I've been driving a tractor trailer for a few years now and I've become intrigued by the expedite side of the business. I've been doing some research and I'd be interested in hearing comments from current expedite drivers in Canada about the companies they have worked for (past or present). I've tried searching through the archives and I have found several Canadian companies mentioned, but not many first-hand comments about what it's like to work for them. I'd be interested in hearing the good, the bad, and the ugly about whatever company you work for. How's the pay? Do they keep you busy? Do you spend forever waiting for return loads? If you had a chance to do it all over, would you still pick the same company you work for now? Did things turn out the way the recruiter promised or do you feel that you were mislead? I know recruiters take a lot of flack for telling you whatever lies will get you to sign on, but in my experience (with Schneider National and Challenger Motor Freight), 90% of what the recruiters told me was true. Subjective comments would be welcome too, like ABC company is good for straight trucks but not for cargo vans, or XYZ company is great if you live in Windsor but not if you live in Toronto.
I'll share what I've learned so far because it may help others who are starting to check out the expedite business themselves. Take it with a grain of salt because I haven't actually worked for these companies, I'm just going by what I was told by the recruiter or another driver. Also, pay packages change over time so keep that in mind if you're reading these posts years after they were written.
I gather that "Highway Star" works for Thompson Emergency Freight in Windsor so maybe he can give us the dirt on them. That's one of the companies I'm interested in but their recruiter hasn't returned my calls yet. I read in some older posts that they were unionized (CAW) and did a lot of work for GM. Is that still true or have they diversified into general freight? They seem to have a good reputation. I think one of their drivers once told me something about them guaranteeing to find you a return load within 6 hours or they would pay your empty miles back to the nearest border crossing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
There are a lot of older posts about Dynamex and the majority of the comments were positive. They operate as a local courier company in major Canadian and US cities but they have an expedite division operating out of Cambridge, ON. I spoke to the recruiter there and it sounds like there's money to be made with this company. He said I could expect to gross about $120k per year with a straight truck but the revenue would swing up and down considerably from week to week and month to month. January, February and July are traditionally their slowest months. They pay 69% of gross revenue which sounds reasonable (although 75% to 80% would sound a lot better), but they only give you 69% of the fuel surcharge. I figure the person paying for the fuel should be getting the fuel surcharge and it irks me that they keep 1/3 of it. Most of the freight is within a 500 mile radius of Cambridge which should get you home easily if you live in the Toronto-Windsor corridor. One thing I like about Dynamex is it sounds like they are very aggressive about finding you return freight and you will often have your return load assignment before you deliver your outbound load. The way they do this is by running higher revenue expedite freight outbound (ie. Canada to USA) and then taking whatever freight they can find coming back, even LTL. The return load may not pay as much, but it keeps you from sitting for a day or two waiting for an expedite load coming back or driving home empty at your own expense.
Adco Logistics in Mississauga is one company that looks good in the ads but I havn't found much info about them in the forum. I spoke to a recruiter there but he was new with the company and couldn't answer all my questions. I'm going to try to speak with someone else who's been there longer. It looks like they changed their pay package recently because they used to advertise a 75% commission but now they advertise a mileage rate. The rates for loaded miles are the highest I've come across so far: $1.24 for van, $1.57 for straight truck, and a whopping $2.25 for tractor trailer. The catch on that last one is you need your own trailer; they don't provide you with a company trailer. The current fuel surcharge is 6cpm/8cpm/11cpm respectively which is a little lower than the competition. If you have to go more than 50 empty miles, you get 75 cents per empty mile. I guess that means anything less than 50 empty miles is unpaid. They primarily run the Great Lakes with a lot of loads between southern Ontario and Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. They do a lot of automotive freight so you get the corresponding slow periods around the Christmas and summer shutdowns. I was told you usually get a return load within a few hours. I'd like to know more about this company if anyone has had experience with them. I tried talking to one of their drivers at a truck stop and he was pretty tight lipped which I found surprising. Most drivers are chatty when given the opportunity.
I have to give TST Expedited two thumbs up for actually giving you a great deal of information on their website (www.tst911.com). They pay by the mile - $0.85 for cargo van, $1.25 for straight truck or tractor trailer. I spoke to their recruiter who said they currently have a lot of straight trucks but they need more tractors. They're based in Windsor and their primary operating area is southern Ontario and Quebec and any state east of the Mississippi. The recruiter said that if they can't find you a return load within 24 hours, they will move you to a better area. They pay for the plates and only charge 1% of revenue for insurance, but they do charge you $32.40 per week for the Qualcomm. I forgot to ask what the average miles/revenue per year is and I got voice mail when I called back. That's one key piece of information they don't have on the website. I'm not sure what their current fuel surcharge is. You can certainly count on this being a financially stable company since TST is owned by TransForce.
