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Phil Madsen's BlogLearning Something New Every Day |
Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.
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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, April 1, 2010 I learned today that Diane and I need a break. Learned after a day of introspection.
We woke up this morning in the truck, parked at JFK International Airport in New York. We were there to pick up a load going to Canada. We would have next returned to the U.S. to pick up a load going to California.
That plan came apart at the last minute and we did neither run. We were quickly dispatched on another load but it is not as good as the other two would have been. The new load picks up tomorrow.
The loss of the two runs was disappointing and deeply discouraging. Combined with industry issues that are now in play, changes we have seen at our carrier, and other things we have been thinking about lately, the loss put us into a de-energized funk and led us to question everything about the business we are in.
Then we realized that it has been a long, long time since we have had a true break. I have been pouring my spare time into Operation Streamline and trading. Even though we travel the country, it has been a while since we had some tourist fun. Time we spent at home was pleasant but not relaxing. We have gone home, not to relax, but to see the dentist, help with a family mission, or complete continuing legal education classes. Home time not spent on these activities was spent on trading and Operation Streamline.
We are past due for a true break — a time period, more than a day, in which we do no work and leave the computers turned off. We need to stop thinking about money and business for a while so that when we again think about them it will be with a positive and resourceful view.
Without exception, friends who haul the same kind of freight we do say business is good and they are happy. Diane and I are not happy right now, not because there is something wrong with the business, but because we have been thinking too much.
The load we pick up tomorrow delivers on Saturday. I'm gong off line now and will stay off until we feel recharged and ready to roll again. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, April 5, 2010 I learned today more about my brain. Learned by reading a book about it.
Setbacks are part of any game, including expediting. Our emotional response to Thursday's events indicated something was wrong. The problem was not the setback. It was our emotional response to it. We normally roll with the punches but this time we got angry, depressed and confused.
Confusion comes when you take your eyes off your goals. If you forget where you are trying to get to and why you chose the path you did, negative emotions rise.
In his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey talks about sharpening the saw. He speaks of physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual renewal and says, "Without this renewal, the body becomes weak, the mind mechanical, the emotions raw, the spirit insensitive, and the person selfish." I can't say about Diane but this is exactly what happened in me. I have gone too long without renewal and it shows.
I am fond of saying there is nothing in expedting that a good night's sleep and a shower won't cure. Attitude is everything in this business. While some of the issues we face in today's marketplace take more than a good night's sleep and a shower to successfully address, maintaining the mindset for success is essential. Accordingly, we are sharpening the saw.
Friday's load took us from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Chattanooga, Tennessee. I had to stay awake with the freight until the consignee arrived to take delivery on Saturday morning. We spent the remainder of Saturday and most of Sunday resting.
We are disinclined to take time off the road and ourselves out of the revenue stream, at least for now. Renewal time will be found between loads. If that is not enough, we will take some time off.
Spring has sprung in the southern states. Some trees are green and fully leafed out. Others have blossomed and are not far behind. This photo was taken at a rest area in Alabama where we spent some time sharpening the saw on Sunday. Finding ourselves in a pleasant setting, we set up the lawn chairs to sit quiet and read.
I'm reading The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske. It is a self-help book purchased on Sunday to help me re-think and re-focus on our goals.
We did a short run today. It picked up at 9:00 a.m. and delivered this afternoon near Columbus, Georgia. We then headed toward Atlanta to wait for freight since Columbus is not a good freight area. Just a few miles into our trip on northbound I-185, we accepted a load offer. That load picks up tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. and delivers the next day.
The relatively short deadhead and 6:00 p.m. pickup gives us time to sharpen the saw. Actually, sharpen the saw is a harsh image. If you want to see us working on personal renewal, look for the couple sitting in lawn chairs, peacefully among the blossoming trees, enjoying the smells and sounds of spring. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, April 6, 2010 I learned today to focus on the task at hand. Learned by reading The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske.
Most people will agree that the more focused a person is on one's goals, the more likely he or she is to achieve them. Setting well defined goals has always come easy to me, yet distractions occur.
Whatever I happen to be doing at a given moment, there are a thousand other things I could be doing. Many of those seem to be more fun, interesting, satisfying or effective than the thing I am doing at the time. The stream of appealing activities distracts me from the goal-specific task in which I am then engaged.
As I read this morning The Winner's Brain, the words "task at hand" flew off the page and burrowed their way deep into a brain that was ready to receive them. I get it about focusing on goals but have not always gotten it about focusing on the task at hand, although, sometimes I do.
On December 30, 2009, Diane and I delivered a load to a plant in New Jersey. Our expediting goals were clear as were the next tasks that would move us forward. Then the truck broke down and the task at hand changed. Instead of positioning ourselves for the next load, the task became: repair the truck. It was not easily done over a long holiday weekend but we focused on and completed the task.
