It's a Team's Life

How We Got Into Expediting

We started in August of 2012 running Expediting.  Both of us were in the Information Technologies (IT) field building and programming computer systems for the Federal Government as contractors since the early 1980’s.  In May of 2011 Stephen’s contract came to an end and he got laid off.

Sandy is an avid writing instrument collector (pens, pencils, etc look for a future blog on this subject).  She buys most of her pens from a store in downtown Cincinnati, OH called Appointments.  They are located in the Carew Tower.  One of the other regular customers we would see and talk with was an over the road trucker.  He was at the time pulling a fifty-three-foot trailer hauling beer from Cincinnati to New Jersey and then deadheading back to Cincinnati to pick up another beer load.

Stephen got to talking with him and he said “If I had it to do all over, I would got get one of those little trucks and lease onto XYZ carrier”.  What he meant was he would see these “little trucks” while waiting in line to load or unload.  Those little trucks would come flying in and get into a dock (get loaded or unloaded) and then fly back out.  He told Stephen that these trucks were like a truck that delivers your furniture from the store, but have a sleeper on them.

With this information in hand Stephen went off to research these “little trucks”.  It did not take him long to find out they were Expedite trucks.  He leaned that they required you to have at least a class “B” Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), if over 26,000 pounds.  Researching how to get that CDL he found there was no schools for this class CDL, but he found he could do everything on his own and not need a school.  The only problem was he did not have a vehicle to take the pre-trip and road test.  Even more research he found a school (that was for class A CDL) that would “rent” you a vehicle to take that pre-trip and road test.

Stephen then went to the local Bureau of Motor Vehicles office and picked up a copy of the CDL Handbook to study from.  He started to study the handbook getting ready to take the CDL written tests.

While he was studying, he found the website ExpeditersOnline.com website and started contacting carriers, also dealers that sold used Expediter trucks.  Boy was this and learning experience.  He found each carrier had different requirements for the driver and equipment.  He learned about the different equipment, the difference between and Class 7 and 8 truck.  Different engines, transmissions, etc.  So, it was time spent studying that.

During this Sandy still had her IT job and we decided Stephen would go out as a solo in the used truck to see if it would be something we would like to do.

Stephen passed the written tests, pre-trip and road tests and earned his class B CDL.  Started negotiating on different trucks we felt would serve us best and bought one.  At this point it was June of 2012, thought it would be best if we attended the Expedite Expo in Wilmington, OH coming July to meet with carriers face to face.

We spent both days at the Expo talking with carriers and other owner operators asking questions.  This was all valuable information and helped us decided who to lease onto with.  We both went to orientation at the carrier and Stephen ran our first load the middle of August of 2012.

Sandy & Stephen

Pinch Hitting for TeamCaffee