<font face=Tahoma size=2>"I think everyone should drive over-the-road for a big company at some time and find out what it's like being treated like a number," says OTR driver turned expedite trucker Linda Caffee.</font>
Everyone knows that the name of the game for the trucking owner-operator is to run those non-stop loaded miles until the wheels fall off.
“Gotta go, driver!”
That would seem to be the mindset that many truckload drivers bring with them when they enter the world of expedited freight. It could also be the biggest factor why some former tractor-trailer owner-operators and drivers leave expediting after a short try-out period claiming that they just can’t get the miles (or make any money).
As one carrier recruiter puts it, “It’s a matter of sitting at times and not driving as many miles as they’re used to. They think that unless they’re doing 5000 miles a week, they’re not making any money.”
“The driver is used to being out on the road 10 hours a day and rolling up the miles. Waiting for the next load is the most difficult part for the driver fresh from conventional trucking. Even the driver with good business sense sometimes has a hard time understanding that expediting doesn’t have the non-stop, back-to-back loads of conventional trucking.”
He goes on to say that the new expedite owner-operator will not be fully aware of his revenue until the first few settlement checks come in. “That’s when the driver can see his rate per mile and can see the money he’s making.”
Recruiter Phil Weiner of Tri-State Expedited Services says, “In the beginning of a (former truckload) driver’s time with us, we’ll take calls like, ‘I unloaded at 8:00 this morning and now it’s noon without a load. We just tell them to be patient, the freight will come.”
Before making the move to expedited freight, Terry and Carolyn Amos had accumulated 11 years in OTR truckload driving, both as company drivers and as owner-operators.
“At one point,” Terry begins, “we had a kind of dedicated run from Nashville area to Los Angeles, Washington State or Oregon. We would then pick up freight out there and dash back to around our starting point in middle Tennessee.”
“We were doing two round trips about every 8 or 9 days and it was killing us. When we’d get home we would have to recuperate for a couple of days before we were ready to go again. We averaged 23,000 miles a month and our truck got pretty good mileage, around 6.2 mpg.”
The couple began their expedite career with a major expedited carrier before moving to Landstar Express America. They were still in that big-engined Volvo, but they soon got to thinking: “We were frequently hauling small loads, not always a full truckload. We figured if we’re going to run these miles, let’s just buy a smaller truck with a bigger sleeper.”
“Now we’re running a 2006 Freightliner Columbia straight truck with a Mercedes 450 HP with Eaton Fuller 10-speed Autoshift. We’ve got a 100 inch Bentz sleeper with a microwave, big refrigerator/freezer, running water, entertainment center. We have a 5.5 KW Onan generator along with a Carrier roof mounted air conditioner.”
“The transition to expedited trucking has been wonderful. Since we’ve gotten in the groove with Landstar’s system, we’re just really happy. It makes our life much, much easier.”
“I think everyone should drive over-the-road for a big company at some time and find out what it’s like being treated like a number,” says OTR driver turned expedite trucker Linda Caffee. “They had so many people waiting in line to get in their classes and drive for them that they didn’t care. If you didn’t like it, they figured you knew where the door was. That’s one reason why they had 108% turnover.”
Linda and husband Bob were company drivers with a major truckload company for four years before becoming owner-operators and her memories of OTR aren’t always pleasant. “We were earning .28 a mile, so we were going broke if we weren’t moving. Actually, we were going broke when we were moving!”
She continues, “A lot of our loads were drop and hook so we were moving most of the time. It was forced dispatch. You either took the load they gave you or you were fired on the spot.”
“When we came to expedite with FedEx Custom Critical, one of the hardest parts was becoming accustomed to sitting and waiting for a load. We had to learn that we could afford to sit. When we first started, Bob would become impatient and get on the Qualcomm. He would send little messages to dispatch and say, ‘OK, we’ve been sitting here for X amount of hours, where’s my next load?’ You know, you really don’t need to do that in expedite.”
