Feelin sorry for ya....

[Ilovechrome]

Well it's been two months since I pulled the box off of my truck and started pulling a 48' spread axle reefer and let me tell you I kind of miss the days of sitting in truck stop or wal-mart lot's for days at a time waiting for that crappy run to come beeping into the truck.Now I am running like crazy sometimes twenty hours in a day.I do stop in the old "J" to grab some fuel and see all those FedEx trucks just sitting around everywhere and feel kinda sorry for them.I may not be getting two bucks a mile any longer but a buck twenty a mile times 3500 a week beats the hell outta two bucks a mile once a week any day. I am outta the whole now I was able to make enough money the first month to get all caught up and also be home every weekend.Good luck to you guy's you will never really make it at the expediting game but hey like everyone says it's not for everyone...you have to be able to live on a limited income and be able to live in a truck for at least 3 monthes at a time and on top of that you just have to put your whole life into the biz.What I do now is 1 trip a week across I-40 and back about 1750 miles each way then home for the weekend to work on our new home (putting a waterfall in by the pool this weekend) and back out early Mon. morning.But hey I feel sorry for you and hope one day things will work out for you good luck to you all.....

 

[teacel]

It is a good feeling to see someone out there able to turn things around, and come out on top. This industry(expediting)is an addiction and it is very hard to detox from it. AA and NA both have 12 step programs to help people stay off drugs and alcohol. I may come up with a step program to help fellow expediters break the addiction. Six steps may do it, I need to think about this one!!!
At least your still in the same field Ilovechrome!!!!Good Luck!
Hopefully some of the others will do the same!!!!

 

[Hammer]

ADDICTION? No it's called making the investment after being LIED to, then sitting and praying daily that you can break-out and get ahead..As long as the "L-L's" are allowed to continue to recruit and add trucks on like they are currently doing, you better find your escape route..Spread axle reefer trailor will work..Why does the big boys keep your truck down?Why don't they flip the revenue around and just run the trucks they currently have to get caught up? Because when they spread THEY pocket the MONEY!!!!!!!YOU SIT YOU WAIT YOU LOSE:7 :+

 

[Wild Bill]

I agree with you somewhat hammer. You can't make money sitting around a truckstop. But from I notice expediters don't have exclusive license to sitting.

From what I have seen recruiters from expedited companies aren't the only ones who lie to recruit drivers/owner-operators. I think we could all create a long list of truckload companies who mislead/lie to get you to sign on.

For the 2 days I have been sitting here at the TA in knoxville I have spoke to many big riggers who have also been sitting a lot. Their revenue is down too. I heard a driver mentioned he took a paycheck of $400.00 last week (with no advances taken out)

Only thing I can see would be a benefit to driving a big truck would be you can run brokered freight for .80 cpm. (If the broker is honest and will pay you) After you take out operating expenses you might as well have sat.

and are we forgetting that if you have a reefer and go to garbage warehouses you have to pay for lumpers??

Lets face it. In the trucking industry it doesn't matter if you are driving a large car Pete or a mini van, the man behind the wheel is going to get the dirty end of the stick and the carrier/broker will come out on top.

 

[Ilovechrome]

That's one thing I failed to mention...I spend 3X as much on fuel now then before,it's takes 3 stops for fuel to do the run Im doing now (beef one way produce back) and yes there are lumpers involved and pallets...I use this cheapo mexican lumper on the beef end the produce end requires no lumpers/pallets.Not to mention the price of fuel out there in Ca. is $1.30 a gallon.But I still like to be moving every day and knowing my pay is being made and will be in my acct. on Fri. Ok gotta go someone else wants this PC kiosk thing here....gotta shower and go load see ya on the big road :+

 

[Weave]

Way I figure it if you are going to be a trucker you have to find the type of trucking that works right FOR YOU. In your instance, the tractor-trailer is your best bet, but wouldn't work out too well for others such as myself. I was even looking at all the expenses involved in running my D unit and am now considering replacing it with a cargo van as my company's van rate is only 25 cents less a mile than the D rate. Sometimes you have to run a particular type of unit for a while to determine how much actual profit is being made with it. I just looked at my first "business plan" I made years back and now see what happened in reality was a different story. I am glad you have found a deal that at least keeps your wheels rolling continuously, certainly a big profit factor!
-Weave-

 

[Bearcat]

Did you remove the box off of that beautiful fl 106 or do you have another truck your using? Don't blame you a bit for switching. Have to go where the money is. I myself am looking at bankrupcy and going back to tractor trailer as a company driver. Not enough business out there in the expedite arena. Maybe later if it picks up but don't have the time to wait. Last week I sat after dropping on monday night until saturday for a load. Can't believe companies still hire knowing there is not enough freight to go around. Oh well, guess I became a statistic like the rest who tried and died on the vine. Good luck to you. Hope it pans out for you.
Randy