Why do people get into this Business and take off 25% of the year?

[Bruno]

I have been thinking about this for a few years now but never asked this.

Why do people get into the business of expediteing in hopes of making better money than their old job, but take off 25% or more of the year?

Think about it, most teams run three weeks out and one week off each month. Before you started doing this you didn't take one week off each month. You worked at a local job and was home every night and had the weekends off. I thought the whole point of getting into this business was to make more money than we did from our old job. Now I don't know about you folks. Before I got into this business if I took 12 weeks or more of unpaid time off I wouldn't have been able to pay my bills.

Yea people will say, " I was home every night too" yea but you made less money too. I know I did. $24,000 a year is what I made back in 1994 working 60 hours a week in the rent to own business. I was almost like a truck driver, I would go to work for 12 hours a day come home and eat take a shower and go to bed.

I have a program that our teams run and it works pretty good. Its called the 13 day out program. Does it work all the time? No, but for the most part it does. Sometimes it hard to turn down that super paying load when its your 2nd week out. By running this way our drivers are taking their time off on the weekends when freight is slower. Basically your home every other weekend and you have a settlement check 52 weeks out of the year not 40 weeks.

 

[ATeam]

The answer to your question will vary with each expediter. The boundaries between working and not working blend together in expediting. What one expediter considers work, another may consider play. Being on the road does not always mean you are working, and being at home does not always mean you are not working.

There is more to the job than being in service and hauling freight. I think most expediters would agree that they put more time into their business, than their in-service numbers show.

 

[Tennesseahawk]

Very simply, because not everyone is a hermit. Maybe because money isn't EVERYTHING to everyone. Maybe because after three weeks on the road, a day or two isn't enough to unwind. Maybe because, like you say, ppl are used to having the weekend off, which comprises of nearly 25% of the week. Maybe cause we feel badly because our chirlins are asking when's daddy coming home? Maybe because that "$1000 gross to the truck" week just got to us. Maybe because we like to have memories other than "this shipper, that truckstop, or those 4-wheelers". Maybe we just miss having a life.

 

[dragontrans0304]

Or maybe you don't wish to watch your children grow up in pictures alone.

 

[Coco]

Why do people get into this Business and take off 25% of the year?

Because we can!

 

[LDB]

Interesting question. Let's see. 52 weekends a year is 104 days plus 10 paid holidays and 2 weeks paid vacation for another 20 is 124 days off a year for John Q Companyworker. 124/365 is 34% of the year for white and some blue collar jobs. I believe the majority of expediters put in more time per year than most stay at home workers. There are exceptions on both sides of course.

Please explain your system that produces 52 weekly settlements.

 

[butterfly610]

We usually stay out a long time, so taking time off is a much needed thing. I could understand more for people with kids at home. This would be a hard business for a family man, and his family as well. Why should they work hard for 3 weeks, put up with all kinds of things, and not deserve a week off? Some stay out 4-6 weeks and take a week off. You need some time to do things around the house, spend time with kids or spouses, maybe go shopping for going back out or take care of appointments, and have time to relax and enjoy your own bed and shower! I would feel cheated only being off 2 days. Sometimes you have to get away from waiting for loads, wrong pickup and delivery times, people being rude, truck stop showers and public bathrooms, etc.

We just try and time our hometime with weekends and freight doesn't usually pick up till Wednesday where we live anyway. I time it with what bills we have already earned the money for. Some people are satisfied with the amount of money they've made, so they don't have a problem going home. To each his own.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

Being empty nesters and living 1500 miles from our children Mine in Canada and JuJu's in Maryland and VA...we visit and get our granmas and grandpa hugs whenever we are in the neighbourhood....we usually stay out about 5-7 weeks with a week or so off....Everything is kinda see as we go....

 

[Turtle]

Yeah, like Leo said, if you work 3 weeks then are home one, it maybe 25% of the year off, but 3 weeks out and one week at home is just 91 days off a year, and 52 weekends off is 104 days off a year. I usually stay out 3 months or more at a time, then take off a couple or three weeks. What's the big deal?

 

[layoutshooter]

Most people, myself included, go into business for the freedom. The freedom to suceed or fail on your own efforts. The freedom to take off when you want. Money is often not the best motivator. We like to go out for 4-8 weeks. We take off as long as we want. As stated above I spend a good deal of my "off time" working on the truck and my wife is always working on the books etc. When we get home it feels great but soon we can't wait to get back out on the road. The only thing that would fit our needs better than this business is a huge lottery win!!! Is it true that you have to buy tickets? Layoutshooter

 

[Moot]

Because we can!

