New to Expediting

[Towindad]

Hi people I have a couple of questions. My wife has been an OTR driver for a few years. We purchased a truck cash because the company she was working for was bouncing paychecks. Its a great truck 06 tractor with less than 500k miles. But when we were looking for a company to work for we signed on with an expediting company. We spent our wad to get the company up and running so we were expecting to run to get bills paid.

So far after a week and a half we have had 5 loads. 2 of which we had to find ourselves because the companies backhaul department doesnt seem to find you loads. They point you in a direction and send you away. If you find one then they take the 15% and tell you they might have a load for you when you get to the other place. Otherwise you will have to find your own load again.

Is this normal for an expediting company to not have that many loads? Or keep you sitting around to wait and see if they have on in a few hours or tommorow?

Do most O/O leased to an expetitor expect to make only $2500-3000.00 gross per week?

Are most backhaul departments in the business so lax about finding loads?

Am I just new and need to have patience to see how this goes? Or should we start looking for a standard trucking company to work for?

I dont know If I can handle the hurry up and wait mentality.

[x06col]

Hi people I have a couple of questions. My wife has been an OTR driver for a few years. We purchased a truck cash because the company she was working for was bouncing paychecks. Its a great truck 06 tractor with less than 500k miles. But when we were looking for a company to work for we signed on with an expediting company. We spent our wad to get the company up and running so we were expecting to run to get bills paid.

So far after a week and a half we have had 5 loads. 2 of which we had to find ourselves because the companies backhaul department doesnt seem to find you loads. They point you in a direction and send you away. If you find one then they take the 15% and tell you they might have a load for you when you get to the other place. Otherwise you will have to find your own load again.

Is this normal for an expediting company to not have that many loads? Or keep you sitting around to wait and see if they have on in a few hours or tommorow?

Do most O/O leased to an expetitor expect to make only $2500-3000.00 gross per week?

Are most backhaul departments in the business so lax about finding loads?

Am I just new and need to have patience to see how this goes? Or should we start looking for a standard trucking company to work for?

I dont know If I can handle the hurry up and wait mentality.

A week an a haff is nuthin. Try again in a year n half if yer still having a prob. Up front, if you need more'n 3K a week i'd suggest you are too far in with the truk or supporting too many toys at home.

[Towindad]

Your correct a week and a half is nothing. At this rate 3 more weeks of this and I will miss my first house payment ever. Maybe you didnt understand that was a gross amount not a net amount. I would be happy as a clam on a net, of 2-2.5k per week. I own no toys and have no car payments or any other bills. Just a house payment and other typical bill associated with that.

A gross of 3 thousand dollars a week means you havent paid for food, taxes, fuel, insurance, repairs, tires, qualcomm, tolls, cell phone, internet, oil changes, wiper blades, or any other item. If your buying your own truck and living off the $500.00 your making a week then you live in your tuck and have no home.

Is there anyone else out there that could answer these questions???

[Turtle]

By and large, especially if the tractor is a team, you will gross more than that on the average week. But, one of the most difficult transitions to deal with is someone from regular trucking who enters the expediting sector. They are used to running every day, all day, day in and day out. In general trucking, loads are semi-regular (pun intended), but in expediting we deal primarily with emergency freight, or freight that is likewise booked on short notice for exclusive use of the truck. We rarely have loads that are booked days or weeks in advance. In expediting, it's the luck (and to some degree, experience) of being in the right time at the right place when that emergency load comes up. There will be some weeks where you get one or two loads for essentially no miles, and other weeks where you get 6 or 7 loads for more miles than you can add up.

The hurry up and wait mentality is nearly critical in this business, unless you have your own authority and know exactly where to find expedited freight. Expediting is like fishing, you go to what you hope is a good fishing hole, bait the hook and toss 'er in, and wait for the bobber to bob. When it goes under, things go all-out crazy while you bring that fish in. Once you've landed the fish, it's time to sit back and do it all again. People spend 20 very successful years in general trucking, and then fail, utterly, within three months of entering expediting. It's a whole different deal, and if you do not have a hobby or some other way to occupy the waiting time, you'll go absolutely bonkers.

The last couple of weeks have been somewhat down in expediting, and it should pick up over the next two weeks. But even in good times, you can be in the wrong place and still get nothing, just like you can be running like crazy when everyone else is sitting. Experience will tell you where you are likely to get loaded, but in the end being in the right place at the right time trumps everything else. It's called luck, even though some people will tell you that luck doesn't exist out here. Unless it's bad luck, they have that all the time. But when they have good luck, it's always because they were smart.

Patience and perseverance is what will make you successful out here, with patience being the most important. Without patience, you're screwed. I wish you good luck.

[greg334]

Hi people I have a couple of questions. My wife has been an OTR driver for a few years. We purchased a truck cash because the company she was working for was bouncing paychecks. Its a great truck 06 tractor with less than 500k miles.

OK I think I got that.

But when we were looking for a company to work for we signed on with an expediting company. We spent our wad to get the company up and running so we were expecting to run to get bills paid.

I don't understand this part, you are with an expediting company but spent money on getting the company up and running?

