Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Wishing all of our partners a very Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from all of us at
K & L Freight Management!

 



K & L Freight Management Office Staff 2012 Holiday Party

We've Moved!

 

K & L Freight Management has officially moved our corporate headquarters to:

 

745 South Rohlwing Rd, Addison, IL 60101

Our main phone number, fax lines and direct extensions have all be changed:

Main Line 630-607-1500  |  Main Fax 630-628-6022

 

Please update your records accordingly and check back for more updates on our awesome new home!

Hello Again!

Happy Tuesday!

It has been too long! A lot has happened over the past few weeks. A week ago I successfully closed on my house. Ken and I thought it was stressful to pack and get out of our apartment, but we had no idea how hard it would be to unpack.

I must say we are doing a great job. 8 days in and we are almost unpacked, have carpet installed, and have the entire house painted.

Our next project will be to put up a new backsplash and gut the fireplace and put up new stone. Considering I don't know how to do any of this, it should be very interesting.

Wish me luck!

Dancing to Victory Lane

Monday Monday Monday... YAYYY! Ha Ha

This morning was the first time in a long time that I actually feel well rested. Ken and I spent a few days hanging out with our family and believe it or not, we actually went grocery shopping! Grocery shopping is something that would seem like nothing special, but we haven't gone since the middle of January, so it was much needed.

Saturday night we hung out with Ken's family, and that was such a riot! We were singing, dancing, and falling over laughing. Generally speaking, I am not a very good dancer at all... but the one move I seem to have nailed down is the moon walk. That being said, we just kept playing a bunch of Michael Jackson songs so I could keep doing my one move.

Sunday afternoon was a little disappointing, the Daytona 500 was on a rain delay all day, and then got rescheduled for today at noon. Last year I was a fan of Jeff Burton #31 but this year, I have officially switched! I am now a Clint Bowyer fan! (#15) He is racing for 5Hour Energy! Plus after the race for 1st place Jeff vs. Clint, Clint defiantly stepped it up and made it to Victory Lane.

Tonight I will be watching the race with Ken, so no one tell me the ending!!!

Snow Delays Chicago Area Freight Alert

It's been a relatively easy winter on the Midwest, but this evening is expected to snow, snow, snow!  Our dispatch team will keep you updated on freight pick up and delivery ETAs but feel free to call us at 800-770-9007 at any time.  Land and air freight delays are expected.  Airlines, like Southwest, are already starting to send out cargo alerts for flight cancellations:

"Please be advised that due to impending weather Southwest Airlines has canceled all flights inbound and outbound Chicago Midway Airport from 6:00 pm Thursday February 23, 2012 until 9:30 pm Thursday February 23, 2012." ~Southwest Cargo Team

All flights in and out of Chicago Midway and O'Hare International are expected to be delayed or canceled during this time.

As the snow storm moves through the end of the week, expect delays from Michigan to New York.

As an expedited freight specialist, our job is to give your hot freight the best odds out there to get from point A to point B, ASAP. Our resilient dispatch team will stop at nothing to track and do whatever it takes for your freight to arrive safe and sound, so you can rest easy!

 

The Perfect Recipe

Saturday night Ken left to go on a 6 day -boys only- snowmobile trip. Even though I am glad he is having a great time with the guys, I have to admit, one small part of me would love to be their. I would love to be their to watch him ride, and laugh a little when all the old men pass him going 80+ miles an hour. Ha ha.
:-) (Mr. S that is a compliment!)

Last year he came home with a story that made me a little upset. Their was a man giving out free Husky puppies, and Ken was about to take one... but then he didn't. I told him this year if anyone is handing out puppies, he better bring one home to me!

Even though Koot is sad that his Daddy isn't home, he is still having fun. This morning he did P90x2 with me! While I workout he took a nap and then decided he wanted to participate. So while I was doing push ups I was also throwing his little tennis ball for him to chase.

This week is going to be a very fun week! I will be able to have some "me" time and really start working on designing my new house! Tonight I plan to learn a little Spanish, pick out furniture, and watch a chick flick! That is a recipe for a perfect - boy free - Monday night!

If you need my assistance please contact me at any time! I am always here to help take care of any expedited needs, local shipping needs, and full truck load needs across the country and locally around the Chicago area as well!

Custom Build

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Last night Ken and I were bored and decided to look at the pictures of our house. When we pulled it up on the application Zillow the house showed that it was taken off of the market. We were so excited we basically started brake dancing. Kooter was getting so mad at us because he wasn't the center of attention for 30 seconds, so we were dancing like dorks and he was growling and howeling at us. Quite a picture!