In this case, focusing on the task at hand was easily done. We were not going anywhere until we fixed the truck. Necessity helped us focus on the task at hand. The stream of other appealing activities was present as always but they mattered less than the task at hand. The nature of the task at hand increased our focus and reduced the power of the distraction stream.
When the task at hand is not driven by immediate necessity, the distraction stream can be more powerful. The good news for me today was the the realization that there are many tasks at hand and each requires its own kind of focus. It's not about focusing on the task at hand. It's about putting a particular kind of focus on a particular kind of task.
Say I'm writing an article for a magazine and have a deadline to meet. The phone rings and interrupts my work. It is dispatch calling with questions about missing paperwork on a run we did two weeks ago. I now have two tasks: (1) write the article, and (2) deal with the phone call. One task requires me to think and write. The other means interacting with a human being and processing an interruption.
Focusing on the task at hand means taking a moment to first recognize a task for what it is and what kind of focus is best. This is different than what I tend to do. My tendency is to focus on my goals. If I am focused on the goal of completing the article, the phone call is an unwelcome interruption. If I am focused on the task at hand, the phone call becomes one of two tasks at hand and an opportunity to think before opening my mouth to interact with another human being. Focusing on the task at hand is a new concept to me that is already improving my results.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area north of Atlanta, Georgia. It looks to be a routine day with a fuel stop, showers, a haircut, a truck wash, some business paperwork and some time for personal renewal. We will pick up a load at 6:00 p.m. and deliver it tomorrow morning. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, April 7, 2010 I learned today that if you lower the price at which you will haul freight, you will haul more of it. Learned as we conduct an experiment.
April 1 was a bad day for us in several respects. Part of the frustration came from the reports our expediter friends shared. To a person, they said they were busy hauling freight and grossing more money in recent weeks than us. When Diane and I are not interrupted by dental appointments, continuing legal education classes and other such things that take us off the road, we are not accustomed to earning significantly less than our colleagues.
It was easy to understand why they were rolling more and we were rolling less. We were setting a higher price. In other words, the rate per mile we charged to haul freight was higher than theirs. Since their rate is less, more freight comes their way.
You have seen me write here many times about actually making money in the business instead of running at breakeven rates or worse. I still believe that is important. Indeed, if the money leaves the business, we will too. Yet our friends all say they are making money by running at lower rates, and after I pushed them to do so, they cited their all-miles figures as proof.
I remain skeptical but to find out for sure, Diane and I lowered our rate. We will run at our colleagues' rates for a couple of months to see how the numbers truly work out.
Which is better, to run fewer runs at a higher rate or run more runs at a lower rate?
This is not an easy question to answer, even if you know exactly, to the penny, what your income and expenses are. Loads are seldom accepted and rejected on the freight rate alone.
One thing to note is that our friends are not running all loads cheap. They say that some of the loads they get pay very well and that helps average things out while keeping zero-revenue days off the books.
A low paying load that keeps you busy on a weekend where you might otherwise sit is good to take, according to some. The idea is it is better to make some money than none at all. That may hold if you know all of your costs and your true cost per mile to operate your truck. Also to be considered is the great load you might have gotten but did not because you were already on a marginal load. In an exclusive-use truck, every load you haul precludes you from all other load opportunities.
A high paying load that takes you to a bad area may be good to decline as it may cost you additional money to deadhead to a better express center to position yourself for your next load; or it may not as you might be surprised to get immediately dispatched out of the bad area.
You may have a lifelong dream to see the Grand Canyon or a pressing need to get home. Should such things be considered if you get a low paying load offer that would take you close?
Psychology enters in. It feels better to run than it does to sit. Are our expediting friends mistaking good feelings for good financial results?
Costs enter in. Our truck cost $251,000 to build. You can buy a very nice used today that can haul the same freight we do for $100,000 or less. Clearly, people running low price trucks have an advantage. But do they really? Over how many years can the $100,000 be spread? Will the truck last three more years before it has to be replaced? If it does, the cost is $33,333.33 a year, plus financing costs (if any), minus salvage value at the end of the truck's useful life, etc. Our truck cost is less than that because we spread the cost over more years.
There are dozens of factors to consider when calculating the price and circumstances at which freight is best hauled. None of them can be viewed in isolation or as simple absolutes.
Before the recession hit, Diane and I almost never lowered our price to haul a load. We remain reluctant to do so today. But with our colleagues declaring themselves to be "happy as larks" as one team put it, we are trying their way on for size. I am not convinced this is the way to go, but the way to find out is to price our services like they do for a couple of months and gauge the results.
• Our lower rate has kept us running more. Since April 1, we have spent less than two hours on the board as an available truck. The rest of the time we have either had freight on the truck or have been dispatched to pick some up.
