Expediters Hall of Fame

[guest]

Well in my almost 11 yrs in this business I have seen things change so much. When I 1st started there was just Roberts Express, Landstar Express America, Tri-State, CTX, and TNT OLEX ( which is now TST). Dan Shultz was working for Freightliner of Knoxville and was the man to buy a truck from. Roberts Express was the big dog and just came off a record year for busniess in 1994. My 1st truck was a C unit, it was an Fl 60 with a 48 inch double bunk sleeper. How many of you remember the QC pager's all going off at the same time and people running to there truck because they thought it was a load offer when it was just a fleet message. Diesel was .89 cents a gallon and Detroit, was the place to get a good load. And back then the Flying J took Comdata. Bobby Bobbit was the only one at Roberts that if you had a problem, she took care of it all by herself. There was no CC to call into back then. Bill Yost was the man in the safty dept at Roberts that could help you out with truck matters. Those where the days.



I think that there should be a Expediters Hall of Fame In Akron, Ohio. I can still see the little red house on Arlington St in Akron, Ohio. That was Roberts home office when I was in Jr high school. It all started big in Akron and grew into what Expediting is today.

Burce Simpson molded Robert Express/FedEx Custom Critical into what is today and would be one of the 1st people that should be in the Expediters Hall of Fame.

Here are a few other I think that should be in there.

Glen and Jan Rice FedEX CC O/O

Norma and Herny Church FedEx CC O/O

Jim Bias FedEx CC O/O

Dan Shultz Salesman For Wade Ford and Freightliner of Knoxville

Lyn Drake Tri-State

Jay Hobbs TST

Bobbi Bobbit FedEx CC

Bill Yost FedEx CC

Jack Parkard FedEx CC

Rich Moore FedEx CC O/O EO

Lawrence Mc Cord EO

And so many more GREAT people that helped make this business what it is today.


Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts express O/O Since 3/3/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,

 

[TheGoodGuy]

Thanks for the history Dave...



God Bless America

 

[redytrk]

Two more names Come to mind.

Joe Roman For his early web site.

George McDonald (GEO) For his LO/TS guide.

Special mention should go to the inventor of the Qualcom.When I started (6 mo before QC) we had to call in every 4 hours.Some fun when your time came while running across Chicago.

 

[Mudflap]

As a big reader at a lot of trucking sites this one has been one of my favorites. Lot of pros here for sure too many names for me to remember but lots of info and much fun too Denny

 

[guest]

Yea, Joe Roman would be in there too. There are so many great people I can't remember all of them.

Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts express O/O Since 3/3/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,

 

[highway star]

I'd just like to give a shout out for your inclusion of Jay Hobbs. In my short tenure at TST I found him to an absolutely honest, stand up guy. You knew you could trust him and that was really important there.

 

[guest]

Yea Jay Hobbs is a very Good man and knows this business very well. When it comes to dealing with Customs Jay is the person that knows his stuff.


Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts express O/O Since 3/3/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,

 

[HoosierHllyBlly]

Boy I sure can remember the Good Ol Days. And you are so right Dave. there has been so many changes since those days. All the new Ma & Pa companys that are out there now. Seems like everyday I see another new company on the road. Well hate to cut this short my load is ready and time to get down the road.

You all be safe out there and Have a Happy Easter.
HoosierHillyBilly

 

[ATeam]

Being relatively new in the industry (approaching 3 years), and having majored in history in college, I found David Mayfield's post to be fascinating.

While expediting is about 25 years old, there is no proper history of the industry written that I know of. FedEx has a page or two in its Contractor Helper handbook, but that's the most I've seen in writing anywhere. It's also very brief and hardly carrier-neutral.

The lack of a written history is not surprising. 25 years is a very brief period in the context of history. However, this would be the time to capture the first-person accounts since most of the pioneers are still alive.

It has always been interesting to hear the "old-timers" talk about the early days. Like many driver stories, you are not sure what to believe and what to let go. But it's interesting to listen just the same.

I have a question and an idea to present to Forum members.

QUESTION: Other than the brief article in FedEx's handbook, are there any other articles or books out there that describe the history of expediting?

IDEA: If not, pehaps it's time for someone, guided by an advisory group of old-timers, to write one up.

Does anyone know of a writer who is knowledgable in the industry and has a formal history education who might be interested in serving as the editor in such a project? And does anyone know of a web site that might publish it....maybe a web site called EO?

 

[guest]

That's a great question, I will have to do some checking. I love history, its a part of time that preople can look back on and say " I was part of that". The history channel is my favorite thing to watch when i'm at home. So I will try to look some things up for you Phil and get back with you.


Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts express O/O Since 3/3/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,

 

[davekc]

The magazine "Owner Operator" had numerous articles through the years when expediting was first starting.




Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[guest]

This is what I found on some of the history on Expediting.


In 1947, FedEx Custom Critical was founded as a pickup-and-delivery trucking company called Roberts Cartage and became the visionary of the industry. The company changed its name in 1980 to Roberts Express and afterward made a bold move: it became the first carrier to focus solely on customized surface expediting. This new market niche provided exclusive-use, non-stop service that matched vehicle size to the customer's shipment, moving faster and at a lower cost than airfreight.

When North American industries learned of the Roberts Express concept, it caught on — quickly. In 1983, the company received authority to perform services across the United States. The White Glove Services® division was founded in 1988 to handle sensitive and high-value freight. Three years later, CharterAir® (now Air Expedite) took its inaugural flight.

