Expediters Creed
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.
This week the Expedite Expo will be held in Lexington, KY July 14th and 15th and it is the event to learn about this niche in trucking. During the Expo, there are a lot of workshops and round tables that will answer questions from getting into Expediting, fine tuning your business in Expediting, and how to become fleet owners. It is an intense two days ending with a BBQ in the parking lot for one last session of networking.
One of my favorite events at the Expo is the PreTrip Challenge that Freightliner Team Run Smart is sponsoring. It appears as if the DOT officers are going after different violations as more trucks are equipped with ELD’s and this challenge will help participants to recognize gottchas. We will have a Freightliner truck in the booth that is loaded down with violations, some easy to spot and others are items we take for granted that are violations.
The Challenge is fun and educational and many of the Expedite companies are giving prizes to drivers from their companies who participate. It is a win win situation for the company to have their contractors participate in the challenge and stop CSA points before they happen. Freightliner Team Run Smart will also be giving away a nice grand prize to the driver that scores the highest.
Pre-Trip Challenges will happen each day at the show, Friday, 11:00am to 4:00pm and Saturday 10:00am to 1:00pm.
To learn more about the Challenge and to register for the Expedite Expo:
https://www.expediteexpo.com/events/pre-trip-challenge
While attending the Expedite Expo take the time to talk to other drivers, to those looking to get into Expediting, recruiters, as well as trucks sales people. Find out if Expediting is for you and you can live by the Expediters Creed. Each line is important as Expediting is unpredictable and always an adventure. We are away from home sometimes for months at a time and it is important to enjoy the lifestyle of waking up in different parts of the country and being able to handle downtime as well as cross country ASAP deliveries.
At the Expo, workshops will include problem solving of when we get to a customer and they have no dock, sometimes stairs, odd shaped freight, and how to safely secure the freight and travel safely down the road. As expediters, we pay for part of any freight damage and we quickly learn to secure freight so that it will ride down the road safely and securely damage free. The knowledge that can be gained from attendees at the Expo is mind boggling and can be over whelming.
While Expediting is in many ways the same as over the road trucking it is in many ways a world on to its own.
Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Why Lifestyle? Because we are often left sitting on the weekends all over the country and it is up to us to take advantage of this time. Go sight-seeing, shopping, watch movies, or visit with other expediters that are in the area. Expediters are usually a social bunch of people.
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
We are often on an adventure as we do not see many docks and sometimes pickup and deliver to homes or super secure areas that are non-descript. We haul priceless artifacts, go in and out of disaster areas with relief items creating our own docks, we haul girl scout cookies delivering to homes, and we sometimes travel thousands of miles with an envelope that is very important to someone. Day to day we usually do not know if we will be sitting or driving.
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Sometimes we might not feel like driving as we are tired, the weather is bad, or we are in a bad mood. No matter the reason we have a job and that is to deliver freight. No matter how crazy the adventure is we have to get up and drive again and again as the freight has to get through.
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.
In order to have a good business we have to dot our I’s, and cross our T’s day in and day out. Our business is not guaranteed an income and it is up to us to stay aware of the laws and regulations that govern what we do twenty-four hours a day. We have to watch our income, our dead head, and what loads we accept to stay profitable. Excepting every load offered is usually not a good business decision.
We look forward to seeing you at the Expedite Expo and participating in the Freightliner Pre-Trip Challenge. Bob and I are also speakers at “The Pros and Cons of DoD Freight, round table discussions “Keeping track of Receipts” and “Professional Appearance; How do I appear to a customer?”