Introduction To Expediting
by
Phil Madsen, Expediter[/b]
Expediting, also known as critical-shipment freight transport, is a wonderful business opportunity for people who are up to the challenge. If you possess basic business skills, are able to spend weeks at a time away from home and can live comfortably on the road, expediting may be worth a look. While many folks have tried and failed, others are earning a great living and enjoying life as expediters.
Self-employment Issues
Whether they enter the business as drivers for fleet owners or as owner/operators with a truck of their own, most expediters are self-employed independent contractors. That means life, health and disability insurance; business bookkeeping; quarterly payment of estimated income taxes; business planning; retirement planning and other such items are your responsibility. If you don't do it, no one else will. And if you don't do it well, you may look back on your life and rue the day you decided to become an expediter.
The good news is expediting is not rocket science. The job itself is easy to learn. The work can sometimes be physically challenging but is within range for most able-bodied people. Many expediters are grandparents who outperform their younger counterparts. The business management skills are a bit more of a challenge, but they too can be acquired.
Attitude
Expediting is more than hauling freight. Successful expediters maintain a positive attitude even having bad days. They are able to wait patiently for freight, sometimes for days at a time. They are professional when dealing with dispatchers and customers. They take full responsibility for the freight they accept and see the job through.
Self Discipline
Expediting offers more freedom than many other professions. You don't have to take loads you don't want. You can be out of service for weeks, even months at a time if you wish. If a carrier or fleet owner is giving you grief, several others will consider taking you on. While such freedom may be attractive to people considering a career change, that same freedom has been the ruin of many hopeful expediters.
Successful expediters have more going for them than hope. They have goals and the discipline to achieve them. That means tending to your business paperwork and truck maintenance before taking in a tourist attraction. It means deadheading to a freight center instead of home if you've been waiting too long for a load. It means living within your means and saving some of the money you earn, instead of living paycheck to paycheck.
Self discipline also means putting time and effort into the business side of the business. If you don't already have the business management skills successful expediters use, you can invest some of your time and effort to learn them.
Safety
Truck driving is one of America's ten most dangerous professions. People get hurt out there, even killed. Traffic accidents are not the only hazard. A surprising number of drivers are seriously injured by falling out of their own trucks. Slips and falls around loading docks take a toll. Freight-handling injuries can range from minor cuts and sprains to a back injury that takes you out of the business and leaves you with sleepless, pain-filled nights for the rest of your life. Expediting takes you to all sorts of neighborhoods, sometimes making street crime a concern.
Safety is something you should think about long and hard before jumping in. If you become an expediter, it won't be long before you hear about fellow expediters getting hurt on the job. In time, some of the stories will be about people you know. The dangers are up close and personal. It can happen to you.
Expediting Trucks
Expediting trucks range from cargo vans to straight trucks to eighteen-wheelers. Expediters refer to them as B-units (cargo vans), C and D-units (straight trucks), and E-units (tractor/trailers). A reefer is a refrigeration and heating device that keeps the freight at a specified temperature while it is on the truck; such as liquids that must stay cool in summer, paint that must not freeze in winter, and items like art work or electronics that must be kept at room temperature. Reefer-equipped units are known as CR, DR and ER.
Generally, the bigger the truck, the more gross revenue it can earn; and the more expensive it is to operate. Maneuverability decreases as truck size increases. You can't use drive-thru windows at fast-food restaurants with a tractor/trailer or straight truck, like you can with a cargo van. At certain tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels and malls, big trucks are often banned but straight trucks can park like buses and RVs. In most places, cargo vans park where cars do.
Truck features and equipment vary. Some trucks have reefers, lift gates, and/or generators. Sleepers range from tiny boxes that provide just enough room to lie down, to virtual apartments on wheels with RV-style kitchens, showers, toilets and beds. A variety of equipment for handling and securing freight is used, or not, depending on the expediter. Such items include pallet jacks, hand trucks, appliance carts, ratchet straps, load bars, furniture pads and more.
Some straight trucks have two axles, others have three. Among three-axle trucks, some have lift axles, others have tandems. E-unit drivers sometimes become B-unit drivers. B-unit drivers sometimes move into bigger trucks. If you ask two or more expediters about any truck type, feature, or brand, a lively discussion will likely ensue.