TKR Expedite is based in Mississauga. I spoke with their recruiter. They pay $1.25 per mile for straight trucks and currently have a 12% fuel surcharge. They pay the same rate for empty miles between your delivery and your next pickup, but they don't pay for your empty miles going to/from the house. They expect their trucks to run a minimum of 2500 miles per week and I was told you would have no trouble getting those kind of miles. Their primary operating area in Ontario is between Mississauga and Kitchener. From there, they run to the eastern United States with a lot of business back and forth to the Carolinas where they have another terminal. The day I spoke to them, they had every one of their trucks heading to or from the Carolinas and didn't have any spare capacity for other accounts that week. It sounds good from the revenue perspective but they do charge you for the plates ($1200/year) and there's a big tab for insurance too ($1100/month). It sounds like they keep you moving and you won't spend much time sitting.
Genesis Express out of Windsor said they don't need any more straight trucks right now, just tractors. Canadian miles are paid $1.10 loaded and $1.05 empty. US miles are paid $1.15 loaded and $1.10 empty. The current fuel surcharge is 18cpm. I was told their trucks average 2300 to 2500 miles per week. Genesis pays for insurance but the owner-operator pays the deductible buydown of $165 per pay period (twice monthly). They have a $1500 sign-on bonus right now and a $500 annual safe driving bonus.
Conway NOW says they do have vans operating in Canada but the guy I talked to says they aren't looking for any more for the Canadian market at this time and they haven't added a unit in Canada in the year and a half he has worked there.
FedEx Custom Critical sent me a package and I wasn't impressed with the pay package. They pay in US dollars so it probably would have looked better a few years ago when the exchange rate was much bigger. Average revenue for a D Unit (straight truck) is US$72,500 per year which is currently about CAD$85,000 (and falling). I figure a truck payment and fuel will knock off more than half of that figure and that's just two expenses. I didn't take the math any further because I'm not looking to take a pay cut. I make more than $50k as a company driver. One positive thing I heard about them from one of their drivers is they have non-forced dispatch. They send you the load details on the Qualcomm and you have ten minutes to accept or decline before it goes to the next truck in the area waiting for a load.
Erb has a refrigerated expedite division but I didn't look into it because I don't have much interest in running primarily meat and having to do FDA clearance in addition to customs clearance. They do have a good reputation as far as I know. Their website show the pay rates but I think it's just for the tractors, not for the expedite trucks. Regardless, the pay package looks competitive and they do pay for lots of extras liking loading, unloading, border crossings, etc. They even pay you for doing your pre-trip inspection.
I'd like to know more about K-Dac Expedite which is based near Kitchener. They were profiled in an article in the January 2005 issue of Highway Star Magazine. That's the article that got me interested in expediting. There's not much info on their website and although they advertise regularly in the trade magazines, their recruiter hasn't returned any of the three calls I've made to them in the past month.
Other Canadian Expedite companies I've come across but don't have information on yet include:
Midnight Express
RemEx
TNA Express
Excel
Sorry if this post seems excessively long. Any info or comments would be appreciated and the names of any other companies I've overlooked. Thanks in advance for your contributions.
I'll share what I've learned so far because it may help others who are starting to check out the expedite business themselves. Take it with a grain of salt because I haven't actually worked for these companies, I'm just going by what I was told by the recruiter or another driver. Also, pay packages change over time so keep that in mind if you're reading these posts years after they were written.
I gather that "Highway Star" works for Thompson Emergency Freight in Windsor so maybe he can give us the dirt on them. That's one of the companies I'm interested in but their recruiter hasn't returned my calls yet. I read in some older posts that they were unionized (CAW) and did a lot of work for GM. Is that still true or have they diversified into general freight? They seem to have a good reputation. I think one of their drivers once told me something about them guaranteeing to find you a return load within 6 hours or they would pay your empty miles back to the nearest border crossing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
There are a lot of older posts about Dynamex and the majority of the comments were positive. They operate as a local courier company in major Canadian and US cities but they have an expedite division operating out of Cambridge, ON. I spoke to the recruiter there and it sounds like there's money to be made with this company. He said I could expect to gross about $120k per year with a straight truck but the revenue would swing up and down considerably from week to week and month to month. January, February and July are traditionally their slowest months. They pay 69% of gross revenue which sounds reasonable (although 75% to 80% would sound a lot better), but they only give you 69% of the fuel surcharge. I figure the person paying for the fuel should be getting the fuel surcharge and it irks me that they keep 1/3 of it. Most of the freight is within a 500 mile radius of Cambridge which should get you home easily if you live in the Toronto-Windsor corridor. One thing I like about Dynamex is it sounds like they are very aggressive about finding you return freight and you will often have your return load assignment before you deliver your outbound load. The way they do this is by running higher revenue expedite freight outbound (ie. Canada to USA) and then taking whatever freight they can find coming back, even LTL. The return load may not pay as much, but it keeps you from sitting for a day or two waiting for an expedite load coming back or driving home empty at your own expense.
