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How is not going to Canada best for your business? (This is a good-faith question as we consider the question ourselves. Spending $100 to dial down your truck to continue servicing Ontario and Quebec seems simple enough. How is it best for your business to avoid Ontario, Quebec and the rest of...

We missed the conference call because we were on a run that had us driving and sleeping in shifts. I have sent the suggestion to HQ to make the taped call available online for those of us who missed it. What else happened on the call that stood out for y'all? Inquiring minds want to know! :)

If we were delivering in NYC on Friday and had no prospects for freight taking us out, Diane and I would probably drive to Bordentown, New Jersey with plans to spend the weekend at the Petro there. It is about 80 miles from NYC and a safe distance away from all the things that can go wrong in...

I beg to differ on the "White glove, green glove or whatever, they are struggling." part. While some are, all are not. Diane and I have seen freight slow and rates decline just like everyone else and the result is lower revenue. But struggling we are not. Freight has slowed, not stopped. We made...

People take cheap freight for all kinds of reasons, some good, some not so good. The truck in question would not have been one of ours as Diane and I only own and operate one truckI assume you meant the truck runs with the same carrier we do. I have no idea why the truck in question would have...

You are right. All trips are risky, but an Alaska trip, even in the summer, is more risky than most. I would rather sit empty for the week or two it would take to complete an Alaska run, make zero $, and forgo the $9,000, than subject ourselves, truck and bank account to the risks of the trip...

Don't you just hate technology? The growing use of debit cards has probably cut this income source in half. :(

Having read all the comments here and with Diane and I having discussed it, we tend to agree with Soxydon and aristotle. In the winter, we would be unlikely to accept an Alaska run. Never say never, but it seems to us that the risks outweigh the rewards. In the summer, we'd go in a heartbeat...

What Doggie Daddy said. Click the truck specs link in my signature. DD's reply suits me just fine. I have been off line for a day and unable to respond as quickly as DD did. Answer is the same I would have given. By the way, there is no way we would even begin to spec a truck like this in these...

No. You already have that option by getting your own authority or selecting a carrier that allows you and makes it easy for you to find and book outside loads.

Time will tell.

Having shared how and why I use a spreadsheet, I'd rather not get into a debate about the value of spreadsheet use. Readers who are spreadsheet inclined can choose to use them. Readers who are spreadsheet adverse can choose to not use them. Those who are in between can use them a little bit...

You can put as much or little effort as you wish into analyzing your business income and expenses. There are very few expediters out there that drill down to the level of detail Diane and I do. We don't keep track of just deductible expenses. We track every penny. If I find a nickel in the...

Yes. You are wrong.

Trailer shops sell it. Look in your yellow pages for trailers or truck trailers. Look for Utility, Great Dane and other trailer dealers.

There is your way, my way, and I am sure a host of other ways practiced by other expediters. I hope a good number of people can feel free to share their ways here without feeling the need to defend them. If they do so share, this could be a tremendously infomative thread. My post was not...

Now you are scaring me. If you are out here trying to make money as an expediter and don't have the funds to cover next week's payment, you are living dangerously. See this example. This guy gave it his best for over a year but business costs and slow freight brought him down. With the benefit...

I don't suppose anyone will ever know just how many people EO has helped in those ten years. You can be sure it is a bunch. Diane and I first learned about expediting by stumbling onto the EO booth at the Mid America Trucking Show in 2003. EO became our gold mine for researching the industry...

Good idea to start this topic. Our technique is to maintain a running spreadsheet that tells us the cost per mile to operate the truck in the last twelve months. In that number, all costs are considered; everything from oil changes, to tires, to truck depreciation (replacement cost), to...

We might take it but would do some checking first. Our first step would be to talk to dispatch and ask if we could have more than 10 minutes to evaluate the load. If the answer was no, we would decline the load and offer our best to the truck that gets it. If more time was granted, we would...