In 1998, FedEx Corporation acquired the parent company of Roberts Express, Caliber System Inc. Roberts Express became FedEx Custom Critical in 2000, aligned with one of the world's most recognized brands. Later that same year, FedEx Custom Critical acquired Passport Transport, which moves high-value, classic, specialty and modern cars.

Today, FedEx Custom Critical continues to lead the industry that it founded. That's almost 60 years of expediting. WOW!!!!!



Drive safe

Dave Mayfield
FEDExCC/Roberts express O/O Since 3/3/1995
C1847,C2045,D3397,

 

[ATeam]

This is helpful but it only tells the story from the FedEx point of view. A proper history would branch out to all major carriers from the Roberts beginning. At least one carrier got its start by people breaking off from Roberts before FedEx acquired Roberts. Others rose as competing entites as the expediting concept proved to be viable.

In my mind, a proper history of expediting would include carrier histories, including those that tried and failed, a chapter on the evolution of expediting equipment, profiles of the leaders who started and/or guided carriers to where they are today, and first-person accounts about the life and carriers from company personnel and drivers (contractors) who were there. A discussion of the smaller carriers (ma and pa businesses with their own authority) would also be in order.

One of the first tasks would be to produce a working definition of expediting. What is expediting anyway?

Expediting did not evolve in a vacuum. It evolved against the background of the ever-changing economy, regulatory environment, trucking industry, technology changes, and changes in how people live and work in America (including Canada). It would be necessary to talk about those trends as well, to establish the context in which expediting companies and practices evolved.

A chapter would also be needed to discuss who individual expediters are and how they found their way into the industry. That would naturally lead to another chapter that would not be the hall of fame Mr. Mayfield discusses but would serve to document driver (contractor) careers, accomplishments and effects the driver notables had in the industry.

We cold go two directions with that chapter. One would be to be self-congratulatory (He was there and he's a great guy). The other would be to be more factual and write about the driver notables in a way similar to how Overdrive magazine does it's driver of the month articles (when did you start? best load? worst load? earnings? what you like about the life? what do you dislike? carrier affiliations through your career? innovations you made? mistakes you made? advice for newbies? etc.) A criteria would need to be established to decide who is notable and who is not, though it may also be instructive for readers to include some failures in such interviews.

To do this right and produce a piece that will stand the test of time, it would be vital to collect and archive as much primary source information we could dig up. That information would back up the history we wrote. The document itself, probably a 100 page paper or short book, would need to include comprehensive footnotes and a bibliography, and everything would need to be edited for style, punctuation and grammar. Nothing would go into the piece that was not fact checked.

Ideally, a current-day reader could use the piece to answer questions like How did expediting get started? What is the history of my company? What is the history of my competitor's company? Since they wait for loads and live on the road so much, why don't expediters pull motor homes behind their trucks? What are some of the most notworthy expediting trucks ever built (show trucks and junkers)?

Those are just some initial thoughts off the top of my head. Before coming up with a proper outline for the project I'd want to hear from others who might be interested in helping with the work. And I'd want to hear content ideas from people who would likely read the piece.

Obviously, this is no small project. It would require the support, especially research support, of a number of people. Carrier cooperation would also be important. To secure that, every carrier would need to know and trust that the piece would be factually correct and editorially balanced. Diplomacy and professionalism would be needed to secure the trust of the carriers.

Depending on the number of driver notables we include, the driver interviews alone could take hundreds of hours to complete and edit. Such interviews could be started by written survey, but follow-up calls would be necessary.

The good news is EO and it's staff is already a gold mine of information. People there already know the industry history and notables by heart. Carrier and driver profiles have been done over the years. While we might have to dig through some files to substantiate our facts, the project will not require us to dig through the soil and piece together a story from pottery shards and animal bones.

I'm just rambling here and sharing some thoughts. Someday, someone, or a group of people will probably write a history of expedting. Whoever that may be, it will take endless hours of very detailed work to do it right.

 

[Moot]

I will do the pruf reading.

 

[RichM]

One overlooked point in the history of Roberts Express is that for many years the company was owned by Roadway. There were several other companies also under the Roadway flag and competing with each other.

The Roadway board spun off the subsidaries and formed a holding company called Caliber.Included within Caliber was Roberts,RPS,Viking Freight,Central Transport and others. They attempted to merge all of the ltl operations under the Viking name and it was not successfull,as Viking was primarliy a west coast operation.

There was a major UPS strike in what I think was 1998. Seeing the impact from this strike Fededx decided to get into the ground businness in a big way and approached Caliber about buying RPS, the old Roadway Package service. The Caliber board said "take it all or nothing", which is how Roberts became Fedex Custom Critical. Viking subsequently became FDX Freight West and when Fedex bought American Freightways the resulting 2 companies became Fedex Freight.

 

[ATeam]

This is good information that would be helpful in constructing an industry time line.

 

[ATeam]

DaveKC wrote, "The magazine "Owner Operator" had numerous articles through the years when expediting was first starting."

That suggests a research task. We'd need to go to the publisher or a library that archives the magazine to acquire copies of the articles.

 

[ATeam]

>This is what I found on some of the history on Expediting.

Where did you go to find it? We should add your source to the list of other sources people are also beginning to provide.

 

[davekc]

They had some good articles with many being several pages worth of information. Some of the earlier ones had photos of some of the earlier vehicles including ones like the traps we had. I should have held on to those.




Davekc
owner
21 years
PantherII
EO moderator

 

[Lawrence]

Pictures, we need photos of old rigs. I would love to get some of the old Roberts Express Ford 450's with a 32" coffin sleeper.

Lawrence,
Expediters Online.com


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