Honest Opinion Please

[buddy]

My Husband and I are looking in going into Straight Trucking...We have talked to alot of people about it and even have a friend that does it....We will drive for a owner, We manage a camp right now, Our pay is housing and $500 a month, We have been living like this for over 5 years and have just had enough, can't put a penny away for the future and it's even hard to by grocerys, We used to drive School Bus so we have kept up our CDL's and we have already been approved thru Express1.......Some people say don't do it and some say do it!!! We are in our mid 50's and we both love to drive and love adventure in our lives, so can you please tell me how the trucking bussiness is going now and should we really do this, The way we look at it is anything has to pay better than $500 a month............Please be honest with us before we toss this out to our Present Boss...........The driver we would be working for pays for everything, Gas, Tolls, QC.......We are just trying to learn all we can before we make the move......You people have really helped us alot in these forums.....Thanks in advance!!

 

[terryandrene]

You're already acclimated to living on a short dollar, so sharing the truck revenues shouldn't be too hard on you if you can keep your living expenses down while you learn this business.

Whether or not you will be working for a friend, family member or acquaintence, you MUST have a written agreement concerning all of the things that can go right and can go wrong. Do not get into this on a handshake or you will have one strike against you in the long run. You say the owner of the truck will pay for everything. Does that include FICA contributions, health insurance premiums, work accident insurance premiums, Insurance deductables in the event of an accident and any other incidentals you can think of. Will the owner treat you as an independent contractor? These are a few of the details you need to resolve before you enteri into a business agreement with any owner.

You also say that anything will pay better than $500 monthly. What about the house? You'll need a residence somewhere for license and tax reasons. WIll the owner pay you flat weekly rate or are you on a percentage? Forty percent of gross to the truck ( minus FSC if he pay fuel) would be the norm.

Good luck with a new venture.

 

[cheri1122]

Buddy: welcome! You've found the right site, but if you need someone to tell you whether you should make the leap or not, you need to read a lot more - particularly the Newbies, FAQ, and General Forums, to learn the answers. Not meaning to discourage you, but there's a LOT more than just driving the truck involved. And will you be accepted by a carrier, if neither of you has ever driven a truck before?
Driving a straight truck is a lot different than a school bus, and you will need to log, and learn the Hours of Service regs, and weigh station requirements, fuel taxes, etc, etc, etc.
What you need is a lot more information, and it's all here - just takes some digging to find it. Carrier-specific questions about required qualifications should be directed to the carriers, by phone, or EO's "Ask the Recruiter".
Best of luck, and happy reading!

 

[ATeam]

While attending college and graduate school, I spent five summers working at camps as a counselor and director. I don't know your specific camp details but if they are anything like what I experienced, I think it is a safe bet that you will find life on the road to be tolarable at least, if not downright enjoyable.

You talked about your income but not about your debt. If you are debt free, the financial pressure on the road will be significantly reduced. These are not the best of times. Being debt free will give you an edge many others do not have. If you are not debt free, I would urge you to get debt free as soon as you can once you get on the road.

Starting with a fleet owner has been frequently advised here. You made a good decision to start that way. You should know that even with no experience, as a married couple team with CDLs, you are a highly desirable commodity in the expedite marketplace. You would be wise to interview a number of fleet owners before jumping in. Doing so will help you learn more about the industry. Discuss with them the items others listed in their replies.

There are fleet owners that require experience and those that do not. Talk to those who do not. A number of fleet owners advertise in the Teams Wanted section of the Free Classifieds on this web site.

If you have not already done so, read Introduction to Expediting. While you are not owner-operators, the Business Planning for Succesful Expediters series may also be of interest to you.

 

[buddy]

All of you have been such a big help...I think we have some more reading to do about expediting....Sounds fun, But i don't think it's all fun!!! We will keep reading and learning from this Forum everyday.....Keep up the great work...Thanks

 

[dabluzman1]

Hi Buddy,
My wife, Linda, and I got into expediting last year at this time.
Overall, it has been a very positive experience.
We are with Fedex CC and I do not know what the similarities or differences there
would be between Express1 and Fedex.
It is long hours and staying away from home for long periods of time if you want
to make the money.
Do read a lot of the posts here, they will help in your decision making as they helped in ours.
Good Luck.