Carriers
While some expediters develop their own customer base and book their own freight (a regulatory arrangement known as having your own authority), most lease their trucks to an expedited freight or critical-shipment carrier. Carrier dispatchers then offer loads to the truck, which the drivers may accept or decline (an arrangement known as no forced dispatch).
The major expediting carriers include FedEx Custom Critical, Panther II, Landstar Express America, Conway NOW, Express-1, CTX and Tri-State. Each carrier has its own driver qualifications, truck qualifications and lease terms. Carrier web sites and/or recruiters can tell you what the qualifications are. Upon request, recruiters will send you an information packet, including a copy of the lease. Additional carriers are listed on the ExpeditersOnline.com home page (http://www.expeditersonline.com).
Freight
Expediters love trading stories about the unusual loads they've hauled; a small barrel of chili powder rushed from the east coast to Cincinnati, a single envelope transported in an eighteen-wheeler, a load picked up by driving a truck deep into the cargo hold of an ocean freighter, and even the life's-work of a scientist who told the driver he'd commit suicide if the load was lost. More typically, expedited loads consist of freight that moves fast, requires special care, or both.
Fast freight might be something like automobile parts going from a supplier to an automobile assembly plant. If the parts don't arrive exactly on time, the assembly line may shut down and idle the workers. By contract, the supplier would then be required to pay a steep fine to the automotive company; such as $25,000 for every hour parts are late. Given a choice between paying $25,000 an hour or expedited freight rates to deliver the parts on time, the expedite decision is easily made.
Other examples of fast freight are frozen turkeys, packed in dry ice, that were first missent and now must be driven straight through to arrive in time for Thanksgiving; temperature-controlled medicine flown to the U.S. from Europe that must be immediately transferred to a temperature-controlled truck and driven straight through to a temperature-controlled warehouse; newspaper inserts that got printed late and contain dated coupons that must soon be distributed; a custom-made part for an assembly-line machine, the lack of which will shut down the entire factory; an ordinary item rushed to a key customer who is threatening to take his or her business elsewhere; and hurricane relief supplies.
Special-care freight includes things like electronic components that will be used in outer space, high-value pharmaceuticals, vital legal documents being transferred from one office to another, the original recordings of a deceased country music star, priceless works of art being shipped from museum to museum, items that must be kept under constant watch, and more.
Some critical-shipment carriers have divisions that specialize in special-care freight. Others avoid special-care freight and focus instead on fast freight. For almost all expedited freight, the entire truck is dedicated to the load. Freight from other shippers is not mixed in.
Expediting trucks usually provide dock-to-dock service; meaning drivers run straight through from the pickup to the delivery. Sometimes loads are door-to-door, meaning no loading dock is available. In such cases, lighter freight is loaded and unloaded by hand, either by the drivers or by workers at the pickup and delivery locations. Heavier freight is delivered by trucks equipped with lift gates, pallet jacks, hand trucks, dollies, etc.
For example, a lift gate may be used to off-load two fireproof file cabinets onto the street. Dollies are then be used to wheel them into an office building. At a small factory, the driver may use a pallet jack to move pallets to the rear of his truck so a forklift on the ground can take them from there. Large oxygen containers have their own wheels. A lift gate may be used to get them from the truck onto the sidewalk, from which they are wheeled into a hospital or clinic.
Whether it's fast freight or special-care, HAZMAT (hazardous materials) loads are common. All major expediting and critical-shipment carriers require their drivers to have HAZMAT-endorsed CDLs (commercial drivers license).
Commercial Driver License
Driver license types and license endorsements, and the process of obtaining them, vary depending on the expediter's state of residence, truck type and carrier requirements. Check with your state officials and carrier of choice for details.
Working Hours and Conditions
Unless they place themselves out of service, expediters are on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Expediters almost never go to the same place twice in a row. Some loads take just an hour or two to complete. Others are cross-country runs requiring a few days and nights.
Most of the time, expediters have no idea where the next load will take them. It could be across the street or across the nation. It is not at all unusual to run all night and sleep the next day, and then run the next day and sleep the next night. Sleep management is an ongoing challenge and safety issue in expediting. Before you can sleep, you have to find a safe and legal place to park, which is also an ongoing challenge.
