Express 1 and cargo vans

[underdog777]

1500 to 1800 would be good i know that dont happen each week.but avg that would be about right.i know you cant get 1500 each week .but being first out in indy or chicago with 1200 or 1250 miles and still sit 2 days.well you figure that out,any good expediter knows you dont sit in these areas if you are first out.and this is has happen twiced.i consider myself a half azz driver cause i go where the freight should be.so no i dont know it all,but i do know somethings wrong here.

 

[skyraider]

1500 to 1800 would be good i know that dont happen each week.but avg that would be about right.i know you cant get 1500 each week .but being first out in indy or chicago with 1200 or 1250 miles and still sit 2 days.well you figure that out,any good expediter knows you dont sit in these areas if you are first out.and this is has happen twiced.i consider myself a half azz driver cause i go where the freight should be.so no i dont know it all,but i do know somethings wrong here.

Just 3 weeks ago I said the same thing as I sat in Duncan SC and I was told that was a hot spot. 6 days later I deadhead to Chattanooga, had my van operated on ,lol, tune up and body work, and Im still off with family matters and such and thinking has it really gotten busy out there yet, it still appears it has not. I own my on van, so Im in this game to make money just like you. I dont know about drivers that drive for an owner, mabye they dont see it the way I do. If ur a business person like o/o are, ur in the game to make money, IMHO Not trying to be negative, just my perception of what Im seeing out here is my reality on the road, now if one is seeing a lot of sitting, how can u draw anyother conclusions?

 

[westmicher]

We've done both solo and team with E1 and would add that if you are a solo cargo van or sprinter you probably should think about moving to another company. Its just their business model and the loads they get. We have some ability to monitor what's going on in any particular area and we don't think that dispatchers are passing over drivers in favor of others, unless a driver has refused a buch of loads, says they are on duty but refuses loads on the weekend because they want to be first on Monday morning, or is really ugly towards dispatchers. We can't blame them, we would too!

 

[Wild Child]

I am a fleet owner and I got my trucks out of there after 7 months when they started that 1200 to 1500 mile per week nonsence. Gotta have the right amount of trucks to impress the stockholders. I am a stockholder in E1 an you should read their weekly reports. Bad...bad...bad!

 

[tbcabs]

I am glad everyone is pulling their trucks.... more money more money.... Yes i have had my ups and downs but i can say its all about location AND being smarter then the next rookie

 

[purgoose10]

[passing over drivers in favor of others, unless a driver has refused a buch of loads, says they are on duty but refuses loads on the weekend because they want to be first on Monday morning, or is really ugly towards dispatchers. We can't blame them, we would too![/QUOTE]

Refuse a week end run so you can be first out on Monday, man that's the first time I've heard that one (except if your home). People really do that??

That's why I like running on my own, I try to stay away from the main stream crowd. If I see people I know I'll stop and buy the coffee but otherwise. I laid over in a truck stop in Wisconsin a few months back, was the only one around when I got there. Woke up and there were 7 other C/Vs there. I packed up and headed for Rockford.

 

[westmicher]

That's exactly right. Drivers report in service at home, knowing they are going to refuse loads until Monday morning so they can be home but first out. We get weekend offers all the time that we can see others turned down, so its fine withus. Dispatch tells us that they just take those sneeks out of service until Monday morning.

 

[Steady Eddie]

My week ended with a little over 2600 miles. If this is slow...I like it!

 

[Steady Eddie]

Good Deal there Steady Eddie, I think one reason you keep running is the fact that you have 7 years with them and they don't want to loose you.
Company's know who run's and who don't, who complains and who don't and all that stuff. Of course if you change dispatchers out in less than a year that tells you volumes about the inner workings of the carrier.

Not sure the changing of dispatchers are replacements of ones that left, but more on moving those up to other departments. Shoot, the best they do there in HQ is raise each others pay-lol

You ever pulled into a car lot to look for a new car? About 20 sales folks are out there. The dealership has no cost in flooding the lot with sales people. They don't sale, they do not make any money. Note: If they continue not to sale they get them out of there. Same here, Any carrier can sign on O/O and it cost very little due to passing this cost onto the O/O, and make a few bucks a week off them. (QC)

Reason to flood the fleet:

High percentage of O/O, drivers always out of service and they are forced to sign on more to cover their customers loads.

Some drivers just do not want to work, will not answer the phone, turndown loads, transfer loads due to biting off more than they could chew, then complain about not running.

I was in Toledo one time talking with an O/O with E-1....Phone rings, "going where?" "no I don't want it", my phone rings Load going from Toledo to Rock Hill, SC. SEND IT ON OVER!

When I ask the other driver why did you turn down that load? Paid a buck a mile. "I live about 45 miles from here and I didn't want to be gone over the week end"

I told her she just gave me almost 800 dollars and you just gave me about or at least another 700 bucks for the load coming out of Rock Hill. She did, got a 700 mile run to NY.
She has since moved on and ran herself (or Not taking runs),out of business.

 

[zero3nine]

Refusing loads is just plain bad voodoo.

In my experience it is best to tell your dispatcher or customer your plans to go out of service when you accept a load... ie: "after I finish this I'm going to take a few days off."

In my case this just means I still answer the phone and set up work for others or I ask them to call others directly. Majority of my work results from me making phone calls or sending emails when I pick up a load to let my contacts know where I will be delivering. Been playing around with using Twitter for this... so far gotten one load out of it. Seems like it could be a good and simple way to get work if everybody got on board with it.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[Steady Eddie]

yea i am giving them two weeks to step up too the plate.Im owner operator that needs to make a living.If they didnt need my truck they should have not put it on.What it has come down to me in my eyes.They hire on new vans a try and offer them all the loads no one else will cover.I dont mind to take small loads but every one being 150 to 200 miles 9 out of 10 trips now come on.I was born at night but not last night

One week down since this post...so, How is it going? Any Better?