Ohh! Funny story, I have mentioned before that I tend to get a little bit over excited about details. While I was driving home from work I was on the phone with my sister talking about design ideas (never a good idea). Some how we were talking about the closet in the master bedroom. It is not big enough! That being said, we came up with a plan to take out a chunk of my wall that goes to the guest room and turn an entire room into a walk in closet. Boom! My plan is to have a custom closet and have a little table in the middle of the room with a counter top and a vanity. It is going to be awesome!

If I have a custom closet, a workout room, and a awesome kitchen... I am going to be the happiest girl in the world!

Please call if you need my assistance with any hotshots, full truck load, local work, or airfreight!

-if we don't get a chance to talk today, HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

At K & L Freight Management, we're not just co-workers, we're like a great big family! And WE LOVE OUR TEAM!  Each day we work smart together to continually surpass our customers' expectations.  The sense of teamwork we have is delivered through quality service and has earned the trust from our beloved customers.  We love working with all of you each day & wish you and yours a very Happy Valentine's Day! <3

Corporate Headquarters Staff

VD checklist

The most prolific of all the hallmark holidays is upon us tomorrow... Flowers - check; giant, chocolate covered fortune cookie - check; dinner reservations - check; moved Tuesday night's meeting to Thursday - check; ok.. I'm all good.

So, my wife was asked last year by a coworker what she had gotten me for Valentine's Day. Appropriately all she had done was a card. That's all I need. I do not want flowers, candy, balloons, or some fruit skewered onto a piece of foam to make it look like flowers.

I know it must be tough on women who want to treat their guy in some way so here's a couple of ideas that would say "I love you Honey for being a guy".

2 tickets to a hockey game. A heart shaped pepperoni pizza. His favorite brand of golf balls. Bacon flavored microwave popcorn. Any good action movie on DVD, a mag-lite, a bucket of hotwings.

Secure Warehousing

GoooooD Morning!

This weekend I had the perfect combination of rest and activity.


Friday night everyone at K&L went out to celebrate our 15 year anniversary. We were hanging out in downtown Saint Charles and we came across this punching bag arcade game. Everyone took a swing at it and laughed at each others scores. On average all of the women scored between 200-450 and the men 700-900. Because I have been working out so much in this past year, I scored 765. And you can say what you want, that is extremely impressive! :-) The night didn't end until the wee-hours of the morning, so I decided that I wanted to sleep for the entire day Saturday. And I did!

Sunday I had my first inspection for my new house. I am as happy as I am relieved to say that everything went perfect. Their are no major problems or any deal breakers! We should be signing all of the final paperwork early this week.

I always make it a point to remind everyone that K&L is a domestic expedited freight carrier who handles hotshots, Full Truck Load, and Local Chicago pickup and delivery. However, we do offer other services as well. K&L has excelled in handling flatbed, refrigerated, and has over 12,000 square feet available for warehousing needs.

We may not be your "every day" carrier, but whatever day you need us, we will be here!

Check out our web page, twitter, facebook, and linked in pages for more information on us!

15 Years of Quality Service

K & L Freight Management is proud to announce we are turning 15! Thank you for recognizing our hard-working, honest belief in putting our customers 1st and being a business partner of ours!

In 1997, K & L Freight Management, Inc. was founded by Russ Gallemore, who had a dream of operating an expedited company that would provide the highest quality service, integrity, and care for his customers. He never cared about the competition, because he felt he had none. Once you shipped with K & L Freight, you became part of his family, and you knew that if it could be done, K & L would find the way.

Corporate Headquarters - West Chicago, IL

A June 2002 move into a new building enabled K & L Freight to expand its staff and technology to meet the current needs of its customers and vendors. With a national customer base, the first satellite location was opened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2003. Throughout the years, we've expanded our services to include stake beds, flat beds, and refrigerated truckloads, to provide our customers with another alternative.

In 2005, we began providing a service to freight forwarders and international importers to allow our trusted partners to utilize our great service and equipment, at a fair price. Today we provide these services to over 1,000 partners, nation-wide
The company is proud to provide its employees with a great working atmosphere, which makes them eager to perform work for both the company and its customers. We continue to grow each and every day and provide our existing and new customers with a service they can be proud of and rely upon. At K & L, we work hard each and every day to live up to the company's mission statement.

Russ Gallemore, President

OUR MISSION

TO PROVIDE OUR CUSTOMERS WITH AN ELITE LEVEL OF QUALITY SERVICE, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF OUR COMPETITORS.

TO PLACE THE HIGHEST LEVEL OF TRUST AND RESPECT UPON OUR EMPLOYEES.

WE RECOGNIZE THAT ONLY WITH OUR PARTNERSHIP OF LOYAL, SATISFIED CUSTOMERS AND DEDICATED EMPLOYEES, COULD WE EVER ACCOMPLISH OUR MISSION.

Focused on Expedite

Good Morning!

