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Expediter Services: 'Never Stand Alone'

Owner-operators are, by nature, fiercely independent. They have to be astute businessmen, as well, to carve out a career in the trucking industry.

But the same independence that drives the owner-operator can make things more difficult from a business perspective, too. A single owner-operator or small fleet owner can increase his revenue through hard work and planning, but reducing expenses can be tough in an era of skyrocketing fuel costs, expensive equipment and tougher credit restrictions.  

Now, those owner-operators don’t have to stand alone. One company is working to level the playing field for owner-operators and small fleet owners in the expedite trucking industry.  

Expediter Services LLC last June rolled out a program specifically designed for owner-operators. The “Never Stand Alone” program allows owner-operators access to a variety of discounts and information all aimed directly at increasing revenue and, more importantly, slicing expenses.  

“We believe that every owner-operator out there is due success,” said Paul Williams, CEO and chairman of the board of Memphis-based Expediter Services. “If a man is willing to go to work and work hard all the time, he deserves the best opportunity he can possibly get. ... We don’t think that anybody ought to make money off the back of that owner-operator. They deserve all the resources and support they can get and we want to do our part.”

"One of the positive trends we are seeing in the on-going recovery of the trucking industry are programs tailored to drive more dollars to the owner operator's bottom line.” said Lawrence McCord, CEO of On Time Media LLC. “The suite of programs, incentives and discounts designed by Expediter Services, LLC is doing just that!”

Expediter Services accomplishes their goal through a multi-faceted approach that’s based on one principle: allowing the owner-operators access to the same discounts and programs that Expediter Services developed for its own company trucks.  

“If he’s willing to work, he can drive his top line,” Paul Williams said of owner-operators. “They cannot drive the bottom line because they can’t negotiate the kind of discounts that we can. You can’t bring that kind of leverage to bear as an individual.  

“An owner-operator will generally create more top-line revenue than a company driver. If we can make the lower cost available to him, then he’s going to make more money. We want the owner-operator to be as profitable as he can be.”  

Chief among the discounts and programs offered through Expediter Services is its credit-based program card. Unlike fuel cards commonly used in the trucking industry, the Expediter Services card is linked to an individually administered control account set up by the company, which can be managed differently from the other owner-operator cards that are prepaid. Perhaps most importantly, Expediter Services has negotiated deep discounts with major fuel providers and truck stops across the country, and passes those discounts along to owner-operators.  

Not only does the program allow drivers access to discounted prices at the pump, Expediter Services has also negotiated below-retail prices for repairs and maintenance, as well. The program identifies a driver as a member of the Expediter Services network, and gives him access to the lower prices.  

The management tools associated with the Expediter Services program card also can be a great benefit to small fleet owners, according to Jason Williams, the president and chief operating officer of Expediter Services.  

“Each card can be set up and managed separately,” Jason Williams explained, adding that fleet owners can use the system, for instance, to allow only a certain number of gallons to be paid for each day with a particular card.  

“That’s a huge benefit to fleet owners,” he said.  

And, the discounts should get even deeper as more and more owner-operators join forces with Expediter Services. Paul Williams explained that because the discounts are based on volume, everyone benefits each time a card is swiped.  

If fuel prices aren’t the biggest problem confronting owner-operators in today’s economy, tighter credit restrictions and outdated equipment are.  

Aging equipment is an issue every owner-operator will have to address. From the revenue side, older, is less efficient and leads to more down time. From the expense side, maintenance costs escalate. Expediter Services can help there, as well. The company has formed four other companies, each specializing in areas that can help maximize an owner-operator’s profit. One of those is Expediter Equipment Finance, which works with owner-operators to help them upgrade their equipment.  

Expediter Equipment Finance offers services such as down-payment assistance loans, assumption agreements with lenders that make them more likely to finance equipment for owner-operators and bridge loans for trade-ins, which could cut down on down time.  Owner-operators working with Expediter Services also get the benefit of the company’s leverage in working with lenders and the experience of company officers like Steve Kochensparger, founder of OOIDA's owner-operator finance program.

“There are people out there who are great at what they do, but they’re not bankers,” said Jason Williams. “That expertise really allows us to get on the front end with the bank and help that driver when there’s a problem.”  

Jason Williams offered the example of an owner-operator who’d been leased with a large company for several years. The driver hit hard times when freight went down because of the recession and wound up behind on his payments.  “We could have helped him refinance his truck,” Jason Williams. “Instead he wound up losing his truck.”  

That driver now operates a company truck for Expediter Services.  

Another example by Jason Williams involved an owner-operator who bought a supposedly new truck from a dealership only to begin experiencing problems with the box. When the driver took the box in for repairs, he discovered that the box was used — not new. Since Expediter Services was negotiating a large order with the box manufacturer, however, they were able to intervene and have the box's warranty honored.

That’s the kind of help that Expediter Services has to offer, and Jason Williams said the spirit behind it is genuine.  

“It’s not a gimmick,” he said. “Once they touch it and feel it, they will see that the intent is real.”  

From a revenue standpoint, it’s essential to an owner-operator to know where freight is — and more importantly — is not moving. To that end, Expediter Services has developed a unique data interface that allows it to monitor freight lanes across the country. For instance, Paul Williams said freight recently stopped moving briefly in Laredo, Texas, because of a border issue. Some owner-operators unaware of the problem might have found themselves on a Laredo layover or deadheading to their next pickup, but not those connected with Expediter Services.

“We knew about the problem almost immediately, and made our contractors aware of it,” Paul Williams said.  

Another area where Expediter Services is able to help owner-operators is with insurance, which can be one of the biggest — and most difficult to control — expenses for any small business. Expediter Services’ outstanding loss history has allowed it to negotiate deep discounts on insurance, and the company passes those discounts to the owner-operator through another offshoot company, Expediter Insurance Services. The same kinds of discounts are available for health insurance, as well.  

“We made everybody bid until we got the very best rates we could get,” Paul Williams said. “We’re able to push insurance low, low, low, low.”  

“They’re going to pay what Expediter Services pays,” Jason Williams said. “They get the benefit of starting with those discounts that we’ve worked for years to get.”  

Although Expediter Services works to help owner-operators maximize their profit, both Paul and Jason Williams emphasized their respect for the owner-operator’s self-reliance and ability to make their own decisions — a sentiment echoed by Jeff Tacker, who oversees the owner-operator division for Expediter Services.  

“Those owner-operators are the backbone of the industry,” Tacker said. “What we do is give them the tools and the resources to help them maximize their profit. It’s a really special group of people. They take pride in the fact that they can get the job done, and they’re very resourceful.”  

Tacker said the “Never Stand Alone” program has been a big hit with the owner-operators who are working with Expediter Services.  

“The ones that we have love us,” he said. “Once they realize the support that they get and the benefits they get, they love it. And it works. It’s not maybe it will work, or it might work. It works.”  

Owner-operators and fleet owners who would like to learn more about the program can call Jeff Tacker at 877-349-9303 or visit www.expediterservices.com .