Expedite vs Trucking

[cjmitch]

I am new to expediting, but have over 1million miles trucking. Everyone is telling me that they or two different worlds but KNOW one will tell me how. I had my own authority when I was in the truck so I am used to different lanes and shippers all the time. So can anyone tell me the differences in the two other then they are.

 

[chefdennis]

Sitting and waiting...this is not drop and hook...you might run across country then sit and wait for 4-5 days or longer for your next load...Example...expediter runs from Detroit with 3 stops on his truck..1 drop in Indianapolis, 1 in Las Vegas the last in Potland oregon...then he sits for a 6 days and ends up Deadheading to La..gets a short run up the coast then sits for 3 days and ends up deadheading to El Paso and waiting for 5 days for his next load taking him to cleveland ohio...

Expediate is mostly emergency freight that has to be somewhere yesterday...and emergencies do not happen every day on a drop and hook schedule...you drop, run to a comfortable location to sit and wait for your next load..be it 1 day or 10 you will sit....yea you will be pre-dispatched from time to time, but that is not the norm...

A million miles in general trucking sayes for the most part, you will have a tough time in expedite if you follow the norm...nothing personal, its just the way it is..people coming from General trucking don't have a good record of sticking with expedite...

 

[bobwg]

Sitting and waiting...this is not drop and hook...you might run across country then sit and wait for 4-5 days or longer for your next load...Example...expediter runs from Detroit with 3 stops on his truck..1 drop in Indianapolis, 1 in Las Vegas the last in Potland oregon...then he sits for a 6 days and ends up Deadheading to La..gets a short run up the coast then sits for 3 days and ends up deadheading to El Paso and waiting for 5 days for his next load taking him to cleveland ohio...

Expediate is mostly emergency freight that has to be somewhere yesterday...and emergencies do not happen every day on a drop and hook schedule...you drop, run to a comfortable location to sit and wait for your next load..be it 1 day or 10 you will sit....yea you will be pre-dispatched from time to time, but that is not the norm...

A million miles in general trucking sayes for the most part, you will have a tough time in expedite if you follow the norm...nothing personal, its just the way it is..people coming from General trucking don't have a good record of sticking with expedite...

I came to expedite after 18 years in general trucking been doing this now about year and half and in process of buying my own Sprinter

 

[chefdennis]

Bob. no where did I say that EVERYONE from general trucking that comes into this part of the industry will fail...but the fact is alot of people coming from General trucking if not most (again I didn't say ALL) don't deal with expedite well and they don't make it....

 

[TeamCaffee]

We are quick to tell our truck load friends that they need to look long and hard at expediting. It took us awhile to adjust to expediting and the sitting we do. We had to keep thinking it is hard to plan an emergency.

With USX seldon did not have a pre assignment before we delivered. We knew basically what we were going to be doing before we unloaded.

With Expediting we never know what we are doing are what direction we will be going next. The offer comes in we accept we get the load we have ten minutes to be rolling. We also dead head many miles and with USX if we dead headed 100 miles that was a huge.

When we want to go home we do not call dispatch we are on our own.

We also deal with a different type of customer for the most part. The customer needs what we have and we have rolled into a customer and have had them take a truck out of a dock to unload us. We get paid detention time even at Walmart and that was unheard of with USX.

The other big difference for us was the difference in dispatchers. We are still amazed at how the dispatchers treat us it is night and day and we are still thrilled to be treated with respect and a valued truck.

Another difference is our income. Our income is very volatile with many valleys and peaks. We do not worry about the miles we get we worry about our income. If we can drive 5 miles a week and meet the income we want so much the better. When with USX our income was a little more balanced and our thinking was how many miles can we get? No longer do we worry about "How many miles can we get?"

We tell people Expedite is a team business with solo miles. That means our loads are team loads but our miles are comparable to solo miles for the year. Our income though is comparable to a team.

 

[TheRebel]

Bob. no where did I say that EVERYONE from general trucking that comes into this part of the industry will fail...but the fact is alot of people coming from General trucking if not most (again I didn't say ALL) don't deal with expedite well and they don't make it....

I used to drive big rigs before, I had dedicated run for years, then, back in '97 I got my first cv, a brand new Savana.

Well, I just wanted to say that there are expediters that they never been in trucking business before... they either just lost their jobs or changed the job, either retired and trying to get an extra buck...

 

[greg334]

The difference depends on two important things - the truck you choose to drive and the carrier you lease with.

