The advice and opinions you give, always come from how "you" operate.
Absolutely. I don't know enough about how other people think, feel and make decisions to talk about how they operate. I share our way not as the way, but as a way others can consider.
That would be fine if:
We all had sold everything we owned
We "lived" in our small truck box.
We had the resources you have to figure stuff
We all lived the same lifestyle you do.
We were debt free like you.
We had a truck set up like yours and could have the choice of frieght you do.
We were all O/O's/
However (there it is again) one of the most overlooked issues is, we don't all drive for the same carrrier as you do.
You do that a lot, talk about how we are different than everyone else. In some ways we are. But the fact that we live the lifestyle we do has little to do with the fundamental business principles I advocate.
If we kept our house, cars and goods, we would run our business the same way. If we had kids and grandkids and liked to squirt our hard-earned money into slot machines, we would run our business the same way. If we felt the need to go home for two weeks in eight, we would run our business the same way. If we ran a dry box truck for a non-elite expedite carrier, we would run our business the same way.
Keeping a run journal makes sense no matter what kind of expediter you are, in my opinion. Why would you not want to have the information that helps you choose more profitable loads over less-profitable loads?
Using whatever resources are available to you to develop a sense of express centers, freight flow and truck counts makes sense for all expediers, does it not? Why would you want to run blind if you don't have to?
Living within our means is something we do. Do you know of any expediter that can survive and prosper by living beyond one's means?
You frequently put the spotlight on our unusual lifestyle. The business practices (not lifestyle practices) I advocate can be done by any expediter regardless of lifestyle.
Have a business plan. Live within your means. Build capital reserves. Optimize your freight opportunities. Understand how freight flows. Know your experess centers. No one needs to sell their house to do any of those.
Howerver, (Ha!) if we were up to our eyeballs in debt, we would not be in the business at all. Expediting is not a good business to be in if you have no capital and are living hand-to-mouth. Expediters should not be driven by debt. They should be driven by profits.
However (oops) to try and pick and choose loads or areas to be in that you do, is not a way for me to be more profitable.
I do not work for your carrier, not elite certified, I have a single axle straght truck and work for a fleet owner, just to name a few differences.
The differences are noted but I fail to understand you would not be more profitable by picking and choosing your loads. I don't know any independent-contractor expediters that have improved their profitability by accepting every load they are offered. I don't know anyone in the Open Forum that thinks doing so is wise.
Big example.
I'm sitting waiting for my next load offer.
Next to me is an elite setup truck from another carrier.
I get an offer and take it (2,000 pound normal freight)
Get the truck fired up and dispatch says, load cancelled.
Look over and the elite truck has fired up and it looks like the driver is going to a fire.
We had talked the day before, so I rolled the window down and said, must have got a load?
Yep, just got a call to go pick up a 2,000 general freight run.
Yes, it was my load and he didn't know it.
I asked for much. His reply, well under my normal pay, around $1.20 a mile but it's a load.
Yep, his company had undercut mine as I was accepting it.
Are you saying you would have been more profitable if your carrier bid even lower so you could haul the load even cheaper? If so, I would disagree. The same thing has happened to us, though not as directly. We get a good offer, accept it, start to roll on it, only to have it cancel, presumably because the shipper found someone to do the load cheaper.
When that happens, what do we do next? We don't exploit some technique that is available only to us because we sold our house. We do the same thing that has worked for us and others for years. We make the next best decisions we can, using the best freight flow, express center, truck count, operating cost and other information we can develop.
