To Those of You Still Standing

[dabluzman1]

Hi Phil and Diane,
To help make ends meet I have begun playing in TAs on the weekend,
kinda like the coffee house scene and Linda paints murals on trucks.
Fills our down time.
Just kidding.
The things we are doing to help ease the expense side are,
eat more meals prepared in the truck, drive a little slower, and only fuel at TAs.
These alone have added significantly to our bottom line.
As far as staying busy, we just had our 4th largest month ever.
It took us 19 runs to do it,
where we averaged 11 runs per month in 2008.
So the gross per run is down a bit but by accepting more loads we have
made up any lost revenue because we are staying available.

Take care,
Dave and Linda

 

[nightcreacher]

Hi Phil and Diane,
To help make ends meet I have begun playing in TAs on the weekend,
kinda like the coffee house scene and Linda paints murals on trucks.
Fills our down time.
Just kidding.
The things we are doing to help ease the expense side are,
eat more meals prepared in the truck, drive a little slower, and only fuel at TAs.
These alone have added significantly to our bottom line.
As far as staying busy, we just had our 4th largest month ever.
It took us 19 runs to do it,
where we averaged 11 runs per month in 2008.
So the gross per run is down a bit but by accepting more loads we have
made up any lost revenue because we are staying available.

Take care,
Dave and Linda

careful buying fuel at TA's.I fueled at Baytown Friday night,discount was suppose to be $1.771,but when I checked what fuel actually cost me,was $1.21 more than the fuel receipt showed.My fuel receipt showed 254 dollars and my actual cost was 255 dollars.Im going check with contractor relations monday

 

[dabluzman1]

careful buying fuel at TA's.I fueled at Baytown Friday night,discount was suppose to be $1.771,but when I checked what fuel actually cost me,was $1.21 more than the fuel receipt showed.My fuel receipt showed 254 dollars and my actual cost was 255 dollars.Im going check with contractor relations monday

So far so good.

Since switching from the "J" last year at this time, we have been pleased with our savings.
After every fueling, Linda calls and checks our balance. I am constantly amazed at how
much of a rebate is given.

But thanks for the info.

 

[Doggie Daddy]

I want to make this clear, we are not recommending anyone do what we are doing. This is what is working for us.
We are 3 month newbies, driving for a fleet owner.

Held to our original promises, to both the owner and carrier.
Examples:
In last 30 days we have been 100% on time, 100% In Service and 100% acceptance.
We have treated the truck like it was our own.
Have worked with the owner as a "team" player.

And never turn down a California run, especially when it pays $5,000.
Sorry ATeam, just couldn't resist that.

Are putting money in the bank every week.

BIG JOHN and Kathy

Just wanted to say that anyone who promises their owner or carrier to have 100% acceptance of loads offered is setting themselves up for failure.

BTW.....Welcome back to EO....I believe I called that in the original CA thread.

 

[ATeam]

Thank you all again for your responses. I am finishing up the piece now. This is good stuff and I wish we could use it all. Sadly, we only have so much space to work with in the magazine so I must be selective.

The thread does not have to end. Thousands of people read these posts and go to school on what real-world expediters have to say. So, please, keep your responses coming; especially if you are with a carrier other than FedEx Custom Critical (a disproportionate number of FDCC owner-operators responded in this thread).

This is good stuff. Keep it coming!

 

[broker]

Hey Doggie, why don't you just worry about Doggie.
This was a topic asking Expeditors that are making money how they were doing it.
Not a post where people start telling each other they are doing it wrong.

Started my post with "I'm not telling anyone to do this"

I could care less what works for you, how about you showing me the same respect.
Been trucking successfully for over 35 years, I must know something about the frieght business.
Not going to be like some and toot my horn about how well we are doing, lets just say we must be doing something right, like maybe a 100% acceptance.

BIG JOHN