How did you get Started in Expediting ?

runrunner · Mar 23, 2014

Ok,we are learning when you started Expediting,lets hear how you got started!

Myself,I applied to an ad in the Pittsburgh Press for a minimum wage job delivering bulk newspapers like Baseball Weekly for a fellow who had several Vans doing that in Western PA and Eastern Ohio. When I went in for the interview the owner ask to see my Drivers license,when he noticed I had a CDL he said forget it,I have something better for you. Turns out he had Trucks leased to Roberts Express and TriState. I never looked back!

brokcanadian · Mar 23, 2014

After a particularly drunken after work party I was apparently seen with a lady that was not my girlfriend...can't confirm this as I blacked out, sought to deliver my "package" as far out of harms way as possible, so I quit an hour into my next shift and signed the dotted line on an Alumi-Bunk E350 with job

KickStarter6 · Mar 23, 2014

I was tired of working at a call center for $10 and dealing with a slum dog manager so I asked my dad to buy a sprinter and I'd drive it for him. He said yes and told me to pick a company so I choose Tri State and now have my own van and manage his sprinter still.

Ragman · Mar 23, 2014

What's expediting? I just drive a truck.

Mailer · Mar 23, 2014

Saw those guys livin in the van at a truck truck stop. I thought that was pretty cool. I tried it and got paid for it, not bad eh? Wait, wait! You've got to really be crazy to leave your home and family and sleep in the parking lot?

rymilburn · Mar 23, 2014

Watched way to many episodes of shipping wars.... 9 months later here I am...

RoadTime · Mar 24, 2014

I was driving semi for J.B. Hunt, and kept seeing these expedite semi trucks that were based near where I lived at the time. I had no clue at the time what expedite really was, but was more interested in a closer terminal to where I lived to cut down on my commuting, and hopefully increase my home time. The company ran local expedite in semi and straights, paid by the hour, and home almost every night. My only question was when can I start

letsdrive · Mar 24, 2014

Just got my cdl. Posted resume on Craigslist a o/o called me about driving teams with him for fedex cc went to orientation by the time orientation was done was sold expediting was something I could build something around

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danthewolf00 · Mar 24, 2014

Was tired of the manager at a company i deleverd office stuff for tell me every morning that he could replace me like that and snap his fingers as he said it....it got old after 8 months,so i went to the expedit expo in 2007 and signed on with bolt.....8 years later i am home at load 1

Jenny · Mar 24, 2014

I've been around it since I was a teenager. My dad drove for Roberts, and continued after it changed to FECC. my mom went out with him after I graduated highschool. They met Nick in W. Memphis, and set us up together. I went out with him for a "2 week vacation" in June of 2008. I started driving in January of 2009. We moved from a sprinter to a straight truck in 2012.

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layoutshooter · Mar 24, 2014

I was the manager of the fishing department at a Gander Mountain store in Taylor, Michigan. It became clear that it was a dead end job and that steps needed to be taken to get out of it.

One of my employees was looking into expediting and told me about it. I spent a LOT of time on EO, reading past posts, asking questions etc. Went to truck stops and talked to expediters. I did this for about 6 months before I went into the business.

FlyingVan · Mar 24, 2014

After I got my Bachelor's Degree I wanted to go see this great country of ours before getting a real job, so I got into trucking. I didn't particularly like having a co-driver nor being stuck in a truck stop. I had a friend who knew someone that was expediting in a van for FedEx CC, so I got in contact with him and found out what it meas to be an expediter. I decided to give it a try, but I still needed to do some research into what companies are out there.

My plan was to go with FedEx CC but I couldn't get in, so I went with Panther for a few months, then I switched to FedEx. Few years later I made my move to Landstar. As it stands, I still drive a van around instead of having a 'real' job. Hard to go back to a schedule when I got used to the freedom that expediting gives me.

xiggi · Mar 24, 2014

I lost a bet. :screwy:

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sanderson · Mar 24, 2014

I was tired of working a dead end call center job being stressed out all the time. I got my CDL with plans to go into trucking. I tried it out and realized that it wasn't for me, however, I still desired a job that would pay me to travel without the headache of a big truck and trailer and that's when I found out about expediting. I realized that it wasn't quite the right time to get in at this time so I'm driving a straight flatbed truck locally/regionally to pay off credit cards / build up savings before taking the plunge as a cargo van driver.

ntimevan · Mar 24, 2014

My Snowplowing job was just too seasonal ......

