Episode Highlights

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:03:09
Unknown
this work will cheer you up and spit you out and not even think twice about it.

00:00:03:10 - 00:00:07:10
Unknown
I've been doing it for over 30 years, and it's in and it still kicks my butt.

00:00:07:10 - 00:00:26:08
Unknown
From this week in trucking, this is profit per mile. And I'm Amy. Today we're joined by J.R. Elrod from Bar Transportation who not only runs specialized freight but also handles dispatch, keeping loads, moving when routes change, weather hits or other plans fall apart. But before we get into it, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an update!

00:00:26:10 - 00:00:49:07
Unknown
J.R., how are you doing and how do you get into trucking? Let us know please. Well, I'm doing well. We've been pretty busy here the last couple of weeks, and it looks like it's fixing to get even busier for us. The weather hasn't has really cooperated a lot, so everything's been pushed back. And so it's the weather starting to get a little nicer right now.

00:00:49:09 - 00:00:50:18
Unknown
We're starting to get pretty busy.

00:00:50:18 - 00:01:06:16
Unknown
how do I get into trucking? Well, I got out of the army. Didn't really know what I wanted to do. Friend of mine, said, hey, come over here. Ride around with me for a little bit until you figure out what you want to do, and then you can go get.

00:01:06:16 - 00:01:09:03
Unknown
At least you're making a little bit of money. Well,

00:01:09:03 - 00:01:18:21
Unknown
I'm still riding around. I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do. So, you know, that's that's my story. Pretty much in a nutshell.

00:01:18:21 - 00:01:28:21
Unknown
I've had three jobs since I was 17 years old. United States Army, worked for my buddy, and then I've worked for myself.

00:01:28:21 - 00:01:29:20
Unknown
So.

00:01:29:20 - 00:01:33:14
Unknown
And how is it that you ended up wearing the dispatcher hat?

00:01:33:14 - 00:01:47:17
Unknown
Well, as as co-owner of this company, it. I wear all kinds of hats. I mean, I do sales, I do dispatch, I do whatever is required. I mean, I even go out. I still go out and drive. So

00:01:47:17 - 00:01:51:01
Unknown
I wear I work quite a number of hats around here.

00:01:51:01 - 00:01:54:13
Unknown
Can you tell us just a little bit about how our transportation started?

00:01:54:13 - 00:01:55:07
Unknown
Well,

00:01:55:07 - 00:01:56:16
Unknown
my wife and I,

00:01:56:16 - 00:02:07:05
Unknown
we we've operated our own companies one way or another. Whether it was just me by myself or. I've co-owned a couple other companies, that I have,

00:02:07:05 - 00:02:10:11
Unknown
since bailed on because they did.

00:02:10:11 - 00:02:18:01
Unknown
The other owners didn't have integrity, and they were always lying and and what have you. And I just don't stand for that.

00:02:18:01 - 00:02:26:05
Unknown
So my wife and I decided that we were going to do it again by ourselves. And so our transportation was born

00:02:26:05 - 00:02:34:22
Unknown
and we haven't looked back. I mean, we've we've gone up, we've gone down, but we're still here.

00:02:34:22 - 00:02:42:20
Unknown
Now, I wanted to ask you, considering our audience who are is mostly small carriers for an owner operator who's running under

00:02:42:20 - 00:02:49:00
Unknown
their own authority. What's the biggest difference between running standard freight and going into heavy haul?

00:02:49:00 - 00:02:54:16
Unknown
Well, and this is that's a that's a that's really a tough question.

00:02:54:16 - 00:02:56:14
Unknown
But look standard freight.

00:02:56:16 - 00:03:00:19
Unknown
Almost anybody can do it. Anybody is pretty easy.

00:03:00:19 - 00:03:15:15
Unknown
You back up to dock, they load you, you drive away, or, you know, kind of a flatbed, regular style load is about the same thing. You throw some straps on, maybe a tarp, maybe a chain or two or whatever, and you just get gone. Pretty basic.

00:03:15:15 - 00:03:16:19
Unknown
But oversize.

00:03:16:19 - 00:03:18:02
Unknown
That's a whole different game.

00:03:18:02 - 00:03:23:10
Unknown
First you got to know how to look at the freight. Figure out where it needs to go on the trailer.

00:03:23:10 - 00:03:30:03
Unknown
Not just somewhere on the deck. Exactly where. So you can get the right wink distribution.

00:03:30:03 - 00:03:35:05
Unknown
Then you have to decide which chains to use. 3/8. Half inch. How many?

00:03:35:05 - 00:03:38:13
Unknown
Because it's got to be legal and safe going down the road.

00:03:38:13 - 00:03:51:20
Unknown
Then once you're loaded. Now, now you're reading permits. You got to, you got your permit book out. You've got your permits out. You're comparing making sure that there's no mistakes made on it.

00:03:51:20 - 00:03:52:21
Unknown
And

00:03:52:21 - 00:03:55:06
Unknown
that's just that's just the start of it.

00:03:55:06 - 00:03:56:12
Unknown
Do I need a pilot car.

00:03:56:15 - 00:04:01:10
Unknown
What are the curfews in this town that I'm loading. And what are the curfews elsewhere.

00:04:01:10 - 00:04:09:09
Unknown
and I mean exactly what's the route. Because you can't just use a GPS to go from point A to point B anymore. You have to go about what the states say.

00:04:09:09 - 00:04:17:02
Unknown
So there's a lot of a lot of stuff involved with oversize and overweight

00:04:17:02 - 00:04:19:12
Unknown
that just not anybody can do.

