I haven't gotten to where I am in life with lies and deceit. When you are keeping a record of your duty status as a truck driver, you have to be as close to accurate as possible, yet mistakes do happen. If you write a log entry incorrectly, you can correct it still be legal so long as you are honest about your entry. Where people run into problems is with openly fraudulent entries on the log.
I've brought up the log and the legal hours of service (HOS) before, but what people need to understand is that the system was created by bureaucrats in response to a supposed desire by society to control the people who operate large machinery in public.
In many cases this is a reasonable concern, however the foundation for why these drivers need to be controlled is shifting and has shifted over time. In the past truckers might drive when fatigued because of pressure from the customer or their company dispatcher. The trucker might drive tired because of the opportunity to make more money. The trucker was completely free to do as he or she pleased until the log book and hours of service was created.
Even then, the penalties for log book violations were weak. The log book became known as the comic book. The issue became that drivers were able to safely drive their trucks for 20 hours a day, but now the law was restricting them to 10 hours and then an 8 hour sleeper break. Since there's 24 hours in a day, they could drive 16 hours in a 24 hour period.
The real problems are that companies have too much control over the industry forcing people to work while tired, and that the drivers who are coming into trucking have little to no understanding of how the trucking industry actually works. These people go to trucking school and are able to gain entry with relatively no barriers.
Since trucking companies are self insured and can be their own trucking school, they get all the new drivers that come into trucking. As such they have a controlling function and a deciding force in who is behind the wheel of that 40 ton vehicle riding next to you and your family on your way to work and school.
There should be a better process and more oversight over who is allowed to come into trucking. Because trucking companies have negotiated ownership over trucking students and new hires in the trucking field, they have done what most companies do: thresh out a better bottom line. This has been accomplished by removing any and all opposition to the company itself and forcing anyone who works for the company to comply with all company policy or be faced with unemployment.
That would be fine except these drivers are having their pay cut to pad the pockets of the company's CEO and affiliated officers which is removing any incentive for someone who actually wants to behave professionally and safely to want to fill the driver's seat. There are many people like myself who have dealt with these companies and come out on top, so far, but it hasn't been easy.
The point here is that while you may come into trucking and honestly be a proficient capable safe operator, your first barrier to success is the trucking company that trained and hired you. They want you to get from point A to point B for as little money as you're willing to work for and they won't take no for an answer.
You've got to maintain your honest character and proceed to work your way up and out of that company to become an owner if that's your goal. Regardless of your goal, staying honest is the only way to go. Without honesty, trust erodes and nobody likes a liar.
You want to be the person that people like, trust, and depend on to get the job done. It's harder than it sounds, but it's vital to running a trucking business.
You Will Pay
Nothing is in your house that wasn't somehow or another placed on a truck at one time or another. When it was placed on this truck, the truck owner was paid. The truck owner set a rate that he or she felt was reasonable. This rate was based on a few things such as fuel prices, maintenance costs, driver pay, and the competition's rates. There is a value here that goes into the price of freight which is not easily calculated: The pay to the driver to make driver's quality of life worthwhile.
As the lives of drivers are being inundated with electronic recorders, constant surveillance from the Department of Transportation, and local law enforcement, there is another factor which has crept into the lives of truck drivers: lack of parking.
While the daily hours a driver is allowed to work is being cut short so that he or she will be safer behind the wheel, the places they can park are becoming fewer and fewer. It really doesn't matter why this is happening so much because the parking lots and unused strips of local roads where trucks aren't allowed are many in number.
When I first came out here almost 20 years ago, trucks could practically park anywhere in the country so long as the truck could fit and be able to navigate in and out of the parking lot. This made it possible to park somewhere other than a truck stop to take in the local sights or enjoy whatever the local area had to offer. It's normal for a new business in a remote area or even in the suburbs to allow truck parking. I see it all the time when a business is starting out. Trucks bring in business. And then, just like clockwork, as the business starts to do better, they erect truck parking bans around the property.
