Looking to start an expediting company and need help!
- Thread starter shipit
- Start date
paullud
Veteran Expediter
I'm running a TT now but I was in a CV until November, I think you missed my point though. I'm saying why would I give you any of the money unless you are booking loads for a much higher dollar amount or more frequently than I can. I booked loads myself while I was in a CV for a $1-$1.50/mile on an irregular basis, I wouldn't need to pay you to do the same thing I can do.
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paullud
Veteran Expediter
You might want to actually learn how Rockefeller and Carnegie got started and their accidental timing of getting started. They also didn't go in blind.
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What you are proposing...now....is yet another bottom feeding company that doesn't go out and find their own freight but relies on the load boards. Have you actually ever tried to win a bid on a load board? The competition is fierce. The rates are in the dumpster and it is, at least to some extent, caused by companies just like the one your proposing.
Since you have apparently not read up on this yet, I'll explain the situation to you again. What happens is the driver (owner/operator) is leased to you and 2 or more other companies like yours. Each company posts the truck as available in..let's say Cleveland. The count of trucks available for a load on the load board just increased not by 1 truck, but by 3 trucks. This happens because each company posted the same truck available in Cleveland. That simple fact in itself is enough to drive rates down, especially when there may be 10 other trucks there with the same setup. But, the other thing that happens is that behind the scenes, the carriers (like you) will be under bidding each other to get the freight. In the end, all you have done is drive the rates down. You've jumped into an already grossly oversaturated market and made it (that little bit) worse. Everybody that does this is in the same shoes as you. What's it going to hurt, we've only got 3 trucks? Yeah, you and 50 other people. Then you grow to 5 or 10 (and so do the others). The thing is, it's nothing new. There are already ALOT of people doing it.
One thing that a lot of people don't understand is the money it takes to bankroll such an operation. They also don't understand that sometimes, the money never gets collected. It is well documented on this forum that customers aren't paying in 30 days anymore, it's more like 60-90 days. Are you willing and capable of paying $5,000/week for 60-90 days before you start seeing any revenue come in? That little bit of profit can be wiped out in a hurry by one customer that defaults on $20,000 worth of freight.
As a side note. Which customers do you think would be the ones who would put their freight on the load boards and award it to a start up company that nobody has ever heard of? It's probably going to be the cheapest customer on the planet...agreed? Now, out of all the customers out there, which one do you think would be more likely to vanish into thin air and leave you holding $20,000 worth of bills that are now useless paper?
It's real easy to look at this and say man, I could do that and do a good job of it. It's a whole different story to actually get it done. You and your brother have the same opportunity that anybody else has. You can go out and jump into an already oversaturated market just like anybody else can. That doesn't make it a wise decision and it doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do, but you can do it. I don't think you'll get a lot of support for your efforts here though.
You really don't have a clue do you?
You won't be doing anything new. You have a LOT of people already doing what your proposing and we have already seen the effects of it. Your not creating new opportunities for anybody. Your just creating competition. If you want to create opportunities, learn how to go out and get your own customers. Find people who are not expediting freight, sell them on the concept, bring new freight into the market. Then you can talk about doing something that benefits the industry.
paullud
Veteran Expediter
Ignorance is bliss that quickly becomes dangerous.
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That thought crossed my mind as this thread progressed.
Get used to it, paullud. I do not know if shipit is a legitimate poster or not but the dynamic he or she is presenting is real.
When Diane and I spoke at the ExpeditersOnline workshop in Monroe, there were several people in the room who had no experience in expediting but wanted to learn everything they could about becoming fleet owners or carriers. At the Sylectus conference I met some URR carriers who were very proud of what they had accomplished and excited about the future.
What are they doing to the industry? They don't care. They see opportunities and dismiss concerns voiced by people like you as quaint. To them, it's about free enterprise and out-competing the next guy. They know and appreciate technology at a deeper level than many people who come from a trucking background. They have enough money to cover their meager overhead (some running their businesses out of their homes) and are making more.
They also know that lots of drivers are gullible, financially ignorant and easy to recruit and retain at least for a little while. Finding the next batch is no problem since industry turnover is so high. Promise an extra two cents a mile, or that they will get home often, or that signing on with multiple carriers will keep them running, or that the will be free to run their own business (whatever that means) and in they will come.
Expediting is not difficult to get into. Technology is lowering the barriers to entry at all levels. Talk about expediting history, traditions and values to these folks and get nowhere. It's like talking to Apple about respecting video rental stores or Amazon about respecting buildings in which books are sold. They won't get it because they see the world differently. They are not interested in supporting the industry. They are interested in changing it and profiting from doing so.
Below is a photo of a truck similar to some of the trucks these URR carriers are running. It don't look like much. It don't make much but the carriers that dispatch them make a pretty penny and move an increasing amount of freight. The driver owns and operates a truck. The carrier owns and operates a computer.