00:04:19:12 - 00:04:28:01
Unknown
You can't just throw a rookie out there in one of my trucks and expect the load to get from point A to point B, the correct way,

00:04:28:01 - 00:04:42:02
Unknown
If I'm just a person who's hauling normal freight, what's some type of equipment that I need to think about before even going into specialized freight if I want to go to heavy haul. What's the first piece of equipment I would buy?

00:04:42:02 - 00:04:45:20
Unknown
well let's see. First off, the big thing is that the equipment,

00:04:45:20 - 00:04:47:16
Unknown
it's your mindset.

00:04:47:17 - 00:04:49:15
Unknown
That is the first thing.

00:04:49:15 - 00:05:05:18
Unknown
you have the patience in the communities to do this kind of job? Because it takes both. It takes common sense and patience. Because if you don't have those, you might as well go pull a van or flatbed because you're going to do nothing but get yourself hurt or get somebody else hurt.

00:05:05:18 - 00:05:06:22
Unknown
Plain and simple.

00:05:06:22 - 00:05:22:10
Unknown
Now, once you got once you figured that out, the right equipment, you got to figure out what kind of trailer you going to pull. You're going to pull. Step back. You're gonna pull again. If you're going to pull again, how big of an are you going to pull? How big of, you know, you have to figure out what kind of weight you're going to pull.

00:05:22:10 - 00:05:34:16
Unknown
Us we used to have our jeans. We don't have them anymore because we decided that the rates were too cheap. They weren't paying enough. So we got out of it. Just went strictly with our step. That's,

00:05:34:16 - 00:05:40:17
Unknown
But the equipment that that somebody would need would be three eights and half inch chain,

00:05:40:17 - 00:05:42:10
Unknown
ratchet binders.

00:05:42:10 - 00:05:47:01
Unknown
Shackles. You'll need some straps.

00:05:47:01 - 00:05:56:22
Unknown
It just again, it depends on what your what kind of overcharge you're going to get into. There's, you know, the basics are oversize signs, flags,

00:05:56:22 - 00:05:59:13
Unknown
a good GPS that can be programed.

00:05:59:13 - 00:06:02:08
Unknown
That's that's just kind of the basics

00:06:02:08 - 00:06:07:12
Unknown
most of the bigger stuff that we haul, we have learned over the years what we're going to need.

00:06:07:12 - 00:06:26:02
Unknown
So you might we might do something like, we've got a new customer coming up that we're going to be hauling some stuff for. We're taking what we think we're going to need. But if that's not the case, then we have to stop what we're doing, run out, pick up what we need, come back and load it. Right.

00:06:26:02 - 00:06:39:03
Unknown
loved the mindset part for sure. That makes sense to. Yeah it's that's the whole that's the whole thing. And with our with our guys that we have here, that's one of the first questions that we ask is what's your mindset.

00:06:39:03 - 00:06:48:03
Unknown
And if we don't think their mindset is where it needs to be, we don't we don't hire because our job is dangerous.

00:06:48:05 - 00:07:14:00
Unknown
Plain and simple. It doesn't matter. Overall, trucking is pretty safe ish. But when you get into stuff like we like what we do, you have to know that one wrong move either loading, unloading, or even driving. You're going to hurt yourself or kill yourself or somebody else.

00:07:14:00 - 00:07:18:13
Unknown
Could you give me a short example of what you would think?

00:07:18:13 - 00:07:29:13
Unknown
What you would say is not the right mindset or any example you've lived in your experience of something, will you. Yeah, that's that's that's actually pretty simple question.

00:07:29:13 - 00:07:40:21
Unknown
I know it all. No, you don't you think you know it all, but once you get out there, you figure out real quick. You do not know it all. You can't know it all.

00:07:41:01 - 00:07:59:15
Unknown
I know guys that have been in this business for 40 years, and they do stuff twice as big as what I do, and they've done this the and the entire time they've been driving. And they will tell you. I do not know at all. I ask questions if you're not willing to ask questions or take critique. This is not the job for you.

00:07:59:15 - 00:08:02:01
Unknown
Now moving on with our questions.

00:08:02:01 - 00:08:21:14
Unknown
What would you say are the most common mistakes you see small cars make when they try to jump into heavy hold too early? First off, it could be that what we just mentioned about, being know it alls. And you think you can just jump into heavy haul and that's and that's what that's where most guys make their biggest mistake.

00:08:21:14 - 00:08:23:15
Unknown
But first off,

00:08:23:15 - 00:08:26:06
Unknown
trying to do the job but then experience drivers

00:08:26:06 - 00:08:37:18
Unknown
or even if you're even if you're a one truck outfit and you're trying to do it and you're not experienced at it, and you don't have somebody around a mentor or somebody around that can kind of help you walk through it.

00:08:37:18 - 00:08:40:07
Unknown
You're, you're you're just setting yourself up for failure.

00:08:40:07 - 00:08:50:19
Unknown
Second, trying to fake it to make it. You can't. You can you can fake it a little bit with the smaller stuff like the nine and ten foot wide stuff.

00:08:50:19 - 00:09:05:17
Unknown
You can probably fake it pretty well until you kind of get the hang of it and get away with it. But when you get into the 12, 13, 14, 15, 16ft wide over height stuff, overweight stuff, you can't fake that.

