Industry Outlook

LOOK! Final Video - How to get Freight

Sprinter vans in the expedite industry are all the rage. But do you have all the right info you need to get started?

In today's episode, we wrap up our series on Sprinter Vans in the Expedite space with a lesson in how to get freight.

Follow along 👇👇 with Rob Podeszwa of Jung Express, and host Brandon Baxter, as they discuss the ins and outs of Sprinter van ownership within the world of Expedite.

It's ExpediteNOW!

Transcript: 

Brandon Baxter: Welcome to the Expedite NOW podcast presented by Expediters Online and Jung Express.
I'm your host, Brandon Baxter. My guest is Rob Podeszwa.
Rob is a recruiter with Jung Express and he's here once again to discuss the ups and downs of running sprinter vans in the expedite industry.
Rob, thank you for joining me again.

Rob Podeszwa: You're welcome, Brandon.
It's great to be here and it's been a fun time.

Brandon: It has, it really has.
And, and really before we get started with today's episode, let's, let's catch the audience up on our previous 5 as today we're recording episode number 6.
We set the tone for what this entire series has been about, which is how someone can enter the expedite industry as a sprinter van owner operator.
Episodes 2 and 3 highlighted the importance of building a business plan.
And how to put all those numbers together to form such a plan.
And then episodes 4 and 5, we discussed how to address those numbers, make them work for you, culminating with what types of vans are best for your expedited endeavors.
So, with that catchup out of the way, Rob, what are we going to be discussing today?

Rob: What I wanted to start with is, and I know we touched on it before, but a little bit of bidding your own freight, versus signing on and being a carrier's carrier, signing on with the company.

Brandon: Yeah.

Rob: there are pros and cons to both of them.
If you are going to bid your own freight.
You have to understand a few things with that.
One, you're going to have a lot more upfront costs, because you are going to have to get your own authority.
You're going to have to pay for that.
You're going to have to carry a million dollar liability insurance.
You're going to have to carry a $100,000 cargo insurance.
You're also going to have to pay to be on the load boards.
And you also need to learn in terms of the bidding process and how to bid and things like that.
If you're going to do that, OK, and a lot of guys want to do that because they want to be in control of where it's bidding.
They want to be in control of that.
And that's fine, but you also have to understand that it's going to take a while to get your business up and running then.
You're going to have these upfront initial costs, and, but then you may have a hard time getting loads.
It's not what you're bidding that necessarily wins the bid. OK, companies or the broker or whoever, they can award the load to whoever they want.

Brandon: Sure.

Rob: It’s very important for them that their freight gets delivered on time, because if their freight doesn't get delivered on time, you potentially lose a customer.
So saving money by going with the cheapest bid does not offset if you lose the customer.
So they're going to award it to companies, that they've either used before or they have a great reputation because they want to make sure it's delivered on time.
If you don't have that reputation, if they haven't dealt with you before, they're going to be very skeptical to give you that freight.
It may take a couple of years then to get your business up and running.
Keep trying, keep trying.
Eventually, hopefully somebody gives you a load, and then you can start building that reputation.
But you got to be prepared for some lean years getting into it and doing that.
The other way is becoming a carrier's carrier, signing on with a company like Jung Express or like any of the other 1000 logistics companies out there.
We're getting you the freight and everything, so you're not worried about bidding it.
You're going to have fewer upfront costs, you know, some companies, you get the insurance through them. Some, you, you have to have your own insurance.
Some of them you don't have to carry cargo insurance. A lot of them you don't have to have your own authority. So, you have a lot less upfront costs with it.
You're going to do more miles because the freight's being given to you there. You're going to be getting more loads that way. but you are losing a little bit of control with it. So, again, it's looking at the different aspects of it.
If you're bidding your own freight, now you also have to worry about them paying you and you have to invoice them. You have to do it. There's just so much more involved with it.
And I get a, you know, some drivers, they wanna do that, great. Other ones say, I just wanna drive and then you sign on to be a carrier's carrier. So, it, it's a little bit easier way to go.
You're gonna get the experience a lot more because you're gonna be driving more with it, but it is, it is a personal preference, but just understand the pros and cons to each of them and be ready for it.

Brandon: What do you look for in companies, right?
When, when you're looking to sign on with somebody?
Is there anything specific that, you know, you, you really wanna key in on when you're looking for a carrier to run for?

Rob: When you're looking at the different companies, you want to make sure that you're looking at the entire picture.
When people call me, the first thing they always want to know is what's your rate per mile.
That's what they focus on is all what's your rate per mile.
And, yeah, that's, that's an important aspect of it, but you want to, when you're comparing companies, compare the overall picture.
Do you get the insurance through them? Do you have to have your own insurance?
how much insurance do you have to carry?
How much liability, do you have to carry cargo insurance?
What are the fees of that company?So if somebody has, hey, I, they have a much higher rate per mile, but then they charge you a ton of fees, is it offset? Cause the fees are going to be there no matter what every week, you know, but you don't know how you, how many loads you're going to get.
So compare the fees with it. Other things, are they going to require you to be exclusive to them, or do they treat you as a true independent contractor and allow you to be, to get freight from a couple different companies?

Brandon: hmm.

Rob: Are they going to make you put their signage on their van, or no signage on the van?
Do you, you know, so there's all these different aspects to look at as you're researching the different companies. Look at the big picture. Don't just focus on strictly just that amount per mile.

Brandon: Which makes a lot of sense, and I, I think you could probably throw that in, throw this into the equation, which is, you know, looking for companies that, you know, do they provide their own direct customers versus, you know, do they, do they just work off of load boards, right?