“We’re getting 10 mpg and better with this truck and it’s great not to have to grab a gear lever all day. We’re running less miles for more money and getting better fuel mileage. Now, the initial cost of this truck was a lot more, but the pay back is worth it. We moved from a 72″ sleeper into this 96”.
“In expedite, quite often you sit, so you might as well be comfortable doing it. This way, we don’t have to use motels. We use KOA campgrounds and use their shore power. We’ve stayed all over the country doing that.”
She adds, “Even with the sitting we sometimes have to do, we get paid more when we are running.”
Ben Easters has been driving professionally for 23 years. His work history includes stints with several truckload carriers pulling doubles and triples (dry vans).
Ben and his co-driver, wife Melanie say they enjoyed their time in truckload but they could never stop and enjoy the country they were driving through. They would average 5500 to 6500 miles a week, with no time to enjoy it.
The Easters became owner-operators in 1998, but discovered that they still had to run hard to make ends meet. Ben says, “We found that we would net about the same money, but we actually had to work harder as owners.”
The couple entered the emergency freight business a few years back and are now running with Landstar Express America. Melanie says that former general freight haulers who have made the switch to expediting “have to learn to slow down.”
“A lot of drivers come over to expedite and get panicky if their wheels aren’t moving. They take backhauls or run empty miles in desperation. If they would just take their time, relax and wait for that call to come, they would find that the load they wind up getting pays so much more that it makes up for the time they spent sitting.”
She adds, “The driver has to change his outlook – you don’t have to work as hard any more. “If you wait a little while, quite often there’s going to be a load that pays for your week. At the end of the week, your paycheck is what counts, not the number of miles.”
Terry and Carolyn Amos say, “When we moved into the straight truck, it was like a breath of fresh air. We can go to places and park where I couldn’t park before, when the truck stops are crowded, you can find a place to park without being in anyone’s way. We’re happy campers!”
Terry touches on another benefit of the time-sensitive freight business:
“The difference between truckload and expedite is at the docks. When you go into the docks in an expediter wagon, they’ll get you in, get you unloaded, thank you and get you on your way. We thank them and tell them that we’re grateful that they used our company. We’re always treated with respect.”
Linda Caffee concurs: “When you’re in a big truck, you don’t get any respect. Not from the company, not from the consignee, not from the guards, no one!
The guards would leave you sitting out in the parking lot for eight hours and think nothing of it. There were only a couple of instances that we were paid detention time, but not like we should have been.”
“Our truckload company used to promise detention pay, but FedEx actually pays it. In fact, FedEx has done everything they said they would do.”
Linda has also noted, “With expediters, there’s a certain amount of camaraderie, but we found that the drivers with our last company didn’t talk to one another that much. They were out here to do the job then go home. There was no company pride and you didn’t sit around and swap stories like you do in this business. If you were in the terminals, the drivers would just sit around and complain.”
Another key difference between expedited trucking and truckload is dispatching and dispatchers. Linda Caffee and Melanie Easters touch on this issue: In truckload, we had a dedicated dispatcher,” says Linda, “so if you didn’t get along with him, you had a real problem. Each dispatcher had 150 trucks they had to manage, and if you had a question, you had to call in and talk to only him. They were so overworked that if you just had to talk to him, you could be on hold for over an hour.”
“The weekend and night dispatchers were even worse than that because they had to manage even more trucks. They had no time for a driver’s problem – if you were lost, they didn’t care, you find it. Their directions were usually terrible.”
Melanie says, “You also have to get used to the expedited carriers driving you crazy. For those accustomed to the infrequent contact from freight hauler dispatchers, the expedite dispatchers will seemingly be calling or sending Qualcomm messages every few minutes.”
“Seriously, the driver has to realize that the on-time importance of expedite has to do with a carrier’s level of service which is what they sell. The company is only doing what they have to do to guarantee that high quality of service and part of that is to keep tracking their customers’ freight. Their reputation is on the line with every shipment.”
“We’ve been very happy with expediting,” says Melanie. “We run fewer miles for more money than general freight, and we have more time to enjoy the road.”
“If the driver can make it through the first two months or so and learn how expediting works, he’ll settle into this career.”