Yesterday was typical. We picked up a load in Eastern Tennessee, and drove it overnight to deliver in Memphis this morning. On the way we received and accepted a load offer. Immediately after the Memphis delivery, we will deadhead 250 miles to our next pickup, run that freight overnight and deliver it tomorrow. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, April 8, 2010 I learned today of an area in Eastern Ohio that is so remote that even the people living there have not heard of it. Learned by making a delivery there.
We started out last night with freeway driving in Kentucky. The route became a divided highway in Ohio, then a two-lane highway, then a winding county road, then a narrow town road, and finally a gravel town road on which we crossed creek bridges just 12 inches wider than the truck. Delivery was at 6:00 a.m. this morning, long before daylight on this dark, rainy trip.
Some of the hills were too steep and sudden to drive at the speed limit. When I needed the headlights to light the road ahead, they lit the clouds above instead. With painted pavement left long behind and numerous curves to deal with, I had to sometimes slow to a crawl as the truck crested the hill and brought the headlamp beams back down to earth.
Diane was asleep in back for most of the trip but woke as she felt the hills and curves. One curve was so sharp that it took two maneuvers to complete. A tight U-turn around the curve would not do. A three-point maneuver was required. Feeling the truck stop and back up, Diane came forward to see if I was lost. When she opened the sleeper curtain and looked out the windshield and saw the narrow road, she was convinced I was lost and worried aloud about how we would get turned around.
I did not feel lost and was keeping the faith. Every corner I took was marked with a local street sign and the signs corresponded perfectly to the directions we had been given. Amazingly, the GPS unit was aware of these remote back roads and showed us to be on track.
We continued down the gravel road noticing things like single-wide mobile homes with a dozen junked cars in the front yard, bullet-riddled road signs that had been used for target practice and stray dogs on the prowl.
The delivery location turned out to be exactly where the directions said it was. The directions also said to not arrive early at this work site. We arrived on time but were the only ones there. A few minutes later a set of headlights appeared far down the gravel road we had just come up. They belonged to a pickup truck that parked next to ours. Two men got out, greeted us and told us where to park our truck for unloading.
The ground was muddy and I worked in the rain and dark with the two men to unload the truck. Ample lighting was provided by the interior lights in our reefer body (the truck box in which the freight is placed).
When we built the truck, we had extra lights installed exactly for situations like this. The lights are positioned to not only light the inside of the box but to also flood the work area behind the truck with light. Those same lights make it easy for us to read at night when we are at campgrounds and have lawn chairs set up on the liftgate.
After cleaning out the mud I had tracked into the back of the truck and using paper towels to clean the mud off my shoes, I got back in the driver's seat and threaded the needle back out of there.
We drove for an hour and parked to take a morning nap. We got a nap in but there would be no breakfast or non-expediting activity today. The Qualcomm unit beeped with a load offer and we immediately rolled on our next run. There was just enough time to get fuel and showers before we picked up in Florence, Kentucky (that's "Florence Y'all" to those who have seen the water tower).
The magazine I used to edit, Expedite NOW, is based in Florence. We would have stopped in to greet the folks but duty (freight) called.
We are driving now to a city where the houses sit on foundations, junked cars sit in salvage yards and most of the people will speak English to you if you are respectful to them. Delivery is set for tomorrow morning in Canada.
I don't know how long we will be there and will not blog until we return to the U.S. We have plenty of cell phone and internet access minutes each month in the U.S. but must pay extra for each minute used in Canada. Consequently, we minimize our cell phone and internet use while there. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: Canadian Cows • Productivity • Border Crossings • Today's Travel
• I learned today that Canadian cows are less modest than their American sisters. Learned by viewing this image on a Canadian dairy truck.
• I also learned today that the internet can be a bigger time waster than it is a resource. Learned by staying off line for most of the the day.
• I also learned (re-learned) that 13' 6" = 4.1 meters. Learned by doing the conversion. The conversion is important since our truck can clear a 13' 6" bridge and we woke up this morning in Ontario, Canada, where bridge heights are stated in meters.
The internet lesson was forced on me because when we are outside of the U.S., our internet plan charges extra to get online. My usual habit of logging on soon after getting up was interrupted.
We picked up a load yesterday in Florence, Kentucky, crossed the border at Detroit/Windsor, drove to a Toronto, Ontario, suburb, bumped the dock at the delivery at 2:30 a.m. and went to sleep until people came to work in the morning and unloaded the truck.
Not being dispatched, we found a place to park on the street and take our customary morning nap. I had gotten plenty of sleep the night before so I sat up front and read. Diane hit the snoozer and slept so well that I could feel the satisfaction all the way up front.
I spent the time reading The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske. It is a book I could have easily finished by now but I am reading it for comprehension and taking time to think deeply about the authors' ideas and my productivity. This is one of the direst self-help books I have ever read but great concepts are presented that are instantly applicable. I will be reading, re-reading and thinking about these concepts for a while.
