Expediters Going Hungry, For Real

ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
You answered your own questions, Greg. Recommended events also include EO workshops, the Expedite Expo and the Louisville Truck show. These have been mentioned countless times in the Open Forum. As for recommended people, they too have been mentioned countless times in the Open Forum. They include drivers, contractor coordinators, fleet owners, and the like. How many times have you yourself recommended that people talk to an accountant? I'm surprise you have to ask.
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Don't try and take my words out of context, Phil. There are mistakes such as truck style, engine specs, daily maint., different aspects of each company, etc. that one can get from the forums. However, the errors all of us have made in day to day running, which I talk about, are ones that can't be helped with until they're made. In other words, EXPERIENCE. At the very least, one can call an experienced contact and ask for advise before the mistake is made. But a forum is not practical for split decision making.

Errors still happen to the best of us. The trick is to keep them few and low cost. And that too is EXPERIENCE.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Phil, don't be surprised, I am trying to get answers to help people.

I understand the EO workshops but I don't see the truck shows.

The people, who are they? anyone specific? and yes I say a lawyer and an accountant but I wasn't thinking of them.

So what are the publications? got specifics?

And spreadsheet?

T-Hawk, I am curious....

Mistakes are part of business, agree?

What one thing that I meant when I said this business is hard to learn is about the people who can't learn or see the mistakes others make. For mistakes are a way of life and mistakes are part of the learning curve. Do you agree?
 
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ATeam

Senior Member
Retired Expediter
Phil, don't be surprised, I am trying to get answers to help people.

The point of my earlier post was that people can benefit by going to school on the Open Forum. Sure, we can hand them all the answers in a paragraph or ten, but that does less good than the applied discovery process of reading a year or more of posts, taking notes, writing down questions, etc.

For mistakes are a way of life and mistakes are part of the learning curve. Do you agree?

No. Not entirely. Yes, everyone makes mistakes. And yes, wise people learn from their mistakes. But mistakes are not a good thing. They are a bad thing. That's why they are called mistakes. Mistakes are not something to be maximized, they are something to be minimized. Some people make fewer mistakes than others. Newbies who make fewer mistakes are better off than those who make more.

Be careful about falling into a thinking mistake here. Success in expediting does not come from making or avoiding mistakes. It comes from achieving your goals.

You can avoid mistakes in expediting altogether, and thereby earn zero-error bragging rights, by staying out of the business. Or you can make hundreds more mistakes than the average expediter, learn from every one of them, and be one of the smartest people that has ever failed in this business.

It's not about mistakes. It's about success.
 
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nightcreacher

Veteran Expediter
Ive been an owner opp, driving a tractor trailer for over 30 years.To me,driving isnt a job,its fun, cause I like what I'm doing.Ive done everything from hauling produce to steel,but,Ive been an expediter for more than 20 years with the same company,and yes I have been with a couple others too,not to any choice of my own,but I always come back to what I feel is the best.,Ive seen changes that work,and some that havent.Ive found.most of the straight truck people have come from other industries,the tractor trailer people are looking for that easy money,but in any case,expedite is light in a different area.What will work for some,wont work for others.To be successful in this form of trucking,1st you have to have patience,and 2nd a positive attitude,and also be very optomistic,the glass is half full.If you have what we use to call white line fever,other wise you need to run lots of miles,this isnt for you.If you have a problem sitting around,waiting to hear from dispatch.this isnt for you.bUt if you ever figure a way to manage your time,you will enjoy the profits.There is more money to be made in expedite than any other form of trucking,and when the economy sucks as it does now,for some reason,I have always been busier.I'm not going into figures,but if I were worried about the outcome of trucking,I'd go back to training ,selling horses as I did before I became the truck driver I am.
 
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Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Yes, everyone makes mistakes. And yes, wise people learn from their mistakes. But mistakes are not a good thing. They are a bad thing. That's why they are called mistakes. Mistakes are not something to be maximized, they are something to be minimized. Some people make fewer mistakes than others. Newbies who make fewer mistakes are better off than those who make more.