00:09:05:19 - 00:09:07:04
Unknown
You can't,

00:09:07:04 - 00:09:16:15
Unknown
I have seen carriers running in Texas whenever I'm going somewhere at night and I have seen,

00:09:16:15 - 00:09:26:02
Unknown
12 and 13ft wide loads going down the road with no signage, no nothing. And the drivers are just going, that's illegal and unsafe.

00:09:26:02 - 00:09:34:16
Unknown
back in the back in the 90s, people could get away with it because it just it was it's a, it was a totally different

00:09:34:16 - 00:09:35:06
Unknown
era

00:09:35:06 - 00:09:37:12
Unknown
for trucking and you could get away with it.

00:09:37:12 - 00:09:38:20
Unknown
But not these days.

00:09:38:20 - 00:09:41:18
Unknown
you just can't you just can't fake this work anymore.

00:09:41:18 - 00:09:58:12
Unknown
talking about this like the, the times changing and, and things that were allowed before but are not allowed now. How does permitting work for oversize and overweight loads. And what should a one truck carrier absolutely understand before their first permitted run.

00:09:58:12 - 00:10:29:07
Unknown
the first thing you gotta figure it, first thing you've got to know is where you're going to get your permit. Us your bar. We do our own permitting. We go through each individual state and we do our own permitting. We we have learned over the years that number one is quicker. Number two, we can kind of, adjust routes where we need to adjust them because we do this a lot and we know, you know, let's just say we're going from Dallas to, Atlanta, okay.

00:10:29:07 - 00:10:42:22
Unknown
We do that. We do that 5 or 6 times a year. So we know which, you know, where we need to go and where we need to stay away from so we can actually route ourselves. New a new guy. They're not going to know that.

00:10:42:22 - 00:10:54:15
Unknown
There's, you know, there's permits services out there. You know, they pay you pay between 25 and 50 bucks a permit over the top of the what the permit actually costs.

00:10:54:17 - 00:11:08:19
Unknown
But they, they can get you your permits for you, but you still have to know how to read all. You still got to sit down and say, okay, this is the route I have to stay on this route.

00:11:08:19 - 00:11:16:09
Unknown
And we see it day in and day out. I mean, we make mistakes. We've been doing this forever, and we still make mistakes.

00:11:16:09 - 00:11:30:08
Unknown
But you got to be smart enough to stop what you're doing when you make the mistake to stop and pick up the phone and call somebody and say, hey, I made a mistake, how do I get out of this so you can get back on route?

00:11:30:08 - 00:11:32:12
Unknown
And then speaking of costs,

00:11:32:12 - 00:11:40:07
Unknown
could we go into a little bit into the, the numbers of maybe not the difference, but what, you know, of heavy haul,

00:11:40:07 - 00:11:48:14
Unknown
compared to regular freight, how much do you maybe spend on fuel, tires, insurance, maintenance per week or per month?

00:11:48:14 - 00:11:54:13
Unknown
However, you would like to paint us a picture of how those numbers. Okay, this is real simple.

00:11:54:13 - 00:12:00:05
Unknown
If you if right now pulling regular freight, you're spending, let's say

00:12:00:05 - 00:12:02:05
Unknown
$2,000 a week in fuel,

00:12:02:05 - 00:12:03:04
Unknown
double it.

00:12:03:04 - 00:12:15:16
Unknown
Just know you're going you're you are going to you're what you're pulling freight for where you're getting six and, you know, between five and a half and six and have some, seven miles to the gallon.

00:12:15:18 - 00:12:17:05
Unknown
Those days are gone.

00:12:17:05 - 00:12:19:04
Unknown
They're gone because

00:12:19:04 - 00:12:20:22
Unknown
my older truck,

00:12:20:22 - 00:12:28:20
Unknown
it gets with just general freight light load. It probably gets six miles to the gallon.

00:12:28:20 - 00:12:46:06
Unknown
Okay. My T6 ads which are newer, they probably get six and a half to seven when they're just regular freight. We throw an oversize on there. It cuts in half I mean my bet my my big W9.

00:12:46:08 - 00:12:48:11
Unknown
It goes down to four miles to the gallon.

00:12:48:11 - 00:13:08:17
Unknown
The T 600 is probably down to five. So your your fuel is going to double your insurance. The minute you tell your insurance agent you're going to go haul in, how oversize they're going to, it's going to cost you more. Can't tell you what it is because again, we've been doing this forever.

00:13:08:17 - 00:13:18:01
Unknown
We have a great safety rating and great safety record. And so we we get a we get a pretty good rate on our insurance.

00:13:18:01 - 00:13:19:13
Unknown
Your maintenance is going to go up

00:13:19:13 - 00:13:26:16
Unknown
because you're, you're doing you're making the truck do more than what it was before.

00:13:26:16 - 00:13:28:02
Unknown
What would you say?

00:13:28:02 - 00:13:34:09
Unknown
Is one expense people may underestimate can go very high when you're doing heavy haul

00:13:34:09 - 00:13:35:12
Unknown
old tires.

00:13:35:12 - 00:13:48:19
Unknown
Tires. They they they underestimate what the what. They're going to spend it in fuel. I mean, they, they think that, you know, they jump out of pulling even a flatbed, a regular flatbed, flatbed loads.

00:13:48:23 - 00:14:01:10
Unknown
they go into it and they think, okay, I'm going to get, you know, I'm getting six miles to the gallon pull in this flatbed. I can, you know, I can make bank on pulling oversize. No you can't.

00:14:01:10 - 00:14:08:18
Unknown
Tires. And one of the biggest reasons for the charges, we go to a lot of job sites, a lot.