Some people look up to expediters, others look down on them. Commercial vehicles are not welcome in some places and very welcome in others. Some loads are easy, others require great effort. One day you may be waiting for a load while enjoying yourself on a Florida beach; another day, you may be cooped up in your truck in sub-zero Minnesota weather, praying your fuel won't gel and a load offer will come soon.
In short, successful expediters know how to adapt to the new circumstances they encounter several times a day; and they know how to roll with the punches.
Drivers
Whether they are owner/operators leasing their trucks to carriers, or fleet drivers running trucks owned by fleet owners, drivers either drive alone (solo) or with a co-driver (team). Teams have financial advantages over solo drivers. By sleeping and driving in shifts, a team can keep a truck moving longer than a solo driver can. That opens the team up to longer and higher-paying runs. Solo drivers are free of the relationship issues that rise when team drivers work and live together in a truck. Because their relationships tend to be more stable, married-couple teams are highly sought after by carriers and fleet owners.
Revenue Potential
People researching a career change into expediting are sometimes called expediter wannabees. One of the most common wannabee questions is, "How much money can I make?" While it's a logical and reasonable question, it's also difficult to answer. That's because some expediters go bankrupt, some get by, and some do very well. Whatever the industry conditions may be, some people make it and others don't.
FedEx Custom Critical publishes a revenue sheet that shows average revenue for the various size trucks. A recruiter will send you the revenue sheet upon request. Similar information may also be available from other carriers.
Performance
In general, carriers evaluate expediters by load acceptance rate, service percentage, availability, safety, and professionalism. Upon request, carriers will advise you of their specific requirements.
Load acceptance is the percentage of loads you accept of those offered. Expediters are free to decline loads but if their acceptance rate falls below a certain point, carriers will either terminate the expediter's contract or simply stop offering loads.
Service means being on time for each pickup and delivery. In expediting, if a driver is at fault for being late three times in a hundred, his or her contract may be in jeopardy. Traffic jams, bad weather and other factors that are out of the driver's control are not counted against the driver. However, if a driver is late because he or she overslept, failed to plan ahead, or stopped to do the laundry, a service failure would likely be charged.
Availability is the amount of time your truck is in or out of service (available to consider offers and carry freight). Some carriers require trucks to be in service for a specified percentage of time. Others informally note how available you are. Your usefulness to your carrier rises and falls with your availability. If your availability is too low, carriers will either terminate your contract or simply ignore you when loads come up.
Safety has to do with your driving record and freight-handling ability. Safe driving requirements vary among carriers. Some will immediately terminate you for a serious infraction. Others may give you a second chance. Freight damage due to mishandling or failing to secure the load will get a driver in serious trouble.
Professionalism is expected in expediting. You can have near-perfect load-acceptance, availability, and safety numbers; but an unprofessional outburst or poor choice of words on a shipper's dock can generate a customer complaint to your carrier and get you fired.
It's not hard to be a good expediter in your carrier's eyes. Simply know what your carrier's requirements are, do your best to fulfill them on every run, and be courteous and patient with your customers. In general, the better your numbers are, the higher your income will be.
Getting Started
New expediters begin as owner/operators or fleet drivers. An owner/operator owns and operates his or her own truck. Typically, the owner/operator leases the truck to his or her carrier of choice. Fleet drivers begin by finding a fleet owner. Expediting fleet owners run small businesses and seldom own more than ten trucks.
Fleet owners lease their trucks to one or more carriers and recruit drivers. Expediters speak of the truck earning money. They may say something like "This load paid $1,200 to the truck." or "The truck grossed $15,000 this month." The truck's revenue is split between the fleet owner and driver according to their agreement. Expediter wannabees would be wise to interview a number of fleet owners before choosing one.
Drivers locate fleet owners by word of mouth and by using the "Free Classifieds" at ExpeditersOnline.com. Some fleet owners accept drivers with no previous truck driving experience, others require experience.
Entering the business as a fleet driver is less risky because you don't assume the burden of truck ownership. If things don't work out, you can return the truck to your fleet owner and return to your prior life.
Entering the business as an owner/operator brings the disadvantages of truck ownership, including all truck-related expenses. The advantages include the freedom to make all of your own decisions (without a fleet owner's involvement), and keeping the money that would otherwise go to a fleet owner.