Well DUH!!!

Be careful about falling into a thinking mistake here. Success in expediting does not come from making or avoiding mistakes. It comes from achieving your goals.

You sound as if you've made no mistakes, Phil. Success is relative here. Whether it's making money or seeing the country, to be successful in expediting in any aspect is doing the job the RIGHT way. In order to do that, you have to know how not to do it the WRONG way. You can't be SUCCESSFUL in explaining SUCCESS unless you can also explain FAILURE.

You can avoid mistakes in expediting altogether, and thereby earn zero-error bragging rights, by staying out of the business. Or you can make hundreds more mistakes than the average expediter, learn from every one of them, and be one of the smartest people that has ever failed in this business.

Eighty percent of success is showing up.-Woody Allen

Smartest? maybe. Lucky? definitely not.

Uh oh! There's that word LUCK again.

It's not about mistakes. It's about success.

Knowing HOW to minimize mistakes is essential in gaining success. Mistakes cause one to be late, lose money, and downtime. Eliminating mistakes is impossible. No one is perfect. Minimizing mistakes by learning from them is called EXPERIENCE.

It goes right along side of determination, discipline, and luck.
 
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x06col

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Army
And, I remember back in the days of dolla fuel, a fella wanted to dh 150 miles to pick up a dolla fity load going from Louisiana to Oklahoma(yuk) 600 mi, steada dh cross town in LA to pick up a a dolla twenty load, going to the Bronx 1400 mi. Wonder if that wuz a mistake, or, there were some rose colored glasses that he'd read about on this site. Or, what?
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Funny... I remember something like that too. I remember telling someone that I wasn't going to NYC. I also remember being told that I don't need more than 30%, which came to 18.75 cents/mile per driver for that run to NYC. Crap run. Crap pay. No way, Jose. Movin' for the sake of movin' is not my idea of gettin' er done.

If anything, I learned not to run for an owner who happens to be OCD when it comes to dispatchin'. Overall tho, the experience was well worth the mistake.

Part of evolvin' is fessin' up to one's own mistakes. But if you don't see yourself as being the problem, then I guess everyone else is.
 
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x06col

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Army
So, I guess MY math is off. But seems to me that the one you wanted to run wuz 750 total miles for $900, be $1.20 per mile, or $.186 per driver per mile. Much better I guess.

The point i'm trying to make to the ones struggling is, don't let your don't wannas, get in the way of the business you are about.
 

Tennesseahawk

Veteran Expediter
Point taken.

One other thing experience does is broadens your comfort zone. Since that time, I've had little problem going back to NYC. Bad experiences can be overridden by a few good ones (or more money). But regardless of what the OK load paid, it was within my comfort zone at the time and the Bronx was not.

Different ppl have different values for money. Lez jus leaver at dat.
 

x06col

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Retired Expediter
US Army
And, I'm certain you've learned over time, that if you dont wanna and don't, that the soup on the table gets pretty thin pretty soon.

Trying to get em to look at where they may be going south. It all ain't fun.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
The point of my earlier post was that people can benefit by going to school on the Open Forum. Sure, we can hand them all the answers in a paragraph or ten, but that does less good than the applied discovery process of reading a year or more of posts, taking notes, writing down questions, etc.

OK Phil, here is where differing opinions come of a forum come into action, I don't view it as a school, far from it. A forum is an information source and one that has emotion added in. Look around, there are more opinions than factual examples, I posted what I made, where is yours? (No need to answer that, it is a point) Going back a year to see those opinions sometimes is mind numbing, confusing and that is why we see a lot of questions being consistently asked. Forums are great places to learn from, but sometimes with messages that 'you too can be a success like me' I keep hearing for the past few years cheapen the real purpose.

I am wondering about your point of using the discovery process to learn. I mean, and maybe I am redefining it to fit what I see as a proper thought but part of the discovery process is about self examination, learning where you are, where you want to go, right? once you set your goals, then you learn about how to achieve them, right?