 

[Jack_Berry]

geez eddie 2600 miles? we haven't run anywhere near that far in a week this year. we haveonly had 2 loads over 1000 loaded miles this year, nothing on the weekend and nothing to laredo.

we cannot operate as a team with solo loads. we are getting an avg of three loads a week. mon to tues, tues to wed then nothing wed and then thurs to fri and then nothing for the weekend. this week we came out tuesday and had a total of 2 loads. now on the paranoid side we talked to a driver for the red fleet and he has had 5 or 6 solo loads to laredo with one and 2 skids.

we are not happy for the lack of work and are running several thousand of dollars behind last year and last year we went home every 10 days to have gracies wrist looked at after her surgery. what are we gonna do? we are asking those questions again.

 

[blizzard2014]

Sorry to burst y'all's bubble but I just got an Express 1 load fron Oxnard CA to Orlando Florida. I guess there was no trucks out west. Thanks E-1!

 

[Steady Eddie]

geez eddie 2600 miles? we haven't run anywhere near that far in a week this year. we haveonly had 2 loads over 1000 loaded miles this year, nothing on the weekend and nothing to laredo.

we cannot operate as a team with solo loads. we are getting an avg of three loads a week. mon to tues, tues to wed then nothing wed and then thurs to fri and then nothing for the weekend. this week we came out tuesday and had a total of 2 loads. now on the paranoid side we talked to a driver for the red fleet and he has had 5 or 6 solo loads to laredo with one and 2 skids.

we are not happy for the lack of work and are running several thousand of dollars behind last year and last year we went home every 10 days to have gracies wrist looked at after her surgery. what are we gonna do? we are asking those questions again.

Do not be shy about moving out of the dead zones. Express-1 will not pay you to move, (well, not me anyways). Monday I had 800 mile weekend load <3rd out>. Deadheaded 220 miles to Oak Grove, Tue got a 600+ mile run out of there. Sometimes #1 out is not a good thing if freight is not moving out of that area. You really have to know when to drop and stop or trun and burn..... Also I have my "BOOK" of 6+ years of places that are hot and cold the same time of the year, slow months and good months..... (Oh, and I started one for Load-1 just in case, those folks love to spill the beans-lol, Y'all just keep on tooting your horns, I am taking notes.) Looking back, I can see a pattern every other year. Last April was great the year before not so good, the 3rd year was very good....

When the money is not there it is very hard to "Hang Tight"

Use Mac 19 to your benifit, being 6th out in Toledo could be a good thing, (has been). Most are sitting up in MI. If I move to say Beverdam, I am first out.
Mac19 said no one south of me so I stayed and get a load out every time....and good ones. That is the only "trick" I can share at this time, may not work for everyone....

Last night I did a run out of Toledo for 3.00 a mile, + FSC, ( 4th out).....l 1 skid 410 pounds cargo van load... Great rate but only 50 miles. So you can see, it doesn't work everytime.

 

[Steady Eddie]

Sorry to burst y'all's bubble but I just got an Express 1 load fron Oxnard CA to Orlando Florida. I guess there was no trucks out west. Thanks E-1!

Well, lol- no bursting here. I don't go there so I loss nothing on you wind fall. I am happy for ya. Sorry E-1 had to sell the load. Gets you back out to the land of the living anyways....

 

[Jack_Berry]

Sorry to burst y'all's bubble but I just got an Express 1 load fron Oxnard CA to Orlando Florida. I guess there was no trucks out west. Thanks E-1!

doesn't bother me at all either. you live in that area so you should get outta there.

we dropped at tst friday morning and were 11th sprinter along with 8 cv. a few hours later we had rocketed to 9th. came over to hq to get out of the crowd.

 

[Steady Eddie]

doesn't bother me at all either. you live in that area so you should get outta there.

we dropped at tst friday morning and were 11th sprinter along with 8 cv. a few hours later we had rocketed to 9th. came over to hq to get out of the crowd.

See there, I was in that bunch! I was 8th out when I POD late Thurs night. There were two in Monroe the rest must'of been sitting at home. I moved to Toledo. Stay AWAY from the "Michagan Two Step".

 

[blizzard2014]

It was a UPS load and they had no units in the area. Panther and Express 1 get emails from UPS and bid on the jobs and broker them out when they do not have units around. It was a tight pick-up, 2 hours to go 96 miles and the shipper was closing shortly after pick-up time. If there even was a van in Ontario, there would have been no way it would have made it there on time.

 

[zero3nine]

It was a UPS load and they had no units in the area. Panther and Express 1 get emails from UPS and bid on the jobs and broker them out when they do not have units around. It was a tight pick-up, 2 hours to go 96 miles and the shipper was closing shortly after pick-up time. If there even was a van in Ontario, there would have been no way it would have made it there on time.

I got the same email from UPS Express Critical. My California trucks are all flatbeds, so it wouldn't have worked for me... I'm sure Orange Courier was bidding on it too, but their prices are sky high on stuff like that... of course they can guarantee 30 minute pickups in Ontario all day long since they have a dozen sprinters and about 30 CV's between Clairmont and Fontana. When you're up against the wall with no time left, sometimes you bite the bullet and pay their prices. They have pulled me out of the fire literally dozens of times.

fired at you from my Droideka

 

[Steady Eddie]

What kind of miles can a team get at e1 compared to solo. To be honest I never heard of a company doing this but I don't doubt it one bit. But for the long runs where a solo would run out of hours and require a swap I could see why they load the long loads for teams. A swap is pretty expensive. I swapped out a month ago and it was 145 for maybe 3 minutes of work.

Posted with my Droid EO Forum App

Twice as much.....as a solo.