Truck Topics

EO Workshop in the Bluegrass: A report

The latest Expediter Workshop was a homecoming of sorts for the Expediters Online team.  The event on Wednesday, October 12, was held at the Holiday Inn Airport in Erlanger, Kentucky, just a few minutes away from the EO offices in Florence, KY. 

This was the sixth stop in the 2005 Expediter Workshop series and it followed the established pattern of a good attendee turnout, great sponsor support and interesting speakers with equally interesting topics.

As in other Workshops, this get together was held in adjacent meeting rooms; one "classroom" for the presentations and one room for the attendees  to meet with vendors.  And, to give the attendees a visual image of expediting equipment, Churney's Truck Center displayed a 2006 Hino 268 Class 6 Expediter with 72" sleeper and 22' cargo box in the hotel's parking lot. 

The event was sponsored by some of the industry's top expedited carriers, including:

*Con-Way NOW
*Express-1
*FedEx Custom Critical
*Landstar Express America
*Panther II Transportation
Tri-State Expedited Service

The event's sponsors also included premier expedited truck dealers and suppliers such as:

*Churneys Truck Center
*Espar of Michigan
*Freightliner of Knoxville
*Fyda Freightliner of Columbus
*Leyman Liftgates
*Middle Georgia Freightliner-Isuzu

These fine companies deserve special, prime-time mention because without their assistance and support, it would be a difficult task to bring the expediting message to all those interested in this career opportunity.

Ms. Micki McIntyre, Director of New Business Development for Expediters Online and coordinator of the Workshop series says:  "It was a great turnout of people who were seriously interested in the expediting information our presenters had to share.  The attendees were very attentive, they took notes and asked thoughtful questions about the topics."

Donnie and Marianna Johnson, Lexington, KY "We got the information we needed about expediting and I'm ready to go now!
I'm working in home delivery in a Sprinter, but I would like to get a straight truck and get into expediting."

Micki continues, "We had a number of couples who made it to the Workshop and when talking to them after the show, we discovered that many of them had been collecting information on Expediters Online.com for some time.  There are a lot of retirees and empty-nesters who are looking for that second career that they can share together.  From what they told us, expediting seems to meet the needs for that career." 

"We enjoy conducting these events," says Lawrence McCord, General Manager of Expediters Online, the host of the Expediter Workshop series.  "Along with the 'Expediter Experience' that we'll be presenting at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville in
2006, and our annual Expedite Expo's every summer, we have a mission to bring the expediting opportunity and information to as many people as possible.  And, because of our sponsors, we can offer these events free of charge to the public."

The presentations
After Micki McIntyre and Lawrence McCord welcomed the audience, speaker Terry O'Connell took the podium to discuss "Expediting: Fact and Fiction. 

In his segment, Terry laid out the differences between general trucking and the emergency freight business.  He also drew upon his 17 years as an expediting owner/operator to illustrate some of the realities of being an independent business person in this area of the transportation industry -  both the good and the bad.

"The Expedite Truck Market" was presented by Jon Mosier and Brandi Whitfield of Freightliner of Knoxville who spoke about the expedited truck market and how to "spec" out that new expediting truck.  Jon believes that the first-time truck buyer is best served by only purchasing what he can afford, always with a critical eye on the bottom line.

Brandon Creek of Fyda Freightliner of Columbus spoke on "The Truck Purchase Process - A-Z" with information specifically designed for the expediter truck purchaser. 

After a short intermission for refreshments, "Truck Preventive Maintenance" was the next topic on the agenda and Heath Wood,
Sales Manager of Middle Georgia Freightliner-Isuzu presented an informative, and at times, humorous briefing on maintenance tips for the expediting truck.

Henry and Karen Shell, Lawrenceburg, IN - "We actually got more information about expediting than we expected.  This was the first time that Karen has been to a seminar like this and she enjoyed it very much.  I've been driving 18-wheelers for a company for 26 years now, but they don't permit passengers.  Karen and I are thinking about expediting so we can have our own business and travel together." (Henry has been driving professionally since 1973 and has driven over 3 million miles)

Rounding out the formal presentations of the evening was Dan Tilley of Expediter Financial Group.  Dan spoke about commercial truck financing, a topic that is always of interest to the Workshop attendees.  During his years in expediting truck sales, Dan has assisted many truck buyers in finding financing for their equipment and he shared those techniques with his audience.

Sponsor Comments

Tom Hayden, Tri-State Expedited Service recruiter -  "I think expediting is doing well and I believe that we'll see even more tractor-trailer freight in expediting.  Along with that, we might experience something of the driver shortage that's existed in the truckload arena for some time."

Jeff Brown, Panther II's Manager of Contractor Support and Development had a perspective on fuel prices and surcharges:
"I was discussing this with a tractor owner-operator recently and did a fuel cost analysis for him.  I demonstrated by using his figures, that with his fuel surcharges, he was actually paying $1.27.9 per gallon.  The last time fuel was that price was December of 2000.  Fuel surcharges are working!"

Tom Turner, Express-1 recruiter - "At Express-1, we have all the business we can handle!  We're turning down 30-40 loads a days because our sales reps have done such a great job in bringing in new business."

"Tied to this is hurricane relief and FEMA using trucks that would otherwise be hauling general freight.  The shippers get behind the eight ball and wind up using expediting to get their freight out on time.  Expedited carriers are running into the same problem - we need drivers and that's why we're here.  Business is very good and in my opinion, it's going to get even better."

Micki McIntyre:  "We've been very pleased with the response we've had to the 2005 series of Workshops!  It demonstrates to us that there's a lot of interest in this industry and people want to get the facts about becoming expediting owner-operators."

Make plans to attend the next Expediter Workshop which will be in Nashville, TN on November 16, 2005.  For online registration and information on this admission-free event, visit the Expediters Workshop Homepage.