Thank you Coco!

I often have co-workers from my former job comment that it must be nice to be able to work whenever I want. I must explain that I can only work if there is a load. But I can not work whenever I want.


And to add to what Leo said, even when I am home OOS there is paperwork and maintenance to attend to.

 

[LDB]

a huge lottery win!!! Is it true that you have to buy tickets? Layoutshooter

All these years of lotto here in Texas and I've never won and my family keeps telling me the same thing. You have to buy a ticket. Sheesh.

 

[greg334]

Why do people get into the business of expediteing in hopes of making better money than their old job, but take off 25% or more of the year?

You know this has been asked before but in other ways,

but because we have the question does not mean it can be answered - the question and the answer is all relative to an individual.

Many feel that just an income is good enough, why work so hard? Others need to make as much as possible, so they stay out as much as they can or pattern their lives to the truck while still there is that large group of people who have to do this because there is nothing else.

This all goes back to words we talk about all the time; success, goals, LUCK. All of this means nothing until that individual defines it to fit their lifestyle and needs.

 

[bernieh48]

Most people that go home need more than just a weekend to do so. They have doctors appts. and such that can't be done on weekends. Like Coco said because we can. We stay out for 3 months or more at a shot but when it comes right down to it, it's always a teams personal choice how they run it.

 

[arkjarhead]

Leo said something like 124 days that the average non trucker takes off a year. This figures out correctly, but figure the hours they are home at night when you are in the truck. That comes out to an additional 151 days. So all together you could say the average Joe takes is off of work 275 days a year. I figured that up from getting home at 6 pm and leaving for work at 7 so it's not exactly cookie cutter just an estimate.

Mulitply 40 hours a week times 48 because they get the 2 weeks vacation and the 10 days off which is another to working weeks you have 1920 hours divide that by 24 and it gives you 80 days.

Or figure your 60 hour week. 60 times 48 is 2880 hours divide that by 24 and you get 120 days off work. Which is 245 days off. Basicly 67% of the year away from work. So why is it a big deal that drivers are taking 42% less time off than you? It seems to me that you should be thanking them.

 

[LDB]

One could break it down a number of ways. If you figure a 40 hour week with 2 weeks vacation and 2 weeks paid holidays that's 48 working weeks or 1920 hours a year out of 8760 total hours. That means about 22% of the time is in the office plus the time spent commuting. Worst case scenario it's 2 hours each way making 33% of the year working/commuting.

Expediters could argue being available 24/7 means 100% of the day working but I don't agree. While that is 100% away from home it's not the same as working. To be an apples/apples comparison though it's just a matter of how long away from the house and that brings us back to about 1/3 to 1/4 for the white/blue collar worker vs. 3/4 to 4/5 for the driver.

 

[Jefferson3000]

If a team is out for 21 days and runs most every day, it would be equivilent to working an 8 to 5 gig. You end up working about 21 or 22 actual weekdays a month. If a person worked a "day job" for 50 of 52 weeks a year, not taking into effect holidays and/ or a sick day, they would work about 250. That's only 68% of available days per year.

If this is about teams who just always have an excuse to deadhead home, or need to break the flow just because their 20th or 21st day has arrived, then maybe some instruction on how to maximize their time out so that maybe they could make the money while it's there, and take a little more off next month.

If this is about fleet owners making the bills on the truck, well that's another story. Just remember, no one is EVER going to care about your stuff as much as you do. You just have to manage accordingly.

 

[are12]

We take the time off because we can and because there is more to life than living in a truck!

 

[Bruno]

I guess I should have put it a different way. Why do two different family drivers get into this business and take off more than 25% of the year. Then complain about their not making money. Husband and Wife teams I can understand, all the money goes to one household. Drivers that get into this business that run like that are setting their self up to fail. I know I'm ready to hit the road again after being home for 3 to 4 days. But I try to be home every other weekend too. That way I'm in service during the week when freight is moving and my co-driver gets a check every week.

Do I always leave out on a Monday, no.

 

[wallytrucker1]

aren't we still on strike? did someone call it off? did we get a raise? very poor communication here. i better take another week off until this gets resolved...