Joe Roman, Lawrence McCord, Jeff Jensen, and Mike and Gail Swiger own and operate their own trucks, but they don't drive the typical over-the-road 18-wheelers. These trucking entrepreneurs usually drive medium-duty trucks and specialize in hauling expedited freight, a.k.a. emergency or just-in-time freight.
by
Rene Tankersley
Special to Land Line
"Time
sensitivity, that's the key right there,"
says
Jensen, an OOIDA member from Cincinnati and senior field editor
for Expediters Online. "Usually, in my experience, it's pick it
up and go now. You've got to be there. I can't tell you how many
times I've taken a load and had a forklift waiting there when I
arrived. It's typical for anybody that's been in expediting."
He says a good example
is the automotive industry. The line shuts down because of that
one part they need. "They're paying people to stand around and look
at a shutdown line," says Jensen, who now works full time for On
Time Media and leases his truck to FedEx Custom Critical.
McCord, founder
of On Time Media's Expediters Online web sites, lives in Florence,
KY. He agrees that for truckers, time is critical. "Because of the
time sensitive nature of the freight, every minute counts," McCord
says. "It costs $16,000 for every minute that the plant is shut
down waiting for those parts. It's mind boggling, especially to
a driver hauling a box of widgets."
The
evolution of expedited freight
The
expedited freight industry started by hauling assembly line parts
to automobile manufacturing plants, but has grown to hauling just
about anything that will fit into a truck. If you need it now, they
haul it. OOIDA members Mike and Gail Swiger say shippers and receivers
have realized the value they're getting from expediters. As a result,
the Swigers say expediters are hauling for a diverse cross-section
of customers.
This Milwaukee husband
and wife team hauled the first commercial satellite and a doctor's
lifetime of cancer research, which had to be kept at a certain temperature
so the experiments would not be ruined. Loads like these require
the "white glove" treatment.
Mike and Gail regularly
haul nuclear fuel rods for Westinghouse and General Electric. These
nuclear projects keep them away from home for two or three months
at a time. Admittedly, they are not on the road every day. Some
days they spend in motels waiting for their next load.
Besides loads requiring
special handling, expediters haul loads of all sizes and shapes.
Jensen has hauled loads as small as an envelope or a computer chip
to a ton of frozen egg whites in three-pound cans in a one-ton unrefrigerated
van.
"I once hauled 10,000 softballs to a game just in time to be signed," says Jensen. He recalls a load of those rubber ducks so popular in river country for fundraisers. "I hauled 20,000 of those rubber ducks from Cincinnati to Louisville for a festival," Jensen tells. "They were loose and had to be shoveled in and out of the truck."
OOIDA member Joe
Roman of Drummonds, TN, has also hauled some out-of-the-ordinary
loads. During the Gulf War, he carried gloves from one military
base warehouse to another for shipment to the Gulf. "Once I hauled
three gallons of paint thinner that weighed 24 pounds," Roman says.
"It was still a hazardous load because it was flammable."
Joe recalls another
time he carried a bag of three bearings. "The bag weighed 1.5 pounds
and I hauled it from Memphis, TN, to Batesville, AR. It was delivered
to the maintenance department."
According to McCord,
because expedited freight usually doesn't fill a semi trailer, expediters
often drive Class 7 medium-duty trucks, six-wheelers and straight
trucks.
"As the industry
changes, drivers are investing more money in their trucks," he says.
"You see them at truck shows with show-quality trucks."
McCord says he has
noticed that truck manufacturers, including Western Star, Freightliner
and Kenworth, are starting to show more interest in the production
of medium-duty trucks.
"This industry has
become a viable market for specialty trucks for expediting," McCord
adds. "Major truck manufacturers are interested in what's going
on in this business."
How
they got into this industry
Unlike
other trucking industry specialties, many expediters come from non-trucking-related
careers into the expedited freight industry, according to McCord.
Joe Roman says he
worked his way up from driving taxicabs to limousines, then courier
vans, and finally expedited freight trucks. He went from hauling
rocks stars, teen idols and international royalty to hauling parts
for automobile manufacturing plants.
Roman began driving
taxicabs and limousines in his hometown of Chicago to supplement
his work as a freelance photographer for the Chicago Tribune and
other area newspapers. Some of his more famous limo passengers included
REO Speedwagon, Bruce Springsteen, celebrity photographer Toni Diorio,
teen idol Shawn Cassidy, and the prince of Morocco. In addition
to his photography, Roman owned a small music store and published
the Chicago Musicians Journal for 10 months. Since he began hauling
expedited freight in December 1993, Roman has contracted with the
same company, Tri-State.
"Before [1993],
I had never heard of expediting. I was driving a Pony Express Courier
Corp. company van in Memphis," Roman says. "During a coffee break,
I met a Tri-State driver that asked me if I was making any money.
He showed me his settlement statement. I knew if he could do it,
so could I."