So far after a week and a half we have had 5 loads. 2 of which we had to find ourselves because the companies backhaul department doesnt seem to find you loads. They point you in a direction and send you away.

OK I understand this, but as stated by x06col, 10 days and 5 loads seems to be right depending on the company. If you have options to finding your own work, that's a step ahead of a lot of others.

If you find one then they take the 15% and tell you they might have a load for you when you get to the other place. Otherwise you will have to find your own load again.

This may work out to your advantage.

Is this normal for an expediting company to not have that many loads?

Yes, depending on the company.

Or keep you sitting around to wait and see if they have on in a few hours or tommorow?

Well I think the answer is Yes too.

Do most O/O leased to an expetitor expect to make only $2500-3000.00 gross per week?

Could be, some don't get that much, more like $1500 a week gross while others make less than that while others bust butt and make a lot more - depending on the company, the truck they have and more importantly their attitude (to RV or not to RV)

Are most backhaul departments in the business so lax about finding loads?

I know of one who is absolutely worthless, another I hear is good - so it depends on the company.

Am I just new and need to have patience to see how this goes?

Well if you ran across anything I have written, it goes like this; take your time getting into this business, line up professionals who will help you with the business stuff and then don't worry about the week by week comparison thing, look at your stuff every week but focus on the monthly revenue. BUT most importantly make sure you have about 3 months of money saved up to hold you over the slow times (and starting up).

Or should we start looking for a standard trucking company to work for?

It depends on where your experience is, it it with mainstream trucking or specialized hauling or what?

If it is mainstream trucking, it would be a better fit for you.

I dont know If I can handle the hurry up and wait mentality.

Sorry, that's the way it is but your advantage if I got this right is;

You are in a tractor

and you are with a company who allows you to find your own loads.

Those are good combos to me.

[Towindad]

Turtle and Gregg334 thanks for the post it helped a little. I guess im a little stressed with the new guy, and being unaware the company was expediting only didnt help. Not knowing whats normal is the worst thing sometimes,

BTW Gregg the money I put into the company is our company. We opened a Nevada S corporation for tax purposes. Our Corporation is leased to the other company. Its alot better than being a individual with a truck and a 1099.

[highway star]

We opened a Nevada S corporation for tax purposes. Its alot better than being a individual with a truck and a 1099.

Could you post some specifics on why it's better?

[Towindad]

Incorporating separates your business assets from your personal assets to prevent your savings, home, retirement and other personal assets from being targeted by any lawsuit against your business. In addition, incorporating may create additional tax deductions that could put money back on the bottom line of your business.

There are a number of good reasons to protect personal assets by using state law to create separate financial entities. Perhaps the most sought after benefit of incorporating is the ability to separate personal assets from business assets legally by establishing a corporate veil. The corporate veil prevents lawsuits and other adverse actions against a business from targeting the personal assets of the business owner.

Nevada is known as an extremely pro-business state; Nevada has no corporate income tax and no franchise tax. Nevada is one of the few states where the corporate veil has never been pierced, except in instances that break the law.

Almost without exception, you may form your corporate entity in Nevada even if you operate your company outside the state. Doing so usually provides the individual business owner with maximum asset protection and can even have positive tax implications. Im saving a minimum of $12,000.00 In state income tax by having my corporation headquartered in Nevada.

continued

[Towindad]

I used a company called Nevada Corporate Headquarters or NCH.

Nevada Corporations. Incorporate in Nevada. Nevada Incorporation 1-877-624-2677

I have a personal coach there her name is Shawna Rose. Basically shes my coach and secretary. She helped me get a bank account for our Nevada company. Which is one of the reasons I wont have to pay state income taxes where I live. My headquarters are there at thier office. All mail for the company goes there and is forwarded to me.

Unlike many other incorporating companies, NCH is a one-stop, full service incorporator. Senior Consultants are certified asset protection specialists. NCH is the largest incorporating service in Nevada. Staff support and systems make creating your business and protecting your assets easy, quick and convenient. And they have a $100,000 guarentee.

I researched many companies which do this and found them to be the best.

By the way I dont get paid or recieve any benifit for a referral. Its to help anyone interested.

[xiggi]

A big part of this business is learning what loads to accept and decline. Not every load is equal even though the pay per mile is. Sorry to say but this part probably takes the longest to learn. Accepting loads into certain areas of the country almost guarantees you'll be setting when you drop. Talk to as many people from your company you run into out there as possible. Quiz them on good and bad areas to go or not to go to. Read back in these forums and you will learn questions you want to ask before accepting any load, they can make a big difference on your success.

Like was said earlier you really cannot look at this on a week to week basis, more of a month to month.

[highway star]

Incorporating separates your business assets from your personal assets to prevent your savings, home, retirement and other personal assets from being targeted by any lawsuit against your business.

Something to keep in mind, when you're driving your truck you are personally responsible for it's operation. If you cause a situation where someone comes after you in court, they'll come after your business and you personally if you were driving the truck. Incorporating doesn't excuse criminal liability.

[galogistics]

I am also new to expediting. I am looking to enter the market as an owner/operator and hopefully with FedEx this coming summer. I am trying to read all the info that I can. I will use the revenue as a supplement of my income. So still follow the expedting route or general trucking....Look forward to your repsone.