MAY I WHINE?

rtwrider

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
THIS IS ACTUALLY MRD. RTWRIDER! And yes, I am the whiner!

All I heard for a couple of years was "hot shot freight", "money to be made", "want my own truck", etc. etc. etc.! Finally I got tired of hearing it and we drummed up some money and bought a B unit. My husband has been driving trucks for 30 years and wanted out of the big rigs. He was assured BEFORE he bought the van that there were indeed needs for van expediting by various local companies including Tri Star, ConWay, CTX, etc. WELLLLLLL Lo and behold he rushed right down to the GMC dealer and bought a van, next business day he started calling on the various
companies and voila! Do we even think they needed a van???
NOT ! It was "oh we don't need any more vans right now" or " well we need straight trucks today". That was 4 months ago.
We allowed that through the election and the holidays frieght would be slow...it always is. But we are nearing the end of the 6 month time frame I was willing to give it to startup. Now I am afraid we are stuck with a van and a payment that we wont need!

Finally a couple weeks ago he was approached by a Nashville based company called CROSSTOWN and offered a lease. Needless to say he jumped on it with assurances he was to get both in town and out of town dispatches. Sure! Only took him 2 and a half days to have enough of their crap! Young dispatchers who had never been in a truck before! No out of town dispatch. Merely a local courier service delivering paperwork from office to office and the rare box. Which would be ok I guess if they had paid what they said they would. At the end of things we came out about 30 bucks to the good after buying fuel! Life lesson learned!

Thanks for letting me whine on. This is very frustrating for me...and I will be the first to admit that I know next to nothing about the trucking industry.However, I am smart and well educated and I learn quickly. From what I see on this website
we are not the only people with horror stories to tell!

Any suggestions where a person might lease on a van in the Nashville Tenn area? Thanks!
 

WendyCal

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Why don't you call the Landstar Express America agent there in Nashville to find out if they could keep y'all's van moving? Their number is 615-823-9566, and they're open from 0700 - 1800, Monday - Friday. Ask them about short runs that would allow your husband to be home of an evening, as well as longer runs, with the possibility of turn-around freight. Things are pretty slow out here, right now, and the short runs would allow your husband to save some money by returning home each night -- not to speak of the fact that i'll bet you'd be pretty happy to see more of him! ;-)

Also, you might email LittleBigTruck for information -- she's got a van that, last i heard, was leased to LEA.

Hope this helps!

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Godspeed to all of you out there on the highways and byways!
 
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