Today is a very big day for me! I will be submitting my first bid to buy my first house! This whole process has been so much fun, and I can't believe how fast it is going!

I have been pulling my hair out these past few days trying to figure out all of these new terms that I am almost positive I will never fully understand. Luckily Ken is picking up on all the little details.

My biggest concern right now is how to decorate! Their are so many different things I can do, finding a good starting place will be difficult. Sometimes when it comes to things like that, I work backwards. I pick out all of the little things first and then do the larger projects. A perfect example is (hopefully) our soon to be kitchen. The first thing that I noticed I needed to fix was the cabinet handles. Their are plenty of other touch-ups that need to be made; new carpet, paint, window blinds/curtains, but my mind immediately went to kitchen handles.

Over these next few days, while I am waiting to hear back on my bid, I am going to be so anxious! I have been told that it is all part of the fun...

In order to keep my self from going crazy I am 100% focused on domestic expedite and Chicago Locals! Right now we have tractor trailers, straight trucks, sprinters, and cargo vans ready to hit the road.

Reach out to me, and I will help you solve your shipping problems!

Hot-Shot

Last night Ken and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary!

We wanted to do something fun and different than what we typically do on a Wednesday night (Fall asleep on the couch watching TV), so we decided to go to Gun World in Lombard. When you go their you can bring your own gun or rent a gun and shoot targets. The only experience I have had with guns is a semi-auto 12 gauge Remington 1187 (shotgun), but last night I got to play with two different ones. I started out with a Henry Golden Boy lever action .22 (riffle) and then a Glock 19 9mm (hand gun).

I am not going to lie, it was unbelievably terrifying to shoot the hand gun. I have never even held one before. Once I got the first shot out of the way, the nervousness slowly went away. The kick back on it was a little bit stronger than I am, so it really didn't matter how well I aimed, once my finger pulled the trigger my wrist would jolt so bad that I missed the target every time. That being said many bulls eyes were hit with the .22! Ha ha. For those of you who don't know why I laugh, a .22 is basically a glorified Beebe gun.

Ken has taken me to shoot clay pidgins before, and it was a great time. But we would always drive out to Davis Junction, IL and unfortunately we were not able to make it out their as much as we would have liked. Now since we can go hit targets 10 minutes away from our house, I can defiantly see this becoming a great hobby.

My goal: Out shoot Ken!

As much as I like shooting clays and targets at night or on weekends - I like to spend the rest of my time setting up HOTSHOTS! K&L does domestic expedited ground and air freight. We have our own fleet of cargo vans, sprinters, straight trucks and tractor trailers, and are open 24/7 so if you need a quote or have a question feel free to contact me at any time!

Analyzing Future Rising Fuel Costs

Came across this very informative article by Scott McCollister at TransCore Freight Solutions and felt it was definitely worth sharing!  It's easy for us in the freight industry to see just how much the cost of fuel can effect the economy because transportation companies are forced to pass the increasing cost of fuel on to our customers - businesses and manufacturers, causing a chain reaction. When the cost of fuel goes up, the cost of everything people buy at retail stores goes up. It's important we keep a close eye on this impactful economic issue.

2011 in the Rear View Mirror: Fuel Costs Rise 28%

The national average price for diesel in 2011 was $3.84 per gallon, up 28% from the 2010 average of $2.99. Even the low price for 2011 was not all that low compared to the previous year. In the first week of January 2011, the national average price was “only” $3.33 per gallon at the pump. By early May, fuel prices hit a high of $4.12, bringing the average for the second quarter to $4.01.

The Road Ahead: U.S. Energy Dept. Predicts Price Stability, Others See Increases in 2012

Not much change is expected in the next two years, according to the Short-Term Energy Outlook published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency’s 2012 prediction is almost unchanged, and a 2% increase is forecast for 2013.

Other observers expect prices to increase in 2012. According to the Oil Price Information Service, fuel prices have increased in 11 of the past 12 years, and 2012 already appears to be following that pattern. The average price for diesel was up by $0.50 at the start of this year, to $3.83, compared to $3.33 for the same week in 2011 (see graph, below.) Equally discouraging, OPIS shows wholesale diesel prices on an upward trend since late December, so a retail price increase seems imminent.

While the U.S. is developing new energy sources, questions about refinery capacity may limit domestic supply. Also on the supply side, uncertainty about the Middle East could drive up prices even if the Straits of Hormuz remain open. Demand, on the other hand, can be affected by economic growth or stagnation, politics and regulations, fuel efficient engines, changes in the weather, and any number of factors in addition to price.

For more predictions and analyses of the many factors affecting fuel prices, I looked at the OPIS Transportation Fuel Index, which offers some solid information in four pages of text and charts. For macroeconomic trends, look at Offshore Magazine for an analysis of global trends in supply and demand of petroleum. Spoiler: that writer predicts that oil prices will stabilize at $98/bbl for the first half of 2012.