Rob: Exactly, yeah, very important, because if, if the company is strictly just working off of load boards, that is a silent auction.

Brandon: Yeah.

Rob: You know, it, it's, it's a little bit more hit or miss with that.
If companies have their own direct customers, that is a, is a big bonus with it.
They're getting their freight directly from the customers.
They're not having to bid against somebody else with it.
Those are definitely things to look at.
Also, you're looking at, you know, what are the average miles that a driver does with that company. Again, not, you want to, you want to, be leery of the verbiage, and again, recruiters are salespeople, but you have the potential to do this.
You can do up to this in terms of the miles or the money that you make.
As we talked about earlier, focus on what are the averages, not the up to.
You, you know, if you base your business plan on the up to or the potential to, you're probably gonna fail because you're not gonna achieve that on an average. So you're looking at those averages with it.
Also, when you're looking at companies, different companies at different hot spots around the country.
I'm flat out, we're, we're in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Our strongest region is going to be the Midwest region. We are much, we're very strong here.
Different companies are going to be stronger in different parts of the country. So you want to take a look at that too.
Where is their strength, with that company. Again, just, whenever you go home, it's easier to get you moving then.

Brandon: How do you sell yourself to any one of those carriers out there?

Rob: Yeah, cause remember, you're, what we talked about is you're not just a driver for your company. You're the salesman of your company.

Brandon: Right.

Rob: OK?
And that, if you're a carrier's carrier, that means that that company you're signing on with, they're your customer. OK, how do you recruit them to be your customer? You want to sell yourself to them.
I'll get drivers that'll call me up and, and they'll be like, yeah, you know, I was, looking to help you out, helping to move your freight.
I'm like, you're looking to help us out?
Understand, it is not hard to find drivers.
I get, I get, I get 10 to 20 applications a day on average. I get a lot of applications.
There's a lot of drivers out there.

Brandon: Yeah.

Rob: How do you separate yourself?
What that allows as a company is we get to.
We get to simply look, I'm looking for drivers that are going to partner the best with our company.
Understand, from the moment you either call that recruiter and talk to them or you fill out the application, you're being evaluated.
You want to make sure that you're selling yourself well, be professional with it.
And also, don't try and oversell yourself.
You need to tailor your business plan to fit the industry, and examples of that is learning where to, where you, parts of the country or wherever where you're going to make the most money and parts where you need to take a discount.

There are places in the country that just simply aren't good for freight.

I get drivers that'll say, I have to make this much on every load, OK?
And I try and tell them, you need to average that, OK?
No, no, no, this is the bottom. I won't do anything less than that.
I'm like, you're going to, you may be in trouble cause there's places you need to understand when it's worth taking a discount to get moved to a, especially if you're going to a better location.
Back when I drove, if I didn't, you know, I'd be ready to go first thing in the morning.
If I didn't get a load by noon or whatever, I would go to sleep. I would take a nap. I forced myself to go to sleep for two or three hours. If they call me with a load, great, boom, I'm up and I'm going.

Brandon: Yeah.

Rob: But what that would allow me then is if they did give me a night load, I could do it.

Brandon: Right. You were well rested.

Rob: Yeah.
I'll get some drivers that if they don't, say, get a load by 4:00 p.m., then they call dispatch and they say, take me out of service until tomorrow, because they've been awake all day and they don't think they could drive all night.

Brandon: Right.

Rob: Again, you can tailor your business however you want.
If you want to make maximum money, figure out how to do that.
Look for the ways to separate yourself and how to make that.
Extra money, and that's simply by being available as much as possible.

Brandon: As we prepare to put a bow on this episode and, and thus this, this entire series that we've done, is there anything else that, you know, maybe you'd like to add or, or, you know, throw in one more time before we wrap things up?

Rob: Sure.
So, to, to wrap it all up here, I loved being an expeditor.
I think this, I think being an expeditor is absolutely awesome.
I recommend it to anybody, but it is for the right person. It's not for everybody, and again, be realistic. Learn about the industry, decide if it is the right thing for you.
Again, you're being paid to see the country. In my three years, I, I hit 42 out of the 48 states, and I was paid to do it. It was awesome.
I had my mobile man cave driving around. It was spectacular, but it's not for everybody.
In order to be an expediter, you need to be able to drive long distances. You need to be comfortable being by yourself.

Brandon: hmm.

Rob: And you need to be able to keep your mind occupied when you do not have a load, because there will be downtime.
OK, you, there are weeks where you'll be going load after load after load after load, and then there's weeks where it's slower, where you'll be sitting for two or three days.

Brandon: Yeah.

Rob: You need to be able to keep your mind occupied.
If you do that, Great, you can be an expediter because again, remember, expediting is a lifestyle. It is not necessarily just a job.
If you're willing to do all of those things, then you're going to be successful and you're gonna love it. Then you get out there, you put the windows down, turn the radio up, and then just enjoy the ride.

Brandon: Rob, all great information.
Heck, we've had now 6 episodes of excellent information for, for those who are looking to get into the expedited industry, specifically tailored to the sprinter van industry.
So Rob, thank you once again for every bit of, of your, your nuggets and knowledge of information that you've been able to share with all of us.

Rob: You're welcome. It's my pleasure.

Brandon: Please let us know in the comments what else you might like to learn about.
You know, we would be more than happy to put together another series or 2 or 3 or, or what have you, in order to address any other topics within the expedite industry because, you know, that's part of what we do.
We like to make sure that we're bringing, you know, knowledge, to those out there who are looking to get into this.
So, Rob, once again, thank you very much.

This has been Expedite NOW presented by Expediters Online and Jung Express.
I've been your host, Brandon Baxter.
Until next time.