Roman
stayed with Pony Express until he accumulated everything he needed
- a van, his CDL, a cell phone, pager and funds to start operating.
"Within my first
six months in expediting, I developed my checking account to almost
$11,000," Roman recalls. "I did it by accepting over 99 percent
of my load offers."
The Swigers have
been involved in the expedited freight hauling business for 11 years.
They drive their Peterbilt 372 cabover truck for FedEx Custom Critical,
which previously was Roberts White Glove.
Both Mike and Gail
have spent 20 years in the trucking industry. Before they became
expediters, the Swigers hauled hay on a flatbed truck in Wisconsin;
produce to Kroger and Big Bear markets; merchandise for Sears; and
show equipment for the Toro Co.
The
business of expediting
One
of the most talked about advantages of expediting is the pay. Lawrence
McCord points out that a cargo van can make more money than an 18-wheeler,
or about $1.25 a mile. The Swigers use their Auto Map mapping program
on their laptop computer to verify the mileage of a proposed load.
They divide the money by the number of miles, and if it comes up
to $1.10 per mile they take the load.
Joe Roman takes
a different approach to deciding whether to take a load or not.
He says refusing a load is not something you can do on every load
offer.
"If you've had two
or three load offers with good mileage and close to your pickup,
you can afford to take a lower paying load," Roman explains. "Consider
what you've done for that month or year-to-date. If you bundle the
loads together, everything averages out at the end of the year."
"Some people expect
to make a ton of money in this industry because you get good rates
per mile," Roman adds. "Some people expect to make $120,000 or more
gross per year. Maybe one or two will."
"Some expect to
make $2,000-$2,500 a week. That happens often. Some people expect
$3,000."
Joe says that happens
once or twice, maybe three times a year. "$1,500-$2,000 a week happens
a lot, but most times it's $1,000-$1,500 week," he says, "and some
weeks you only make $400-$800."
Roman has tracked
his average length of haul at 367.49 miles. His statistics show
he ran 40,057 loaded miles. His business, which includes a second
driver, has combined gross earnings of $45,306.72, which averages
out to $1.13 per mile. He explains that his paid miles, bonus miles
and fuel surcharge are included in the gross earnings. Roman gets
his statistic figures by using Quicken Deluxe 2000, which he says
tells him everything he wants to know about his business.
Because expediters
are owner-operators, they run their own businesses, often hiring
additional drivers and building their own fleet. As a result, expediters
have additional concerns about getting loads and driving. They must
manage their business by keeping meticulous financial records, auditing
their settlement statements and, often, processing payroll for their
drivers.
Roman uses a payroll
company to handle his settlement statements and pay his driver.
"My settlement statement goes to them, they pay my driver, deduct
driver's pay and their fee from my checking account, then I get
my statement from Tri-State and the payroll company together," Roman
says.
Joe says he doesn't
want to be home every Thursday to get his settlement statement to
figure out how much to pay his driver. "I'm not an accountant,"
he says.
The Swigers approach
their business in much the same way. Their business is incorporated.
"We receive a salary, and the company buys everything else," Gail
says.
As with any business,
expediting has its disadvantages. McCord explains that one disadvantage
is that expediting is seasonal. "It's slow in winter months, and
in July when the auto industry shuts down for retooling for the
next model year," he says.
Joe Roman, on the other hand, has found a way to make use of this slow time. "When General Motors shuts down in July, lots of expediters take advantage of that time for truck repair, but that's the time when I find my non-automotive customers."
|
Advice
for wannabes and newbies "The
length of haul runs from 250-400 miles, then you might wait
a few hours or a few days for another load. You never know
until the last minute because they don't know that the plant
is going to break down." "Whether
you're trying to get into expediting or become an owner-operator,
go into it with a used truck. It's not going to make you anymore
money. Drive a used truck for two or three years, so you're
not stuck with a $2,200 or $2,500 payment. Go into it smart.
Don't front load yourself with those big charges. Take care
of a 'good ole truck until you get your feet wet. Don't jump
into it and think you'll get rich over night." "The
only guarantees in this industry are that the truck payment
and the insurance premiums are due every month. No guarantees
on how much you'll make, the types of loads, weight of the
load, whether the load is hazardous materials or not, the
direction it's going, and no guaranteed load offers toward
home for the weekend. "This
forum (Joe Roman's "Expediter Forum") is one of the best sources
of expediting info around because there are quite a few veterans
of this business posting here, and they can offer valuable
advice for the newbie. Over at ExpeditersOnline.com, I'm in
the process of assembling a mini-guide for newbies." |
Expediters
create solutions for information exchange
by
Rene Tankersley
Special to Land Line
When
company drivers take a coffee break in a truckstop, it's not unusual
to run across another driver from the same company. They might even
start up a conversation about a recent company event, or change
in company benefits, or give each other tips on how to handle certain
dispatchers or delivery sites.