The majority of new expediters begin as owner/operators. However, expediter wannabees should speak with several fleet owners before choosing that path. Good fleet owners provide more than trucks. They help new drivers enter the industry and provide coaching that can be invaluable.
Unfortunately, not all fleet owners are good. That's why it's wise to interview a number of them before signing on with one. Soon after entering the business, you'll meet other expediters and talk shop. Such conversations begin quite naturally at truck stops, loading docks, and other places expediters stop.
If you stick with your first fleet owner for six months to a year and produce a good record with your carrier, other fleet owners will line up to sign you on if your first fleet owner turns out to be a dud. In defense of fleet owners, a lot of drivers turn out to be duds too.
Asking a fleet owner to tell you about the best and worst drivers he or she ever had will tell you a great deal about the industry and the fleet owner. It will also help you understand what fleet owners seek in drivers and how to be a good driver yourself.
The Expediting Lifestyle
The expediting lifestyle varies as much as the expediters themselves. Some drive solo, others team. Some love doing the problem solving of a tricky inside delivery. Others boast they never touch the freight they haul. Some stay out on the road for months at a time. Others schedule their runs so they're out three weeks and home one. Some consider expediting a job they go out and do. For others, expediting is paid tourism. Some say the work is hard, others say it's easy. Some barely eek out a living as expediters. Others bank thousands of dollars a month, after expenses and taxes are paid.
What expediting will be for you, and how well you will do, has a great deal to do with the research you do and choices you make. The more informed your choices are, the better they will be. As you research the industry, the place to begin is with yourself. The more you know about what kind of expediter you want to be and what you expect from the industry, the more likely you are to achieve what you set out to do.
Researching the Industry
The ExpeditersOnline (http://www.expeditersonline.com) web site is filled with information about expediting. For expediting wannabees, the Driver Lifestyles and Carrier Profiles sections shown on the home page will be of interest. The Open Forum is a place where you can interact online with expediters and expediter wannabees of all stripes. Carrier advertisements and expediting articles also appear in the free magazine Expedite NOW. Click here to subscribe: http://www.expeditersonline.com/eonow/index.html
by
Phil Madsen, Expediter[/b]
Expediting, also known as critical-shipment freight transport, is a wonderful business opportunity for people who are up to the challenge. If you possess basic business skills, are able to spend weeks at a time away from home and can live comfortably on the road, expediting may be worth a look. While many folks have tried and failed, others are earning a great living and enjoying life as expediters.
Self-employment Issues
Whether they enter the business as drivers for fleet owners or as owner/operators with a truck of their own, most expediters are self-employed independent contractors. That means life, health and disability insurance; business bookkeeping; quarterly payment of estimated income taxes; business planning; retirement planning and other such items are your responsibility. If you don't do it, no one else will. And if you don't do it well, you may look back on your life and rue the day you decided to become an expediter.
The good news is expediting is not rocket science. The job itself is easy to learn. The work can sometimes be physically challenging but is within range for most able-bodied people. Many expediters are grandparents who outperform their younger counterparts. The business management skills are a bit more of a challenge, but they too can be acquired.
Attitude
Expediting is more than hauling freight. Successful expediters maintain a positive attitude even having bad days. They are able to wait patiently for freight, sometimes for days at a time. They are professional when dealing with dispatchers and customers. They take full responsibility for the freight they accept and see the job through.
Self Discipline
Expediting offers more freedom than many other professions. You don't have to take loads you don't want. You can be out of service for weeks, even months at a time if you wish. If a carrier or fleet owner is giving you grief, several others will consider taking you on. While such freedom may be attractive to people considering a career change, that same freedom has been the ruin of many hopeful expediters.
Successful expediters have more going for them than hope. They have goals and the discipline to achieve them. That means tending to your business paperwork and truck maintenance before taking in a tourist attraction. It means deadheading to a freight center instead of home if you've been waiting too long for a load. It means living within your means and saving some of the money you earn, instead of living paycheck to paycheck.
Self discipline also means putting time and effort into the business side of the business. If you don't already have the business management skills successful expediters use, you can invest some of your time and effort to learn them.