Truck drivers who enjoy their lives, charge less money for their service. The more enjoyable the job, the less money needs to change hands. Parking lot owners complain about the cost to repair light poles, pick up garbage, and repair damaged asphalt when they start to ban trucks, but is it really cost effective? Is it possible that the reason there is a driver shortage is partially because life on the road is becoming more and more daunting?
Perhaps the next time you go to the store to fill your cart with anything, you might think about the prices you pay a little differently knowing that if the truckers were happier, the money in your wallet might go a little further than it does.
Call It In
As people who travel the US highways and side streets, we see quite a lot of things out on the road. We see vehicle crashes, fires, road hazards, aggressive drivers, odd behavior, and outright illegal stuff. I've been calling 911 for years and reporting what I see. Some times I've been laughed at, such as the time that a Hostess Doughnut truck was broken down on the Verrazano Narrows bridge and the 911 operator laughed out loud. Cops and doughnuts have a relationship worth laughing at.
Then there was the time shortly after 9/11 when I was on the interstate near a college and a small car with clear windows pulled in front of me. Inside were 4 people completely covered in white sheets or white hooded robes. This vehicle pulled over on the shoulder and everyone inside jumped out of the car and changed seats in the car (Chinese fire drill is what I called that maneuver when I was growing up but I don't know why). I called the FBI tip line and listened to the agent chuckling to himself. I can only assume that this car was doing this as some sort of college prank all around the area or at least more than once. These people in the car put on such a show that I didn't manage to get the license plate number.
The biggest thing that we normally see on the highway is erratic driving. Most of the time these people are on their cell phones talking or texting. Recently a driver was driving so crazy that they were pulling in front of people and slamming on their brakes then speeding up and pulling in front of more people and doing that over and over again. I'm sure that I wasn't the only person who called 911 on that erratic driver, but they were pulled over shortly after my call.
Then there was a car that swerved off the highway far down into a grassy median and sat there. I called 911, but by the time that police arrived the car was gone. The company we are leased to has a strict policy on stopping on the shoulder unless you are involved in an accident or have a vehicle problem. This makes it hard to stop on the shoulder whenever we want to. There are many times when we want to stop, but can't because of this policy. There are also very good reasons not to stop for people any more because of thefts, vandalism, and assault on the highway with no one around to help you. Stopping for people on the shoulder is a very dangerous activity. Still I consider it if I think that someone's life is in jeopardy. So instead we call 911.
Usually on the highway, when an incident occurs and 911 is dialed, the local authorities are reached. The 911 operator asks where the problem is and as soon as they find out the mile marker and highway number, they patch the caller through to the highway patrol or the local police who are handling the area. This can take a few minutes and normally by the time the person who is in charge of the area is reached, the caller is out of the area. Sometimes the problem is resolved before the authorities can arrive at the scene and sometimes the authorities simply arrive too late to do anything other than write up a report on whatever happened.
No matter what though, it's better to call in whatever incident happens because you just never know if you will be saving a life or not.
The Owner's Freedom
Running a business is a collaborative effort between numerous parties. Being the owner of a truck and a trailer is very similar to owning just about any other type of business. The factors are similar in that you have to provide your customer with a service, manage your employees, maintain your equipment, and negotiate with everyone involved to reach an agreement. Since you are the owner, you are in control of where the truck goes, what components it will have, who will be driving it, and how much work it will be doing.
There's no one to tell you what to do. After you service the needs of your customer, you're done for the day, week, month, or even the year. As long as your equipment is paid for and your customer is happy, you can come and go as you please. This can be a problem for people who need a boss to tell them what to do. Many people don't understand how to manage a business and the change from company driver to company owner is a culture shock.
It is definitely a challenge to rid yourself of habits formed as a company driving employee. You must work hard to develop new habits, those of a business owner. The biggest change is the total control you gain when signing the title to your truck. That's when it starts to sink in that you are the owner. You can paint the truck whichever color you like, decide when to change the oil and filters, decide how fast to drive, and how many hours you will work.