This leads me to something I have asked about and you refused to answer; if "This business is not hard to learn.", why would someone have to spend a lot of time studying it to be a success?

Would it be a long learning curve, like another thing, Luck is actually needed to be a success?

I know you discount the Luck factor, but in reality it is about being in the right place at the right time, right?

The opposite side of the coin was your statement "The failures failed because they did not learn the business.", which I can't help but point out that these are opposing statements you made and it would be rather nice to hear (read) a clarification about them so we really get what they mean. I only assume that due to the silence, the failures didn't want to learn an easy business, they were lazy.

So I still wonder what are you trying to say here with these two statements, is the business easy to learn or are people too lazy to learn it when they fail?

No. Not entirely. Yes, everyone makes mistakes. And yes, wise people learn from their mistakes. But mistakes are not a good thing. They are a bad thing. That's why they are called mistakes. Mistakes are not something to be maximized, they are something to be minimized. Some people make fewer mistakes than others. Newbies who make fewer mistakes are better off than those who make more.

But see Phil, here is the point, mistakes are a good thing if the person who makes them can recognize them or others help them to recognize them and correct them, learning from them or gaining experience. Mistakes, like it or not are part of human nature our human makeup. How you handle the mistake sets everyone apart, one can repeat them over and over and still make money but others can make one mistake and lose everything. Again let me summarize, learning from those mistakes is only part of the equation, recognizing the mistake and then acting on it is some of the other part of it.

Be careful about falling into a thinking mistake here. Success in expediting does not come from making or avoiding mistakes. It comes from achieving your goals.

Well yep the goals part is what I have been saying all along but it seems many do twist it. The path of success is always traveled with mistakes. Goals are set by the person, success is defined by the person and that person, each individual, can have thousands of mistakes and still claim to be a success. It has to do with attitude, determination and fortitude.

You can avoid mistakes in expediting altogether, and thereby earn zero-error bragging rights, by staying out of the business. Or you can make hundreds more mistakes than the average expediter, learn from every one of them, and be one of the smartest people that has ever failed in this business.

Well Phil, sorry but I wonder how many failed business have you had? I know you haven’t started at the bottom like many of us, you didn’t work your way up the ladder so I can expect you to say this.


I am still wondering what publications, people and spreadsheet you are talking about. The publication is what I really would like to hear about, didn’t know anyone had a expediting for dummies book out there.
 

RichM

Veteran Expediter
Charter Member
Gregg don't sweat it. I am sure he is putting the Expediting for Dummys book together now,after all he is the self appointed Senior Field Editor.
 

greg334

Veteran Expediter
Honestly Rich, I would like to get answers, it's all too confusing, luck, no luck, talking to people, not talking to the right people, which spreadsheet to use. :confused:

And if he does write a book, I might just buy it....:p

Can't wait for Tallcal's though.
 

Kyreax

Seasoned Expediter
I know it seems a bit out of place for me to say this when I've been here only a little while, but why is everyone so negative towards ATeam? Am I missing some posts of him insulting everyone's mom or something?:rolleyes:

I met Phil and Diane last week in person, they are genuinely nice folks with a desire to help others succeed at this business. They were more than happy to take some time and show me and my girlfriend around their truck, answer any questions and offered me their phone number so I could call them if I needed any more advice. They are genuinely proud of what you guys all do for a living and it shows.

They are successful, hard-working, happy and friendly people with opinions like everyone else has here, but they always seem to be skewered on the spit when they post something. There's a lot of negative posts towards them that feels a little out of place...unless I'm completely missing something...is it just good-natured poking-fun?

Am I?:confused:
 
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Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
Moot, saw you picture in the EO mag this morning and I started to laugh. Wife asked what is wrong with me and I showed her your picture and told her that you must of eaten all of your chinchillas because you also look starved.

Greg, when I first read this I hadn't a clue to what you were referring to. Got home today and saw the Expedite Now magazine. I submitted that photo to the E.O. zombie photo contest last November.

