Women in Expediting - Some Personal Stories
Women have been in the expediting industry since it's infancy, and have been an integral part of this fastest growing segment of the transportation business. Husband and wife teams have been working and succeeding in this business since the early days of expediting, but the number of women as owner/operators and drivers has been growing steadily over the years.

Jeff Jensen
Senior Field Editor

Lady Expediter

Increasingly, female drivers have been moving from the traditional trucking field into expediting attracted by the prospect of business ownership, the possibility of more home time and a variety of other reasons.

It goes without saying that women on the road in this business have unique concerns and needs, and exxx had a chance to communicate with several female expediters about those concerns. Naturally, they requested a certain degree of anonymity, so to honor that request they are identified using screen names or CB handles.

Some of the questions and topics we touched on included:

Are you married? Children?

How did you get into expediting?

Do you sense any discrimination against women drivers at the docks? At Truck stops?

Do you plan on remaining in this industry?

Do you have any hobbies/interests that you enjoy on the road?

Are you concerned with personal security on the road?

Skeeter (screen name) "I run single in a half ton pickup with beefed up suspension. Next truck will be a one-ton van. I don't really sense any discrimination from the shippers/receivers, as a matter of fact; I'm treated better in expediting than I was when I was driving big truck. As far as personal safety on the road, I just try to use common sense and park in the well-lit areas like Flying J's RV spots. No real problems so far. I enjoy expediting most of the time. When I'm on the road, I like to kill time with flea-marketing and other shopping. Sometimes the truck has more freight on the trip back home than it did on the load taking me out."

Grandma (CB handle) "My husband and I have a "B" unit leased to one of the major companies. We've been running as a team I guess for the last five years or so, but I've been home the last few weeks because of my ankle injury. Expediting is OK in most respects, but we find it very difficult to stay at a layover very long, so we wind up deadheading back home after most runs. We're basically empty-nesters, but we're a close family, and miss the kids and grandkids if we're away too long. Expediting has been pretty good for us, a decent living and all, but I guess the most important thing is that we've been able to spend lots of time together because of this job. We're still best friends and I can't imagine doing this business without him. I don't personally sense any anti-female driver discrimination on the road. We

don't stay at truckstops very often, we try to find other places to sleep or layover, but personal security has never been a concern."

"Staying clean on the road is a problem, and the wet washcloth "sponge bath" is only good for a day or so, then it's time to get a motel. We don't do a lot of shopping, but we will do some walking in the malls or keep busy playing cards, reading and the like. I'll stay in this business as long as we wants to."

Kentucky Lady(CB handle) had a different approach in responding to our questions:

LIKES

*Experiencing the "adventures" of the road and see new sights.

*Quality time with husband

*The freedom of self-employment in expediting; when we need time off, we take it.

DISLIKES

*Inconsistent revenue week to week, sometimes it's hard to follow a budget

*Missing the kids

*Missing the comfy bed at home

*Husband won't stop often enough for rest room breaks(LOL)

"Larry and I drive a one ton van contracted to a company out of let's just say, Northwest Ohio. I'm on the road with him about half the time, the other half at home with our young children. Economically, expediting is paying the bills, except the rising fuel costs of the last few months are taking a bigger chunk out of the money. Yes, sometimes I worry about personal safety when I'm alone. Also, I do want to be treated like a lady, even though I'm working in what's considered to be a traditionally male industry. I try to dress pretty conservatively, but still get some looks on the docks. Larry just laughs it off and says I should take it as a compliment. Aside from that, I don't feel discriminated against at the companies we pickup or deliver to. I do feel that dispatchers seem to treat

my husband with more respect that when they're talking to me."

Elaine J. "I've been driving a "D" unit for the last couple of years now. I tried it with a family member co-driver for a short time but it's just too close quarters for me. The only company I have me now is Bucky, my border collie. He loves to travel and gives me a sense of security when sleeping. (I mean when I'm sleeping, not him)."

"After my divorce a number of years back, I tried several different jobs, one of which was forklift operator on a receiving dock. I started talking to some of the expediters that delivered to my plant and got interested in this business. I got the financing for my Freightliner and went with the largest sleeper I could afford, and I guess I'm fairly contented with expediting. The company I'm with now has mainly short haul freight going to the car plants so I'm only out of hours in a back to back load situation. I don't mind because I don't care to run much over 400 miles a day. I enjoy the free time too much and I love hitting the antique shops and flea markets I've

found."

"Sometimes, the guys on the docks will have an attitude about women

drivers, but I'm usually in and out of that place so fast it doesn't have time to effect me."

"I've got a boyfriend that's driving big trucks right now, and we've talked about driving as a team, but I'm afraid that I might be too set in my ways for that to work. Besides, Bucky likes the passenger seat.(LOL)"

Lady Nightshade (CB handle)

"Thanks for asking me to participate in this article! We just recently got a computer, and I was thrilled to find your web sites and others online. Some good friends also in "D" units told us about you, and we make it a point to visit your site as soon as we get home. We're even thinking about a laptop for the road, we loving seeing what other O/O's have to say in the

"Open Forum" section."

"Anyway, my husband Bill and I have been in expediting going on nine years now, most of the time in a "D" unit. We had a little money to invest after we sold our last business, and we were looking for something that would give us the opportunity to travel and be together. Expediting seemed to be the best choice, so here we are."

"Overall, we've had a pretty decent life in this business, but we/ve seen some negative changes over the last few years, mainly the revenue doesn't keep up with the overhead. There's also more competition from other expediting companies; it seems like we see a new company's name on some truck out there every week. Also, our own company's policies on refusals and deadhead is an attempt to control us and out truck - we're not comfortable with that."

"Bill and I have hit 48 states so far, just never got that Alaska load, oh well. We've made some great friends on the road, mainly with other husband/wife teams in "D" units. It's always such a pleasure to pull into a truckstop and find some folks we know laying over too."

"I've never felt any discrimination, in fact, Bill has sent me into the docks before to "soften them up with my grandmotherly charm." I've always been treated with courtesy, so if it works, I'm all for it!"

"Bill and I are both in our early sixties, and we figure we'll retire from expediting in the next couple of years. Oh, and you asked about hobbies and interests; in no particular order - fishing, reading, Nascar racing(Bill), collectables(me), old movies(both)"

Expediter xxx would like to thank the ladies in this article for their participation and would like to invite other women drivers to send us their stories and experience in expediting to xxxxxxxxxx

Thanks again, ladies!