average day

[spiderwebbj]

i'm getting into expediting and was wondering what an average day would be like? i know there is no average day but what a 24 hour period might consist of. or a 48 hour or a week, just trying to get a mental picture of what i might do and see out there. if it helps i'm getting into a cargo van.
thanks for any insight.
spiderwebbj

 

[Dreamer]

>i'm getting into expediting and was wondering what an
>average day would be like?

>
>
>
>
6:00am... waken up by the sound of the other 129 trucks in the lot firing up and pulling out.

6:30am.. give up on trying to go back to sleep and try to figure out how you lost one of your boots in a 72" sleeper.. there can't be that many places..

7:00am.. finally make it into the truckstop... do your personal business.. clean up and go order breakfast.

8:00am..finish breakfast.. call the wife... play a few video games, check the deserted tv lounge to see if there's anything good on..

10:00am.. give up and head back to truck... spend a couple hours reading old magazines..

1:00pm.. wake up with magazine on your face, realize you fell asleep.. check voice mail and qualcomm to make sure you didn't miss any runs... head inside for late lunch.

2:30pm.. tired of hanging in the cafe... go back to truck... turn on tv.. flip thru channels 25 times....

5:00pm.. fall asleep for an hour.

6:00pm.. wake up... check pager, check batteries, check qualcomm.. look around to see if any of the other trucks left..

7:00pm.. back inside for supper...

8:00pm.. give up on getting a run today.. might as well watch a couple movies in the lounge and B.S. with the Panther driver...

12:00 midnight..totally exhausted ... fall into bed, hoping tomorrow will be better day...

12:30am.. pager goes crazy.. qualcomm beeping... you have a 400 mile run that pays too good to turn down, that picks up 65 miles away at 2:00am, due at 11:00am.. and you're the only truck in the area... and you're off and running!


:7 :7

 

[Searge]

Sounds like my day when I drove for Swift Trans.

 

[Weave]

How's this??
My past two nights and days... two short east coasters

Mon nite- load from Reading, PA to Lynchburg, VA. Two clothing displays and hardware going to B. Moss store in Lynchburg mall.
Delivery time set @ 7 am.

Arrive at 6:30. Scope out mall. No dock to use. Damn. Go inside, indoor mall, open. Find out B. Moss is ladies clothing store. Now how am I going to get these 150 lb. a piece large displays off truck?
Find corridor to store, and outside door to corridor.
Now 7 am. Security guard informs me they don't get to store until 8 am. Call in for waiting time, and back truck to curb and dump air. Hand horse displays to sidewalk, and bring them in to wait.

Store help finally arrives @ 9 am. They sign for freight, I call in. Load picking up 4 PM in Charlottesville, VA to Olyphant, PA. Head to pickup, fuel up along the way, stop at rinky-dink truck truckstop for 5 hrs. of sleep. Go to pickup.

Pick up load at Technicolor (the ones who color movies). Very tight security. Loaded after 1 hour of waiting, 7 pallets of DVD's going to WEA (Time-Warner entertainment). Now about 5 PM, shipment due at midnight.

Make good time to Olyphant, but end up taking wrong exit and get lost. Olyphant is near Scranton and is VERY hilly. Can't even find the place on my computer. Turn around going the wrong way on one way street and police lights come on immidiately. Now 11:30 PM.

Officer is nice older man. He laughs as he knows I'm lost and gets me going in right direction. I'm nearly a record 10 miles off coarse. Wow! I'm usually right on target. Glad he didn't ticket me. Generally older cops are cool.

Find WEA and deliver freight, just a bit late @ 12:15 am. Really freindly receiver, was glad to get freight.

Decided to head home to Buffalo after covering approx. 3000 loaded (3900 total miles) in past 8 days. Stop at truckstop north of Scranton for a few hours sleep before doing easy 300 mile deadhead home.

Wake up at 9 am. Slept longer than expected. Nice weather and easy ride home. Cool.

Get to rest area in Bath, NY on I86. DOT inspection. It's now noon.
Pulled off, inspector found loose spring mounting and put my truck out of service until repaired. Uncool. First time ever put out of service. Called road service place to fix truck. He arrives @ 1:30. Has to call a helper who arrives @ 2:30. They get truck back rolling at 4:00 PM. Was happy they only charged me $100 and NY did not ticket me.

Get home at 6 pm to huge pile of bills, which I could luckily pay. Things are looking up! Drove truck to local shop (road service guys recommended this) and walked back home. Ordered pizza and started writing this....

Typical?? Sort of, not usually this bad though. One thing I can say it's everything but boring!
-Weave-

 

[Lawrence]

Weave and Dreamer,

Thanks for giving everyone a typical day of expediting! Great stories!

Lawrence
Expediters Online.com

 

[tomcar]

Sit around the house and wait for the phones to ring, then all hell breaks loose. Get the coffee pot on make sure I have wallet, breifcase, mobile phone, paper work for p/u and del, and hope I remembered to fill the truck up when I came in last. Everybody wants it yesterday so the p/u time is critical. I can usually make up time on the road as long as there are no major traffic problems, the problem with that is they always call at rush hour. Remember this "failure to plan on their part does constitute an emergency on your part". That's why we charge the big bucks. There are no excuses for being late, unless you die in route, but before you do make arrangements to get your freight to its destination on time. I have been an owner/operator with my own authority for 10 years and I was late one time and it took me a while to regain that customers trust. Any questions contact [email protected]. TOM:

 

[Sasquatch]

Go to nearest truck stop and sit in the parking lot for two days until you can't stand it any longer!And if with FXCC you deal with DVA which will auth anywhere but home and where frt. is..Then you find out FX log. is brokering out frt. all around you!!BGONEBROKE