Driver Lifestyles
Changing Lanes: Solid Career Choices
One of the truisms of the expediting industry is that so many of the owner-operators who are the backbone of this industry, come to this business after successful first and second careers. They bring with them a history of "working hard and working smart" and that history undoubtedly has had a major impact on expediting's success."
Within those ranks of the men and women who drive the trucks and deliver the freight on time are people who come from what would be considered the "professions," - many with backgrounds of higher education and corporate-level achievement.
One might think that there are no similarities between the white collar professions and the emergency freight business, but the following expediters have noticed the parallels as well as the differences.
Judy Beebe of Perrysburg, Ohio taught school for 30 years between two Ohio high schools, specializing in Speech, Language and Theater. When she was nearing the time for retirement, her husband Skip, who owned a warehousing and trucking business, suggested they look into the expediting business.
Judy says that they felt expediting was something to tie together Skip's background in trucking with Judy's desire to travel. And most importantly, they could do this together.
Seven years ago, they bought a new Freightliner FL70, signed with Tri-State Expedited Service and haven't looked back. They named their truck, "Protour", which according to Judy, stands for "Professional Tourists."
Judy says, "We love being out here, it's great fun. We enjoy meeting the people!"
She continues, "As a teacher, I came from a very different background of what I thought trucking was going to be. I've been so pleased with the goodness, kindness and professionalism of the other drivers we've met."
"When we go into a truck stop, I'm always pleased with how gracious and gentlemanly truck drivers can be. Drivers are good people."
"One of the surprises was how kind and generous truckers are and how willing to help each other they are."
Skip and Judy have a unique arrangement not typically found in this business - Skip is a single driver and Judy is his ride-along passenger. But, she's not just a passenger, she has an active role in getting the freight delivered - acting as the couple's navigator and trip-planner, along with preparing all of the Beebe's paperwork.
"Actually," says Judy, "we enjoy the idea of Skip being a single driver because once his hours are done, we can spend the day together. As long as we can make decent money this way, we don't really want to drive team because that will take up all our time. We're at the point in our lives where having a good life is more important than having more money."
"Skip and I enjoy our time together and I enjoy riding with him. I pick the routes and do all the paperwork which frees him to drive. We have a policy in the truck that Skip will not talk on the phone while he's driving, so I handle any communications including the Qualcomm. I feel I'm a big part of Skip's business."
Judy says that some of the similarities she sees in this business and teaching include:
"In teaching, if you're well-prepared with every day's lesson, you're a good teacher. In this business, it's so important to be well-prepared with routing and alternatives in case of construction, etc. You have to be mentally prepared to do the job."
Judy explains, "In teaching, it's so important to be positive. A kid will do anything if he feels that he's achieving and he feels good about what he's doing. If he's a happy learner, he's a learner."
"In expediting, I think being positive is key. We meet so many people who are unhappy and they look at us like we're crazy because we're happy. We're happy because we want to be and we are. It makes all of this so much easier."
"We've had such wonderful experiences and have seen so many beautiful places like New England in the fall, Edmonton, Alberta, Albuquerque, NM and so many other places."
Judy says that she intends to secure her CDL in the future but it hasn't been a priority so far. Meanwhile, the couple have are replacing their original FL70 with 750,000 miles on the clock with a brand new Freightliner Columbia.
Frank Rickman is a cargo van owner-operator leased with Express-1 who is now celebrating five years in the business. He says that he finds it interesting that the people in expediting come from such varied backgrounds. Actually, this expediter from Northern Indiana has a background totally unrelated to trucking. Frank spent much of his early working life as a Certified Public Accountant.
After Business College, he specialized in the accounting field, even spending time in Vietnam during the late '60's as a civilian contractor. He performed accounting duties for companies doing business with the US military forces.
"When I returned to the US," says Frank, "I entered the public accounting field and became a CPA. After learning the ropes in an accounting firm, I went on my own and established an accounting and tax practice."
He opened his own business in 1988, and by the time he sold the business to another CPA, he had built a base of 700 tax clients. Frank says that the tax business was very stressful and demanding, and that's one of the similarities or his previous occupation and expediting.
"In expediting, you're under tight time constraints and weather, traffic and other road conditions can really increase the anxiety level of driving. There's two common factors in both of my careers - stress and deadlines."
"In expediting, you're dealing with so many different people on a regular basis and people of various levels of responsibility, from forklift drivers to supervisors. I find there's a similiarity to my accounting career, in that you have to deal with many different clients at different levels."
"As for the differences - in expediting, you never know when you're going to get that call and you don't know what your day will consist of. In the professional life, you go to the same office daily and sleep in your own bed at night."
"Because of expediting's slow and busy seasonality, your income will vary, but for a salaried white collar worker, you know exactly how much you'll take home each week. Because of this, you have to watch your finances so much closer."
He continues, "However, I worked in tax preparation, so I had busy months of the year just as in expediting, which was good training for this business."
"What helped me in the transition to expediting was that I was accustomed to working for a percentage with the particular firm I was with and that helped me prepare for the up and down income of this business."
"I find that there is an elevated degree of professionalism in expediting over that of general trucking."
"I think that might be due to expediting's recent 'history'. This business has only been around for 20-25 years and doesn't have a generational history of the business being passed down from father to son and so on. The business has required an infustion of people from outside of the trucking business.
He says, "I think that there is a period of adjustment for many people when coming into this business and that contributes to the turnover rate. They just don't look at the big picture and give it enough time."
David and Patty Jo Jaynes are FedEx Custom Critical White Glove contractors.
David spent thirty years with the Philip Morris corporation and Patty Jo retired after a career as a registered nurse. They entered expediting close to 5 years ago and are still enjoying their new truck, purchased at last year's Louisville truck show.
Patty Jo notes differences between her former profession and expediting: Structure. In nursing, Patty Jo was accustomed to a structured environment - "things were more precise and rigidly controlled.
"Things are somewhat nebulous in expediting. Sometimes it depends on your translation of the laws and regulations. You're not always sure how much leeway you get."
"Plus," she says, "When you're in business for yourself, you don't get paid vacations, paid holidays or health insurance unless you bring it with you from a previous career.
"In this business, you can live and die by your decisions. If you make a bad one, you can just suck it up and go down the road. In a 'profession', when you're working for the man, and you make a wrong decision, it can cost you that job."
"However, in expediting, if you're dealing with haz-mat or explosives, and you don't keep up with those guidlines, it can cost you your life."
She adds, "An expediting career depends on how commited you are to the investment and how organized you are. Your money depends on it."
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