To stop URR carriers, legally define vans as commercial vehicles, make them log, put them under CSA and everything else other commercial vehicles are required to do. Until that happens, I see more and more people exploiting the URR loopholes to make a buck; and more and more skids going onto those trucks, delighting shippers with their price.
What company in their right mind would put freight on a truck like this? FedEx Custom Critical for one. One URR carrier told me 40 percent of his business comes from FedEx Custom Critical. When Diane and I ran with FedEx Custom Critical we cross docked freight off a truck that looked very much like the one pictured below. I was shocked when I saw the overloaded and beat up truck (more so than the one shown below) we were supposed to meet to take the freight into Canada, but I know for a fact that the truck was booked by FedEx Custom Critical because the dispatcher told me so.
Call these trucks the lunch trucks, as in they're eating yours.
Last edited:
mxzane933
Seasoned Expediter
Get used to it, paullud. I do not know if shipit is a legitimate poster or not but the dynamic he or she is presenting is real.
When Diane and I spoke at the ExpeditersOnline workshop in Monroe, there were several people in the room who had no experience in expediting but wanted to learn everything they could about becoming fleet owners or carriers. At the Sylectus conference I met some URR carriers who were very proud of what they had accomplished and excited about the future.
What are they doing to the industry? They don't care. They see opportunities and dismiss concerns voiced by people like you as quaint. To them, it's about free enterprise and out-competing the next guy. They know and appreciate technology at a deeper level than many people who come from a trucking background. They have enough money to cover their meager overhead (some running their businesses out of their homes) and are making more.
They also know that lots of drivers are gullible, financially ignorant and easy to recruit and retain at least for a little while. Finding the next batch is no problem since turnover is so high. Promise an extra two cents a mile or that they will get home often or that the will be free to run their own business (whatever that means) and in they will come.
Expediting is not difficult. Technology is lowering the barriers to entry at all levels. Talk about expediting history, traditions and values to these folks and get nowhere. It's like talking to Apple about respecting video rental stores or Amazon about respecting buildings in which books are sold. They won't get it because they see the world differently. They are not interested in supporting the industry. They are interested in changing it and profiting from doing so.
Below is a photo of a truck these URR carriers are running. It don't look like much. It don't make much but the carriers that dispatch them make a pretty penny and move an increasing amount of freight. To stop it, legally define vans as commercial vehicles, make them log, put them under CSA and everything else other commercial vehicles are required to do. Until that happens, I see more and more people exploiting the URR loopholes to make a buck; and more and more skids going onto those trucks, delighting shippers with their price.
I love learning the ins n outs to this industry. Alot of knowlege on here. Thanx @team
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Brisco
Expert Expediter
Below is a photo of a truck similar to some of the trucks these URR carriers are running. It don't look like much. It don't make much but the carriers that dispatch them make a pretty penny and move an increasing amount of freight. The driver owns and operates a truck. The carrier owns and operates a computer.
To stop URR carriers, legally define vans as commercial vehicles, make them log, put them under CSA and everything else other commercial vehicles are required to do. Until that happens,I see more and more people exploiting the URR loopholes to make a buck; and more and more skids going onto those trucks, delighting shippers with their price.
What company in their right mind would put freight on a truck like this? FedEx Custom Critical for one. One URR carrier told me 40 percent of his business comes from FedEx Custom Critical. When Diane and I ran with FedEx Custom Critical we cross docked freight off a truck that looked very much like the one pictured below. I was shocked when I saw the truck we were supposed to meet to take the freight into Canada, but I know for a fact that the truck was booked by FedEx Custom Critical because the dispatcher told me so.
Call these trucks the lunch trucks, as in they're eating yours.
Guess Phil is Still "out of the loop" when it comes to Illegal Haulers. This right here has been going on for years already. What Phil has just described above is "UShip's" standard operating procedures. Or basically their "Business Plan". The originators of UShip and their Attorneys found those loopholes and have been taking advantage of those loopholes to create obscene profits.
My opinion...if the rules and regs were tweaked just a little making UShips operational practice, as well as a few dozen other "smaller" type of UShip companies out there totally illegal, then all these drivers in vehicles as Phil points out above will disappear thus placing rates on an even keel again for the "Legal" haulers out there.
A non-asset based carrier? Sure. Some of the carriers who are like that are FedEx Custom Critical, Panther, Bolt, Express-1, and pretty much every other expedite carrier out there.
Your problem with be gaining access to the bid boards. They don't just let anyone on there who wants on. Most are private bid boards where an established relationship is required for access. More freight gets bid out in private e-mails than people realize, too.