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cheri1122 · Mar 24, 2014

I started driving in a semi, but that was too big, so I tried a cargo van, but that was too small. I settled into a straight truck, and it was juuuust right. And 10 years later, I'm still keeping an eye on the bears, lol.

Deville · Mar 24, 2014

At the time I was in the trucking business for 11 years. I was roughly 2 years removed from being bought out of my partnership with my former company. I was burnt out when that happened.

I floated around for a while, worked at a company called Safety Kleen for 6 months as a tech. When the company realized I had an extensive trucking back ground they had me handling the truck purchasing of that dept as they were looking to turnover & update the fleet. It was a really good opportunity for me however it came crashing down because they were in Bankruptcy at the time when they hired me and were just emerging from it. Too this day I fell like they hired me just to lay me off.

Then I wound up doing what would be the second part of a complete career circle, I went back to UPS for 15 months as a driver. Hated my life I MEAN HATED MY LIFE. I quit, began working for my Father full time in real estate. I had been around the business my entire life & was licensed since I was 18 & would put 3 or 4 deals together per year on avg. Manage the day to day for him of two offices & the mall kiosk when he was away on vacation etc... It seemed like the natural progression of my life.

As much as I enjoyed working with my Pops the day to day got boring, there was conflict at times. Nothing major, but I knew my dream of following in his footsteps & taking over the company would never happen because he had partners & the only way it would happen is if he broke away from them and we started our own agency. He didn't want to to do that again. At the time his Realty was top 100 in the Century 21 system & top 10 in the NY tri-state area. I think we were number one in NYC at one point.

So that was roughly spring of 2004. I was just over two years removed from trucking. The real estate market was booming, but I knew the bubble would burst. A friend of mine in the drum business who owned his own fleet used to park in a yard that he shared with a FDCC truck. I used to see them all over when my office was in Valley stream and I would talk to the drivers now and then but never inquired. So one day I asked my friend about the truck in the yard, he told me the guy who drove it did pretty well for himself. I googled FDCC and got the ball rolling. I needed 6 months of verifiable truck driving in the last 12 months, which I did not have at the time due to my layoff, so I got in touch with my old shop steward at Airborne express where I worked for 4 plus years and he told me they needed guys in Elizabeth NJ. Since this was time DHL was in the process of buying Airborne out & they were desperate to make service & compete with FEDEX and UPS they needed experienced guys.

I left Airborne Express years earlier because one, I had the opportunity to become a partner in a trucking company, but the main reason was I just wasn't making any money. Even though we were Local 295a teamsters the pay scale was terrible. It was set up so that you never made top pay. It was 72 months to top pay which was $21 an hour then. When I went back it was $23 an hour. After almost 4 1/2 years I was only making $13.35 per hour. It wasn't enough money and the forced OT was insane. Why? Because they couldn't keep anyone who wanted to be stuck making $8.50 an hour. I did it because I had a second income working for my Father & the benefits were pretty good. I like OT as much as the next guy, but 60 plus hours nearly every week wears on anyone after a while. I was single, no kids and was responsible to just myself. Plus, I knew if I did not try to get out on my own now I would never have the balls to do it again. As it turns out I had the balls to do it twice.

So I told my Shop steward what I was looking to do. At the time he was making his way up the ranks in the union hall, & made sure I got my withdrawal card when I left the company just in case I fell on face & needed to come crawling back. Well I did not fall on face, & I wasn't crawling back. I explained what I was looking to do and he told me he could get back in with my time, but NOT my pay scale. He also advised me to stick it out until I was vested, this way I could get into the pension which was around 9 months time. Thus completing the circle of my trucking life.