• Compared to the mindless and random web surfing I often begin the day with, reading this book is the better use of time. Feeling the difference, I decided to try an experiment. Today is Friday. From now to next Friday I am going to stay off line for the first six hours after waking up each day. Exceptions are permitted for route planning and unanticipated but immediate business needs. Otherwise I'll stay off line and invest my morning mind in other activities.
It is OK to work on the computer, just not online. It will be an easy experiment to run. All I have to do is keep the air card unplugged from the computer.
• Now, let me shift the subject to border crossings. Crossing the border with a load of freight is not a simple process, and with some types of freight it can be a nightmare. This was not a nightmare crossing but the fear of a nightmare event is felt every time.
You never know until you get there how mean or kind the customs officers will be, or how competent or incompetent. You never know until you get there if the paperwork was correctly processed and if anyone will be available at night to fix problems that were created during business hours. There are things you can check ahead of time but you never know until you know.
Shippers get it wrong. Freight brokers get it wrong. Dispatchers get it wrong. Customer service agents get it wrong. Customs officers get it wrong. Drivers get it wrong. A lot has to go right for a successful border crossing to happen. With this many people involved and with constantly-changing complex regulations, a lot can go wrong with things over which the drivers have no control.
Truck drivers are not in control of their destiny when crossing the U.S./Canada border, and when things go wrong, they can go very wrong. Large fines can be leveled on the driver. Overnight delays can happen if you are prohibited from crossing. There is more but I'll spare you the horror stories this time.
Last night's crossing went relatively well. We only had to park twice and enter two offices to have paperwork checked; once on the U.S. side and once on the Canada side. The weather was mild, making the walks easier (one time, repeated long walks through bitter, sub-zero winds were taken thanks to brokers not doing their jobs). The crossing took 90 minutes this time; not great but not terrible either.
• While Diane slept this morning a load offer came in that was not great but we took because it gets us out of Canada today. We'd rather spend the weekend in the U.S. if we could. The load picked up at 2:00 p.m. We will deliver it Monday morning in the U.S. This is a short run with ordinary freight. No security or HAZMAT protocols are attached. We can drive, park and sleep as we wish until Monday morning.Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, April 10, 2010 I learned today about the new circumstances of an expediter fleet owner we know. Learned by visiting with her.
Diane and I woke up this morning in a retail area in New York. We have freight on board the truck that delivers Monday morning. That gives a weekend to ourselves as the freight has no security protocols attached to it. We can leave it unattended while being away from the truck. It is OK for both of us to sleep with the freight on board.
Knowing we would be in her area, I called ahead and we met our friend for breakfast. We spent the rest of the day in our usual layover fashion. It has been a busy week. A day of rest is in order. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, April 11, 2010 I learned today that making the internet one of the last things I do in a day, instead of one of the first, may be one of the best productivity enhancements I have stumbled upon in a long time.
I also learned that this is very easy to do. Simply keep the air card unplugged from the computer.
Diane and I woke up this morning in a retail area in New York. We have freight on the truck and are about three miles from our Monday morning delivery. Yesterday was a day of rest and relaxation. Today will be more focused.
I wrote on April 9 about an experiment in changing my internet habits. This morning, instead of logging on to check the latest news, weather, e-mails, Twitter posts, etc., I did not log on.
That left me with a question. Since I'm not going to go online until at least noon today, and since the freight does not require us to move until Monday morning, what will I do?
While random web surfing can be fun, it is also a massive waste of time; and more important than that, it is a massive waste of attention.
What will I do? When I interrupted my online habit, I immediately felt a desire for the buzz one gets from being intellectually or emotionally stimulated. The web feeds that buzz. Just keep clicking until you find something that sparks a laugh, the desire to argue, a new item of interest, something beautiful to view or something to talk about with others.
If I am not going to feed the buzz, what will I do?
Diane and I talked about the tasks we want to complete today. They include laundry, vacuum the cab and sleeper, adjust a window shade that has come loose, do some Operation Streamline work and carefully review last week's load acceptance behavior and results (also an experiment discussed here).
What will I do? I will focus on the task at hand. What is the task at hand and what is the appropriate focus for that task? At this moment it is personal renewal or sharpen the saw as Stephen Covey calls it.
I picked up a book I have been reading, The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske. The desire to feed the buzz and the sense of urgency that I must do something was immediately replaced by a satisfying calm and an appreciation of the quiet and productive day that lies ahead.
The concept I grasped today and want to journal here is that the brain — my brain — is not a one-thing-at-a-time device. All components are firing all the time. All memories are present. All skills are at hand. All powers are there to be tapped. All unresolved issues swirl about. All senses are active. All emotions flow. Every to-do list and New Year's resolution you have ever made remains in mind. All desires cry out to be fulfilled.