Comparing a service like expediting to that of Rockefeller or Carnegie producing a tangible product isn't even a valid comparison. Everything about your business model and what you want to accomplish screams bottom-feeder who will put downward pressure on rates. Your business model is designed to literally result in everyone making less money. Rockefeller or Carnegie didn't do that. They came up with ways to be more profitable using efficient methods of production. Your business model is the exact opposite of that.
Brisco
Expert Expediter
Just to discuss a little further into what the lowering of rates and equipment does to a company, and a market overall, I'll give a couple of examples real quick.
Below are 5 pics. The first 3 pics are of truck and trailer combos that show how I used to run in the "3PL" Freight Industry running Automotive Parts and Accessories in a 4-5 state region. The company I was with for over 5 years usually had 8-10 of us "Professional Business Owners" under contract servicing their 4-5-6 Dozen "Auto Dealership" Customer Base here in Texas getting those Dealerships parts and supplies delivered to their Customers (Small Town Body Shops/Mechanic Shops/Etc) in a Courteous, Timely, and Professional manner. Most of Drivers were of Caucasion descent, well spoken, somewhat educated (as Phil is), and presented ourselves with the utmost professionalism to not only the Dealerships we were representing, but also to the Dealerships customers. On top of that, we kept our Trucks and Equipment up to high standards to fulfill our obligations we were entrusted with.
The $$$ was GOOD. It was nothing for me to bill out $3000 a week, and pocket a good $2000 or more a week after expenses. The Dealerships we represented were also making money with higher sales due to our performance, and the owners of the 3PL Company we were all under contract with were making $$$ by retaining those Dealerships that WE, the Drivers, who were actually servicing the Dealerships ourselves.
Well, one day one of the owners of that 3PL Company got a wild hair up his butt and came up with an idea that would put MORE $$$ in the Companies Coffers that included paying LESS to the Drivers that built his company. He decided to tap into the Low Rate Hispanic workforce that is available here in the Northern Part of Mexico called "Texas". He figured that if he could get those Dealerships serviced at HALF the cost he was paying us, that he could take more Vacations, buy that second Corvette, a Vette for all his Kids, his Wifes second Boob Job, and so on. (He was already making GREAT $$$$ - He just got Greedy)
So, he started replacing all of us "Professional Drivers" with Non-English speaking hispanics that would do the Dealerships deliveries in vehicles as depicted in the 4th-5th pic below.
No, I am not kidding either! There was one route that went from the DFW area to Shreveport/Bossier City that packed a 28ft Cargo Trailer on a daily basis. (Big "Custom Rim" Place there in Shreveport that probably bought 20-30 sets of rims and tires on a daily basis, along with all the other Body Shop orders and such) Guy that had been doing that route had a 30ft Cargo Trailer, and pulled it with a Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel Dually. Hispanic guy he hired to take over that route showed up in a 95-96 something Extended Cab V6 Dodge Dakota pulling an open 16ft Flatbed Trailer. I bet he used 30 something tie-down straps to get that load secured the morning I stood on the dock watching him load.
Anyways, I stuck it out as long as I could, and I was the last "Professional Driver" to walk away from that Company. That company today is no longer in business. Within the first year they had lost over 3/4's of their Customer Base over this. And about a year after that, the "Other Owner" of said company(not the idiot that put the chaep labor force idea in play) decided to sell his stake in the company to a Competitor down in Houston who came in and Cleaned house when they took over. Sad too, cause at one time that company was up in the 3-5 Million a year range in billable services to their Customers.
So Yes, Lower Rates do affect certain types of Operations in the Trucking Industry. It may not happen immediately. But, give it time, It eventually will.............
NOTE - Pics Are Not From the Actual Drivers - Just Pics I found on the Internet Depicting what we used to use, compared to what we were replaced with!
Here is a Pic of my 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins Turbo Diesel Dually!
Below are 5 pics. The first 3 pics are of truck and trailer combos that show how I used to run in the "3PL" Freight Industry running Automotive Parts and Accessories in a 4-5 state region. The company I was with for over 5 years usually had 8-10 of us "Professional Business Owners" under contract servicing their 4-5-6 Dozen "Auto Dealership" Customer Base here in Texas getting those Dealerships parts and supplies delivered to their Customers (Small Town Body Shops/Mechanic Shops/Etc) in a Courteous, Timely, and Professional manner. Most of Drivers were of Caucasion descent, well spoken, somewhat educated (as Phil is), and presented ourselves with the utmost professionalism to not only the Dealerships we were representing, but also to the Dealerships customers. On top of that, we kept our Trucks and Equipment up to high standards to fulfill our obligations we were entrusted with.
The $$$ was GOOD. It was nothing for me to bill out $3000 a week, and pocket a good $2000 or more a week after expenses. The Dealerships we represented were also making money with higher sales due to our performance, and the owners of the 3PL Company we were all under contract with were making $$$ by retaining those Dealerships that WE, the Drivers, who were actually servicing the Dealerships ourselves.
