The problem with even Phil's dissertation on entering the business is from one point of view with one company. With all of his experience he still has no clue what Panther is like or Landstar but just FedEx.
To say something like that, you have to be, well, um... without a clue.
Priests don't need to marry and have children to be good family counselors. Fire fighters don't have to burn down their own homes to know how devastating a house fire can be. Truckers do not need to be half-burned alive to understand how serious an accident can be. People don't have to break a leg to know that it hurts or travel to France to learn the language and a great deal about that country.
In the same way, industry writers do not have to work for every carrier they write about to provide accurate and reliable information. In fact, industry writers don't have to drive a truck at all to write for a trucking magazine. I am one of the very few that do.
Introduction to Expediting is a carrier-neutral piece that has stood the test of time and the scrutiny of multiple carriers. As you read this, recruiters with carriers other than FedEx Custom Critical are distributing the piece to people who want to know more about expediting. Lawrence McCord, owner of this web site that serves multiple carriers, has seen fit to publish the piece online under the EO name and distribute it at truck shows as a valuable resource. Clearly, Introduction to Expediting has transcended the one-carrier perspective.
Yes, I am a FedEx Custom Critical contractor. But as the editor of
Expedite NOW -- a magazine that serves multiple carriers and readers having all levels of expedite experience -- I wear a second hat and strive to develop and share an industry-wide and carrier-neutral view. That comes through as clear as a bell to anyone open to seeing it.
Examples:
- The
EN cover story about a solar-powered van that featured an Express-1 van on the cover (I decide what goes on the cover).
-
This thread that solicited input from expediters of all carriers to be shared in an upcoming article. When it comes out in print, you will also see input from a Panther big-rig team that I sought out and interviewed to add perspective to the piece.
-
This dinner event involving contractors from three carriers where good information was exchanged and I learned more about other companies. I learned because I made the effort to learn.
- Dozens more examples of numerous carriers referenced in the magazine with no favoritism or one-carrier view.
It is just plain wrong to say that because I am a contractor that hauls freight for one carrier that I cannot know more about others and the business overall. In my role as editor, I have interviewed and/or visited with many more people and companies than I have space to write about. They include fleet owners, contractors in trucks of all types, company executives, vendors and more.
Recent examples include a visit Diane and I made to a Landstar Express America agency in Minnesota to learn more about their business, a lengthy phone conversation with a team I met at the Expedite Expo in which the team spoke in great detail about their fleet owner that had all trucks repossessed and a carrier that may be on its last legs, and an office visit with a fleet owner who runs over 100 trucks.
These people and many others confide in me, not because I drive for a particular carrier or have a one-carrier point of view, but because they trust me to keep their information to myself. Their information is very useful as I strive to write stuff that is of interest industry-wide.
You say I have a one-business point of view? Get a clue. People in and out of expediting have given me their time and gone out of their way to share what they know. It is amazing how much you can learn from others when they trust you to keep your ears open and your mouth shut. Sometimes all it takes for someone to open up is genuine interest in what they are up to.
Just today, I was invited to tour an impressive local courrier company in Saint Louis and see their even more impressive software in action. That invitation came from one of my blog readers who I knew nothing about until I met him on the road. You can
read about the tour on my blog if you wish.
I'm not going to say I know more about expediting than someone else who has been in the business for a while, but I will also not let stand the assertion that I have a limited, one-company perspective about what is going on out here.
I work very hard to learn something new every day. What I learn is often about expediting, the people who do it and the people who want to do it.
When I am asked, I am brutally honest and tell people if they can do something else, do it because we are all having a hard time.
No, Greg, we are not all having a hard time. To say every expediter is having a hard time is dishonest. While I believe it is true that freight has slowed and most if not all expediters are making less money these days, it is simply not the case that we are all having a hard time.
Not every expediter is living hand to mouth. Not every expediter is depending on the very next load to make one's truck payment. Some expediters are better prepared for slowdowns than others, and they are the ones not having a hard time. A business slowdown does not equate to a hard time for those who are prepared for it.
The last thing I want to add is that a years worth of knowledge is nothing, I have almost four and I know just enough to get by. I can't begin to tell you that one year with what I assume is with one company means nothing.
This brings us back to one of the themes that has developed in this thread; namely, how experienced does one have to be to write a credible book about expediting?
My answer is zero experience is needed to write a credible book on expediting.
I am not going to mention the book by name, but a while ago, an experienced expediter wrote a book about expeiditng. It was a piece of crap that got nowhere because it was a piece of crap. Highly experienced expediter, piece of crap book.
Look in any major trucking magazine and you will see people who have never driven a truck in their life writing good stuff about trucking. I see no reason why someone good with a pen cannot write a good expediting book.
The fact that XTeam has not been in the business long is a strength in my view. What better time to write a book for people who want to know more about expedting than when you are new at it yourself?
Rookies know what wannabees want to know. Better than those of us that have forgotten, they can write about what it is like to see a bill of lading for the first time and know if that document is more important to complete than something your fleet owner wants.
Experienced people in any field tend to forget what it is like to not know what they now know. Whether XTeam's book turns out to be useful or not, her words as a newer expediter will communicate a lot about today's experience as an expediter wannabee and rookie. For that reason alone, it will be interesting to read and I am looking forward to doing so.