Lawrence, thanks for publishing it. Now that I am famous I see a new source of revenue; product endorsement. Hey Espar are you listening? "Give a hoot and don't end up like this frozen zombie Moot." "Install an Espar Heater today.

The Mad Bomber Hat is lined with genuine chinchilla fur.
 

dieseldiva

Veteran Expediter
I know it seems a bit out of place for me to say this when I've been here only a little while, but why is everyone so negative towards ATeam? Am I missing some posts of him insulting everyone's mom or something?:rolleyes:

I met Phil and Diane last week in person, they are genuinely nice folks with a desire to help others succeed at this business. They were more than happy to take some time and show me and my girlfriend around their truck, answer any questions and offered me their phone number so I could call them if I needed any more advice. They are genuinely proud of what you guys all do for a living and it shows.

They are successful, hard-working, happy and friendly people with opinions like everyone else has here, but they always seem to be skewered on the spit when they post something. There's a lot of negative posts towards them that feels a little out of place...unless I'm completely missing something...is it just good-natured poking-fun?

Am I?:confused:

It's kinda like belly buttons.......in-sies and out-sies. If you continue to ask questions like this one you will be one of the latter.....like me!!!;);)
 
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Moot

Veteran Expediter
Owner/Operator
It's kinda like belly buttons.......in-sies and out-sies. If you continue to ask questions like this one you will be one of the latter.....like me!!!;);)

Kyreax, don't let downerdiva get you down. I just checked and I'm still an inny. Been an inny, at least in the belly button department as long as I can remember. Never really been with "the in crowd" until the downerdiva anointed me. Now I can't help but sing "I'm in with the in crowd, I go where the in crowd goes I'm in with the in crowd and I know what the in crowd knows." " C o l a cola"

As for the Ateam, they're more than capable of defending themselves. Some of the negative comments they bring on themselves. As with anything posted here or any other site double check the facts before you act. Unless of course it was posted by Al Gore. After all he invented the internet and what he says is gospel.
 

pjjjjj

Veteran Expediter
If I may, the way I read it, is that it's good advice for a newbie, or someone considering getting into this business, to look back at least a year on the forums and just do lots of reading.

ATeam referred to that as going to school, some may argue it's not school, but you know, I personally have gained a lot of valuable information from reading the posts on here, even if many of them are only opinions and banter. Not school per se, but just a term.

When ATeam referred to talking to the right people and reading the right info and learning the right spreadsheets, to me, as 'I' read it, it only meant the right people for ME to talk to, and the right info for ME to read, and the right spreadsheets for ME to learn.. personally, for our own situation, perhaps a different 'right' person for someone else to talk to, depending on one's circumstances. I don't think he meant that there were specifically only a few 'right' people to speak to or learn from, or only a select few spreadsheets worth bothering to learn, etc.

Anyway, just wanted to say that altho everyone may not always agree on everything, every one of you has valuable information and insight to offer. Your collective wealth of experience and knowledge, and passing on of any admissions to previous errors made, so we can all learn from them, are much appreciated by many of us newcomers, as I'm sure they are by some 'oldtimers' too. We can never know it 'all'.

After seeing how this business plays out after half a year, I can certainly see how many things can come into play as far as determining one's success, or lack of it. Definitely whom one chooses for their carrier has a lot to do with it, as does 'luck', ie being in the right place at the right time or whatever, mechanical things performing as expected and as they should for a given truck, general health remaining status quo.. lots of things can bring a person down which are out of their control, and anyone who hasn't experienced any such things must have good luck!

Husb has had only one really good 'half month' during his half year in the biz, but he didn't do anything different, or have any control over that, it was just 'luck'. I would imagine that if it had been like that every month since he started, we'd be thinking it was pretty easy. If he hadn't experienced that 'half month', we'd be wondering what he's doing wrong. We're thankful for that period because we learned from it. (AND we didn't go hungry that month! haha). Anyway, I'm babbling...
 
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