Safety
Truck driving is one of America's ten most dangerous professions. People get hurt out there, even killed. Traffic accidents are not the only hazard. A surprising number of drivers are seriously injured by falling out of their own trucks. Slips and falls around loading docks take a toll. Freight-handling injuries can range from minor cuts and sprains to a back injury that takes you out of the business and leaves you with sleepless, pain-filled nights for the rest of your life. Expediting takes you to all sorts of neighborhoods, sometimes making street crime a concern.
Safety is something you should think about long and hard before jumping in. If you become an expediter, it won't be long before you hear about fellow expediters getting hurt on the job. In time, some of the stories will be about people you know. The dangers are up close and personal. It can happen to you.
Expediting Trucks
Expediting trucks range from cargo vans to straight trucks to eighteen-wheelers. Expediters refer to them as B-units (cargo vans), C and D-units (straight trucks), and E-units (tractor/trailers). A reefer is a refrigeration and heating device that keeps the freight at a specified temperature while it is on the truck; such as liquids that must stay cool in summer, paint that must not freeze in winter, and items like art work or electronics that must be kept at room temperature. Reefer-equipped units are known as CR, DR and ER.
Generally, the bigger the truck, the more gross revenue it can earn; and the more expensive it is to operate. Maneuverability decreases as truck size increases. You can't use drive-thru windows at fast-food restaurants with a tractor/trailer or straight truck, like you can with a cargo van. At certain tourist attractions, restaurants, hotels and malls, big trucks are often banned but straight trucks can park like buses and RVs. In most places, cargo vans park where cars do.
Truck features and equipment vary. Some trucks have reefers, lift gates, and/or generators. Sleepers range from tiny boxes that provide just enough room to lie down, to virtual apartments on wheels with RV-style kitchens, showers, toilets and beds. A variety of equipment for handling and securing freight is used, or not, depending on the expediter. Such items include pallet jacks, hand trucks, appliance carts, ratchet straps, load bars, furniture pads and more.
Some straight trucks have two axles, others have three. Among three-axle trucks, some have lift axles, others have tandems. E-unit drivers sometimes become B-unit drivers. B-unit drivers sometimes move into bigger trucks. If you ask two or more expediters about any truck type, feature, or brand, a lively discussion will likely ensue.
Carriers
While some expediters develop their own customer base and book their own freight (a regulatory arrangement known as having your own authority), most lease their trucks to an expedited freight or critical-shipment carrier. Carrier dispatchers then offer loads to the truck, which the drivers may accept or decline (an arrangement known as no forced dispatch).
The major expediting carriers include FedEx Custom Critical, Panther II, Landstar Express America, Conway NOW, Express-1, CTX and Tri-State. Each carrier has its own driver qualifications, truck qualifications and lease terms. Carrier web sites and/or recruiters can tell you what the qualifications are. Upon request, recruiters will send you an information packet, including a copy of the lease. Additional carriers are listed on the ExpeditersOnline.com home page (http://www.expeditersonline.com).
Freight
Expediters love trading stories about the unusual loads they've hauled; a small barrel of chili powder rushed from the east coast to Cincinnati, a single envelope transported in an eighteen-wheeler, a load picked up by driving a truck deep into the cargo hold of an ocean freighter, and even the life's-work of a scientist who told the driver he'd commit suicide if the load was lost. More typically, expedited loads consist of freight that moves fast, requires special care, or both.
Fast freight might be something like automobile parts going from a supplier to an automobile assembly plant. If the parts don't arrive exactly on time, the assembly line may shut down and idle the workers. By contract, the supplier would then be required to pay a steep fine to the automotive company; such as $25,000 for every hour parts are late. Given a choice between paying $25,000 an hour or expedited freight rates to deliver the parts on time, the expedite decision is easily made.
Other examples of fast freight are frozen turkeys, packed in dry ice, that were first missent and now must be driven straight through to arrive in time for Thanksgiving; temperature-controlled medicine flown to the U.S. from Europe that must be immediately transferred to a temperature-controlled truck and driven straight through to a temperature-controlled warehouse; newspaper inserts that got printed late and contain dated coupons that must soon be distributed; a custom-made part for an assembly-line machine, the lack of which will shut down the entire factory; an ordinary item rushed to a key customer who is threatening to take his or her business elsewhere; and hurricane relief supplies.
