Talk to me, people....

[Toes]

Really thinking hard about this expediting business. Leaning towards CON-WAY NOW or ALL-STATE. Which is the better of the two for me? Living in southern Ohio, app. 100 miles to Cinn. or Columbus either one. About 4.5 or 5 hours to Indy, if that helps.

Here's the deal....I'm running for Atlas Van Lines now. (Someone has to move the furniture) Just coming back from the west coast. Gone 15 days. Home Saturday evening. Leave Wenesday for Boston, Mass. Be gone another week. I make a little coin, but I'm gone as gone can be. Would rather stay a little closer to home. I can see staying out 3-4-5 days. Can I make a decent living doing this?

Guy has a 97 FL-70 ready to go. Cat engine, 6-speed. 70 inch bunk with a 22 foot box. 250,000 miles. Looking at 18,000 dollars. Is that a fair enough deal?

Dead-head miles? Discounts? Anymore, that seems to be the way trucking goes.

Thanks For Reading...
Toes

 

[WendyCal]

Wow! If the truck is in good shape, that sounds like a great deal! Your payments should be pretty low, which means your Cost Per Mile will be lower than a person buying a brand new truck. Please do yourself a BIG favor -- take the truck to someone you trust to have it checked out.

It's really going to be up to you about which company you lease to -- every one of the companies out there have their good points, and what you're doing is shopping for a "family" that you can be comfortable, and PROFITABLE, with.

To begin with, i would highly advise you to take ALL profitable loads offers (using your Cost Per Mile Worksheet, you'll know whether any given load is profitable or not). This will allow you to get a feel for the company's operating areas, and let you see who the company's customers are. Since a LOT of load offers depend on proximity, knowing where the repeat customers are, and positioning yourself accordingly, will be fairly important. In a best case scenario, you *could* create your own little semi-dedicated route.

Regarding ConWay Now and (i assume you meant) TriState, if you will use the search feature to find posts about these companies, you can read what others have had to say about them. Also, if you use a NorthernLight-type search, you should be able to bring up information from other sites about them.

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Godspeed to all of you out there on the highways and byways!

 

[RichM]

Toes the area of the country that you live in should be able to provide you with a OK living,and get you home after 4-5 days out .Some of us like to call the area from Milwaukee to Cincy to Toronto the triangle as that is where a great deal of expedited freight originates and delivers. The various auto assembly plants around the mid west deal with JIT deliveries,and most of the vendors to the auto plants are in the triangle area.Also the Carolina!s ship a good deal of freight to the midwest.

The truck sounds like a great deal if it has been maintained OK and as Wendy said to get it looked over. If possible I would reccommend you taking it to Han!s Freightliner in Cleveland for a thorough inspection.This dealership deals primarily with mid size trucks and has a excellent reputation..Good Luck..