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In another thread, The Enemy used the term Butterfly to describe an expediter who moves from company to company without doing homework. That got me to thinking about other terms. Can you add any more? Butterfly: An expediter who moves from company to company without doing homework. Also known...

You are not wrong but the reason Diane and I carry it a step further to say no alchohol in our truck ever (including any in our bodies) when we are out on the road, is that circumstances can quickly change in this business. Say you are at a ball game on a Saturday when you are dispatched to...

If you are tempted to quibble about the law and weasel-word definitions to make it OK to drink when you are out on the road, you are flirting with termination or worse. Forget about the letter of the law and focus on the spirit of the law. It is never good to combine alcohol and vehicles, and...

I knew you would rise to say that and I ask readers to note that davekc left out the part where I said "There was a time when our reefer was a gold mine at FedEx but those days went away, so we did too." The changes at FDCC that prompted us to leave are recent. When TVAL freight and other runs...

One piece of advice is to hang onto your reefer data logger. You know, the one FedEx made you take out of your truck to make room for the FedEx-owned device they required you to put in. It may come in handy. Twice in two days, two different agents called me to ask if we had a data logger in the...

Having been with Landstar for less than two months, it is hardly my place to say welcome aboard, but I'll do so anyway. Welcome aboard! It took Diane and I a few weeks to get into the groove but we have no regrets about making the move.

Most people who enter the business new do so not as drivers of fleet owner trucks but as owner-operators. If you allowed only owner-operators to enter the business and banned all fleet owners, the carriers would adjust their recruiting practices and the flow of new people would continue. The...

We just talked this through and do not agree. As people who had never driven a truck before, we had the information from good research but no idea whether we would like the business or be good at it. Spending a ton of money on a truck to find out would have been too great of a risk to take and...

Interesting question! My very first thought is we would be worse off. I'm remembering how Diane and I entered the business -- as drivers of a fleet owner's truck. Without such an opportunity we might never have entered and learned the business at all.

The regulatory question aside, Express-1 (XPO) is a story stock. A private equity firm is about to inject up to $150 million into XPO with the intent of building it into a multi-billion dollar company. The number of available (and potentially available) shares will be fixed at a certain level...

In an August 4, 2011 press release, entitled "Express-1 Files Definitive Proxy Materials," Express-1 announced that a company name change will be put to a shareholder vote on September 1. If shareholders approve, the new company name will be XPO Logistics, Inc. At the same shareholder meeting...

Diane and I recently changed carriers and Express-1 was among the options considered. While we chose to sign on with Landstar Express America, we were impressed with the openness Express-1 showed in answering our questions. Ask your Express-1 recruiter the pay and miles questions you are...

In our case, with our first fleet owner, when we first began as expediters with no experience, the fleet owner decided he knew enough about us to trust us with his truck. We did not go in blind but did not know him either. We decided we knew enough about him to give his 60/40 deal a shot. The...

Drone plane technology has come a long way in recent years as demonstrated by their use in Afghanistan. Law enforcement agencies are putting drones to use in the U.S. now. FedEx Chairman Fred Smith has been talking about drone cargo planes for some time. I believe we will see those in a few...

It happened again. Yet another case has developed where a married couple team, new to expediting, signed up with a fleet owner without knowing the experiences of previous drivers who have been burned by him. Now burned themselves -- perhaps even financially destroyed -- the drivers are in a...

If you take the written tests you would be then permitted to drive an air-brake truck as long as you have a Class B licensed driver with you, would you not? Get your permit, find a Class B buddy, rent the truck you need, take the road test.

Diane and I decline extended warranties on everything too, but we made an exception when we bought our Volvo truck new in 2006. It worked out well and if we had it to do over again, we would buy more coverage than we did. Volvo knows very well what its exposure will be when it sells an...

Link to article in Expedite NOW: Imagine a Future Without Trucks

I had planned to stay off the Open Forum until Aug 1 but cases like this get my blood boiling. Aval650, my EO mail box is filled to overflowing and inbound messages are rejected. Diane and I invite you to contact us by normal e-mail (follow the e-mail link on this page). If you wish, we will...

Neither do I. My departure post was as modest as could be and I expected little to come of it. But people will not let it alone and no amount of responses or clarifications or explanations from me seems able to help them move onto other topics. I've had enough for a while. Time for a mental...