Special-care freight includes things like electronic components that will be used in outer space, high-value pharmaceuticals, vital legal documents being transferred from one office to another, the original recordings of a deceased country music star, priceless works of art being shipped from museum to museum, items that must be kept under constant watch, and more.
Some critical-shipment carriers have divisions that specialize in special-care freight. Others avoid special-care freight and focus instead on fast freight. For almost all expedited freight, the entire truck is dedicated to the load. Freight from other shippers is not mixed in.
Expediting trucks usually provide dock-to-dock service; meaning drivers run straight through from the pickup to the delivery. Sometimes loads are door-to-door, meaning no loading dock is available. In such cases, lighter freight is loaded and unloaded by hand, either by the drivers or by workers at the pickup and delivery locations. Heavier freight is delivered by trucks equipped with lift gates, pallet jacks, hand trucks, dollies, etc.
For example, a lift gate may be used to off-load two fireproof file cabinets onto the street. Dollies are then be used to wheel them into an office building. At a small factory, the driver may use a pallet jack to move pallets to the rear of his truck so a forklift on the ground can take them from there. Large oxygen containers have their own wheels. A lift gate may be used to get them from the truck onto the sidewalk, from which they are wheeled into a hospital or clinic.
Whether it's fast freight or special-care, HAZMAT (hazardous materials) loads are common. All major expediting and critical-shipment carriers require their drivers to have HAZMAT-endorsed CDLs (commercial drivers license).
Commercial Driver License
Driver license types and license endorsements, and the process of obtaining them, vary depending on the expediter's state of residence, truck type and carrier requirements. Check with your state officials and carrier of choice for details.
Working Hours and Conditions
Unless they place themselves out of service, expediters are on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Expediters almost never go to the same place twice in a row. Some loads take just an hour or two to complete. Others are cross-country runs requiring a few days and nights.
Most of the time, expediters have no idea where the next load will take them. It could be across the street or across the nation. It is not at all unusual to run all night and sleep the next day, and then run the next day and sleep the next night. Sleep management is an ongoing challenge and safety issue in expediting. Before you can sleep, you have to find a safe and legal place to park, which is also an ongoing challenge.
Some people look up to expediters, others look down on them. Commercial vehicles are not welcome in some places and very welcome in others. Some loads are easy, others require great effort. One day you may be waiting for a load while enjoying yourself on a Florida beach; another day, you may be cooped up in your truck in sub-zero Minnesota weather, praying your fuel won't gel and a load offer will come soon.
In short, successful expediters know how to adapt to the new circumstances they encounter several times a day; and they know how to roll with the punches.
Drivers
Whether they are owner/operators leasing their trucks to carriers, or fleet drivers running trucks owned by fleet owners, drivers either drive alone (solo) or with a co-driver (team). Teams have financial advantages over solo drivers. By sleeping and driving in shifts, a team can keep a truck moving longer than a solo driver can. That opens the team up to longer and higher-paying runs. Solo drivers are free of the relationship issues that rise when team drivers work and live together in a truck. Because their relationships tend to be more stable, married-couple teams are highly sought after by carriers and fleet owners.
Revenue Potential
People researching a career change into expediting are sometimes called expediter wannabees. One of the most common wannabee questions is, "How much money can I make?" While it's a logical and reasonable question, it's also difficult to answer. That's because some expediters go bankrupt, some get by, and some do very well. Whatever the industry conditions may be, some people make it and others don't.
FedEx Custom Critical publishes a revenue sheet that shows average revenue for the various size trucks. A recruiter will send you the revenue sheet upon request. Similar information may also be available from other carriers.
Performance
In general, carriers evaluate expediters by load acceptance rate, service percentage, availability, safety, and professionalism. Upon request, carriers will advise you of their specific requirements.
Load acceptance is the percentage of loads you accept of those offered. Expediters are free to decline loads but if their acceptance rate falls below a certain point, carriers will either terminate the expediter's contract or simply stop offering loads.
Service means being on time for each pickup and delivery. In expediting, if a driver is at fault for being late three times in a hundred, his or her contract may be in jeopardy. Traffic jams, bad weather and other factors that are out of the driver's control are not counted against the driver. However, if a driver is late because he or she overslept, failed to plan ahead, or stopped to do the laundry, a service failure would likely be charged.
