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Land Line magazine provided more information late Friday. Read it here. It sounds like things are getting better but are not yet good.

Land Line magazine has done a story on this. See: TAB banking nightmare cripples small-business truckers This could happen to any bank, fuel card or credit card company. Whether your bank at TAB or not, it is a good story to read while thinking through your preparations for such an event.

I don't know anything about C&M or this fleet owner, and this is the first I have ever heard of a carrier that holds the first paycheck back that long. But as I think about it, I can see the advantages. Right off the bat the carrier frees himself of the undercapitalized wannabees who might...

That works for both of us. Please note that I have never encouraged anyone to leave FedEx or any other carrier for Landstar and I never will. Diane and I used to encourage people to sign on with FedEx when we were there because we were doing well and believed that if people did what we did...

This leased on with multiple carriers thread has been very informative. It is interesting to learn more about this no-authority, multiple-carrier model. How widespread is it? How many carriers operate this way and is this a growing trend? When you vanners are out on the road, how common is it...

Not so. We ran more miles with Landstar because they did not leave us sit and give us fewer long runs like FedEx began to do when they brought more and more company owned reefer trailers into the fleet and gave preferential dispatch to the flat rate trucks that pulled them (which is what...

If there is a fat flatbedder out there, I have yet to see one. Hell yes it's hard work. That's what keeps them trim.

I can see how a FedEx Custom Critical contractor would believe that. You get your freight by waiting for the beep, as Diane and I did for seven years. Since leaving FedEx, I have learned more about the significant use FedEx makes of outside carriers (including our truck at times) and how these...

It seems like those carriers are giving a driver two mirrors and telling him he is better off because he has three noses.

Let me offer this for expediter wannabees who may be unfamiliar with the term "white glove" and its use. FedEx Custom Critical White Glove Services® is a branded line of services offered by FedEx Custom Critical. As you can see from the name, it is a registered trademark. According to the...

I would recommend that he stay where he is and stay out of expediting, unless he is willing to learn how to not only use a computer but use one well. I can't imagine working as an expediter without having a computer in the truck and the skill to use it.

No-authority vans running with multiple carriers may not be new, but I wonder, is this a growing trend? Sylectus software is new to expediting (not brand new but new enough). To what extent are the no-authority, multiple-carrier business model and Sylectus software related?

There is no question that a person's view of the industry is conditioned by one's exposure to it. I have interviewed and written a couple of stories about vanners over the years but never delved into that part of business because it simply did not interest Diane and me. It might have been better...

So it's literally true that there is more to expediting than meets the eye.

We knew about brokering loads to outside carriers. What confused us was the lack of markings on the truck. The expedite vans we had seen before had always been identified with a company name and had DOT numbers.

I think I understand better now what happened once with a truck we cross-docked with at a FedEx facility back when we were with FedEx Custom Critical. The load was going into Canada but FedEx could find no one who was willing or able to go from the southern state in which the load picked up...

In the event of a freight damage claim, against whom would the shipper make it? How would it be processed?

I'd like to hear more about this too; not privately but publicly where the concept can be explained and discussed. I'm aware of the business model where an expediter gets his or her own authority (thereby becoming a carrier) and then contracts with larger carriers to bid on the larger...

Maybe the DOT officer you talked to has been watching Shipping Wars.

It would be a mistake to equate years in the business with wisdom about the business. There are people who have been in expediting for a decade or more and they don't have a penny more to their name than they did when they started, and they have learned almost nothing along the way. But they...