And the biggest change is that you decide who to work with (since you are no longer working FOR anyone) and for what rate per mile or per job will be. Since you are responsible for the truck, you are the one who makes ALL the final decisions. No one can tell you what to do with your business unless you let them.
Trucking has its benefits in that it allows the freedom of travel and the ability to live anywhere you choose. You can live in a tax free area with low overhead or a heavily taxed area with high overhead. Trucking allows you to get paid to travel. To me this is a great benefit because I have always loved to travel. I think that unless you really love traveling, you won't like trucking for more than a year.
Being the owner has even more benefits because you are traveling and deciding how much time to take off and where to take that time off. This is a concept that most, if not all, company truck drivers have no concept of in my experience unless they were prior business owners themselves. As an owner, I can take loads to my favorite sports team's games anywhere in the country. I can go to any beach, casino, museum, national landmark, or neighborhood that I desire whenever I choose to so long as my business is in order.
The only deciding factor in whether I will work or not is if the business needs me to work. The demands of the business must be met first. The priority is that the customers must be happy, taxes must be paid, maintenance must be done, the legal aspects of the business must be satisfied such as drug testing and records of hours of service. Once you develop a system of keeping all of this accomplished, you can eliminate loads of stress and enjoy the freedom of being the boss.
The risk is greater when you are the owner, but the reward is also greater. I was recently discussing being an owner with a company employee driver. This conversation has always gone the same in all the years I've been in this industry. The company employee has been spoon fed gallons of lies about being an owner. They have been brainwashed by trucking school and who knows how many ignorant people who had no business running a business in the first place. I explained to him that you can find good paying freight no matter what the economy is doing and that you will clear most of your monthly debt obligations in a week of work, leaving you free to do as you please with the other 3 and a half weeks.
I was saying this from experience, but another older gentleman had to poke his head in on the conversation to discredit my claims and declare my information as grandiose. This is the usual conversation that takes place in truckstops around the US and probably around the world. It's a need I think of people to feel safe and secure in their chosen path by cutting anyone down who threatens to pull them out of said path. The fight against the "greener grass" is alive and well. Its more popular to sit around and complain about the world than point out its positive attributes.
In the end, you are free to decide whether ownership or being an employee is for you. It doesn't always make sense to be an owner, but when it does, you should consider all the positive stories and rule out the negative. Consider the source of the information and point yourself in the direction you want it to go in, otherwise you will end up in a place that you didn't want to go. And it will be you that put yourself there.
There's no one to tell you what to do. After you service the needs of your customer, you're done for the day, week, month, or even the year. As long as your equipment is paid for and your customer is happy, you can come and go as you please. This can be a problem for people who need a boss to tell them what to do. Many people don't understand how to manage a business and the change from company driver to company owner is a culture shock.
It is definitely a challenge to rid yourself of habits formed as a company driving employee. You must work hard to develop new habits, those of a business owner. The biggest change is the total control you gain when signing the title to your truck. That's when it starts to sink in that you are the owner. You can paint the truck whichever color you like, decide when to change the oil and filters, decide how fast to drive, and how many hours you will work.
And the biggest change is that you decide who to work with (since you are no longer working FOR anyone) and for what rate per mile or per job will be. Since you are responsible for the truck, you are the one who makes ALL the final decisions. No one can tell you what to do with your business unless you let them.
Trucking has its benefits in that it allows the freedom of travel and the ability to live anywhere you choose. You can live in a tax free area with low overhead or a heavily taxed area with high overhead. Trucking allows you to get paid to travel. To me this is a great benefit because I have always loved to travel. I think that unless you really love traveling, you won't like trucking for more than a year.
Being the owner has even more benefits because you are traveling and deciding how much time to take off and where to take that time off. This is a concept that most, if not all, company truck drivers have no concept of in my experience unless they were prior business owners themselves. As an owner, I can take loads to my favorite sports team's games anywhere in the country. I can go to any beach, casino, museum, national landmark, or neighborhood that I desire whenever I choose to so long as my business is in order.