Focus is an intentional act that energizes certain brain functions while quieting others. Feeding the buzz lights everything up and is fulfilling in its own way. Focusing on the task at hand calms things down and produces better results.
If we are not getting done what we want to get done, or fulfilling the desires we want to fulfill, it's not because our brains are too weak, its because they are too strong. Look at any master in any field. He or she achieves mastery not by taking everything in but by tuning many things out.
Focus is something anyone can do. Try it right now. It's easy. Focus for a moment on the maroon background color of this web page. A moment ago you were not thinking about it. Now you are. See, focus is an intentional act that anyone can do. Focus is also a skill that can be further developed with practice and used with increasing effect to help direct your brain.
How? That's another topic for another day. A Google search on "mental focus" will get you started if you wish to focus on focus. Or try going off line, closing your eyes and thinking about (meditate on) "focus." Ask your brain to tell you what mental focus means. Ask your brain how you and it can work together to build your focus skills.
A few minutes into my off-line time, I happily bumped my log-on time from noon to later in the day. After doing project work for a while, I connected with the expediter friend we met yesterday. She offered to pick us up with her car and take us to a park where we could walk for exercise and see the sights.
There were sights aplenty. She took us to Watkins Glen State Park. There is a river gorge there and walking trails through it. Photos do not do it justice. The place is fantastic but the perspective is difficult to capture through a camera lens. Even the professional photos you can see with a Google search capture but little of the experience. The height, depth and width you sense when there simply can't be shown in a two dimensional image.
It was a wonderful break out of the truck in a peaceful and visually spectacular setting. After a late supper in a Chinese restaurant, we returned to the truck at 9:00 p.m., and I am going online for the first time today.
We will deliver freight at 8:00 tomorrow morning so it will be bedtime soon. I'll stay online just long enough to post today's blog and e-mail a document to our carrier.
The buzz was not fed and I survived the day. Today was spent mostly off line, and a good day it was. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, April 12, 2010 I learned today more about my brain (and yours). Learned by reading The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske.
I learned yesterday more about expediting as seen through the eyes of a fleet owner. Learned by spending an afternoon with her.
Our fleet-owner friend has been in the business since 1997 and has worked with several carriers. It was educational listening to her experiences and views. If I ever get around to writing a history of expediting, she will be one of many people we would interview for material. Diane and I are not taking that project on now but it remains in mind.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area near Binghamton, New York, and made our 8:00 a.m. delivery in routine fashion. By 9:30 we saw three load offers, all below our minimum price even with the experiment we are now running.
So we wait, staying off line (another experiment) and putting the time to good use, doing our business book work. I am liking the results produced by staying off line.
At this moment I have two things I need to go online to view. Instead of doing so, I wrote the items down to view after noon today. I will go to those two things before giving myself over to random web surfing and may not give myself over at all. Thinking ahead before clicking the mouse makes better use of the time spent online. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 I learned today about weighted averages. Learned by studying.
The studying relates to the load acceptance and pay per mile experiment mentioned above.
Diane and I have not previously had occasion to look this deeply into our load acceptance strategy. When freight was strong before the recession we ran hard and found ourselves among the very top producers at our carrier. When the recession slowed the freight and lowered the pay per mile, the recession, Diane's repeated trips home to see the dentist (braces) and other time off we took explained the difference between the good money we made before and the less money we made during the slowdown.
With Diane's braces taken off and us having no reason or desire to go home until July, we hit the road after Christmas, ready to run hard and uninterrupted again.
January was great, providing revenues at pre-recession levels. February was a bust because we decided to go home for two weeks so Diane could complete continuing legal education classes to keep her law license up. March was weak and we grew concerned when we saw our expediter peers staying busier than us and expressing satisfaction with their revenue. We were not not as busy as they were or generating comparable revenue.
In good times and bad, it is possible to find freight to haul run the wheels off your truck. All you have to do is lower the price at which you will haul freight. There are always shippers eager to pay less. If you are cheap, you'll have plenty of freight to haul. The problem is that if you go too cheap, you will end up paying more money to haul the freight than the freight pays you to haul it. In other words, you will donate your time and truck to the shippers. You will boost their profits while driving yourself straight to the poor house.
Worse still, you may run at breakeven or just a little bit better or a little bit less. That will keep you running for years and your bank balance near zero. When you finally decide to call it a career and hang up the keys, the shippers you served won't know your name and your retirement lifestyle will be determined by whatever government dole may be available at the time.
What price is the right price at which to haul freight? Where is the sweet spot between sitting too long and running too cheap? Those are the questions Diane and I are now considering in depth; at a time when the freight has picked up but rates have not.
I am surprised at the reader response. It seems Diane and I are not the only ones considering these questions. The experiment we are running has attracted some interest. In response to the feedback, I'm writing a piece on this as Diane and I puzzle it through. More to follow as the experiment and the piece develops.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area near Scranton, Pennsylvania. We moved there from Binghamton, New York yesterday evening after accepting a load offer. The load picked up this morning in New Jersey. We drove as far as Scranton last night but did not want to go farther.
