Driver Lifestyles
Expediting in the Heartland
Frank Rickman says that he finds it interesting that the people in expediting come from such varied backgrounds. Actually, this expediter, originally from Valparaiso, IN, has a totally unrelated to trucking. Frank was a Certified Public Accountant.
His Background
After High School, he went to Business College and specialized in the accounting field. Frank then spent 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.
During his time in Southeast Asia, he met his future wife in Thailand and they were reunited when she came to live in the US in 1970. They have now been married for 33 years.
"When I returned to the US," Frank says, "I entered the public accounting field and became a CPA. After learning the ropes in an accounting firm, I went on my own and formed 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 he has no desire to return to that field.
"By this time, I had settled in the town of Argos, IN. I became involved in the political scene there, and I was elected to the Town Council. I also served two terms as Clerk/Treasurer."
His Expediting Beginnings
"It was during this time (May, 2000) that I was working for Pioneer seed company in Plymouth, IN. I was pulling 4 - 10 hour shifts and I wanted to make some money on the weekends."
"I had done tax preparation for a man who owned an Express-1 (of Buchanan, MI) cargo van and I saw that the van was sitting on the weekends. When I asked about driving the van for him, he said that he was getting out of the business. We talked about a price on the van and I wound up purchasing his 1999 Ford E-250 extended van with 5.4 liter gas engine."
"At that time, Express-1 was not adding any cargo vans to its fleet, but the van owner persuaded them that they were just replacing an owner. I was also pleased that Express-1 didn't require a CDL for a cargo van at that time."
"The Ford has been a very good van and I've had virtually no trouble with it. I put some Canadian made air shocks on it and it handles heavier loads quite well."
Frank's van expediting career was a successful one, even being named as Express-1's Cargo Van owner of the year for 2002. He says that the van drivers at Express-1 stay very busy, but he was looking for a new challenge after operating his Ford for over 3 years.
A Truck Change
In July 2003, I met up with a man who only lives ten miles from me and was leaving expediting," he says. "He had a 1998 Freightliner FL70 with an 8.3 Cummins and a 7-speed in it. The truck had 530,000 miles on it and he was very interested in selling. It came with a 60 inch stand up AA sleeper and a Rig Master generator and when he told me he wanted $10,000, I was interested."
"After hearing about the features on it, I took three weeks to consider the deal."
Frank did have to invest some repair money in getting the truck up to speed, however: "I had to replace the tires all the way around and that was $1,800. The truck also needed a brake job front and back, so there was another $1,000. The FL70 gets over 10 miles per gallon, so I feel I'm doing alright on my fuel expenditures."
"I saw the opportunities available in owning a larger truck; it seemed that there were many times that tractor-trailers, for example, would be leaving a pick up with one skid in the back."
"I also like the idea of owning two trucks and not having all my eggs in one basket."
After Frank obtained his CDL, he says he took his first load in the straight truck around Labor Day, 2003.
Frank states that in addition to the challenge of making the change to a larger truck, he feels that it makes good business sense. "There's quite a difference percentage wise in revenue between the van and the straight truck."
He says that the numbers bear out his decision to make the move: "The van was loaded 54% of all miles, but the straight truck is loaded 67% of all miles."
Operating the 6-Wheeler
"Surprisingly, most of the Express-1 loads I get are within 50 miles of where I live, so I don't have a lot of deadhead to the pickup," Frank tells us. "And, we have two hours to make the pickup."
"The loads are more consistent and with less waiting time than with the van. The average lengths of run miles on the straight truck are greater than for the van."
He adds, "I've noticed with the straight truck that I'm quite often pre-dispatched before I even unload the run I'm currently on. That's different from the van where I had more waiting time. Express-1 seems to do well in keeping the truck loaded."
"Detroit and Chicago are good cities for me, I can usually find a load.
When I have to shut down because I'm out of hours, Express-1 dispatch quite often has already lined up a load for me for the next morning."
Frank says that he rarely stays out on the road over the weekends. In fact, he says that he is quite willing to take back hauls at discounted rates to get him back home. "I figure that if I'm 600 miles from home on a Friday night, it's a lot better to take a run that pays my van $.50 a mile than to sit over the weekend.
However, Frank says that now that he's running his D unit, he might adopt the philosophy that some drivers have expressed on the Expediters Online Forums.
"If I'm over 500 miles from home on a Friday evening and there's a reasonable chance of freight on Monday, I'll just stay out over the weekend. With the HOS rules, you can use up all your drive time just getting home."
This Indiana owner-operator is currently seeking a driver for his van: "I had a driver in the van for a short time after I picked up the straight truck, but it didn't work out. I'm definitely interested in seeing that truck back out on the road and making money for both the driver and myself. I'd like to run it for a couple more years."
Frank says that he doesn't usually do much sightseeing when on the road. "One example is when my stepson was riding with me, we had plans to visit Niagara Falls. We had already called the taxi when the company asked us to move to Rochester for a load headed to Missouri."
"My wife is on an Express-1 rider policy and she's been out with me in both trucks. When she has been in the truck with me, we've been fortunate to be able to visit zoo's a few times, but it's a spur of the moment thing."
Thoughts About the Business
""I'm so accustomed to self-employment, that I can't imagine working for someone."
"I recommend that for anyone who is considering expediting, drive someone else's truck in the beginning. If it seems to be the kind of work you enjoy, start out as an owner-operator with a used truck."
"Team operations are one way to deal with the Hours of Service. I think that there are possibly retired drivers out there who possess a Class A or Class B CDL and who might consider team driving on an occasional basis. If the run was going into an active expediting area and he was willing to run for 20% of the load, it could work out well for both of us.
"With my background as an accountant, I'm very aware of the bottom line and the expenses including the dead head miles."
Frank lists his keys to success for an expediter:
1. Learn the expediting freight lanes
2. Have patience and be willing to stay in an area if there's a reasonable chance in getting a load
3. Do as much of the preventive maintenance yourself even if you're not mechanically inclined. Change your own oil, change the filters and lube the truck.
4. Keep the costs down wherever you can.