The only deciding factor in whether I will work or not is if the business needs me to work. The demands of the business must be met first. The priority is that the customers must be happy, taxes must be paid, maintenance must be done, the legal aspects of the business must be satisfied such as drug testing and records of hours of service. Once you develop a system of keeping all of this accomplished, you can eliminate loads of stress and enjoy the freedom of being the boss.
The risk is greater when you are the owner, but the reward is also greater. I was recently discussing being an owner with a company employee driver. This conversation has always gone the same in all the years I've been in this industry. The company employee has been spoon fed gallons of lies about being an owner. They have been brainwashed by trucking school and who knows how many ignorant people who had no business running a business in the first place. I explained to him that you can find good paying freight no matter what the economy is doing and that you will clear most of your monthly debt obligations in a week of work, leaving you free to do as you please with the other 3 and a half weeks.
I was saying this from experience, but another older gentleman had to poke his head in on the conversation to discredit my claims and declare my information as grandiose. This is the usual conversation that takes place in truckstops around the US and probably around the world. It's a need I think of people to feel safe and secure in their chosen path by cutting anyone down who threatens to pull them out of said path. The fight against the "greener grass" is alive and well. Its more popular to sit around and complain about the world than point out its positive attributes.
In the end, you are free to decide whether ownership or being an employee is for you. It doesn't always make sense to be an owner, but when it does, you should consider all the positive stories and rule out the negative. Consider the source of the information and point yourself in the direction you want it to go in, otherwise you will end up in a place that you didn't want to go. And it will be you that put yourself there.
The Preferred Path
I like to update my goals on a regular basis. When doing so, I look to the past successes and failures. I've had many of both. Looking back, the mistakes stand out the most. If I were to do it all over again these are the things I would do:
1. Find a trucking school that is thorough and fairly priced. You should pay for it yourself instead of selling yourself into bondage at a trucking company to pay it off.
2. Soak up as much knowledge as you can during your first year as a company driver. Learn about everything from the mechanics of the truck to the way the trucking company services customers and dispatches the fleet.
3. Stay safe throughout all of this. You can recover from a nasty DAC report, but accidents and tickets will stay with you for a few years so keep a clean safe record.
4. Assuming you are young and around your 20's start investing at least one to two thousand bucks a year into a Roth IRA at Vanguard. They have very small fees and if you keep doing this, in ten years, you will be on your way to a comfy retirement. Even if you are in your 40's or later, make sure you put something into retirement.
5. Become an owner/operator as soon as you possibly can. Don't wait. Usually after your first year you can buy a truck and lease onto an owner/operator only fleet.
6. Don't pay off your equipment early. Instead, make your monthly payments and put regular payments into retirement. You can always take the money back out in an emergency, but it would be better if you left it in there and used credit cards instead. Its then important that these cards get paid off ASAP. Just don't touch your retirement! Compounding interest is the 8th wonder of the world.
7. Set aside some money for repairs. Probably about 10 cents a mile should do it.
8. Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance!!!! Be sure to know everything you can about all the fluids, greasing applications, filters, coolants, tire inflation, engine torque range, etc, etc. Get to know that truck inside and out!
9. Buy a trailer. Trailers have almost no maintenance and bring in up to 10% revenue. Its a no-brainer and they can be sold after a few years of use to recoup some of the cost of the equipment.
10. Don't work for cheap. When you're new, you will be taken advantage of, but you can still weed out bad freight and make good choices.
11. Limit your risk. Don't accept loads that require a lot of deadhead with a guarantee of being paid something if the load falls through. Don't book a load that picks up at the last minute on a Friday or on the weekend without a guarantee of detention, layover pay, or truck ordered not used.
12. Get everything in writing from the customer, broker, or agent. Email is the best way to get this information quickly and in a format that's easy to store.
13. Don't be lazy about load securement. Go ahead and spend the few extra minutes or half hour making sure that the freight is secure.
14. Be safe when working around the truck and trailer. Take extra time keep away from danger in the loading and unloading environment.
15. Keep in constant communication with the shippers and receivers because lack thereof will only result in anger and confusion.
