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Diane and I have been off the road since 2013 so I cannot comment on the current state of Landstar or other carriers. I can say that when we moved from FedEx Custom Critical to Landstar Express America it was the second-best move we made in the industry (the first was becoming expediters in the...

Paper may never crash but it does burn, be damaged or destroyed if flooded and may blow away. We were served a stark reminder of that last month when Hurricane Matthew paid us a visit. Diane and I left behind a store of paper records while evacuating to protect our lives. Our house survived and...

So if you had thrown away your paper maps, are you saying you would have never been able to figure out how to get where you wanted to go? Sure, paper maps can be a quick and easy fall-back if the usual technology comes up short, but paper maps do not tell you which roads are impassable either...

You ask a fair question. When self-driving cars and trucks replace a few million truckers and taxi drivers, a social challenge will definitely exist. Our elected officials are already turning a blind eye to economic reality and they are deficit spending our government into oblivion. When the big...

The sea change is now underway and like all sea changes, it will not be a clear transformation from point A to point B. All of the approaches you mention will likely be seen in different places at different times. The fundamental fact is that self-driving vehicles are becoming more numerous and...

The day is closer when self-driving trucks are a common sight on the road. Now that a true live load has actually been completed, imagine the glee with which dispatchers view this video. I know there was a driver in the sleeper of this truck but that will be short-lived as confidence in the...

It's been a while so my memory may be inaccurate about this but I seem to recall that both carriers we ran with (FedEx Custom Critical and Landstar Express America) gave us the option of having Qualcomm in the truck. It was not a requirement. As a practical matter, Qualcomm was needed for all...

Essentially, yes. Club was untouched. Staff not injured or otherwise impacted such that they missed work. Minor damage to house. Some trees lost. Some others in the neighborhood hit far worse. Business was disrupted by curfew and extended internet outage. All is good now. Really, really happy...

In our area, thousands of homes damaged, 69 destroyed. Most if not all of the destroyed homes were trailers or "manufactured homes" as they call them here. Its a reminder that we need to be prepared to have our goods swept or burned away from us without notice and live life after such a thing...

I hope all current and prospective expediters make note of Shelly Benisch's post above. Expediters live daily with the risk of being in a serious accident. When one happens, it is very comforting to have an agency like CIS in your corner. It is also very rare to find an agency like CIS...

Many EO members remember Expediters Glen and Janice Rice who suffered a horrific accident that destroyed their beautiful truck and took them off the road for a while. They have been back on the road for a few years now, running with a power-only company. The following is from Jan's Facebook page...

We were sometimes asked by FedEx Custom Critical to deadhead a long distance to a shipper in a remote Texas location to cover a load. We had done that load a few times before but came to realize that this shipper orders trucks in anticipation of the load being ready, but as often as not, the...

Diane and I closed our business and evacuated to a relative's home inland as the hurricane approached. We returned to a business that was untouched and a home that was slightly damaged. Other homes in the neighborhood sustained major damage but no homes were a total loss. Had the eye of...

Our house and business (Daytona Beach, FL area) are likely to sustain a direct hit from Category 4 Hurricane Matthew. As we prepare and I watch others prepare, I am mindful of the FEMA and other disaster-relief runs Diane and I did as expediters. At the time, we knew we were doing important...

It has always been the case that precious photos can be lost. Printed albums get destroyed by fire and flood. Digital photos get destroyed by accidental deletion or by the loss or failure of the device on which they are stored. In these digital days, it is wise to create backups of everything...

At a 40 hour week and an eight hour work day, $30,000 per year is about $14.50 per hour. If it takes you 80 hours a week to net the same amount out of an expediting business, it is $7.25 an hour, which happens to be the federal minimum wage rate now (higher in some states). You will get the...

You might want to refine the question you are asking. What van drivers now earn $3,000 per month after all expenses and what exactly are they doing to achieve that? Once you know those answers, you can ask yourself if you have what it takes and if you are willing to pay the price. You might...

Your identified strengths include fleet maintenance and staff management experience. Have you ever done a SWOT analysis? SWOT is a tool that aids in business planning. I don't know your financial circumstances but your posts seem to indicate a negative cash flow, is that correct? If so, enter...

That's important. In fact, it is of central importance since you envision a company larger than one you can run without employees. Allow me to set up the scenario where someone is applying for the job of managing the company you envision. And say you are the applicant. The interviewer, seated...

While I am honored by your request and confidence in me, mentoring is something I am unable to do for two reasons. First, it takes a lot of time. Time is something I have little of these days. We're in a different kind of business now; one requires a great deal of time and offers precious little...