Well, one day one of the owners of that 3PL Company got a wild hair up his butt and came up with an idea that would put MORE $$$ in the Companies Coffers that included paying LESS to the Drivers that built his company. He decided to tap into the Low Rate Hispanic workforce that is available here in the Northern Part of Mexico called "Texas". He figured that if he could get those Dealerships serviced at HALF the cost he was paying us, that he could take more Vacations, buy that second Corvette, a Vette for all his Kids, his Wifes second Boob Job, and so on. (He was already making GREAT $$$$ - He just got Greedy)
So, he started replacing all of us "Professional Drivers" with Non-English speaking hispanics that would do the Dealerships deliveries in vehicles as depicted in the 4th-5th pic below.
No, I am not kidding either! There was one route that went from the DFW area to Shreveport/Bossier City that packed a 28ft Cargo Trailer on a daily basis. (Big "Custom Rim" Place there in Shreveport that probably bought 20-30 sets of rims and tires on a daily basis, along with all the other Body Shop orders and such) Guy that had been doing that route had a 30ft Cargo Trailer, and pulled it with a Dodge Cummins Turbo Diesel Dually. Hispanic guy he hired to take over that route showed up in a 95-96 something Extended Cab V6 Dodge Dakota pulling an open 16ft Flatbed Trailer. I bet he used 30 something tie-down straps to get that load secured the morning I stood on the dock watching him load.
Anyways, I stuck it out as long as I could, and I was the last "Professional Driver" to walk away from that Company. That company today is no longer in business. Within the first year they had lost over 3/4's of their Customer Base over this. And about a year after that, the "Other Owner" of said company(not the idiot that put the chaep labor force idea in play) decided to sell his stake in the company to a Competitor down in Houston who came in and Cleaned house when they took over. Sad too, cause at one time that company was up in the 3-5 Million a year range in billable services to their Customers.
So Yes, Lower Rates do affect certain types of Operations in the Trucking Industry. It may not happen immediately. But, give it time, It eventually will.............
NOTE - Pics Are Not From the Actual Drivers - Just Pics I found on the Internet Depicting what we used to use, compared to what we were replaced with!
Here is a Pic of my 2007 Dodge Ram 3500 Cummins Turbo Diesel Dually!
Tim.
It sounds like this is a totaly new concept for you I would recomend first working as a STRAIT TRUCK OWNER OPPERATOR WITH YOUR OWN AUTHORITY FOR A MININUM OF TWO YEARS BEFORE HIRING ANYONE This will at least get your feet wet. If and when the time comes to hire drivers, you may be able to find quality drivers, and keep them as you actualy cut your teeth driving and be able to "speak driver" you will have a good understanding of the B.S. we drivers go through. The best and most respected dripatchers have a mininum of ten years driving and no less then one milion miles under thier belt.
The list is too long to type out if you are serious and not just kicking tires feel free to call me at my phone number below and maby I can help.
585 414 7732
Bob Wolf
Wolf Trucking
It sounds like this is a totaly new concept for you I would recomend first working as a STRAIT TRUCK OWNER OPPERATOR WITH YOUR OWN AUTHORITY FOR A MININUM OF TWO YEARS BEFORE HIRING ANYONE This will at least get your feet wet. If and when the time comes to hire drivers, you may be able to find quality drivers, and keep them as you actualy cut your teeth driving and be able to "speak driver" you will have a good understanding of the B.S. we drivers go through. The best and most respected dripatchers have a mininum of ten years driving and no less then one milion miles under thier belt.
The list is too long to type out if you are serious and not just kicking tires feel free to call me at my phone number below and maby I can help.
585 414 7732
Bob Wolf
Wolf Trucking
turritrans
Expert Expediter
If it ain't broke don't fix it
I see people making a lot of money day trading stocks, but I no nothing about it so I'm not going to do it! If your making good money at what your doing, focus on your core business and make that more profitable.
This is a racket, if your going to do it hire someone that is an expert and proven performer to run your company. 100k isn't going to cut it, I'd buy two fixer upper homes and keep flipping those. The housing market is getting better... Price of fuel keeps going up!
Buy a truck, lease it to a carrier. You guys will see what this us all about.
Good luck
I see people making a lot of money day trading stocks, but I no nothing about it so I'm not going to do it! If your making good money at what your doing, focus on your core business and make that more profitable.
This is a racket, if your going to do it hire someone that is an expert and proven performer to run your company. 100k isn't going to cut it, I'd buy two fixer upper homes and keep flipping those. The housing market is getting better... Price of fuel keeps going up!
Buy a truck, lease it to a carrier. You guys will see what this us all about.
Good luck
tryhours3191
Seasoned Expediter
I did that for a while, delivering parts to car dealers and body shops in the middle of the night. Not a bad living.
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