Some expediters sometimes refer to themselves as paid tourists. Today and tomorrow, Diane and I are "forced tourists." I share this for people researching the industry. If seeing the country is one of your reasons for entering the business, pick a carrier that has a national reach and you will not likely be disappointed.
Of course good work ethics, business management, and common sense come into play. But expediting can be a great deal of fun too, if you make it so.
FedEx Custom Critical has run our wheels off in early March (Feb too); so much so that Diane and I ran out of log book hours. We delivered early this morning in downtown San Francisco, just yards from the waterfront. It was my turn to drive and I had just 4 hours left to use against my weekly allotment of 70 hours in eight days. Diane could not drive since she had not been off duty long enough. Her weekly allotment was close to depleted too.
There was no question what we would do next; go out of service and sit for 34 hours to reset for more running. While we've enjoyed a bunch of tourist attractions on the road, we've never gone out of service to do so. This time, we're going out of service to reset our hours and tourist fun happens to be close by.
So, what do we do? Go to a truck stop and spend 34 hours there, or have fun in San Francisco?
Well, like, duhhhhh!!!! San Francisco it is!
Arriving early in town, we were able to park on the street near the delivery. The load was a one-pound envelope from Chicago. From there we walked around this fascinating downtown for a while searching for a place to park the truck without plugging three parking meters. No luck. We returned to the truck and drove around downtown for a while expanding our search. Still no luck. Decision made to next go 80 miles out of town to nearest truck stop and take the commuter train into town the next day.
Tomorrow it's cable car rides, downtown shopping and a waterfront walk for us. Expediting has been very good to us (because we've been good to it). It's very satisfying to find ourselves having the fun we set out to have when we entered the industry.
Of course good work ethics, business management, and common sense come into play. But expediting can be a great deal of fun too, if you make it so.
FedEx Custom Critical has run our wheels off in early March (Feb too); so much so that Diane and I ran out of log book hours. We delivered early this morning in downtown San Francisco, just yards from the waterfront. It was my turn to drive and I had just 4 hours left to use against my weekly allotment of 70 hours in eight days. Diane could not drive since she had not been off duty long enough. Her weekly allotment was close to depleted too.
There was no question what we would do next; go out of service and sit for 34 hours to reset for more running. While we've enjoyed a bunch of tourist attractions on the road, we've never gone out of service to do so. This time, we're going out of service to reset our hours and tourist fun happens to be close by.
So, what do we do? Go to a truck stop and spend 34 hours there, or have fun in San Francisco?
Well, like, duhhhhh!!!! San Francisco it is!
Arriving early in town, we were able to park on the street near the delivery. The load was a one-pound envelope from Chicago. From there we walked around this fascinating downtown for a while searching for a place to park the truck without plugging three parking meters. No luck. We returned to the truck and drove around downtown for a while expanding our search. Still no luck. Decision made to next go 80 miles out of town to nearest truck stop and take the commuter train into town the next day.
Tomorrow it's cable car rides, downtown shopping and a waterfront walk for us. Expediting has been very good to us (because we've been good to it). It's very satisfying to find ourselves having the fun we set out to have when we entered the industry.