Adco Logistics in Mississauga is one company that looks good in the ads but I havn't found much info about them in the forum. I spoke to a recruiter there but he was new with the company and couldn't answer all my questions. I'm going to try to speak with someone else who's been there longer. It looks like they changed their pay package recently because they used to advertise a 75% commission but now they advertise a mileage rate. The rates for loaded miles are the highest I've come across so far: $1.24 for van, $1.57 for straight truck, and a whopping $2.25 for tractor trailer. The catch on that last one is you need your own trailer; they don't provide you with a company trailer. The current fuel surcharge is 6cpm/8cpm/11cpm respectively which is a little lower than the competition. If you have to go more than 50 empty miles, you get 75 cents per empty mile. I guess that means anything less than 50 empty miles is unpaid. They primarily run the Great Lakes with a lot of loads between southern Ontario and Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. They do a lot of automotive freight so you get the corresponding slow periods around the Christmas and summer shutdowns. I was told you usually get a return load within a few hours. I'd like to know more about this company if anyone has had experience with them. I tried talking to one of their drivers at a truck stop and he was pretty tight lipped which I found surprising. Most drivers are chatty when given the opportunity.
I have to give TST Expedited two thumbs up for actually giving you a great deal of information on their website (www.tst911.com). They pay by the mile - $0.85 for cargo van, $1.25 for straight truck or tractor trailer. I spoke to their recruiter who said they currently have a lot of straight trucks but they need more tractors. They're based in Windsor and their primary operating area is southern Ontario and Quebec and any state east of the Mississippi. The recruiter said that if they can't find you a return load within 24 hours, they will move you to a better area. They pay for the plates and only charge 1% of revenue for insurance, but they do charge you $32.40 per week for the Qualcomm. I forgot to ask what the average miles/revenue per year is and I got voice mail when I called back. That's one key piece of information they don't have on the website. I'm not sure what their current fuel surcharge is. You can certainly count on this being a financially stable company since TST is owned by TransForce.
TKR Expedite is based in Mississauga. I spoke with their recruiter. They pay $1.25 per mile for straight trucks and currently have a 12% fuel surcharge. They pay the same rate for empty miles between your delivery and your next pickup, but they don't pay for your empty miles going to/from the house. They expect their trucks to run a minimum of 2500 miles per week and I was told you would have no trouble getting those kind of miles. Their primary operating area in Ontario is between Mississauga and Kitchener. From there, they run to the eastern United States with a lot of business back and forth to the Carolinas where they have another terminal. The day I spoke to them, they had every one of their trucks heading to or from the Carolinas and didn't have any spare capacity for other accounts that week. It sounds good from the revenue perspective but they do charge you for the plates ($1200/year) and there's a big tab for insurance too ($1100/month). It sounds like they keep you moving and you won't spend much time sitting.
Genesis Express out of Windsor said they don't need any more straight trucks right now, just tractors. Canadian miles are paid $1.10 loaded and $1.05 empty. US miles are paid $1.15 loaded and $1.10 empty. The current fuel surcharge is 18cpm. I was told their trucks average 2300 to 2500 miles per week. Genesis pays for insurance but the owner-operator pays the deductible buydown of $165 per pay period (twice monthly). They have a $1500 sign-on bonus right now and a $500 annual safe driving bonus.
Conway NOW says they do have vans operating in Canada but the guy I talked to says they aren't looking for any more for the Canadian market at this time and they haven't added a unit in Canada in the year and a half he has worked there.
FedEx Custom Critical sent me a package and I wasn't impressed with the pay package. They pay in US dollars so it probably would have looked better a few years ago when the exchange rate was much bigger. Average revenue for a D Unit (straight truck) is US$72,500 per year which is currently about CAD$85,000 (and falling). I figure a truck payment and fuel will knock off more than half of that figure and that's just two expenses. I didn't take the math any further because I'm not looking to take a pay cut. I make more than $50k as a company driver. One positive thing I heard about them from one of their drivers is they have non-forced dispatch. They send you the load details on the Qualcomm and you have ten minutes to accept or decline before it goes to the next truck in the area waiting for a load.
Erb has a refrigerated expedite division but I didn't look into it because I don't have much interest in running primarily meat and having to do FDA clearance in addition to customs clearance. They do have a good reputation as far as I know. Their website show the pay rates but I think it's just for the tractors, not for the expedite trucks. Regardless, the pay package looks competitive and they do pay for lots of extras liking loading, unloading, border crossings, etc. They even pay you for doing your pre-trip inspection.
I'd like to know more about K-Dac Expedite which is based near Kitchener. They were profiled in an article in the January 2005 issue of Highway Star Magazine. That's the article that got me interested in expediting. There's not much info on their website and although they advertise regularly in the trade magazines, their recruiter hasn't returned any of the three calls I've made to them in the past month.
Other Canadian Expedite companies I've come across but don't have information on yet include:
Midnight Express
RemEx
TNA Express
Excel
Sorry if this post seems excessively long. Any info or comments would be appreciated and the names of any other companies I've overlooked. Thanks in advance for your contributions.
