer then a week to pay is if the driver 1 holding on to the bol or Trip pack messed up is known to happen. Will make more comments im sure as I read more. ps Owners are myself James Ray and Shawn Ray , Tom is in billing department as for drivers no longer working with us valid reasons.

James,
So why is Tom Lay put in charge of hiring and firing if you and Shawn are the owners? That moron likes to shoot off his mouth and disrespect the drivers who are bringing in money to YOUR company. He is going to get your company into some real trouble some day. He sends out an email on the sylectus network spreading lies about my company because I hung up on that idiot one day. Thankfully none of my customers were taken in by it or your company would be in litigation right now.

 

[blizzard2014]

I am not saying that I make more my ytd with eclipse is only 28k. It would take me awhile to seperate out the others carriers I run for because I also run a flatbed hotshot and another van with landstar,tri-state,panther
but I will say I make more out of life and do it on less money and spend more time at home.I have no carrier fees taken out of my settlements so if I want to take off for 30 days it only cost me around $50 a week to let my van sit and dont have no one calling me saying I need to go in service.

like I said I use multi carriers because the dispatch @ eclipse is fair and when they got 50 vans in a 50 mile area and I am just dropping off I dont want to wait 5 days for a load. I could probabley avg 40+ a year with 1 van @ eclipse if I did everything correctly.you most likely do much more but we all know the best exclusive use companies dont run 10 yr old vans and dont always take on vans now do they

I don't know what companies you haul for, but there aren't many companies that keep around trucks that take off for months at a time. I usually drop drivers that take off for excessive periods of time. It costs money to keep them in the system. Also, when you are on the load boards like Panther, Tristate, and Landstar, if you take months off at a time you will not do as many loads and you lose your rating. I don't even see why the bigger companies take on single van companies or companies with very small fleets. Also, with you still having to contract with other carriers it just shows that you don't have a big enough company (move enough volume) to get more loads from the little three companies that you partner carrier with. lol. And you act like you're all that and a bag of chips.

 

[blizzard2014]

James,
So why is Tom Lay put in charge of hiring and firing if you and Shawn are the owners? That moron likes to shoot off his mouth and disrespect the drivers who are bringing in money to YOUR company. He is going to get your company into some real trouble some day. He sends out an email on the sylectus network spreading lies about my company because I hung up on that idiot one day. Thankfully none of my customers were taken in by it or your company would be in litigation right now.

I have dealt with Tom many times and he is always respectful to me. Aren't you the guy that broke down and refused to allow them to tow you to the customer? When you have another carrier or brokers freight on your truck you better darn well do what that broker tells you to do. You can't just ignore the fact that someones freight is sitting on the back of your truck. You probably did more harm to their reputation by not getting the freight swapped before you went to your hotel room and you are whining because they got upset. Do you really think you can just do whatever you want with someo elses freight and then they turn around and give you a bonus. lol

 

[Opel2010]

I have dealt with Tom many times and he is always respectful to me.

Yeah, he is a very respectful person... he called me one day early in the morning and asked me to do a short one. I turned it down. When I said no, he asked me to do a different short run. Once again I said no. Then he changed the color of his voice and slammed me with "You either take one of these two runs, or you're out". I wished him a nice day and never called eclipse since...

Sent from my SGH-T999 using EO Forums mobile app

 

[blizzard2014]

Yeah, he is a very respectful person... he called me one day early in the morning and asked me to do a short one. I turned it down. When I said no, he asked me to do a different short run. Once again I said no. Then he changed the color of his voice and slammed me with "You either take one of these two runs, or you're out". I wished him a nice day and never called eclipse since...

Sent from my SGH-T999 using EO Forums mobile app

Sometimes you get upset trying to get drivers to cover shorter loads for your customers. Even I have lost my cool before. It's frustrating when all the drivers want are long runs and they won't put in a team effort to help out a customer that is in need. I have snapped off the phone to myself quite a few times. Everyone is allowed to have bad days. But I have never had a problem with Tom nor have any of my drivers. So I can only speak from personal experience.

 

[Rocketman]

This is not directed toward Blizzard or anyone else in particular, but just a general statement to those who are booking loads.

When you....and your customers...understand that short loads need to pay more, A LOT more, and you start offering those better rates for the short loads, your drivers will be begging for them instead of turning them down. It's business. We dont want to waste our time on a 100 mile load that pays $150. Offer that same load out at $250-$300 and see what happens.

It's all business. If the load pays what it should, there will be no need for arm twisting or begging to get it covered. Many, many people need to learn that concept...even at Load One.

 

[blizzard2014]

This is not directed toward Blizzard or anyone else in particular, but just a general statement to those who are booking loads.

When you....and your customers...understand that short loads need to pay more, A LOT more, and you start offering those better rates for the short loads, your drivers will be begging for them instead of turning them down. It's business. We dont want to waste our time on a 100 mile load that pays $150. Offer that same load out at $250-$300 and see what happens.

It's all business. If the load pays what it should, there will be no need for arm twisting or begging to get it covered. Many, many people need to learn that concept...even at Load One.

I've paid up to 200 dollars on a 30 mile run before and drivers still turn the load down. Some drivers won't take a short load for any price.

 

[xiggi]

This is not directed toward Blizzard or anyone else in particular, but just a general statement to those who are booking loads.

When you....and your customers...understand that short loads need to pay more, A LOT more, and you start offering those better rates for the short loads, your drivers will be begging for them instead of turning them down. It's business. We dont want to waste our time on a 100 mile load that pays $150. Offer that same load out at $250-$300 and see what happens.

It's all business. If the load pays what it should, there will be no need for arm twisting or begging to get it covered. Many, many people need to learn that concept...even at Load One.