It was getting late and we knew of few good parking places close to the shipper. We could have found one if we had to but it was easier to spend the night in Scranton than probe around late at night in New Jersey. The load picked up at 11:00 a.m. which left us plenty of time to get there this morning.
We are on that run now. It delivers around 8:00 tonight. We are not dispatched on another load yet but hope to be before we deliver. Monday was a zero-revenue day. If we end up waiting for freight tomorrow, it could be a weak week.
While you don't want too many of them, a zero revenue day once in a while is not all bad. It gives you time to floss your teeth and run your fingers through your toes.
Update: We will have no zero revenue days through the end of the week. On the way to today's delivery we were dispatched on a long run. We will begin deadheading to the pickup tonight, pick the freight up tomorrow and drive cross-country to the Saturday delivery.
The pay per mile is lower than we would normally accept but we accepted the load as part of the experiment we are running. I can't say yet about the money but the experiment itself seems to be shaping up as a valid test. We are getting a good mix of runs to compare. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 I learned today (at least I think I learned) why the green tea diet works. Learned by being on the diet for a few days.
I don't know much about this diet and have not researched it for details, so I am probably doing it wrong. As I understand it, you can eat as much as you want as often as you want as long as you have a cup of green tea before you eat; not when you eat, before you eat. Drinking tea with your food is OK, but be sure to drink a cup before you eat.
So, I'm waking up from a nap in the truck this afternoon and am hungry. Thinking about cooking up a baked potato for supper, I remember the green tea diet. I drank the tea and lost the urge for the potato. The same thing happened earlier this afternoon. That potato did not survive the day but lasted longer than it would otherwise have, and I ate less.
People say green tea suppresses the appetite. It seems so. The diet also makes you think twice before eating. I wonder, is there is such a thing as the light beer diet or the root beer float diet?
• You may be thinking, an afternoon nap? Didn't you say yesterday you were on a long run? I did and now we aren't.
We accepted the load offer late yesterday afternoon and deadheaded 500 miles overnight, across New York and Massachusetts, and paid $68 in tolls to get to today's pickup. The delivery was confirmed. We parked 12 miles from the pickup and got some good sleep in early today. Everything looked good. Then the call came.
The consignee wanted to change the delivery date to Monday because he did not want to come in to take delivery on Saturday as originally scheduled (most people have no idea what gets set in motion when a truck is ordered).
Of course, our carrier being all about customer service readily agreed and bumped the delivery time to Monday and the pickup to tomorrow. That turned a Wednesday-Saturday run into a Wednesday-Monday run while paying no more. On a run of marginal pay to begin with, we said that was unacceptable and asked to be removed from the load.
Then came what I thought would be a fight to be fairly compensated for last night's miles and tolls. To my surprise, the compensation came. Still, it was a stressful time as the load fell apart, options were unsuccessfully considered and our pay for the time and miles invested was in doubt.
• Stress came overnight too. I woke up today still thinking about the event. Long story short, I was in the center lane of a three-lane freeway, proceeding at the speed limit. Left lane closed warnings were was given miles ago and the barrels were now positioned to do just that. Spaced closely together, they eased their way from the left shoulder onto the road to force traffic into the center lane where I was.
The left lane was clear except for a four-wheeler far behind. He hammered down and tried to get by me on the left before the lane closed but ran out of room. Instead of slowing down and coming in behind the truck, he maintained his speed and started launching barrels into the dark, one rapidly after another: BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! I made an abrupt lane change to the right which enabled him to also shift and leave the poor barrels alone.
I knew the right lane was clear because I saw that four-wheeler coming and checked. It should have been obvious to any sober driver not on a cell phone that the car could not get ahead of the truck in time. It was not obvious to this driver. I couldn't believe it when he continued to accelerate and started launching barrels barrels, but that's what he did: BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Most people would stomp on their brakes if they hit a barrel. This guy did not seem to realize he was hitting the barrels at all, until he took out a bunch.
A State Trooper was parked on the left side of the road with his disco lights on. This is a common sight at road construction sites. Finally reacting, the four-wheeler slowed down and worked his way to a stop on the left shoulder, just ahead of the trooper. The four-wheeler no doubt had some car damage to inspect and perhaps some explaining to the trooper to do.
Feeling the lane shift, Diane woke suddenly from her sleep and came rushing to the front to see what was going on. "Are you alright?" she asked with an excited voice? We're fine, I said, and explained what happened.
That was the end of it on the road and I continued my late night drive, but in my mind the event continues to play. I'm thinking about how it might have been worse, and how instantly life can change. That's the thing about this business. No matter how peaceful a drive may be, you are never more than the very next instant away from something that can end your life or change it forever.