00:14:08:20 - 00:14:29:14
Unknown
So we're not, we're not on asphalt, concrete and what have you all the time. We're in dirt. We're in mud. We're. I mean, it just we go into job sites that have concrete and stuff, but guess what? They're you're avoiding a whole lot of stuff. So you end up, you end up with a nail in a tire.

00:14:29:16 - 00:14:31:20
Unknown
Yeah. Or you end up blowing a tire.

00:14:31:20 - 00:14:42:04
Unknown
when somebody comes to you, a new client comes to buyer transportation. How do you price risk when you're moving a high value or high security load?

00:14:42:04 - 00:14:51:02
Unknown
Well, simply if my if my liability is carrier goes up, so does their price.

00:14:51:04 - 00:15:29:01
Unknown
Because I'm not I am not going to price something that's worth $5 million. That is 35ft long, 14 wide, and 14.5ft on my trailer, the same as I would do the same dimensions on something worth $200,000 because my my liability goes way up. I have to go to the insurance company. I have to get different insurance. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that is involved with a high, high value load or high security load.

00:15:29:01 - 00:15:43:00
Unknown
I know guys that do it, and they, you know, it doesn't matter. It's this for this size, this for this size, this for this size. And it doesn't matter what the price is and or what is what its value is, but what happens when

00:15:43:00 - 00:16:00:12
Unknown
their driver pulls into a truck stop, and he's taken up two spaces because he's so wide, and a van driver comes in and thinks that he can fit between the truck and the load, even though you're taking up almost to two parking spots and he backs into it.

00:16:00:12 - 00:16:02:12
Unknown
Well, there it goes.

00:16:02:12 - 00:16:03:19
Unknown
we have the

00:16:03:19 - 00:16:05:18
Unknown
the price for

00:16:05:18 - 00:16:17:23
Unknown
high value and oversize loads. But then we have to add extreme weather conditions. What lessons have stuck with you about knowing when to shut it down versus push through?

00:16:17:23 - 00:16:21:17
Unknown
Yeah, that simple shut down or like,

00:16:21:17 - 00:16:23:17
Unknown
especially with an oversize

00:16:23:17 - 00:16:26:16
Unknown
because the truck stops fill up fast.

00:16:26:16 - 00:16:27:13
Unknown
you're

00:16:27:13 - 00:16:35:21
Unknown
wide high, whatever it happens to be, you're going to take up more space. So you have to get into the truck stop early.

00:16:35:21 - 00:16:47:07
Unknown
if you wait till the weather's bad. Trucks, the truck stops are full, the rest areas are full. Everybody's trying to park at once. Now you're stuck looking for somewhere, pulling a 14ft wide load.

00:16:47:07 - 00:16:52:08
Unknown
You know, in the in the snow or in a bad rainstorm or whatever it happens to be.

00:16:52:08 - 00:16:55:08
Unknown
you know. And the next thing you have to think of is,

00:16:55:08 - 00:16:57:04
Unknown
what if I'm not on the interstate?

00:16:57:04 - 00:17:09:23
Unknown
What if I'm out in the back roads of Kansas or Missouri? What do you do that? Well, they you know, they have parking areas. They have, there's, you know, there's little truck stops and stuff that you can park at.

00:17:10:01 - 00:17:16:11
Unknown
But what we've learned is a lot of times when we're out in those areas, we look for grain elevators,

00:17:16:11 - 00:17:18:21
Unknown
grain elevators, a great place to park.

00:17:18:21 - 00:17:35:12
Unknown
We carry most guys that do what we do. They are very prepared for having to park in the middle of nowhere with no services. So we carry extra food, extra blankets, extra, you know, extra everything.

00:17:35:13 - 00:17:47:04
Unknown
So that if you get stuck out in the middle of nowhere and you, there's no where to eat, you don't have to drop your trailer. Maybe you can't drop your trailer. Maybe it's a high bar you load,

00:17:47:04 - 00:17:53:00
Unknown
and go somewhere or find something to eat and then turn around and come back to your trailer. So yeah,

00:17:53:00 - 00:17:56:17
Unknown
it's the the key is to get off the road

00:17:56:17 - 00:17:59:20
Unknown
safely and get off the road early.

00:17:59:22 - 00:18:02:00
Unknown
If you're going to be get into bad weather.

00:18:02:00 - 00:18:16:11
Unknown
And then speaking of the drivers who are moving these loads, we already talked about the people we don't want. Who are the know it all mindsets. But you as a fleet owner, what do you look for when bringing on drivers for specialized freight

00:18:16:11 - 00:18:17:23
Unknown
experience?

00:18:17:23 - 00:18:19:17
Unknown
And lots of it.

00:18:19:17 - 00:18:33:16
Unknown
Somebody again, that can take criticism that will learn from them is not only their mistakes that they've made in the past or our mistakes we've made in the past.

00:18:33:16 - 00:18:36:19
Unknown
Because, again, that you're you're constantly learning here.

00:18:36:19 - 00:18:41:10
Unknown
I mean, because no, almost no two loads are the same.

00:18:41:10 - 00:18:48:19
Unknown
Even if you even if it's the same product, something is different about it. And you're going to have to you're going to have to secure it different.

00:18:48:19 - 00:18:53:21
Unknown
We don't have the normal truck drivers that are just seat warmers here.

00:18:53:23 - 00:18:55:20
Unknown
We just don't we don't do it.

00:18:55:20 - 00:18:58:21
Unknown
They just don't have the mindset for the job.