I think part of the problem is many short loads are from actual customers. A carrier contracts with them at a certain rate and is required to put x percentage of loads on their own trucks. Unlike loads off the boards they must also cover short ones to win the contract and those are fixed rates rather than negotiable.

I do not know this for as a firm fact, it is part assumption and part learned knowledge.

Sent from my Fisher Price - ABC 123

 

[Rocketman]

I think part of the problem is many short loads are from actual customers. A carrier contracts with them at a certain rate and is required to put x percentage of loads on their own trucks. Unlike loads off the boards they must also cover short ones to win the contract and those are fixed rates rather than negotiable.

I do not know this for as a firm fact, it is part assumption and part learned knowledge.

Sent from my Fisher Price - ABC 123

I agree and understand. My point is that the contracted price for the short loads is too cheap...otherwise you wouldn't have trouble getting them covered. It is also possible that the short loads are used as a bargaining tool to get the contract. There are a lot of problems with that particular scenario that I won't get into here, but it still goes back to business. Get the money right and the rest will take care of itself.

 

[Turtle]

Some of it is fact. There are contracts exactly like that (Panther had one, and maybe still does, with one large customer). But even where those contracts don't exist, if a carrier refuses a bunch of short loads, the customer will look for someone they can count on for all of their loads.

 

[Rocketman]

I've paid up to 200 dollars on a 30 mile run before and drivers still turn the load down. Some drivers won't take a short load for any price.

I'll run that load....but that's what it's worth. I personally value my truck and myself at $150 if you just want me to show up. Then $1.25/mile minimum up to 100 miles. Even then, the empty miles to the pickup can cause me to turn it down or ask for more money. There are just too many negatives with short loads to run them for less.

 

[purgoose10]

A short load that pay's $150 still takes most of the day to run, why take the chance on loosing a thousand dollar load while running that $150 dollar load. I'll run shorty's all day long if their in the right price range. The problem with a lot of inexperienced brokers and salesman the customer says if you pull these short ones for this amount we will give you the long ones. The only ones that suffer is the OO. The salesman really don't care because it makes him look good. No guts no glory.

 

[Rocketman]

A short load that pay's $150 still takes most of the day to run, why take the chance on loosing a thousand dollar load while running that $150 dollar load. I'll run shorty's all day long if their in the right price range. The problem with a lot of inexperienced brokers and salesman the customer says if you pull these short ones for this amount we will give you the long ones. The only ones that suffer is the OO. The salesman really don't care because it makes him look good. No guts no glory.

Exactly, then you have the cherry pickers with buddies in dispatch. They'll get the good runs out of the batch and as long as you'll do the crappy loads, you'll have a full plate of 'em.

It all works both ways. That's why I say....if you want the short loads covered, pay what their worth. Generally when you hear the word teamwork or "do me a favor" it's just a way of trying to force dispatch a load...using nicer words.

 

[Opel2010]

I've paid up to 200 dollars on a 30 mile run before and drivers still turn the load down. Some drivers won't take a short load for any price.

I wouldn't mind to get two runs a day like the one you mentioned, I'd be home every night, I wouldn't put tons of miles on my van, and of course less used fuel. But this it happens once in a while. What's more, when they call for a short run, the pu is 50 miles away, and from pu to delivery you go farther from your home and the pay is a hundred bux, the only answer you can give is hasta la vista...

Sent from my SGH-T999 using EO Forums mobile app

 

[subzero89]

I have dealt with Tom many times and he is always respectful to me. Aren't you the guy that broke down and refused to allow them to tow you to the customer? When you have another carrier or brokers freight on your truck you better darn well do what that broker tells you to do. You can't just ignore the fact that someones freight is sitting on the back of your truck. You probably did more harm to their reputation by not getting the freight swapped before you went to your hotel room and you are whining because they got upset. Do you really think you can just do whatever you want with someo elses freight and then they turn around and give you a bonus. lol

No, you do not have your story straight. It was around midnight when my engine went on the truck and because I refused to have it towed at my expense, he posted lies about me refusing to allow the truck to be towed at HIS EXPENSE. That never happened. He demanded I pay for a tow for someone else to get paid for the entire trip. That was not going to happen. Keep kissing that idiot's rear end. You will see where that gets you the first time you do not do everything that little crybaby wants. As you can see, others had similar experiences.

 

[subzero89]

Yeah, he is a very respectful person... he called me one day early in the morning and asked me to do a short one. I turned it down. When I said no, he asked me to do a different short run. Once again I said no. Then he changed the color of his voice and slammed me with "You either take one of these two runs, or you're out". I wished him a nice day and never called eclipse since...

Sent from my SGH-T999 using EO Forums mobile app

Exactly, Opel. Tom does not know what "no forced dispatch" is all about. The only reason he is there is because his family owns the company. He probably could not find employment anywhere else.

 

[jamesr]

James,
So why is Tom Lay put in charge of hiring and firing if you and Shawn are the owners? That moron likes to shoot off his mouth and disrespect the drivers who are bringing in money to YOUR company. He is going to get your company into some real trouble some day. He sends out an email on the sylectus network spreading lies about my company because I hung up on that idiot one day. Thankfully none of my customers were taken in by it or your company would be in litigation right now.

Not sure why you like to miss spell the last name it's RAY not LAY
not to drag this on but in general Tom is the one that makes sure everyone gets payed.
Not sure about you but all the companies I have worked for I have never been hired by the owner of the company.
Same as decision not to work with some people If we get a call from someone that is yelling and screaming at us and don't want to talk to you like a person then that is not someone we want representing us.
Same as telling the company as a example " The next load I run for you is going to end up in a ditch" see right their is a threat to the company so that person would not be working with us.
Any ways off for now everyone Drive safe and stay warm..