16. Keep your eyes on the prize and don't let yourself be dissuaded from your course. This pertains to safety, reliability, and how you run your business in general.
17. Be a professional even if no one considers or expects you to be one. Conduct yourself with a calm responsible composure. Negotiate obstacles with finesse and with all the info you can gather about the situation. Don't rush to judgement and make a rash decision. Think through your day and be the voice of rationality instead of the screaming driver who is only annoying those around them.
18. Have fun whenever you can. Find a local attraction wherever you go that you might not ever be able to go to on a normal basis and spend a little money enjoying the sights that the country has to offer.
19. Always conduct yourself in a manner that lends to the accomplishment of your goals. If your point of view doesn't get you to your goal, you need to adjust your course and correct your position.
20. Be the person that people go to in order to get the job done right. Remember that you can be replaced and you need to be the example of what "to do" instead of what "not to do".
1. Find a trucking school that is thorough and fairly priced. You should pay for it yourself instead of selling yourself into bondage at a trucking company to pay it off.
2. Soak up as much knowledge as you can during your first year as a company driver. Learn about everything from the mechanics of the truck to the way the trucking company services customers and dispatches the fleet.
3. Stay safe throughout all of this. You can recover from a nasty DAC report, but accidents and tickets will stay with you for a few years so keep a clean safe record.
4. Assuming you are young and around your 20's start investing at least one to two thousand bucks a year into a Roth IRA at Vanguard. They have very small fees and if you keep doing this, in ten years, you will be on your way to a comfy retirement. Even if you are in your 40's or later, make sure you put something into retirement.
5. Become an owner/operator as soon as you possibly can. Don't wait. Usually after your first year you can buy a truck and lease onto an owner/operator only fleet.
6. Don't pay off your equipment early. Instead, make your monthly payments and put regular payments into retirement. You can always take the money back out in an emergency, but it would be better if you left it in there and used credit cards instead. Its then important that these cards get paid off ASAP. Just don't touch your retirement! Compounding interest is the 8th wonder of the world.
7. Set aside some money for repairs. Probably about 10 cents a mile should do it.
8. Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance!!!! Be sure to know everything you can about all the fluids, greasing applications, filters, coolants, tire inflation, engine torque range, etc, etc. Get to know that truck inside and out!
9. Buy a trailer. Trailers have almost no maintenance and bring in up to 10% revenue. Its a no-brainer and they can be sold after a few years of use to recoup some of the cost of the equipment.
10. Don't work for cheap. When you're new, you will be taken advantage of, but you can still weed out bad freight and make good choices.
11. Limit your risk. Don't accept loads that require a lot of deadhead with a guarantee of being paid something if the load falls through. Don't book a load that picks up at the last minute on a Friday or on the weekend without a guarantee of detention, layover pay, or truck ordered not used.
12. Get everything in writing from the customer, broker, or agent. Email is the best way to get this information quickly and in a format that's easy to store.
13. Don't be lazy about load securement. Go ahead and spend the few extra minutes or half hour making sure that the freight is secure.
14. Be safe when working around the truck and trailer. Take extra time keep away from danger in the loading and unloading environment.
15. Keep in constant communication with the shippers and receivers because lack thereof will only result in anger and confusion.
16. Keep your eyes on the prize and don't let yourself be dissuaded from your course. This pertains to safety, reliability, and how you run your business in general.
17. Be a professional even if no one considers or expects you to be one. Conduct yourself with a calm responsible composure. Negotiate obstacles with finesse and with all the info you can gather about the situation. Don't rush to judgement and make a rash decision. Think through your day and be the voice of rationality instead of the screaming driver who is only annoying those around them.
18. Have fun whenever you can. Find a local attraction wherever you go that you might not ever be able to go to on a normal basis and spend a little money enjoying the sights that the country has to offer.
19. Always conduct yourself in a manner that lends to the accomplishment of your goals. If your point of view doesn't get you to your goal, you need to adjust your course and correct your position.
20. Be the person that people go to in order to get the job done right. Remember that you can be replaced and you need to be the example of what "to do" instead of what "not to do".
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