Truck Topics

Dedicated Expedited Loads - Do They Really Exist?

The dedicated run.

The term conjures up a variety of images to the expedited owner-operator/driver: stability, consistency of revenue, a schedule that allows a driver to know where he/she will be next week. 

For the expedited driver, who typically never knows where he might be tomorrow or how much revenue he might generate in the next month, the dedicated run represents steady employment with a guaranteed income.  That is, at least for the life of the customer's contract with the driver's carrier.

For many expediters, the dedicated run would seem to be the pinnacle of the expedited freight business;  he won't be awakened at 3:00 am to take a "hot" 50-mile run, he won't sit for days on end waiting for a run that never appears and he won't have to miss events back home because he's on a lucrative 1,000-mile run that's (usually) going in the wrong direction.

Yes, the stability of the dedicated run is very attractive, but just how common are those shipments?

First of all, we're dealing with two terms that would appear to be mutually exclusive.  Expedited freight, with its last minute call to pickup/deliver ASAP structure is quite different than dedicated freight.

Phil Weiner, Tri-State Expedited recruiter describes a dedicated run:  "Some of the dedicated runs in our experience have gone five days a week on a regular schedule, typically from a vendor to a plant, with a return trip to the starting point hauling empty containers.  The trip would be priced at a loaded rate for the headhaul and at an empty rate for the backhaul.  These are not at expedited rates."

"The dedicated runs come along from time to time.  We had one that actually lasted for a couple of years, but these are few and far between."

Weiner continues, "The determination of the driver(s) who are offered this type of freight depends on their location - who is domiciled near the run.  If there's a dedicated run coming out of Nashville, for example and a driver lives near Nashville and has the right truck, we ask him, 'it pays this much, would you like it?'"

 
"Normally, the expedited carriers don't make a ton of money on these loads; there is a smaller profit margin on these loads."

"Some drivers are happy to accept the dedicated runs, some are not interested.  In the case of the regular runs that occur two or three times a week, those are dispatched."

Ben Bauman, the General Manager of Bolt Express says, "I think customers choose expedited carriers for dedicated freight because of the level of service that expedite offers with satellite tracking and on-time performance." 

"The dedicated freight is desirable to many owner-operators and carriers as well but the key is to find it.  That's the million-dollar question anyway, where is the freight?"

Bauman continues, "In the case of Bolt Express, the dedicated freight is regional in basis and comes from long-time customers for whom we have done a good job. Those shipments are only a small part of our work."  

"The dedicated runs are not offered to the general population of the fleet but rather, an owner-operator with a proven history of performance is chosen and offered the dedicated freight opportunity."

John Mueller, Safety and Recruiting Director of Toledo-based Premium Transportation Logistics, LLC addresses the dedicated run question:
"Do some carriers like ourselves have dedicated runs? Yes, although there are very few.  It depends on the customer.  We've had the same dedicated straight truck runs for four or five years now. We try to distribute those few dedicated loads that we call 'milk runs' evenly among our owner-operators so that everyone gets the opportunity."

"We also use them (dedicated loads) for when a driver calls up and tells us that he has to be home for some reason.  If the driver is based here in Toledo, we try to give him that local run so he doesn't lose a day or two of revenue by staying home."

"The dedicated runs may not be billed at expedited rates either. We've had cases where the customer has come back to us with a request for a reduction in the rate because it's not a true expedited load.   There's a reason why customers pay expedited rates and it's tough to ask for that rate when the load is pre-planned; just back the truck, load it up and deliver it."

Mueller explains that the dedicated loads may only run on Monday, Wednesday or Friday or possibly just Tuesday and Thursday.

"It can be difficult for the owner-operator to enjoy the kind of revenue he desires due to scheduling other freight with his dedicated runs.  Sometimes other shorter local or even regional runs can be tied in with the dedicated freight, sometimes not."

"There are two reasons why we don't have just one driver assigned to the dedicated runs:

One, it's unfair to the other owner-operators in the fleet who are interested in running that type of freight, and two, it's hard for a driver, at least with our limited dedicated freight, to make a living on just those runs."

"If a customer were to be presented with an expedited tariff for that dedicated run, odds are he would just look for a conventional trucking carrier to move that freight."

Jeff St. Pierre, VP of Risk Management and Driver Services at Panther Expedited Services says, "The very nature of our business is not being a low-cost transportation provider but rather being a problem-solver and the customer pays for that service. A dedicated run is just the opposite of that - there is no emergency, the customer is not paying for the premium service, the carrier is not solving a problem - the carrier is acting as a resource." 

"Are there dedicated runs in expedite?  I venture that there may be.  Is the driver going to be paid expedited rates?  No." 

St. Pierre goes on to say that if a customer calls for dedicated-type service, it is usually to request a smaller vehicle size such as a cargo van or straight truck because as he says, "The customer can go anywhere and get a tractor-trailer."

"Now, there may be a run that we do on a consistent basis, but it won't be dedicated with one driver in one truck, it will be a standard dispatched load at expedited rates and it will be shared 
with our fleet."

Several years ago, cargo van owner-operator Mike Klinger's carrier, Tri-State Expedited Services, secured an account with a Toledo-based company that had a dedicated run from Toledo to Pittsburgh, PA.  Tri-State offered the run to the Northwestern Ohio-domiciled Klinger and he remained on the run for over three years until the conclusion of the contract.

Klinger would leave his house at 11:30 am and return around 11:30 pm.  The loads ranged from 200 lbs. to 3000 lbs and ran 5 days a week. The run paid less than comparable expedited miles would pay but Kinger says that he traded the reduced income for "the home time I enjoyed and the opportunity to see my family on a daily basis."