 

[buddy]

Phil & Diane.....You have been such a big help, We don't know how to thank you....Maybe we will see you out on the road someday....Talk to you soon and Thanks again....Gail & Greg

 

[ATeam]

It is our pleasure.

For you and others who may be thinking about taking up life on the road to meet financial goals, here is a link to a story about people who live mostly on the road. As Terry mentioned, per diem is a very important topic, especially in your situation. Go to the story and scroll down to the section entitled Taking the Per Diem for a good per diem primer.

Have you thought about meeting your life and health insurance needs on the road? As self-employed business people, it falls on you to take care of that. If you do not provide it, no one else will. Too many expediters have stories to tell about how they had to go to the hospital far from home while out on the road. You don't want to find yourself sitting in an emergency room somewhere without a good health insurance card in your pocket.

Because you never know what might happen out there, you want to build a pot of emergency money as soon as you can. You never know when you may have to stop, for whatever reason, and pay for food and lodging for a period of time, or pay for an emergency trip home.

 

[DEEANDFX]

good place to start. we started in our 50's, dee would rather stay home but can not stand it long, when starting this life please get trucking educated know what you are going to drive, how to work your business, get everything up front, do not go away without answers to all questions, learnthe questions to ask.learn to eat right on the road. there are alot of good people out to meet, and if time things to see and do.

first make sure you want to bee away from home for long oeriods of time , then can you stand each other in small spaces for the same amount of time.

as for fedx or express-1
that is two differrent dogs, we work for express-1 ,have since 04 and its ok, but you need to look into each company nad how they work learn a systen that works for you

best of luck dee and fx

 

[tallcal101]

Making $1000.00 a piece a week as a team ($500.00 a piece) is what you can expect,(it used to be different). After fuel and expences on the truck, most owners have little or nothing to share.
Don't ever agree to buy or share fuel costs. It's the owners credit card or nothing.

Demand your money up front off the Qualcom.For every load.
Owners love newbies and will come up with a complicated scheme to keep all the money and screw you.
It's the oldest owner trick in the world,and you will end up eating candy bars in truck stops waiting for a check that is usually late.If your luckey enough to find an owner who is honest,it simply means you will get your $1000.00 a week now instead of waiting an eternity.Demand the Qualcom advance or look for another industry.


I suggest looking else where at you age anyway as you need to be able to save,and trucking is a very sketchy industry right now.

Good luck!!

 

[buddy]

You really think people in their 50's is to old to start trucking? I thought alot of retired folks went into this.............And is there really alot of Truckers not getting paid? The last reply was very disheartning to us....

 

[LDB]

OK, the first suggestion I have for anyone serious about expediting, is to read back at least one full year in the general, newbies and recruiter forums. That doesn't mean read every word of every post but do go back through and check every thread title and if it looks interesting or educational read that thread. With that as a minimum education you should know whether you want to continue pursuing this or look for something else.

If you do pursue this you need to be sure you get a contract in writing detailing your responsibilities and compensation as well as expectations such as time out and time at home etc.. Everything needs to be in writing. If the owner won't give you that when requested look elsewhere.

As far as pay goes, if you run you make money and if you don't run you don't make money. If you work time off carefully you can have pay coming in virtually every week. As far as amount, I'd expect a fairly good working team to average 2000 paid miles per week when running. On a typical 60/40 split you should do better than $500 a week, much less $500 a month. Good luck.

