How's Business? Darn I STILL wanna jump in!

[zenoit]

Greetings all!

I just wanted to drop a note and see how business is. I really wanna get into the expediting gig but with current fuel prices, well I am glad I held off, atleast for now. However, I am curious how you guys have been effected business wise with the recent calamity the south has experienced.

I know FEMA sucks up alot of trucks when these type of events happen as well as the Red Cross. I currently work for a major moviing/truck rental co and we dont even know yet how many trucks we lost yet (a *bleep* load of trucks its sounding like), yet FEMA has us booked for months and were having to pull trucks basically nation wide.

So... I am guessing the Str8's are doing better if not good? Cargos as well?

Thanks for your imput!

Zenoit

 

[guest]

Don't wait for perfect conditions. If you want to do it, just do it. There is plenty of opportunity out here.

 

[ATeam]

>Don't wait for perfect conditions. If you want to do it,
>just do it. There is plenty of opportunity out here.

Ditto!

In good times and bad, there are always expediters succeeding and failing in the business. It's not about timing. It's about accurately guaging the conditions of the day and doing the things the successful expeditiers do.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Unless you have a surefire plan, stay the hell away. At 7mpg, we're giving up 40 cents to fuel off the bat. Also, you'll hafta deal with the new HOS. Here's what I think about that...

You take one of the zillion 200 mile loads, deliver it, then go to a truckstop to wait for your next load. Last one took 5 hours to finish. Now you sit for 3 hours waiting, then get offered a 300 miler. You have 6 hours to do it, but dispatch realizes this and takes it from you because you'll go over 14 at their 45-50 mph avg.

What I'm saying is, if you don't get offered a good run at the start of the day you may as well be content with a mini or two or something such as a 200-300 miler. No one wants just 300 a day, but I'm guessing we'll see alot of that.

Don't get in until things are more stable with what I've discussed.

 

[bryan]

Hi
no way, nodda, absolutly not! There is a slight chance that the carriers are going to come to our aid (p2's message on 9-1). My feeling is why should they, when they can bring in 5-6 new people per week who can run on they're own personal savings and line of credit.Watch and see for about 2 months. Gather as much info as you can.Do the numbers and then decide.Expediting will still be here.

 

[guest]

This topic reminds me of the story about the two hunters who were attacked by a Grizzly bear. They each fired all of their ammunition at the bear and the bear was still charging. One of the hunters calmly sat down and took a pair of athletic shoes out of his backpack and started taking his boots off and switching into the other shoes. The other hunter looked at him and said "are you crazy, you can't outrun that bear."

The other hunter looked at him and said "the only one I have to outrun is you."

I will leave it to you to determine who the bear is and who the other hunter is.

One thing for sure, though, is that it is very hard to outrun a bear (or anyone else for that matter) if you have a big truck payment. Buying a new truck is the only thing that I would tell someone to NEVER do when they are just getting into the business. I know there are plenty of people who do it and it works out, but if it doesn't work out it can be real ugly.

 

[highway star]

Expediting is a cyclical bussiness in the best of times. Right now I'm pretty busy. But... I think if you put half a dozen so-called "economic experts" in a room today and asked them what the next 6 months were going to be like, you would probably get 6 different guesses. With everything that is going on right now, if you don't hate your job, I would just hang loose and see what happens.