00:18:58:21 - 00:19:04:02
Unknown
we get calls all the time from guys, say, hey, I want to. I want to learn oversize.

00:19:04:02 - 00:19:08:14
Unknown
Okay, great. I'm, I'm glad you do, but you can't do it here.

00:19:08:14 - 00:19:14:05
Unknown
You know, go to one of the larger companies and get them to teach you how to do it.

00:19:14:05 - 00:19:27:05
Unknown
Get you 3 to 5 years under your belt with everything from, not, you know, nine wide all the way up to 15 wide and over height and overweight and then call me, and then we might talk to

00:19:27:05 - 00:19:31:06
Unknown
this work will cheer you up and spit you out and not even think twice about it.

00:19:31:08 - 00:19:36:03
Unknown
I've been doing it for over 30 years, and it's in and it still kicks my butt.

00:19:36:03 - 00:19:45:22
Unknown
how important is safety and documentation when hauling oversize loads, especially during inspections or roadside stops?

00:19:45:22 - 00:19:49:08
Unknown
When you're pulling oversize loads, number one

00:19:49:08 - 00:19:55:01
Unknown
if there is an open scale, you have to go into it plain and simple.

00:19:55:03 - 00:20:24:12
Unknown
So you just get it in your mind right from the beginning. When you start doing this, that every time I pull into the scale, I'm going to get inspected. Now is it is it just or they just kind of inspect your permit? You don't know most of the time, yes. But you do you, you know, like Arizona and New Mexico and Wyoming and a few the other states, Utah.

00:20:24:14 - 00:20:41:14
Unknown
You pull into the scale, you pull around back, they come out with with a tape measure, height, stick, whatever they think, whatever they need for that, load. And they will measure you and you better hope everything is right, because if it's not, if something ain't right, that's going to lead to more questions.

00:20:41:14 - 00:20:50:02
Unknown
And then a possible level to level one, or they'll pull your permit and you have to reorder another permit.

00:20:50:02 - 00:21:01:19
Unknown
you've mentioned many, many years of experience. Can you share with us one load or one situation that changed how you approach planning and preparation forever?

00:21:01:19 - 00:21:06:01
Unknown
Oh yeah. This was last year, year before last.

00:21:06:01 - 00:21:13:01
Unknown
I was hauling I was hauling a 15, seven wide out of, out of Texas over to South Carolina.

00:21:13:03 - 00:21:31:05
Unknown
I read my permit, I always do. And I missed a part in the South Carolina permit that said that you could only travel between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. I went skating through and I had a pilot car,

00:21:31:05 - 00:21:39:16
Unknown
and I actually had two pilot cars, and we all missed it. And we went rolling up through South Carolina Sunday around noon.

00:21:39:16 - 00:21:43:09
Unknown
We got we got pulled, you know, got pulled over, which we should have,

00:21:43:09 - 00:21:47:06
Unknown
He pulled us over. Then he had us go up to the rest area,

00:21:47:06 - 00:21:48:19
Unknown
and he could have been

00:21:48:19 - 00:21:51:08
Unknown
a bear over it because we were illegal.

00:21:51:08 - 00:21:55:16
Unknown
But he did a level. He actually did a level one on my truck and trailer, my truck.

00:21:55:16 - 00:22:15:03
Unknown
My stuff passed with flying colors, and I think that is the only reason he did not pull my permit and did not write me a ticket was because all of my stuff was was correct. I just I had a human day and I missed part. I missed one little part.

00:22:15:03 - 00:22:19:00
Unknown
I did hear you mention it, earlier in the interview about curfews.

00:22:19:00 - 00:22:24:13
Unknown
And I'm like, what is he talking about? I did not know there was certain hours. Yeah.

00:22:24:13 - 00:22:26:14
Unknown
Okay. So most states

00:22:26:14 - 00:22:29:12
Unknown
when you most states have a

00:22:29:12 - 00:22:55:07
Unknown
curfew, a regular curfew, which is you cannot travel. It's either a half an hour before sunrise and sunrise or like Georgia is a half hour after sunrise. You can't be on the road and you can't, and you have to shut down a half an hour either before, during, or after sunset.

00:22:55:09 - 00:23:01:16
Unknown
I have all right. And then you have cities that you can't travel in between.

00:23:01:16 - 00:23:06:16
Unknown
earlier than 9 a.m., unless the sun. Well, 7 to 9.

00:23:06:16 - 00:23:29:12
Unknown
And then usually somewhere between 4 and 6 in the evening you can travel if you can travel at night you can travel before those that early morning or if the sun comes up at, you know, like in the summer at 6:00 in the morning or 5:00 in the morning, you can get out of the city before the, the 6 a.m. curfew.

00:23:29:14 - 00:23:42:21
Unknown
And then the same goes for if you're going into a big city and it's getting close to 4:00, you have to shut down. But if there's sunlight after that, then you can go through after after the curfews up.

00:23:42:21 - 00:23:46:12
Unknown
So that's just a little bit about a little bit about curfews.

00:23:46:12 - 00:23:51:02
Unknown
They also have frost curfews. They have school curfews.

00:23:51:04 - 00:23:55:14
Unknown
I mean there's there's just a lot to know. And your permit tells you all of this.

00:23:55:14 - 00:23:58:07
Unknown
That's so interesting. Thank you so much for sharing.

00:23:58:07 - 00:24:02:03
Unknown
Now I'd like to know a bit more for the owner operators who are

00:24:02:03 - 00:24:07:22
Unknown
listening to this right now and want to grow beyond one truck. What did scaling look for you?