Outside of that, the only other difference is the hurry up and wait and the dead head that you may encounter.

The freight is about the same, one company will call it emergency freight another will call it "opps we forgot that on the dock" while another will be bidding on it and when they get it, it is so close to a deadline that they have to rush it to its destination.

The most versatile vehicle in this niche market is the 53 foot trailer being pulled by a tractor.

 

[cheri1122]

CJ: I came to expediting from OTR too, and one difference not mentioned is hometime. Depending on where you live, it can be more or less than what you're used to, assuming that's every other week. I live near Cleveland, Oh, and have sometimes gotten home several weeks in a row, [usually just a few hours], though mostly I'm out for 8 weeks at a time.
It's tough to plan with such an unpredictable schedule, so it helps if you have someone at home to kind of 'watch out' for things like the mail.

 

[JOHNCLARK]

Sitting and waiting...this is not drop and hook...you might run across country then sit and wait for 4-5 days or longer for your next load...Example...expediter runs from Detroit with 3 stops on his truck..1 drop in Indianapolis, 1 in Las Vegas the last in Potland oregon...then he sits for a 6 days and ends up Deadheading to La..gets a short run up the coast then sits for 3 days and ends up deadheading to El Paso and waiting for 5 days for his next load taking him to cleveland ohio...

Expediate is mostly emergency freight that has to be somewhere yesterday...and emergencies do not happen every day on a drop and hook schedule...you drop, run to a comfortable location to sit and wait for your next load..be it 1 day or 10 you will sit....yea you will be pre-dispatched from time to time, but that is not the norm...

A million miles in general trucking sayes for the most part, you will have a tough time in expedite if you follow the norm...nothing personal, its just the way it is..people coming from General trucking don't have a good record of sticking with expedite...

Holy crap!!! You guys sit that long? Im soooo sorry to hear that??!

I believe truckload and expedite run side by side,except of course the revenue and time sitting. We are always waiting for the truck to get it's hours back. And unlike truckload you have no time to pull in the truckstop and bum around. It's a direct shot. The revenue is exceptionally better if you can sit and drive 600 miles straight, sleep days one day and midnights the next. It's definately not for everyone. If your body can adjust over the 1st month you will be fine.

And don't ever sign on with a company with fees!! That may be a sign that they are not financially stable if they have to take money out of your pocket!

 

[Moot]

And don't ever sign on with a company with fees!! That may be a sign that they are not financially stable if they have to take money out of your pocket!

Not financially stable or have shareholders to pacify.

 

[TheRebel]

And don't ever sign on with a company with fees!! That may be a sign that they are not financially stable if they have to take money out of your pocket!

Any large company will charge you somehow... I used to drive for a co. (I don't give names) which the only monthly deduction they had was the insurance (close to $200/mo. But even there you had the option to get your own insurance. Then the guys realized they can make money outta this and forced every single o/o to buy the company's insurance. They didn't stop here, next step was the satellite communications, then some sort of workers comp. Another step was rising the insurance price from $200 to over $300, and finally you, the o/o, you were paying over 600 bucks in monthly deductions...

 

[fastrod]

Any large company will charge you somehow... I used to drive for a co. (I don't give names) which the only monthly deduction they had was the insurance (close to $200/mo. But even there you had the option to get your own insurance. Then the guys realized they can make money outta this and forced every single o/o to buy the company's insurance. They didn't stop here, next step was the satellite communications, then some sort of workers comp. Another step was rising the insurance price from $200 to over $300, and finally you, the o/o, you were paying over 600 bucks in monthly deductions...

And this is all because the companies realized that 95% of the people in expediting need someone to hold their hand and guide them.

 

[moose]

To answer the OP Q,
i think this is an unfair compression, for the simple size of the trucking industry .
there are SOO many different operation in the TL devission ,that it will greattly deppends on an indevidual expirience within the Trucking industry .
having said that , it have being MY personal experience ,that Expedite is not coming even close to the business opportunity's presented in the TL divisions . the revenue is simply not there for a solo truckers, regardless of vehicle size.
with so many 'specialized' operations in the trucking industry ,
the 'drive less and get paid more' is facing the 'drive more and get paid way more' slogans .

it dose present a great lifestyle tho'w...

funny ,4 years ago i started looking into expedite seeking compliance shelter ,never really materialized ,i'm still running with my tail between my legs .