We are Gary and Barb, an owner/operator team, who for the past five years have been driving a straight truck for a carrier in the business of delivering "emergency freight" (expediting). Just what is a realistic gross revenue goal (haul income plus fuel surcharge) for a hard working experienced team?

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated failures. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge

We are Gary and Barb, an owner/operator team, who for the past five years have been driving a straight truck for a carrier in the business of delivering “emergency freight” (expediting). Over the years we have found it extremely difficult to figure out the earnings potential of a hard working team in a stripped down straight truck. Just what is a realistic gross revenue (haul income plus fuel surcharge) goal. On the docks, when talking to other hotshot drivers, the “whisper number’ is $200,000. But to make that kind of money, the consensus among experienced drivers is that a team would need to run for a carrier whose payout is on a percentage bases of revenue per load rather than a payout per mile.

Our carrier pays on a per mile basis and for 2012 we accomplished our gross revenue personal best and finally broke the “whisper number” ceiling. I’m looking at my 1099 for last year and the “Nonemployee compensation” number is $209,147.05. Now before we claim bragging rights or some of you folks are thinking we may need some new friends, our business expenses amounted to sixty percent of our gross revenue. I’ll let you do the math as to our net revenue.

Before I go on and on and on, let me first clarify a couple of terms: A “stripped down straight truck” means our truck does not have extra revenue producing accessories like, a lift gate, a refer, or a drop down third axle. We have a 22′ cargo box and we are only able to carry up to ten thousand pounds. The term “hotshots” comes from our experience in noticing that shippers/warehouses will sometimes write “hotshots” on the bill of lading or on the cargo itself to highlight that the freight needs the special handling services of expediters. If a driver runs for an oil well servicing company, the energy business routinely refers to expediters as “hotshots” Also in American English terms the word ‘hotshots” connotes, “a person who is conspicuously talented or successful”. And that driver is you.

In future blogs, I will describe the specifics of how we run our one truck expediting company and some of the specific approaches we use to to maximize our income. Though overall, experience has demonstrated that underlying our work ethic is the consistent application of persistence and determination. My last comment is that I know for some of you drivers, when you hear our production numbers, the first thought that pops in your brain is ” Who’s their carrier?”. With due respect, if that is your first question, you may be entertaining a significant thinking error. The specific carrier you are leased to should have only an enabling and supportive role in your business success.

You’ve noticed by now that I’ve not mentioned who we run for. That is intentional and I’ll reveal their name later. However my company does regularly advertiser in the industry trade magazine Expedite Now, ExpediteNow.com and ExpeditersOnline.com. Driver, the issue of your success is not about flipping carriers for a nickle/mile, but how do you get to be one of the top producers for the carrier you are leased to now? Again more about that in future blogs.

“Check your mirrors and keep’r between the lines”.
gary and barb
hotshotchronicles.com