It's a Team's Life

Paying It Forward

At this year’s Expedite Expo we got to meet some really nice people.  But one person really stuck out and reminded us how far we have come in this industry.  More on this person later, but first how we started.

Ten years ago (2012), we attended our first Expo in Wilmington, OH.  We were brand new and had more questions than we had answers.  We started by walking to each booth introducing ourselves and asking questions.  While the hall was open work shops were going on.  We attended some of them and they answered questions but also created more questions.

At two booths were told to find a couple with the last name of Caffee (Bob and Linda).  One of those booths told us to get into their hip pockets and never leave. They were running around somewhere here at the Expo.  We did find them presenting at workshops, manning booths, and passing along their knowledge.  We did finally corner Linda at the Women In Trucking booth she was manning.  From there on we stuck to them like glue and have become really good friends and more like family.

We talked to Bob and Linda which seemed like forever over the two days.  Question after question after question after question we asked them…..you get the idea.  They were so kind and answered all of them and of course that would create more questions.  One of the things that stuck with us from the Caffee’s was they told us to “Paying It Forward”, as they were doing for us at the Expo.  They talked about those that have helped them since they attended their first Expo and were paying it forward.

Now on how were started.  Stephen had been laid off from his computer job and those jobs were tight at that time.  He had heard of this Expediting from a over the road trucker and started to do some research on it.  Stephen found it interesting and took the plunge and got his CDL, bought a used truck, and then went looking for a carrier to lease onto (that is why we were at the Expo to find a carrier).  He kind of did the process wrong (that’s for another blog) but it worked out.

This person we met at this years Expo.  They were brand new to Expediting but had a lot of experience on driving doing local deliveries, but no over the road experience.  This person kept asking question after question after question…..sound familiar?  That got us to thinking this person sounded like us ten years ago.

Sandy & Stephen

Pinch Hitting for TeamCaffee