Search results

In another topic, FedEx Truckload Brokerage was brought up and discussed. See: http://www.expeditersonline.com/dcforum/DCForumID1/6274.html Wanting to know more, I went to my Contract Coordinator to ask. I learned the following: 1. FedEx Truckload Brokerage was originated as a way to bring...

While the majority of first-time expediters enter the business as owner-operators driving their own trucks, the advantages of driving for a fleet owner first are great (provided, of course, that you find a fleet owner that is competent and fair; some are not). It is very rare to find a...

Practice in fair weather putting your tire chains on. Learning how to do it in a blizzard is the less attractive option. Avail yourself to impromptu skid pad training if you get the chance. If you find yourself in an area where snow is on the ground and IT IS SAFE TO DO SO (open area, nothing...

>Phil, Even after typing all of that....as I said before, >luck still has a place in this business. No amount of >planning, spreadsheets, past history or looking into the >crystal ball will tell a person that a load is going to >cancel. That's luck..good or bad Not believing in luck, I...

>One question. How does your skill help the freight pop up >for you? Couldn't some one with a weeks experience and no >skill get a load out before you? I have no power over the freight and no skill that makes it pop up. We do not produce freight. Shippers do. If the freight does not come to...

I do not belive in luck, and suggest that expediters that do degrade the quality of their business decision making, and thereby reduce their opportunities for success. Long post follows. Skip if you don't like long posts. At the moment, we are sitting in Spokane, WA waiting for freight. We...

Driving a fleet owner's truck as a way to get started in expediting is also an option to consider.

>There seems to be a shift in their strategy that is >bothersome to say the least because the idea of ‘exclusive >use’ has not been reinforced with this or the other >program they instituted last year. The shifting makes me >nervous because I can see more problems in all around...

>In this case, the Fed has heavy financial obligations to >move their OWN equipment first. It only makes good business >sense. >They have hundreds of company trucks that they will >prioritize over anything else. They readily admit that, so >it isn't like it is something new. It is more of a...

I was too hasty in my choice of words. I should not have said "shamed." Humbled By Newbies would be the better choice. I am proud of the good numbers we are able to put up most months and I like to think that is due, at least in part, to the considered ways we run our business. Then, when a...

>Once again Phil,with all due respect,the last time I called >into CC to get a rate for an expedited shipment,the call >went to Brokerage.I was asked a number of questions >regarding the nature of the shipment and the time versus >expense of looking at the various options. >In the past,I...

It's nice to have you as a blog reader. Our plan is to haul expedited freight for as long as our health allows. We hope that will be 15 to 20 years; after which we plan to build a house and retire in it. Like the truck, we will be build that house many times in our minds before we build it for...

>You have been lucky I don't believe in luck and certainly don't count on it or factor it into any business decisions I make. The excpetion might be bad luck. That I plan for. they want to >see the improvements that were told to us by the top people >in the division that this is an...

I just got off the phone with a team that is in it's first half-year of expediting. Hearing their report, I'm sitting here wondering what Diane and I are doing wrong. I met the male half of the team by chance before they got into the business. He had the usual set of questions and I gave him a...

>I really have to tell you that for some reason you don’t >seem to be the normal CC contractor. Of course you don’t >see it. First, if there is a "normal" contractor out there anywhere, I'd like to meet him or her. What exactly is a "normal" contractor? Every contractor has a unique...

Not really, for three reasons. (1) Prices have gone up since we bought ours. (2) Our HVAC system was built into the sleeper as the sleeper itself was being built. It is hard to know what portion of the sleeper costs are attributable to the generator alone. (3) Depending on the truck type you are...

New readers of the Open Forum can discover by reading old posts that whenever FedEx does something new, a handful of people regularly rise to proclaim it bad for FedEx Custom Critical contractors. Without getting into the good and bad of FedEx Expedited Freight Services (the program that was...

Oops! I just reread your post. You were asking about the truck FLOOR, not the truck. Sorry for the misread. Too late to edit my reply. The floor is fine. Like new. No problems. We will have to wait a year or more to see if the condition redevelops. I doubt that it will. Floor is sealed again...

$100 per barrel oil prices are not far off. This driven mostly by increased demand from an increasing number of industrualized countries coming on line, especially China.

No sarcasm taken. Overall, we are very pleased with the truck. 175,000 miles, 15 months old. We have been down for maintenance and repairs some, but less than any other truck we have driven; which is to be expected as ours is a new truck. Some of that was not for repairs but additions like tool...