00:24:07:22 - 00:24:11:23
Unknown
What did you what do you do differently if you were starting part transportation now?

00:24:11:23 - 00:24:30:13
Unknown
when we started, we started with just my truck and me and then we started grew up, you know, we started growing a little bit, adding a adding a truck here, adding a truck there. But then I got the wild hair one day and decided that, needed to add for, like, it was for all at once.

00:24:30:16 - 00:24:39:22
Unknown
For that, let's take I mean, it it worked out for a time, but sooner or later it's going to come back. Come back to bite you in it. Did

00:24:39:22 - 00:24:41:03
Unknown
We scaled up.

00:24:41:03 - 00:24:41:20
Unknown
And

00:24:41:20 - 00:24:44:11
Unknown
then a few years later we had a scale back.

00:24:44:11 - 00:24:47:11
Unknown
got rid of our drivers that were causing us issues.

00:24:47:11 - 00:25:01:15
Unknown
And we got rid of trucks that were causing issues. And then we just didn't replace them. And and it worked out really actually worked out our benefit because that was when freight started taking. And so

00:25:01:15 - 00:25:04:21
Unknown
that was one of the reasons that we decided to go ahead and do it.

00:25:04:21 - 00:25:10:06
Unknown
So when you're if you're deciding to scale up, you need to make sure that you know

00:25:10:06 - 00:25:15:06
Unknown
that you had the business and the drivers to do it

00:25:15:06 - 00:25:20:09
Unknown
you don't add the trucks and then go out and find the drivers to do it right.

00:25:20:09 - 00:25:28:23
Unknown
You need to find the right drivers and already know where you're going to get your truck in your trailer, but don't go buy it until until you

00:25:28:23 - 00:25:32:12
Unknown
have the drivers ready. Pretty much ready to go in the truck.

00:25:32:12 - 00:25:33:13
Unknown
Scaling is

00:25:33:13 - 00:25:37:21
Unknown
hard to do these days. It's hard to do used to you could do it.

00:25:37:23 - 00:25:46:18
Unknown
You just go out by 4 or 5 trucks and it didn't cost you. Hardly anything happened sitting in the yard while you're trying to find drivers. These days, this is completely different.

00:25:46:18 - 00:25:51:16
Unknown
yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Most of the conversations I've heard or we've had,

00:25:51:16 - 00:25:52:17
Unknown
roll around that,

00:25:52:17 - 00:25:55:03
Unknown
maybe they have the equipment, but not the drivers

00:25:55:03 - 00:25:56:07
Unknown
to get the job done.

00:25:56:07 - 00:26:01:22
Unknown
Right. And that's where and that's where everybody's messing up these days is, I got a yard full of trucks. But

00:26:01:22 - 00:26:03:07
Unknown
what good is it

00:26:03:07 - 00:26:04:22
Unknown
to have the trucks?

00:26:04:22 - 00:26:06:19
Unknown
If they're doing nothing but sitting.

00:26:06:19 - 00:26:10:13
Unknown
And that's where got and that's where a lot of companies get into this.

00:26:10:15 - 00:26:14:01
Unknown
I gotta throw a driver in there. I gotta throw a driver in there.

00:26:14:01 - 00:26:14:19
Unknown
Now

00:26:14:19 - 00:26:29:17
Unknown
going into the most exciting part of this interview for me is I wanted to ask you about your book, Frozen Freight. And I know from what I've read, it's built on real life trucking experiences.

00:26:29:19 - 00:26:37:16
Unknown
What would you say are parts of the industry? People from outside the trucking industry still don't understand about it?

00:26:37:16 - 00:26:51:21
Unknown
most people think trucking is just driving point A to point B there. I don't care what kind of truck or what kind of trailer you're driving. That ain't that is absolutely not the case. It is not the case.

00:26:51:21 - 00:27:18:21
Unknown
That's the smallest part of our job is to the driving part. It's everything else that goes along with it. What they don't see is everything that happens. But long before we turn a key or what's supposed to happen, long before we turn to keep the logistics, figuring out routes, permits, load placement, the regulatory pressure. That's the biggie these days.

00:27:18:21 - 00:27:25:06
Unknown
we cross three different states. All three states have a different rulebook that we need to know.

00:27:25:06 - 00:27:40:09
Unknown
The risk management. What, you know, what do I do if this bridge is closed, that they got us routed across the mechanical decisions? Something breaks at 2:00 in the afternoon, and you have to get it fixed.

00:27:40:09 - 00:27:44:03
Unknown
You know. Or do you. Do I try to fix it myself?

00:27:44:03 - 00:28:01:01
Unknown
And the consequences when something, something goes wrong, I mean, because in this industry, mistakes don't just cost you money like they, they can shut down factories, they can cost people their jobs and sometimes they can cost people their lives.

00:28:01:01 - 00:28:04:08
Unknown
one of the reasons it took me 30 years to write this book.

00:28:04:08 - 00:28:07:14
Unknown
I've been thinking about it for probably 30 years.

00:28:07:14 - 00:28:10:07
Unknown
Number one, I'm not an author. I'm a truck driver.

00:28:10:07 - 00:28:14:03
Unknown
So I just sat down one day and started putting pen to paper, and,

00:28:14:03 - 00:28:25:04
Unknown
and I had the whole thing wrote, I mean, it it was, you know, and a lot of it is all my experiences that I have from 30 years of trucking,

00:28:25:04 - 00:28:27:23
Unknown
It is. Everything in the book

00:28:27:23 - 00:28:28:22
Unknown
is

00:28:28:22 - 00:28:33:03
Unknown
what could happen in real life.