Anyway, long story short as soon as I got my 6 months CDL driving in with DHL I got in touch with a recruiter at FDCC, found a truck, got my financing together, became incorporated, did everything my recruiter asked of me. It took about 2 months from beginning to end, but I was on the road and in business by the end of 2004.

I stuck around DHL until March of 2005, resigned with the time I needed to be vested in the pension. Frankly I had taken so much time off the past four months they would have fired me in a few weeks anyway. My Real Estate career came to an end in 2007. My Father sold his interests in his company in the spring of 2006. He went on to manage another real estate company for about 18 months and when the bubble broke and the market tanked he walked away from the industry.

He was a GREAT respected mind in the business, but had a hard time keeping up with the technology. I carried him a long way in that regards, and was happy to do so. I was sad when he decided after 38 years in the business he had enough, there wasn't anything left for him to do and I was pretty invested in keeping my trucking company going. He went on to public service by joining the then Governor Patterson's administration. He retired in 2010, but sold real estate part time until he passed away a few months ago. I continued full steam ahead to build my business, and that's what I have been doing ever since.

One more thing, sadly since DHL bankrupted the old Airborne express & laid off 85% of the full time workforce it left everyone's pension in limbo. I tried inquiring about it numerous times over the years, Basically the pension is gone.

I bring this up because when I took this plunge & got in to expediting I had some reservations, I was back in with DHL. The opportunity to advance was there I just had to take it when it was offered again. I decided to take that blind faith leap and everyone here knows that this business is tough. I don't have to go into the reasons it's well documented.

I always wondered if I had made the right decision right up until DHL bankrupted Airborne & dozens of people that I became friendly with over the years some of whom had more time then me & less time then me lost everything and started calling me asking me for a job. It didn't feel good to see this happen & I felt even worse when I had to say no to them.

I recall a conversation I had with my Dad and shared these feelings with him and the doubts I had a few years earlier.

He reminded me of a conversation he and I had when I was 15 or 16. I actually remembered it vividly because it kind of became the motto of my life. We were in the car talking, I don't remember what about exactly and we came across a fork in the road and he used the fork as a metaphor to our conversation. He asked me which road I would choose, the easy way or the hard way. I thought about it for a second and responded I think I will choose the middle & blaze my own path, make my own road.

At the time I was being 50% a smart *** but the other 50% was dead serious. His response was a slight smile and laugh. I guess that was the right answer. I think that's the path my Dad would have chosen. After he reminded me of that conversation he told me that I had put together a nice business & to keep on going, don't live in the past, live in the present & be mindful of the future, and that he loved me.

So too me this thread isn't just about how I got in to expediting, it's also about how I managed to survive in expediting.

I also have to add that since my Dad passed away a few months ago I have given a lot of thought & reflection about my entire life. I truly feel that at the age of 39 I have achieved everything I wanted to do in life. I'm pretty comfortable with the person that I have become. Now I just need to figure out what i'm going to do over the next hopefully 40 years or so.

ATeam · Mar 25, 2014

Diane and I were set well as white-collar professionals in Minnesota. She was an attorney. I was a computer consultant. Then one day, a trucker friend gave us our first-ever ride in a big truck. We knew nothing about trucks at the time, except they got in the way and blocked our view when driving our cars on the road. The ride got us to thinking about trucks. Our interest grew as online research was done and the notion of a career change took root.

We took vacation time to attend MATS to research the industry. It was there that we discovered expediting by stumbling upon the EO booth. By the end of the day, we knew we would take up life and work on the road as expediters. That was in March, 2003 and we were on the road in August.

After a year, finding ourselves successful in the life, we sold our cars, house and most household goods to shed those burdens and eliminate the need to go home to take care of unneeded stuff.

Our goals when entering the industry were to (1) simplify our lives, (2) spend more time together, (3) increase our income, (4) share in a business project, and (5) see the country. We accomplished all of that and more.

Every 10-15 years, the career-change bug bites. Just as we left white-collar careers behind to try something new in 2003, we left expediting behind in 2013 to enter yet another new-to-us field. We look back on our ten years on the road as a successful venture and magnificent experience. There is nothing like expediting and we feel blessed having done it.