Career Change in Progress

Ragman

Veteran Expediter
Retired Expediter
1. Diane and I both thank you for your encouragement and well wishes. While it is exciting to move on to a new business venture, it is difficult to exit an industry in which we have connected with many people and shared the same experiences.

We are already networking with other gym owners and talking shop, but it's not the same as it is with truck drivers gathered at the table or in the parking lot at a truck stop. Because truckers live and work away from home and deal with life-threatening and career-threatening challenges every day, they share a bond and camaraderie with each other that people who work under the same roof every day cannot begin to understand.

Truckers have something very special in that. Don't take it for granted. The ability to meet a perfect stranger and talk to him or her like he or she was your brother or sister and be understood is a blessing; one that Diane and I are already beginning to miss.

We are receiving a lot of "welcome to the family" calls from people at our new company. As those greetings are offered, I am beginning to see that our expediting family was more of a family than I knew. "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got until it's gone."

Few people at our new company know what it is like to chain up a truck in a winter storm or feel the pride of completing an on-time, cross-country delivery in difficult circumstances. They are great people but they're not expediters. There is no replacing the family we enjoyed in the expediting and EO community, and as this career change becomes more and more real, that part of the change makes me sad (tears welling up as I write this).

Stop, you'e making me cry!

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ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Well, it took longer than expected but we finally have a lease for space in which to build our first gym. Construction will begin soon. The doors will open two to three months after construction begins. Location: Port Orange, Florida.

We just got the news this evening. Details to follow as they become available.
 

zorry

Veteran Expediter
Congratulations.

As with anything, if you've done it a long time, there's always going to be reservations.

Do well, expand. They need gyms in California too. If you miss Ca. :)
 

jimby82

Veteran Expediter
Congrats! Was great getting to see you two the other night. Glad we finally got the meet up again before you come off the road for good. Cutting it a little close :)
 

paullud

Veteran Expediter
Well, it took longer than expected but we finally have a lease for space in which to build our first gym. Construction will begin soon. The doors will open two to three months after construction begins. Location: Port Orange, Florida.

We just got the news this evening. Details to follow as they become available.

It might have taken longer than expected but as long as it lead to a great location it is worth the patience.

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ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Early in this thread I promised to provide gym location info once a lease was signed. To fulfill that promise I am providing this link to our newly established Port Orange Anytime Fitness Facebook page. The address and phone number are there and gym details will be posted on an ongoing basis.

Expediters who are interested in our progress and in the gym itself are invited to like this Facebook page or sign up for email notifications (address given on the Facebook page).

This is an expediting forum. Because it is, I prefer to not talk much about the gym here. Now that the Facebook page is up, gym chatter can happen there.

Diane and I are home for Christmas now. Depending on developments with the gym, we may head down there to focus 100% on it, or we may yet haul some freight to generate cash. The gym will be open in two to three months and our truck will be sold sometime after that.

The new owner of this truck is of course free to chart his or her own course, but I think the way to make the best money with this truck is to buy it at a nice, used-truck price, let the truck pay for itself in a fairly short time, run it for the next several hundred thousand miles that the truck has left in it, and then build a new truck while taking the sleeper off the old truck with you.

That 132" ARI sleeper has been one of the best things on the truck over the years and it is in excellent condition today. It would cost at least $70,000 to build that sleeper today. By putting this used sleeper on a new truck, you could save that much money when your new truck time comes.
 
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jjoerger

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
US Army
Congrats Phil. Since Port Orange is between our place in Lake City and Cocoa where all of our relatives live I'll be sure to stop in and see it.
 

Bruno

Veteran Expediter
Fleet Owner
US Marines
Phil

How much you looking to get out of your truck if you don't have a buyer for it?
 

moose

Veteran Expediter
DO not agree on a price just yet.
2 rezones:
*CARB already announced they are considering allowing a 5,000 mil a year trip permit, & allowing that trip permit for 5 years instead of the current 1,000 mi. for 2 years.
** OOIDA filed a lawsuit against this CARB rule, claiming the CARB rule violate commerce laws.
the suit was filed in a Sacramento FEDERAL court- which mean the court have the authority to delay implantation of the state rule.
your truck just might worth a whole lot more then previously expected.
CARB sued by OOIDA over retrofit filter requirement in emissions regulations | Overdrive - Owner Operators Trucking Magazine
 

RoadTime

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Wow never would've guest that was going to be the career change. Congratulations to you both and wish you well with your new endeavors :)
 

zorry

Veteran Expediter
Moose, the trip permit is to allow trucks that do 5000 TOTAL miles per year to not update.
Farm trucks, antiques, etc.

Unless they've come out with something new.

I wonder what took OOIDA so long..
Nothing like waiting until the last minute .
 
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ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Phil

How much you looking to get out of your truck if you don't have a buyer for it?

While several people have expressed interest, we do not have a buyer yet as it is too early to sell. We want to get the club up and running first and then sell the truck. That will take 2 to 3 months at least. Price-wise, we of course want to get the best price that the market will bear. All we can do at this point is wait to see what the asking price will be in the future. As Moose correctly points out a number of factors are in play.
 

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
UPDATE: Our truck has been sold. Our fitness club should be open in 4-6 weeks.

While it was a happy event for the buyer, it was sad to watch the new owner drive our truck away. Our "Little Putt Putt" was a magnificent machine. It served us well as our business asset, home on the road and RV.

Our new place of business is:

Anytime Fitness
3761 S. Nova Road
Port Orange, FL 32129

Expediters, savor every minute of your work and life on the road. It is quite something to live the expediter's life.
 

mrgoodtude

Not a Member
Used to run a business with my wife on North Nova.. Will be coming to see ya, and yes I will have a membership.. Are you going to commute?
 

paullud

Veteran Expediter
UPDATE: Our truck has been sold. Our fitness club should be open in 4-6 weeks.

While it was a happy event for the buyer, it was sad to watch the new owner drive our truck away. Our "Little Putt Putt" was a magnificent machine. It served us well as our business asset, home on the road and RV.

Our new place of business is:

Anytime Fitness
3761 S. Nova Road
Port Orange, FL 32129

Expediters, savor every minute of your work and life on the road. It is quite something to live the expediter's life.

Congratulations. I hope you find the same success there as you found in this industry. If you wouldn't mind participating in a social experiment I would be interested to hear how you adapted to life off the road so far and in the future.

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