00:28:33:03 - 00:28:35:19
Unknown
lot of a lot of things that have happened to me

00:28:35:19 - 00:28:41:18
Unknown
throughout my trucking career is in the book in some way. It's in the book.

00:28:41:18 - 00:28:42:22
Unknown
It's a fiction book.

00:28:42:22 - 00:28:44:23
Unknown
But I kept Hollywood out of it.

00:28:44:23 - 00:28:46:21
Unknown
Everything is

00:28:46:21 - 00:28:48:06
Unknown
applicable

00:28:48:06 - 00:28:52:00
Unknown
to what, a truck driver actually goes through.

00:28:52:00 - 00:28:58:19
Unknown
Everything that happens in there is physically possible to be done with a truck.

00:28:58:19 - 00:29:11:21
Unknown
if I just wrote it as if everything that I did day to day, it would be a boring book and nobody want to read it. So there are some exciting things that go on in there that, you know, could it happen?

00:29:11:21 - 00:29:13:03
Unknown
Yes, it could.

00:29:13:03 - 00:29:21:21
Unknown
to me is it was a fun project. As a matter of fact, I've already you know, I've got book one is at the publisher and I've already got book two wrote

00:29:21:21 - 00:29:32:07
Unknown
as well. And I'm starting as soon as I hear in a couple of weeks, I go back to writing on book two just to finish it up, polish it up, and then I'm starting book three.

00:29:32:07 - 00:29:34:19
Unknown
really excited to to read it.

00:29:34:19 - 00:29:44:11
Unknown
Well, I will make sure you get a copy as soon as I as soon as they come off the printers. Amazing. Can you let our listeners know,

00:29:44:11 - 00:29:51:05
Unknown
when it will be released? I will for sure leave a link for it in the description of our video so everybody can get it.

00:29:51:05 - 00:29:58:15
Unknown
there was a bunch of editing that had to that had to be redone because, again, I'm not an author. I'm a certain driver. And so

00:29:58:15 - 00:30:07:14
Unknown
the original, publish date was going to be February the 1st. We had to push it off about three weeks because the publisher just got it back,

00:30:07:14 - 00:30:08:18
Unknown
Sunday.

00:30:08:20 - 00:30:14:16
Unknown
And they're beginning their final polish. What? I'm not sure exactly what they do.

00:30:14:16 - 00:30:17:22
Unknown
But they're they do all their stuff. And then

00:30:17:22 - 00:30:24:01
Unknown
she said about three weeks. Yeah. She said at the at the longest, probably

00:30:24:01 - 00:30:25:06
Unknown
March the 1st.

00:30:25:06 - 00:30:27:17
Unknown
And if I'm going to have it out on Amazon,

00:30:27:17 - 00:30:31:05
Unknown
You can also go to you can also go to my website and

00:30:31:05 - 00:30:53:20
Unknown
on the bar transportation website. And there's a link, there is a page on there for my book. If you go in there, you can actually send me an email through that, and I will put you on the list. And the one everybody that I get on my mailing list will get the first copies to come out, and I will sign every one of them and send them out.

00:30:53:20 - 00:30:57:21
Unknown
I've we're going we're going to try to get them into some of the truck stops.

00:30:57:21 - 00:31:01:06
Unknown
It is, you know, it's all self-published stuff for me.

00:31:01:06 - 00:31:07:04
Unknown
Because being a first time author, the big publishing houses aren't even going to look at me. So,

00:31:07:04 - 00:31:09:04
Unknown
Anyway, and this is a series of books,

00:31:09:04 - 00:31:14:05
Unknown
that's so exciting, and I hope and 5 or 6 books, maybe ten books.

00:31:14:07 - 00:31:36:16
Unknown
I don't know, it just depends on what. It depends on what the guys, what I can get the guys to do. Yeah. That's great. I, I've learned through this short time recording podcast and having conversations with truckers that I have the most interesting conversations with truckers, and they have the best stories and the weirdest stories and the craziest story.

00:31:36:16 - 00:31:39:03
Unknown
So I'm very excited for your book.

00:31:39:03 - 00:31:41:06
Unknown
highway I had a lot of fun doing it.

00:31:41:07 - 00:31:47:02
Unknown
And I'm having I'm having a lot of fun continuing it. And my wife is my wife is

00:31:47:02 - 00:31:55:21
Unknown
very much behind me doing it because she said that this is, you know, basically between the Army trucking,

00:31:55:21 - 00:32:05:03
Unknown
when I got my pilot's license and a couple other little projects here and there that I, that I do, she said, this

00:32:05:03 - 00:32:08:10
Unknown
keeps my brain working other than just on trucking.

00:32:08:10 - 00:32:13:12
Unknown
Yeah, for sure. And in the creativity flowing. Yes, yes.

00:32:13:12 - 00:32:17:23
Unknown
She said she always knew I was full of crap. And, now this book to prove it.

00:32:17:23 - 00:32:26:01
Unknown
Amazing. Amazing. Awesome day. If you had one piece of advice to give to smart

00:32:26:01 - 00:32:31:07
Unknown
small carriers so they can survive the current freight markets and maybe grow,

00:32:31:07 - 00:32:32:06
Unknown
what would it be?

00:32:32:06 - 00:32:34:09
Unknown
Number one, don't grow.

00:32:34:09 - 00:32:39:03
Unknown
Don't save your money. You're going to need. You're going to need it.