 

[tallcal101]

It's never too late and your never too old to dream. But this dream has turned into a nightmare with the cost of fuel. It's cost as much to fill up as it does to make a mortgage payment.
You might be better off going back to school bus driving ( I drove school bus's for 6 years)and enjoy being home,having benefits,and sticking some money away.It may not be exciting,but it's stable and you get paid on time.I owned 5 expediters up until a year ago.I
I had a lot of good people pass through my company for 7 years.I got out when fuel was $3.00 per gallon (the good old days).
If you really want to drive truck,you may want to get CDL big rig qualifed and drive for a big company as company drivers.Or,go with an expedite company that owns their own straight trucks and can be counted on to provide benefits(really important) and direct deposit your checks,ON TIME !!!!!! Small time owners are having a hard time right now.

Just my opinion folks. Straight trucks are cool to drive and live in for a while,and their easy to get around in.But just be very careful,keep expectations low,then exceed them with hard work.

 

[buddy]

We loved School Bus Driving but there really isn't any money in it, you only drive for a couple of hours a day...We have done tons of research on this business and talked to many many Truck drivers and Fleet owners and Recuiters.....We know it's rough out there right now with the fuel prices and we know you have to work very very hard at it to make it work, everyone has been great and honest with us about everything, The good and the bad......YOU PEOPLE ARE AWESOME!!!!
The way we look at it is it can't be any worse than what we have right now......even tho our housing is paid for here at the camp, we can't make it anymore on $500 a month....There is nothing for our future here, We have to at least try, and try hard we will...........We are good hard workers and who ever we sign up with will be pleased with us.......We just need a change to better our selves, Because we are worth more than what we are getting now.........Thanks again to all of you for helping us, Please wish us luck and maybe we will meet on the road some day......God Bless you all!!!!!
PLEASE KEEP GIVING US TIPS!!!! Greg & Gail / Buddy

 

[Crazynuff]

You really think people in their 50's is to old to start trucking? I thought alot of retired folks went into this.............And is there really alot of Truckers not getting paid? The last reply was very disheartning to us....

People in their 50's are not too old . Schneider National recruits many people from a program with AARP . For realistic pay info and examples of miles run contact FedEx Custom Critical recruiting . They will send you a print out of fleet average info for each type truck - percentage of availability , miles run , gross income , etc .

 

[buddy]

Thanks Crazynuff, We will contact them.....

 

[dabluzman1]

I posted earlier that Linda and I got into expediting about the same age you two are.
To be exact, I was 55 and Linda was 47.
As far as being better off school bus driving, if you call not being able to make enough to
ever retire, then go back.
This is a tough business requiring tough attitudes and work ethics.
If you think you can handle weeks and months away from home, long hours, shortage of sleep, the blessed company of your partner 24/7, then you found "paradise".

You wont be home for every birthday, anniversary, holiday and tragedy.

The opportunity is there for someone who is disciplined in spending, you have to budget yourself, both on truck expenses as well as personnel.

As we have just completed our first year in expediting, I can say, for us, it was a good move with an income that we are happy with.

It is a scary move, but so are other business ventures.

Again, Good Luck,

 

[ATeam]

As we have just completed our first year in expediting, I can say, for us, it was a good move with an income that we are happy with.

Congratulations! Good job!

 

[dhalltoyo]

Buddy,

You are correct! Many "retired" folks do drive as expediters. The key word is "retired". That usually indicates that they have additional available income; therefore, they will adjust their driving habits and "in service" time to suit their needs.

The rest of us old guys who do not have retirement income are compelled to drive long hours, stay on the road for weeks on end, slip and slide during ice storms, sit in traffic stopages for 2-3 hours or more, inhale second hand smoke in some truck stops (always makes your clothes smell so nice just after you come out of the shower), drive all through the night and then try to sleep during the day, try to find a decent place to worship, try to find a decent place to eat, try to find a decent place to wash clothes, try to find a decent place to get service on your truck, try to find a decent place to park your truck.....etc.

OK, so why expedite? I have asked myself that question a million times and the only answer that makes sense is: "I am compelled to be on the road."

Sounds like you both are fairly flexible. If you go into it knowing the downside and you prepare yourselves mentally for those instances, I believe you will do just fine.

I was not trying to discourage you, only prepare you. I try to live by the 5 "P's" Prior Planning Promotes Proper Performance.