Diesel prices were up $0.50 at the pump during the first week of January 2012, compared to the same week in 2011.

Harder Better Faster Stronger

K&L Freight is an expediter, and a darn good one at that!

To quote Daft Punk - We are "Harder Better Faster and Stronger"

We always work hard for our customers 24/7! From 24 hour monitoring, to thinking outside the box to make sure that we make each pickup and delivery on time. Everyone at K&L has one goal in mind, exceed our customers expectations.

K&L is always finding new, innovative ways to improve ourselves. No one is perfect, but we are always striving to be better in all aspects of business. We have added more TSA certified drivers and brand new trucks to our fleet so we can make sure that each customer's needs are met. Each day is a new day, but we always learn from yesterday.

Faster. We do expedite! We have multiple methods to getting freight from one end of the country to another. K&L is an indirect air carrier, so we are able to do; same day air, next day air, and next flight out. Our hotshot ground service provides our customers with direct delivery anywhere in the country (and Canada-eh!). We utilize cargo vans, sprinters, straight trucks, and tractor trailers (single driver or team drivers). Their is no stopping us from moving it fast, but the best part about it, we do it right!

And Finally, Stronger! K&L works as a team. Everyone here is knowledgeable of each aspect of the company. Our account managers are willing to fight for our customers to give them what they need. We have top notch dispatchers who are willing to work all day, every day for this company. Without us all working as a team, we would not be where we are today. Their are only two reasons we have grown into the company that we are today, knowledge and passion! K&L is a company that genuinely cares about our customers needs and wants. Our team is strong, motivated, smart, and passionate. That is what pieces the whole thing together.

All I ask is for the opportunity to prove it to you.

Lets have a day!

Justified

I have got very good news! I have finished the "Doubles" workouts for P90X! I have 3 days left in my last recovery week until I have completed the entire track.

I was hoping that since I have been so active after work that now I would have all the energy in the world and be able to stay awake later than 8pm. Once again, I was wrong.

Ken and I are trying to watch season 2 of Justified so we can watch season 3 that starts next week. The strange thing is once I take my last bite of dinner, their is an unwanted count down of how long I will be awake. Typically it lands somewhere between 10-15 minutes. When I fall asleep and Ken tries to wake me up, I guess I pretend to be awake and make up an entire story line that has nothing to do with the show. He just laughs at me and tells me to go to bed.

Tonight their will be no falling asleep before the show ends. 5 Hour Energy here I come!

Justified Season 3

- K&L is a TSA authorized indirect air carrier. We are capable of providing you with same day, next day, or next flight out service anywhere in the country.

Please do not hesitate to call with any questions or quotes that you may have.

Lets have a great day!

Here to Stay

It feels so good to be home!

I got to spend the last two weeks in Florida with my family, and it was a great time. Their were so many great moments that I don't even know where to start!

... Actually I am just saying that, I know exactly where I want to start!

MELTING POT! - Every year Ken and I go to the Melting Pot in Florida to celebrate our Anniversary. We had a great time and ate until we could barely move. It was fantastic. My favorite part of the meal was the cheese and the dessert. We had the "All American" special that they were serving and the cheese tasted exactly like a loaded baked potato; cheese, sour cream, bacon, and green onions. And the dessert was the "Peanut Butter and Jelly" but their was no peanut butter or jelly in it. It was just a chocolate mixture. I am not sure how they made chocolate taste like a PB&J but it was one of the best desserts I have ever had.


We also did some adventuring while we were out their. I went deep sea fishing for the first time, and I actually caught a lot of fish. Nothing that I caught was big enough to take home, but Ken did catch some Red Snapper fish that we filleted and grilled for dinner. While the boat was taking us out to the prime fishing hot spots we had 3 dolphins riding in our wake, they were seriously about 10 ft away from me. I could have reached out and grabbed them if the idea of leaning over the side of the boat was even an option for me. We also saw a dead Manatee floating on top of the water, it was very sad. Especially since they are an endangered species.

A few days later we went kayaking, in alligator infested waters (not my idea). We didn't actually see any while we were in the kayaks, but who knows if that was a good thing or a bad thing.



And finally we rested. And that was by far the best part of the vacation. We spent a lot of nights watching movies and playing games out on the porch.

It was a great time, I would do it all again, but I am glad to be home and have my puppy back! I really missed that little guy!

Even though I am a little late on this one - It is a new year, new projects are starting and sometimes changes need to be made to service your customer properly. I am always here to help (and I won't be taking any more vacations for a very long time ha ha). We handle the hotshots, air freight, full truck loads, heavy weight partials both locally and domestically. If you truly need fast and dependable service, call me! I'm here 24/7!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!