• After sitting for a while today, we got dispatched on a short run for tomorrow. It picks up in the morning and we will be done with it early afternoon. The short run leaves us with the same less-than-75 status we "enjoyed" today. That means we are first in line ahead of most other trucks in the area. That didn't do us much good today, did it?
Every expediter in the business goes through times when you feel that you can't buy a good load. Diane and I feel that way today. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, April 15, 2010 I learned today more about driving the streets of Boston. Learned by doing it.
Bostonians may laugh at this but to an outsider like me, who grew up where the streets were not built centuries before the automobile was even imagined, driving in Boston is a challenge.
City street intersections like this one are confusing. Coming from the south and then proceeding west is easier said than done.
We woke up early this morning in a retail area about 40 miles from the pickup and worked our way into town before the rush hour. This was to be a three stop run that picked up at the airport, made one stop in town and a final stop back at the airport. We arrived only to learn that the load had been cancelled at 3:00 a.m. The freight did not make it onto the plane it was supposed to be on.
We were not told of the cancellation because, the dispatcher did not follow up. Being refreshingly honest and responsible, she admitted her mistake to us and apologized. While it was nice to hear from the honest dispatcher, it would have also been nice to get off the hook as easy as she.
Had we been notified at 3:00 a.m. that the load was off, we'd still be in bed and would not have burned reefer fuel overnight to get the temperature below zero as the load required. An apology does not replace the time and fuel used and the driving we did.
When a run cancels, our carrier offers dry run pay, which we received. Because the drive in was short, the pay made up for the fuel burned, but we are still not in bed and are stuck in a place where rational people do not go without financial incentives.
• There is more. We had another load cancel last night. It was a short run hauling band equipment from an auditorium in Boston to JFK airport in New York. We accepted the load which would have picked up at midnight.
Then dispatch called wanting to know how big our truck was. They have the info on file but drivers sometimes make changes and don't tell the carrier. Dispatch sometimes calls like this when the freight may be a tight fit. We told dispatch we have 14 feet of space available for freight.
Then another call came in asking if we could put 250 cubic feet of freight on board. We said yes, we can fit up to 850 cubic feet of freight into the truck.
A third call came in. Dispatch informed us that the shipper decided he cannot fit 250 cubic freight into the 850 cubic feet of space we had available so we were being pulled off the load. It turned out that the shipper's 250 cubic feet included a length dimension of 16 feet. No dry run pay was given because we had not yet moved the truck.
This has been one weird week.
So now, after having three runs in a row go bad, we sit at Boston's Logan Airport asking the common expediter question, what do we do now?
Update: The answer came quickly. A load offer came before we left the airport. It was the same long run that we asked to be removed from yesterday because the schedule changed. We accepted it. The load picks up tomorrow ... at least that's the rumor.
That means our total revenue for today will be the dry run pay we got for driving into Boston. It also means that if there is actually freight to haul tomorrow when the pickup time comes, we will be running over the weekend.
• It occurs to me that picking up and delivering freight safely and on time is an unnatural act. The moment you agree to haul a load, the forces of the universe align to delay, divert or stop the freight, or make it disappear. (Disappearing freight like when we once got to a warehouse, the people knew of the shipment scheduled just that day, but could not for the life of them find the freight.) We work hard to hold up our end, and hope to profit by doing so, but with every load there is a lot that can go wrong, much of it out of your control. Everybody involved must hold up their end for a shipment to succeed.
• Today's layover sets up a magnificent tourist opportunity that you could take full advantage of if you were in our shoes. We drove past a couple of commuter train stations on the way into Boston and it looked like a place to park the truck could be found. The weather is spectacular today. Boston has many tourist attractions, including great walking tours that Diane and I would love to one day take. With the day now free, Boston tourism could be easily done.
There will be no tourism today. Regular readers have probably noticed that I have not mentioned trading in a while. That's because I have been doing Operation Streamline and database work instead. A clear head is required to be a successful trader. Streamlining our expediting business practices helps get me to that point. Instead of enjoying Boston's tourist attractions, we will spend the day on business projects. Doing so moves us closer to the long term financial goals we intend to achieve.
This will not go on forever. My database work is bringing us closer to the point where much of our business administration work will be on auto pilot, to the extent that such procedures can be. With the paperwork burden reduced and improved analysis tools at hand, mental energy can be shifted from expediting to trading.
We are already seeing benefits. The work on weighted averages mentioned above is something I could not have easily done before. With our information in a database it is easier to crunch the numbers and find the sweet spot between sitting too long and running too cheap. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, April 16, 2010 I learned today the history of Autocar trucks. Learned by reading it.
As I sat at a red light in Boston, Massachusetts, yesterday morning, this truck appeared in my rear view mirror. I have never seen one like it before and was able to snap this photo before the light changed. It is an Autocar truck.