Availability is the amount of time your truck is in or out of service (available to consider offers and carry freight). Some carriers require trucks to be in service for a specified percentage of time. Others informally note how available you are. Your usefulness to your carrier rises and falls with your availability. If your availability is too low, carriers will either terminate your contract or simply ignore you when loads come up.
Safety has to do with your driving record and freight-handling ability. Safe driving requirements vary among carriers. Some will immediately terminate you for a serious infraction. Others may give you a second chance. Freight damage due to mishandling or failing to secure the load will get a driver in serious trouble.
Professionalism is expected in expediting. You can have near-perfect load-acceptance, availability, and safety numbers; but an unprofessional outburst or poor choice of words on a shipper's dock can generate a customer complaint to your carrier and get you fired.
It's not hard to be a good expediter in your carrier's eyes. Simply know what your carrier's requirements are, do your best to fulfill them on every run, and be courteous and patient with your customers. In general, the better your numbers are, the higher your income will be.
Getting Started
New expediters begin as owner/operators or fleet drivers. An owner/operator owns and operates his or her own truck. Typically, the owner/operator leases the truck to his or her carrier of choice. Fleet drivers begin by finding a fleet owner. Expediting fleet owners run small businesses and seldom own more than ten trucks.
Fleet owners lease their trucks to one or more carriers and recruit drivers. Expediters speak of the truck earning money. They may say something like "This load paid $1,200 to the truck." or "The truck grossed $15,000 this month." The truck's revenue is split between the fleet owner and driver according to their agreement. Expediter wannabees would be wise to interview a number of fleet owners before choosing one.
Drivers locate fleet owners by word of mouth and by using the "Free Classifieds" at ExpeditersOnline.com. Some fleet owners accept drivers with no previous truck driving experience, others require experience.
Entering the business as a fleet driver is less risky because you don't assume the burden of truck ownership. If things don't work out, you can return the truck to your fleet owner and return to your prior life.
Entering the business as an owner/operator brings the disadvantages of truck ownership, including all truck-related expenses. The advantages include the freedom to make all of your own decisions (without a fleet owner's involvement), and keeping the money that would otherwise go to a fleet owner.
The majority of new expediters begin as owner/operators. However, expediter wannabees should speak with several fleet owners before choosing that path. Good fleet owners provide more than trucks. They help new drivers enter the industry and provide coaching that can be invaluable.
Unfortunately, not all fleet owners are good. That's why it's wise to interview a number of them before signing on with one. Soon after entering the business, you'll meet other expediters and talk shop. Such conversations begin quite naturally at truck stops, loading docks, and other places expediters stop.
If you stick with your first fleet owner for six months to a year and produce a good record with your carrier, other fleet owners will line up to sign you on if your first fleet owner turns out to be a dud. In defense of fleet owners, a lot of drivers turn out to be duds too.
Asking a fleet owner to tell you about the best and worst drivers he or she ever had will tell you a great deal about the industry and the fleet owner. It will also help you understand what fleet owners seek in drivers and how to be a good driver yourself.
The Expediting Lifestyle
The expediting lifestyle varies as much as the expediters themselves. Some drive solo, others team. Some love doing the problem solving of a tricky inside delivery. Others boast they never touch the freight they haul. Some stay out on the road for months at a time. Others schedule their runs so they're out three weeks and home one. Some consider expediting a job they go out and do. For others, expediting is paid tourism. Some say the work is hard, others say it's easy. Some barely eek out a living as expediters. Others bank thousands of dollars a month, after expenses and taxes are paid.
What expediting will be for you, and how well you will do, has a great deal to do with the research you do and choices you make. The more informed your choices are, the better they will be. As you research the industry, the place to begin is with yourself. The more you know about what kind of expediter you want to be and what you expect from the industry, the more likely you are to achieve what you set out to do.
Researching the Industry
The ExpeditersOnline (http://www.expeditersonline.com) web site is filled with information about expediting. For expediting wannabees, the Driver Lifestyles and Carrier Profiles sections shown on the home page will be of interest. The Open Forum is a place where you can interact online with expediters and expediter wannabees of all stripes. Carrier advertisements and expediting articles also appear in the free magazine Expedite NOW. Click here to subscribe: http://www.expeditersonline.com/eonow/index.html
