Carrier Profiles
On Time Express: An update
From the On Time Express web site...
"On-Time Express, Inc. is the fastest-growing expediting company in the mid-west, and I think that we are just getting started. When I established this company in 1995, it began with only 1 truck. Now, we have a fleet of nearly 50 vehicles along with a dedicated staff whose endless commitment and strong work ethic have been instrumental to our success."
"My main objective has always been to operate under the belief that you don't have to be the biggest company to provide the best service. I am priviledged and proud to say that we have realized and proven that goal."
President Robert Stark is a busy man. His company, celebrating it's ten year anniversary, "has more work than we can handle" and he's looking to grow his fleet. Stark feels that there has been a degree of attrition within expediting due to high fuel prices and the cost of new equipment, so with this truck shortage, there's opportunities for new people to enter this business.
In his own words
Stark begins, "With On Time Express, a go-getter in a cargo van can gross $80,000 annually and the straight truck owner-operators are knocking down $150,000 a year. We've had some drivers come over to our company who have been with some of the major expediting carriers for a few years and they're amazed what they can make here."
"Our Cargo Vans are making $1.05/mile and our Straight Trucks are at $1.35/mile. The Tractor-Trailers are at $1.80/mile and our fuel surcharges are averaging 8% to 12%."
He continues, "We are doing mostly automotive freight and we're able to get some pretty good rates whether it's an envelope or a truck load. We have very little dead head. Our objective is to get our drivers out and back with loads no matter where they're domiciled, whether it's Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, etc."
"We've got freight running everywhere and anywhere, so we can work with people if they want to be come back home or stay out a couple of weeks. It's a tough task for this company, but we do a pretty doggone good job of it."
"We're being very strategic when it comes to longer-mileage runs. We were going out to California quite a bit and we were going to Texas often, but we've seen the freight dry up as far as backhauls. There are too many trucks in certain areas, so we're very careful where we send our people."
"We're not a strong nationwide company," says Stark,"but we have a niche, and that niche is runs that occur within a 500-600 mile radius. We're extremely strong within that radius and we don't have a problem getting backhauls."
"I think also with the rates that we're paying, patience and understanding of the industry are keys to success. For us to pay the rate we pay to a cargo van, it isn't easy to get that rate to pay that person that kind of money, so patience has a lot to do with it."
"When I say patience, I mean that if we wanted to send a van to St. Louis, for example, and we had cheap rates, getting that driver out of St. Louis would be very easy. But, in order for us to get the dollars we need to keep that driver happy, we need patience."
"We're not going to get every load that we want, because it's all based on cost. Of course, we give the customer great service, but with everything done through the computer, we won't receive immediate positive feedback."
Stark does the sales and recruiting for the company: "I'd love to have someone to take those duties off my shoulders, but at the same time, that means I'd have to take away from the drivers and I'm not going to do that. I don't mind the work, but it takes money to employ people in different departments and if I do that, I would pay less."
"That's one of the reasons that our company is successful."
Stark says that in his twenty years in the business, he has never seen the competition in expediting as fierce as it is today. He has a theory for this:
"Because of the de-regulation of ten or eleven years ago, it enabled some of these carriers with one or two trucks to start up and they might have some freight in their area because no one's been able to cover that area. They pick up some freight and bring it up to Michigan, because this is where the plants are."
"Then, they get a load going back home at half the price of what our company or the other established companies would charge. We can't compete against those one or two man shows. They're happy, they're content and they're making a living, but they can never grow and they can never get anyone to run for them at those rates."
"That's what has driven down the rates. It was competitive enough ten or fifteen years ago and with the de-regulation of a few years ago, it's even more so. These are concerns that I'm trying to express and it's necessary to have patience and understanding of the industry."
On Time Express
"A lot of people don't understand the pressure that a company faces in this industry and that's why we don't take on inexperienced people. We can't afford to have one of our drivers shut down a plant by missing a protect time. Thankfully this company never has and never will."
"Our dispatchers are some of the best in the industry, the newest has been with me for four years. We carry nine people internally and he chemistry in the office is one of the most important things to a company. When a driver calls in, he doesn't have to give his unit number to be recognized, they know him by name."
Stark details some of the advantages his company offers to it's owner-operators: "No escrow, no Qualcomm - we're trying to make people money, not take it. Some of our most professional drivers run with not just one cell phone, but with two phones, and often with different service providers. Or a lot of our guys will also run with a pager and one run can pay for that pager for an entire year."
The company has a fleet of around 50 trucks total consisting of twenty cargo vans, fifteen straight trucks and the rest are tractors pulling new company-owned Wabash dry vans.
Stark explains, "We like people to have good equipment. We prefer that it not be over seven years old, although we've had people limping into the driveway with trucks that are barely running. We're sympathetic though, I'll tell them that I have no problems with them running the truck. Just give me two months of hard work and we'll show you what we can do for you and we'll see what you can do for us. If it works out, you WILL go get a new truck. Nine times out ten, they do."
"We're recruiting all sizes of trucks right now and we're being very strategic in regards to location. Out of respect to my Michigan-based people, we're not going to take on too many more people from Michigan. But, we are going to take on people from Chicago, St. Louis, Kentucky, Ohio and elsewhere. We've considered opening a terminal in Indianapolis and we're pretty close to doing it."
"We have primarily singles in the trucks, but we do have a few teams, both in straight trucks and tractors. The teams do make more money and do we have the work? Absolutely! We definitely have the work! A team can generate $5,000 a week with our company and we have the figures to back that up."