Even
two owner-operators contracted with the same company might have
lunch together. But for expediters, there's often no such thing
as a co-worker. You work for whatever company needs your services
the most at any given time, and you rarely see another expediter
in a truckstop.
With
all the trucking industry publications in print, expediters have
historically been challenged when it comes to finding information
specific to their industry. In fact, some expediters have turned
their information frustrations into online businesses.
Joe
Roman receives credit from his peers for creating the first web
site specifically for expediters. He admits his Expediter's Forum
is a copy of TruckNet's Professional Drivers Round Table found at
www.truck.net.
"With
the support and encouragement from Monty Rhodes, the Round Table's
administrator, to 'go for it,' I started www.jroman.com with its
only feature being the Expediter Forum. I didn't want to fill this
site with links that were not of specific interest to expediters,
and I didn't want to duplicate the links that were already at Truck
Net and Truck'n Tom's web sites."
After
Roman wrote his original files, he asked Pat Bonanno at trucksonly.com
to clean up his files and add a bulletin board. Since Bonanno didn't
have a bulletin board program that included e-mail links for posted
messages, Roman contacted Rhodes again.
"Monty
introduced me to Rick Thompson at Oznet, which, up until recently
was Truck Net's web host," Roman said. "He already had all the necessary
directories and files in place because the original round table
ran under www.board, created by Matt Wright."
Lawrence
McCord has spent 12 years in the expedite industry. His truck is
still leased to FedEx Custom Critical. He started ExpeditersOnline
(www.expeditersonline.com) 18 months ago out of frustration with
the lack of information in print for owner-operators in the expedite
freight business.
McCord
explains that he and his partners at On Time Media have created
several expediter web sites and will be in print soon. On Time Media
already e-mails a newsletter, "The Hot Shot," to expediters.
Expediters'
Online field editor Jeff Jensen writes from his experience as an
11-year veteran expediter. He has seen the industry go from the
basic title of 'just-in-time' freight to expedited freight.
"It's
definitely a niche market," Jensen says. "You can take any segment
of trucking, and each one totals many more than expediting as a
whole."
He
says the print media has not yet covered the industry. "You'll find
very little, if anything at all, that is expediter specific," he
says. "They just don't address the expediter's situation."
Jensen
is quick to praise McCord for his accomplishments with Expediters
Online.
"Lawrence
McCord is a dynamo. He has taken the ball and run with it," Jensen
says. "The financial backing is from On Time Media, but the concepts
are his."
-
Expediters Online (www.expeditersonline.com) is listed as "The Expediter Freight Information Center." This site provides valuable information and links for expediters.
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Expedite Now (www.expeditenow.com) is listed as "The Internet Magazine for the Expedited Freight Industry." This site includes news and feature articles about expediters and the industry.
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Expedite Source (www.expeditesource.com) is listed as the directory for the expediting transportation industry. On this site, expediters find associations, communications, equipment, government resources, road and weather conditions, truck components, web sites, business information, carriers, freight services, health resources, news, software and truckstops.
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Expedite Loads (www.expediteloads.com) provides load matching for the expedited freight industry.
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Expedite Mail (www.expeditemail.net) offers expediters a free e-mail account.
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Expediters Online Net (www.expeditersonline.net) is an Internet Service Provider for expediters.
Other
good web sites for expediters
Express
Trucking (www.expresstrucking.com)
calls
itself an information resource center for expediters. This site
connects businesses and entrepreneurs in the industry, provides
directors of truck manufacturers, equipment dealers and leasing
companies, and offers business strategies and tricks of the trade.
Owner-Operator
Independent Drivers Association (www.ooida.com)
is important to expediters because they are owner-operators and
many are OOIDA members. This site gives owner-operators updates
on legislation, industry issues and news that affect them as owner-operators
and drivers. Additionally, OOIDA's web site links to numerous web
resources including: Land Line Magazine, the University of Michigan
Transportation Research Institute, Interstate Highway Conditions,
Road Watch America, The Federal Highway Administration, Commercial
Vehicle Safety Alliance, PBS Tax and Bookkeeping Service, Drivers
Daily Log Program freeware, Truck Net, Layover's web page, The Trucker's
Helper Software, and Harvard Business Services, to name a few.
When
the Swigers found little information for expediters, they looked
for basic practical information from Land Line, Road Star and Owner-Operator
magazines, and especially The Maintenance Council. Gail Swiger serves
as the only owner-operator on The Maintenance Council along with
engineers, freight executives, maintenance workers and supplier
representatives. The Maintenance Council discusses and researches
maintenance issues related to the trucking industry. Gail is the
first vice chairman of the council's cabin control study group.
Her study group looks at things that affect cab comfort like heating,
air-conditioning and interior lighting.
All these expediters have proven that if you want information, you will find it. These professional expediters have gone one step further by getting involved in sharing their newfound information with other expediters through web sites, forums and trucking associations.
