>"You aren't being realistic" huh? What the heck do they
>think we're out here for?
I don't think they care what we are out here for. The reasons people are out here are as varied as the drivers themselves.
>Our amusement?
Speaking for ourselves, Diane and I absolutely are out here for our amusement. In our entire lives, we have never kept a job we did not like. When work stops being fun, we find other work to do.
>Because we have
>nothing better to do?
If we had something better to do, we would do that. At this point in our lives, expediting is the very best thing we could be doing.
>But the very fact that a lot of ppl in
>this industry, and trucking in general, have that "it's
>better than nothing" attitude.
Successful expediters do not have that attitude. If all you want to achieve is something better than nothing, you don't have to achieve much at all. As demonstrated by the results such people generate, the expediting industry does not treat these people any better than they treat the industry.
>And that is why we're
>expected to take crap for crap runs, time after time.
I have never once heard from a dispatcher or FedEx representative that we are expected to take crap for runs. We have been offered runs that could be considered crap, but it surprises no one at FedEx when we turn them down. And looking at it from the shipper's point of view, he or she is not paying a crap rate. Almost always, the run is paying low because the deadhead is high (which brings the all-miles rate down), not because the shipper is low-balling the freight.
>We're
>viewed as less than human, and that's not cutting it.
That is simply not true, at least not at FedEx. No one there views drivers as less than human. They may not treat you like family like some carriers advertise. They may know you more as a truck number than as a name or face. But they do not regard you as less than human.
>A lot
>of ppl are in this for a different reason than the retirees
>who want to see the country,
That is correct. As I said above, the reasons people are in expediting are as varied as the drivers themselves. And about retirees who are using the expediting opportunity to see the country, I say more power to them!
>or the ppl who have no house
>and live in their truck.
That would be us (and a few others I presume). Though, it is not entirely accurate to say we have no house. We are not homeless. We have a residence, but we do not own it. Our residence is rental space. When we go home, we sleep in the house where our goods are also kept.
>We need a living wage, not the
>scraps thrown to the hounds.
Diane and I are in this business for our amusement, yes. We are also in it for the money. Big time, we are in it for the money. If the money had not been at least as good as the jobs we left when we jumped in, we would not have stayed in for long.
I suggest that any expediter that is not in it for the money will not do well for long. In business, money is what it is all about. Sure, there the other reasons like providing a service, seeing the country, making a positive difference in the world, and even serving the Lord. But if you are not making money, you will not be in business for long.
Finding the life and work to our liking and our financial goals achievable, we are in for the long haul. Having some very specific and ambitious financial and retirement lifestyle goals, we have oritented our lives to achieve them.
That includes getting rid of a house that we no longer had the need to own, reducing our housing costs by renting cheap residential space, selling our cars and all other property that might require us to go home to take care of it, spending most of our time in the truck, seldom going home, and being laser-focused on maximizing our income and opportunities as a one-truck expediting team.
No one is throwing us scraps or considering us hounds. Without taking it personal or worrying about what others may think of us, we turn down the loads that are not profitable to run and accept the ones that are. At the moment, our year-to-date acceptance rate is a hair below 70%, which is slightly below our usual 70% to 80%.
There is plenty of good freight to haul. We are preserving our dignity and making good money hauling it. If your company expects you to haul crap, it is time to find another company, or another career, where you can find the respect and revenue you seek. But be careful here. It may well be that you are are already at that company and it is you that needs to change more than them.
Finally, no expediter (ourselves included) has the right to anything in this industry, except what is contactually agreed to. That is especially true for those who seek the American dream. Sure, there are lots of people out there that would love to be able to own a house, support a family, buy lots of toys, take vacations, and retire secure by working as expediters. To that, the industry says, "So what?"
We are self-employed independent contractors with all the freedom and risks that entails. Diane and I know that the economy, our carrier, the industry or the bad fortune of a disabling accident could turn against us in an instant. Such is the way of the expediter's life. And for such we are prepared.
But until a negative event takes us out, we are being richly rewarded by an industry and a carrier that are as good to us as we are to them.
