Our Second Question!

[scottanhelen]

I agree this would be a very good idea if you could get the fleet owners to go along with this. If all or most of the drivers insisted on it the owners would not have any choice because if they did not they would not have drivers. But it is so hard to get any one to stick together any more.

A point I was trying to make earler and not sure it got across is if a new driver is going enter expiditing during hard times, and is going to depend on the owner to help wile they are new, they realy need to make sure the owner is qulified to help them. If the driver and owner both do not know what they are doing the chance for sucess will be very low.

 

[TeamCozumel]

All of your comments and suggestions have been an enormous help. It seems what all of you are suggesting could be summed up in the following observations:

1) Check out and scrutinize the fleet owner from top to bottom and request references (past and present).

2) Be cautious jumping in during a tough economic downturn but if the right situation presents itself don't be afraid to try it out.

It seems like finding a top notch fleet owner accomplishes a couple of things:

a) Since the owner wants to be profitable they're going to do whatever it takes to make sure their truck is in good places and taking loads that make good business sense.

b) For newbies, it seems like this would result in at least making a living while learning how to do this for themselves.

Did I get it right?

 

[scottanhelen]

I think you got a good handle on it. There always risk in this business and even more in tough economic times. You are doing one of the best things you can do to lower your risk, that is research, and ask questions.

 

[davekc]

I have to agree. Failure in this business or many others for that matter are usually a result of inexperience, employee mentality, lack of research, or undercapitalization.
Sometimes all of them.
Sounds like you are off to a good start addressing several of these.

 

[sweetbillebob]

Todd and Linda

My owner is looking for a team for the truck we are in now. We have just purchased our own truck, knowing full well what future might hold. We are in it for the long haul and bought our equipment knowing next years gross may be significantly less than this years. Back to you, his name is Dan Jordan and he has posted in the classifieds section looking for a husband/wife team. Bev and I started out green and he taught us well. And subsequently we have adapted to the current freight situation without the need to complain about it. The truck is a WG/TVAL qualified truck, pulling down the higher freight rates. If you cannot find his post in the classified section, or just want to talk. Send me a PM or e-mail and I will give you my/his phone number. Dan has been in the business a long time, has 7 trucks and has been very fair with us. I give him an A+ as an owner to work for.

Bill/Bev
Owner Operators
B&B Expediting, Inc.
Fedex Custom Critical
[email protected]

 

[Jdraegon]

We say we're willing to bite the bullet and stay out as long as three months at a time. But considering it would be tough to get loads near home, how realistic is it for us to think of staying out for three months when we've never done anything remotely close to this

I will say that staying out so long is ambitious, and not unheard of, Im just now researching the expediting business as you are, I have been an over the road driver for almost 20 years however, and have stayed out for as much as 7 months at a stretch before, so, that being said, I know a bit about being out long periods of time, heres a couple of things to concider before commiting yourself to such a long time out. -

The first thing your going to notice is, having to get dressed to go to the bathroom, get used to it, rain, shine, snow, your walking inside to answer the call of nature.

Second, laundry, do you have a washer and dryer? out here, you have a laundry-mat, its a small nuisance, but a real one.

Third, recreation, this is so important, most would say its a luxury, but luxury is having more than 8 square feet of living space, and there will be two of you, have some recreation, both when your sitting, and when your driving, get yourself an iPod if you can afford one, load it up with music, audiobooks, whatever you like, and get yourself a nice inexpensive dvd player, one with the lcd screen, and most important, go for a walk, get out of the truck as much as you can and just enjoy a park, a path, even a walk around the parking lot or a mall, anytime you can, get out of the truck and be active.

Fourth, like cooking? no more, get used to fast food, yes, restaraunts are good, but $20 a meal in a restaraunt, or $8 to $10 a meal fast food, the best option, if you have it, is a microwave and a cooler (12-volt type, not ice) and go grocery shopping, Hormel has a lot of good 90 sec. entrees, and other microwave foods, sandwich stuff, things like that, it can save you a lot, but dont think you'll live on truck food, variety will become essential.

The only other thing I will say here is, how do you get along on long road trips? Being stuck in a little box together, even with someone you love more than life itself, can be stressful, you may find yourselves a little more short tempered, and perhaps a bit more arguemenative, when that happens, and it almost always does, take a deep breath and count to 10 and ask yourself if its the truck thats driving you nuts, or your spouse.

I focused a lot on negatives here, it isnt all negative by any means, you will see some very cool, and very odd things out here, and there is nothing better than being able to share that with the person you love enough to live in the box with.

Just remember, you will get in each others way, and you'll also be glad your both there, be a little nicer to each other, and share the experiances, good and bad, and it will be the best thing you can do, and you will find after a few months, you know each other so much better than you could have ever imagined.

Good luck, and above all else, have fun.

 

[TeamCaffee]

There is a double edged sword expediting. We need all the exercising we can get but unless you are out of service, out of hours, or pre dispatched it is not a wise idea to get very far from your truck. We have decided that we had plenty of time and ordered a meal to only pay for a meal we did not get as we are running out the door. Most often when you are offered a load the load picks up ASAP and to lose a great paying load because you are wandering around a mall would make you sick.
When you have been our here for awhile you start figuring out basically when the company you are leased to has slow times. For us it is early Sunday morning. If we are not on a load over the weekend or not pre assigned I will get brave and throw my laundry in the washers Sunday morning. I will if need be take my wet laundry out and put into a large trash bag but I have only needed to do this once. If you are not under a load you need to be ready to roll very quickly as often you only have minutes to be rolling down the highway.
There are many ways to cook in a truck even if all you have is the small refrigerator so you do not have to eat inside all of the time. Most all of the trucks have microwaves or a way to heat a meal. Eating inside it bad for your health and hard on your bank account, you can save a lot of money by eating in the truck. There are many recipes posted on EO that will give you ideas of great things to make and eat in the truck.