The expediting industry is full of current and former van drivers who went out and bought a van and became an expediter because they think it's easy money. Almost all of them are wrong.
The industry is also full of current and former owners with multiple vans who think each van they have is a little cash cow, out there doing its thing and making the owner some extra cash. Almost all of them are wrong.
Most van fleet owners won't spend the money to properly outfit the van for heating, cooling and comfort, and then complain when they can't keep drivers in their vans. Those who do properly outfit their vans are quickly jaded because the driver who has no vested interest in the business, or the van, won't take care of it.
The owner's cut of a 60/40 generally will only cover maintenance and repairs and other assorted expenses, so many owners will skimp on regular and preventive maintenance, letting the driver know that since the owner doesn't care about the van then it's fine for the driver to not care about it, either. Something needs fixed, the owner won't fix it, the driver finds a new owner to drive for. Even under the best of circumstances the loaded miles won't be what the driver wants or expects, so they aren't making the kind of money they want, and it won't take long for the driver to get discouraged when they see how much of the load pay is going to someone else. Doesn't matter that the driver doesn't own the van, all they see is the money for their hard work going someplace else. All that matters is they aren't getting what they wanted or expected.
The owner can't keep anyone in the van long term, and thus discourages the current driver taking any time off at all because it sits too long between drivers and is costing the owner money every minute it sits so he needs that van to make as much as it can while he's got a driver in it.
Too many owners think it's a perfect world where you can throw a driver in a van and the driver will take care of it and magically produce cash for the owner at a clip of 1500 miles a week. The reality is that the van sits for weeks over the course of a year between finding new drivers and during orientation and ends up producing 8 months out of the year with a more realistic 40,000 loaded miles a year instead of the 75,000 miles the owner thinks it should in a perfect world.
Things get even more complicated when the van fleet owner is also an owner/operator driving one of his own vans, trying to staff and manage other vans, even just one, at the same time.
There are exceptions, to be sure, but they are few and far between.
is the best. I go home when I want to and work when I want to. Now if this old 318 will hold up another 200k, I will be happy.amen
