WELL i guess i better respond to several misconceptions that some people have concerning my jumping around and other issues.
First and formost i am not a jumper.... I only did expedite for two companies, CTX and FedEx CC. I only left CTX because as we are all aware, auto freight with the advent of NLM is nowhere to make money...tried it for 30 days and could plainly see that freight carriers that depend on auto freight are eating themselves to haul cheap freight. Coupled with the unpaid deadhead involved this is not worth my time to run. In that first month as a solo i ran almost 11,000 miles for what amounted to around 1.00 a mile, that to me is running hard for no money.
Now i run for fed Ex not a bad company as companies go, but still has room to improve. I will say that as a solo the 550 cap on loads really hurts. I found it difficult to work the system unless you happen to live in a high freight area that allows you to leave your home and get the freight locally. I ran alot less miles for around the same money, but as an O/O i feel that i was underutilizing my assets for that revenue stream. In my opinion solo driving puts too big of a cap on your earnings potential to warrant the capital costs involved. Of course that is just my opinion.
For almost the last 3 months i have run a team. I can tell you that I have great respect for my co-driver and recognize the value that he brings to my ability to be successful in this industry. I GIVE MY CO-DRIVER 25 PERCENT OF THE LOAD! including any deadhead money despite the fact that aside from west coast deadhead it is usually peanuts. I also give him 50 percent of any extras like detention time and unload money. I want to keep my co-driver happy. I have been blessed by finding a co-driver that likes to run hard. We have been out 98 percent of the time since he came on-board. I also give my co-driver a monthly bonus based on the revenue generated that month.
Now for the numbers, the big secret it appears on this site, in 11 weeks (33 loads) we have run 38,000 miles our gross revenue is over $52,000.00 our loaded mile figure is $1.85 and our all miles figure is $1.37. I consider these numbers acceptable but with alot of room for improvement. We sat alot, especially down south.
(I HATE ATLANTA!) We are not white glove or anthing special, although we will run Canada and hazmat with no reservations. I realize that these numbers are probably peak season numbers, but if i can figure out a way to reduce our down time by 15 percent i think we can hold them.
Now the bad numbers! Acceptance level 25% ugg. what can i say, this figure is pretty bad and is what's going to hold me up from really succeeding here at Fed Ex. I have looked at this figure every way to sunday and cant get around the fact that i cant improve this number and keep my co-driver happy at the same time. The problem is teams cant run the 200-300 mile ryder or lg runs we keep getting offered. I cant take a run thats going to pay my co-driver $80.00 for a day and a half load. I aint going to do it period! So what happens is i pull into chicago atlanta, or new jersey and get bombarded with lg loads and have 6 to 10 rejections right away before a team load shows up. What can i do? It also appears that Fed Ex is probably going to cut me if the fleet downsizes or at contract renewal. Well it is what it is....
I guess my biggest peeve is i am obviously making money for Fed Ex as well as myself but when i tried to talk to my recruiter about adding on a second truck, all i got was the acceptance level blah blah blah. I was kinda shocked as i am avaialble 98% of the time and had 100/100 pickup and deleivery and been running and generating revenue, consistantly making them money but because i won't cover the cheap freight i am not eligable for white glove or to add on any trucks. WOW talk about a major stumbling block to success, you need to go ahead and lose money for awhile, or lose your co-driver before you can join our elite service..... This to me is not good business. If they cut me for this all i can say is that they value the freight more then the people that carry it.
Aside from this, I cant knock Fed Ex. i do pull some good loads and like the dispatchers who are just trying to do their jobs. I know they got to try and get the freight covered and i do feel bad when they offer me the same load 3 or 4 times which i just cant take (lg omaha comes to mind). Some of them really go the extra mile to make sure you dont have problems especially on the border crossings and hazmat stuff. I appreciate their effort in trying to make sure i dont get stuck. I know that sounds like some propaganda but i have to give props where due.
I guess lastly any success i have is really as a result of my truck. god i love this beast, 900 a month for 3 years and this thing goes. been in the snow, the ice, the wind, every grade imaginable and this tank keeps going... put over 55k in the last 5 months and never been down. hauls 28k like its 3k and does it like nothing. was amazed went through south dakota and montana at 70 and 75 and still got 9 miles to the gallon. Went thru the first snow storm in chicago a few weeks back and at 24k empty never felt loose. My Co-driver loves it easy to drive and doesnt tire you out. We both can do our 11 and not feel rung out. I will say that we did have to pull over in montana when the winds in the passes were 50 to 60 miles an hour... we felt it pushing the truck and their was no reason to open the door to disaster. VOLVO MAKES A GOOD TRUCK!
Anyway just wanted to share with you while i sit here in portland trying to get the J to fill up ther back of my box at $2.89 a gallon got two 150's wish i had another two.
GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE, MERRY CHRISTMAS