00:32:39:03 - 00:32:53:12
Unknown
be smart. Get rid of all the stuff. You don't need all of it. It doesn't matter what it is, personal or business. It doesn't matter if you don't. If you don't need to spend the money, don't because you're going to need it for your business.

00:32:53:12 - 00:32:54:20
Unknown
If you want to survive,

00:32:54:20 - 00:32:56:03
Unknown
you got to streamline.

00:32:56:03 - 00:32:57:10
Unknown
That's all there is to it.

00:32:57:10 - 00:33:01:09
Unknown
Get rid of bad drivers, get better, get rid of bad equipment.

00:33:01:09 - 00:33:04:01
Unknown
Anything that's costing you a lot of money, get rid of it.

00:33:04:01 - 00:33:10:14
Unknown
if you don't have a good stable of guys, guys that are always getting you hit on your CSA scores,

00:33:10:14 - 00:33:11:11
Unknown
stuff like that.

00:33:11:11 - 00:33:17:04
Unknown
Get rid of them. Find somebody to put in the truck that's actually going to help you succeed.

00:33:17:04 - 00:33:23:06
Unknown
That's the key. The guys I have, they've all been with me for 10 or 15 years. Every one of them.

00:33:23:06 - 00:33:32:11
Unknown
Okay. Because they want to they want to retire here. So they help me succeed. Yeah. They help me make sure that my equipment stays up.

00:33:32:12 - 00:33:41:01
Unknown
My, you know, no accidents, no damages. They they are is vested in this company as, as me and my wife.

00:33:41:01 - 00:33:43:12
Unknown
You know, the market's starting to change.

00:33:43:12 - 00:33:50:03
Unknown
It's starting to. It's not there yet, but it's starting to change. We're starting to see upticks and in rates.

00:33:50:06 - 00:33:57:05
Unknown
That can change in a literally a split second. It can turn from a carrier.

00:33:57:05 - 00:33:57:23
Unknown
Market

00:33:57:23 - 00:34:06:10
Unknown
back to a shipper market in a heartbeat. And you have to position yourself for whatever that happens.

00:34:06:10 - 00:34:10:21
Unknown
So just be smart, Stateline. Stay ready.

00:34:10:21 - 00:34:14:11
Unknown
Don't get greedy. That's the key. Don't get greedy.

00:34:14:11 - 00:34:18:08
Unknown
Awesome. Everything you've share today is amazing to me.

00:34:18:08 - 00:34:20:14
Unknown
Is there anything else you'd like to add?

00:34:20:14 - 00:34:28:12
Unknown
No, but I do appreciate you choosing me out of all the people that you had choices to choose off LinkedIn and

00:34:28:12 - 00:34:36:17
Unknown
allowing me to do this I appreciate it. It was it's pretty exciting for me because I don't normally get to tell a whole lot of people

00:34:36:17 - 00:34:38:07
Unknown
what to do and how to do it.

00:34:38:07 - 00:34:39:21
Unknown
I do not

00:34:39:21 - 00:34:42:07
Unknown
ever admit to being

00:34:42:07 - 00:34:44:06
Unknown
the best businessman.

00:34:44:06 - 00:34:45:01
Unknown
Out there.

00:34:45:01 - 00:34:45:12
Unknown
But

00:34:45:12 - 00:34:52:19
Unknown
I have learned over the years with my mistakes and mistakes of people that I trust, mentors that I have.

00:34:52:19 - 00:34:57:14
Unknown
They're mistakes. I learn from. I learned from mistakes. I learned from,

00:34:57:14 - 00:34:58:10
Unknown
working hard.

00:34:58:10 - 00:34:58:21
Unknown
And

00:34:58:21 - 00:35:00:00
Unknown
that's how you learn.

00:35:00:00 - 00:35:02:15
Unknown
You can't learn this out of a book. You can't.

00:35:02:15 - 00:35:12:02
Unknown
I mean, you can start it out of a book, but then you have to you have to start using your God-Given mind to do it, right?

00:35:12:02 - 00:35:21:01
Unknown
Yes. J r, thank you so much for joining me. Your insights have been so important for that key point.

00:35:21:03 - 00:35:41:06
Unknown
I think the the years of experiences that you have under your belt are amazing, and it really shows when and how you how you shared everything today. For everyone watching, remember to subscribe to our newsletter. We send you out weekly tips market analysis and what the,

00:35:41:06 - 00:35:44:06
Unknown
hottest markets are looking like per equipment type.

00:35:44:06 - 00:35:52:02
Unknown
We also send you the best stories from the road right to your inbox so you can find the sign up link in the description below.

00:35:52:04 - 00:36:01:09
Unknown
Don't forget to leave us your thoughts or your comments and questions if you have any, for J.R. I'll be sure to email them back to him if you have any questions about the,

00:36:01:09 - 00:36:02:02
Unknown
heavy haul,

00:36:02:02 - 00:36:23:07
Unknown
world, we'll be sure to ask all your questions back to him. And before we wrap it up, if you're an owner, operator, or small carrier running under your own authority and cash flow is something you're trying to get under control, I'll leave a link in the description for a factoring service that has same deep, no hidden fees and a real customer support.

00:36:23:08 - 00:36:40:15
Unknown
Yes, someone to always answer the phone for you. Just a simple tool to help you keep your trucks moving and your business steady. Don't forget to subscribe to this week and trucking to learn more about the industry. And never miss conversations like this one with J.R with actual industry experts.