Most of the Expedite drivers today don't remember how Expediting was twenty years ago. Expediting has came a long way since the days of Que pagers, Qualcom pagers, and paper log books. Expediters now have cell phones, Expediters Online, bigger sleepers with trucks that will do almost anything but drive themselves. The QC didn't do your log book, the drivers did. You didn't have Com Data doing your mileage reports, the driver did them with every load. A mileage report is where you had to write your mileage down at the start of your trip then every time you crossed a state line you had to write it down. Then you ended it at your delivery. The driver then had to total up all the miles for each state and what routes you drove on, then send it in with each load you did. That was a lot of paperwork back then that had to be sent to the carrier you was leased on with. No trip packs to go to and scan your paperwork to back then.
Most expedite carriers didn't pay a FSC as fuel was less than a dollar a gallon. Owners payed teams 50% of the gross income to the truck and the team paid the fuel and tolls. The trucks that came with 48 inch double bunk sleepers that had no TV, Refrigerator, Microwave or any of the comforts of home. Some trucks only had one bed in the sleeper because most Expediters got 65% of the load going away from home and 46% if the load was going toward there home. Most Expediters back then would leave from home and then go back home and wait for there next load. Carriers like Roberts Express and Tri- State Expediting would pay for hotels for drivers if they didn't have a load after 18:00 to keep them out in the system. Drivers would turn down loads more at home than if they was away from home.
The new age sleepers came about from Dan Schultz of Freightliner of Knoxville and Keith Bentz of Bentz Transport Products. The sleepers back then was very small and Keith Bentz started building 72 inch sleepers using Freightliner FL 60,70,80,106,and 112 series trucks. Back then 90% of the sleepers was made by Bentz Transport Products until the economy got really bad and nobody was buying new trucks. Sadly Bentz Transport Products closed it doors due to the slow down in the economy back in 2009. Don Bentz a cousin of Keith Bentz has since started building sleepers again as Bolt Sleepers with Jeff Jones of Stoops Freightliner.
Back then Expediters would hang out at the Detroiter Truck Stop in Woodhaven, MI. All the vans would be parked out front and the C and D units would go back and park in the paid lot with the rest of the big trucks. Sometimes you was able to get one of the six free parking spots outside the paid lot and save on the $10.00 charge. If you wasn't there you was parked out behind the Denny's on Fourteen Mile road on the north side of Detroit. These are some of the many places where we all sat and talked about the world of expediting. It was funny back then to see a QC pager go off and everyone check to see if it was them getting a load offer on the Qualcom or C-link as we called it back then.
Back then we didn't have Expediters Online or Expedite Now Magazine. Expediters Online started back in 1999 by a fleet van owner that had the insight to see the need for a web page for Expediters and carriers to come too. Yea, we had Jroman.com back then but it was nothing like the concept of Expediters Online. A few years later Expedite Now Magazine came about along with the Expediters Expo. If your new to expediting and see a veteran Expediter like DaveKC, Geo, or Dreamer just ask them how much expediting has changed the last twenty years.
Happy Expediting
Most expedite carriers didn't pay a FSC as fuel was less than a dollar a gallon. Owners payed teams 50% of the gross income to the truck and the team paid the fuel and tolls. The trucks that came with 48 inch double bunk sleepers that had no TV, Refrigerator, Microwave or any of the comforts of home. Some trucks only had one bed in the sleeper because most Expediters got 65% of the load going away from home and 46% if the load was going toward there home. Most Expediters back then would leave from home and then go back home and wait for there next load. Carriers like Roberts Express and Tri- State Expediting would pay for hotels for drivers if they didn't have a load after 18:00 to keep them out in the system. Drivers would turn down loads more at home than if they was away from home.
The new age sleepers came about from Dan Schultz of Freightliner of Knoxville and Keith Bentz of Bentz Transport Products. The sleepers back then was very small and Keith Bentz started building 72 inch sleepers using Freightliner FL 60,70,80,106,and 112 series trucks. Back then 90% of the sleepers was made by Bentz Transport Products until the economy got really bad and nobody was buying new trucks. Sadly Bentz Transport Products closed it doors due to the slow down in the economy back in 2009. Don Bentz a cousin of Keith Bentz has since started building sleepers again as Bolt Sleepers with Jeff Jones of Stoops Freightliner.
Back then Expediters would hang out at the Detroiter Truck Stop in Woodhaven, MI. All the vans would be parked out front and the C and D units would go back and park in the paid lot with the rest of the big trucks. Sometimes you was able to get one of the six free parking spots outside the paid lot and save on the $10.00 charge. If you wasn't there you was parked out behind the Denny's on Fourteen Mile road on the north side of Detroit. These are some of the many places where we all sat and talked about the world of expediting. It was funny back then to see a QC pager go off and everyone check to see if it was them getting a load offer on the Qualcom or C-link as we called it back then.
Back then we didn't have Expediters Online or Expedite Now Magazine. Expediters Online started back in 1999 by a fleet van owner that had the insight to see the need for a web page for Expediters and carriers to come too. Yea, we had Jroman.com back then but it was nothing like the concept of Expediters Online. A few years later Expedite Now Magazine came about along with the Expediters Expo. If your new to expediting and see a veteran Expediter like DaveKC, Geo, or Dreamer just ask them how much expediting has changed the last twenty years.
Happy Expediting
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