my wife and i have been expediting for over 2 years now and we read these posts everyday, but we have a couple maybe stupid questions, the first one is, what is considered the freight lines? i read some consider anywhere east of the mississippi otheres said any big city. but we have sat in alot of cities and never know when to relocate or not. the next question is how do you know where the big truck stops are, what i mean is we have went to a pilot or flying j and there was not another van around so we would drive down the road 20 or more miles and the parking lot would be filled with vans, how do you know which ones are the popular ones without driving to them
truck stop questions
- Thread starter briggie1
- Start date
Jenny
Veteran Expediter
You will find more drivers in areas that are better for freight. Obviously it varies a bit by company. Freight lanes for you are the areas in which you notice a reoccurrence of freight. Most of which are east of the Mississippi. If you deliver in Charlotte NC and pu in that area that is a good indication as to where you should be sitting. As you mentioned most major cities, Memphis, Charlotte, Detroit, Chicago, Knoxville etc are larger areas in which you will see people. You will notice other drivers when you stop to fuel or grab snacks or use the bathroom, take notice of this. You will learn overtime where other drivers sit. Most of the time it will be a Flying J for vans as they are a bit more accommodating to us. Hope this helps.
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paullud
Veteran Expediter
You might better off staying away from other vans especially if they are from the same company. The most likely spot to find others is a chain truck stop or WalMart but there usually isn't a favorite Pilot or TA. There are a couple of exceptions to that like the Pilot in Rising Fawn, GA has a nice TV room and the one in Chattanooga is barely more than a gas station.
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paullud
Veteran Expediter
There really is no rhyme or reason to this other than the driver feels that is the best place to get the next load or they are resting after delivery. You can always look through the locations thread and find the "hot spots". It never seemed to matter where I stopped, there was always another van.
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AMonger
Veteran Expediter
There's also the crime factor. Most vanners won't sit in West Memphis but will go down the road to Olive Branch.
And some drivers like to stay away from the crowds. The more vans around you, the more vans you're competing with for the next load. (And sometimes, the next load isn't the one you want.)
2012: Ron Paul or not at all.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
And some drivers like to stay away from the crowds. The more vans around you, the more vans you're competing with for the next load. (And sometimes, the next load isn't the one you want.)
2012: Ron Paul or not at all.
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Slacktide
Seasoned Expediter
AMonger
Veteran Expediter
Really? Only 1 with tapatalk, and there's no CR between the post body and any sig line.
--
You know the problem with bad cops? They make the other 5% look bad.
Shouldn't we use a period at the end of para? I'm not aware of paragraph being a word that can be abbreviated without the use of a period?
greg334
Veteran Expediter
There are no stupid questions just stupid customers.
Ok first there is a myth about freight lanes, many just don't seem to get that this is not mainstream trucking and most of us expediters are dependent on the carriers and not on the customers.
Freight comes from three places, one is the load boards where it is bid on (this is why we have cheap rates in this industry), one is inter-carrier cooperation, and the last is the good old customer.
Most companies get most of their work from the load board and get some from the other two sources so it comes down to one word - LUCK. What I mean is if the customer does not call the broker who puts the load on the load board, then your carrier won't see it.
Now there was a very heated discussion with this site's successful expediter a few years back, he claimed it wasn't luck at all but skill and he could prove it. BUT I won't get into that discussion because some will start yelling about me bashing that successful expediter so I will let you look it up. With that said, being in the right place at the right time matters. AND this means if the carrier you are leased to is doing their job, they will first look at where you are at and use your capacity to make money. If they don't, well some of us should go into the consulting business to show them how to make money.
I would get two books, one is the National Trucker Stop Guide (I think it is called that) and the infamous "Next Exit" guide - I've seen both at Flying Js and Walmart. Both of these should be in everyone's' van and truck. I used to give them out to newbies but stopped that because I didn't feel they appreciated it.
Now another myth is the idea there is a lot of vans so you are competing with those vans. Yep that's a myth! Because if you are sitting with 20 vans of other carriers, your competition is not those vans, its your own company. BUT if you are sitting with 5 vans of your carrier and 15 of the others, it is those 5 vans that you are competing against.
Understand?
Here is the problem. Your carrier has those five vans sitting in Indy. They are looking for loads on XYZ load board and found two of them, they bid on them and get both, but now there has to be a determination who gets what. In the perfect world it is the first one who arrives there or it could be the one who has done the most mile or what ever but now you are sitting in the middle (been there after two others got there and did a 400 mile load), you don't get called because the carrier already sees the other two and calls them. If they refuse, then you may get a call.
Greg;
Excellent post. You do understand the expediting business.
Another way of looking at "the problem" - leasing onto one of the "Mega" or "Popular" carriers causes you to be one of five vehicles sitting in Indy ........
Thanks,
Excellent post. You do understand the expediting business.
Another way of looking at "the problem" - leasing onto one of the "Mega" or "Popular" carriers causes you to be one of five vehicles sitting in Indy ........
Thanks,
With regards to vans I would have to agree. Other size vehicles I tend to look at differently. Quite a few (not all) are reliant upon those large carriers for their freight. When things slow down, the smaller carriers get hit first because there is no overflow. That is likely followed by a lot of competition on load boards which is usually where that cheap freight is originating.
Kind of a double edge sword. But under most circumstances, the closer you are to the origin of freight, the better the rate verses it passing through numerous hands.