Intrigued, I did a Google search today and found the company history. Non-truckers may not understand the appeal, but laying eyes on this beauty brightened my day. What a delightful surprise! I put larger images here on Hank's Truck Pictures Forum.
• That was yesterday. Today we are scheduled to pick up freight at 2:00 p.m. The cross-country run will keep the truck rolling over the weekend.
• The think-before-you-click productivity experiment I started last Friday continues with one modification. When I have a blog entry to post, I will post it regardless of the time of day. It is frustrating to put an artificial time limit on my blog posts. Once they are written, I like to post them immediately and get them out of my mind. If they are written but not posted, I find myself thinking about them and watching the clock for the noon hour when they can be posted in accordance with the rules of my experiment.
The rules are simple. Stay off the internet until noon each day. Immediate and significant productivity benefits were realized when I started this. I will continue the practice with the above modification. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, April 17, 2010 I learned today more about my brain. Learned by re-reading The Winner's Brain by Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske.
I finished the book while Diane drove yesterday and am now going through it again to better absorb the material. Diane will read it next and we plan to discuss it.
Driving overnight on the cross-country run we are on, I had plenty of time to think about my brain. Or maybe my brain was thinking about itself. Or maybe I was thinking about my brain thinking about me. Or maybe my brain was thinking about me thinking about it. I'm so glad I read this book. It cleared everything up!
Seriously, I am glad I read the book. Most of the trading books I have read allude to many the same ideas this book's authors wrote about; and they have no clue about trading. Trading authors talk about trader psychology. These authors talk about success. All of them are on the same track.
In the middle of the night, in the middle of the country, while cruising on a freeway I had mostly to myself, I thought about ways to better use my brain. It's not an out-there concept. Try this experiment to see what I mean.
In the next paragraph, I'm going to ask you to bring something to mind and keep it there for 15 seconds. As you do, notice the changes in your body and mood.
Bring to mind now, and think for 15 seconds about a moment in your life; a moment of maximum satisfaction.
Did you feel a difference in your body and mood? Notice how thoughts precede feelings. Notice how you can change your mood simply by choosing a memory. Notice how you can, at will, put yourself in a more pleasant and resourceful state of mind. The brain book authors say you can develop your brain to work in your favor. That's some of what I thought about last night. How can I better use my brain to achieve my goals?
• It is Saturday afternoon now. We have stopped for fuel, showers and a truck wash. We are several hours ahead of the load and expect to get some good sleep in before the delivery.
For non-expediters, being ahead of the load means that if we drove straight through to the delivery, we would arrive ahead of the delivery time. In other words, we have some time to spare and can work things into the run like showers and a truck wash.
We expect to arrive Sunday night. People will come during business hours on Monday to take delivery. The sooner we get to the delivery location on Sunday, the more sleep we will get Sunday night and the more run-ready we will be after Monday's delivery. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, April 18, 2010 I learned today the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as written by Mark Twain. Learned by listening to the audio book of that title.
Diane and I are on a cross-country run that began in New England on Friday afternoon. That puts us mostly in drive/sleep mode until we arrive at the delivery. One drives, the other sleeps, leaving the first to drive the truck and pass the time alone. Our iPod is a gift from above on such runs.
After going through a backlog of Bloomberg podcasts I did something new. I spent more time today on a novel than I have probably spent in the last 20 years. I decided a long time ago that I don't like novels and don't read fiction. The only time I would pick up a novel was when one was forced on me as an assignment in high school or college.
The brain book I have been studying encourages us to enrich our environment and expose ourselves to new things. Diane had the audio book on the iPod so I gave it a shot. It was OK, though Mr. Twain is not likely to influence my writing style and road reports ... or is he?
As Diane and I traveled this sunny day, we stopped at a freeway rest area. It's the time of year that comes every year, when the prairie grass is not dead, but it ain't alive neither. I ignored the wind and other folks as I strolled on in to do my business. A driver never knows what to expect when entering a place like this and this place provided no exception.
The handicap stall was occupied by a man who twern't, so the other stall would have to do. It presented no revolting sight as I eased open the door, which set me at ease, because nature's call grew more urgent by the second.
The surprise came this time when I reached to lock the door. Two thoughts came to mind when I saw no latch. The first was that the stall would have to do. Ma Nature would have it no other way. The second thought was about the busyness of this place.
The stall, now mine, compliments an interstate highway, on which all manner of people travel. Many a man has sat on this seat, most of ordinary means and social stature, but some for whom a plaque might be placed if their visit were known to those who are inclined toward monuments and such.
People travel cross-country for commerce and family and recreation, and sometimes for reasons they don't even know. Yet when the travelers stop here, their purpose is clear, their achievements are moot, their pace is deliberate; and it is, at this moment, my sad fate to be compromisingly situated on the embarrassing side of an unlocked door.... Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, April 19, 2010 I learned today that "A four-year Department of Energy study released in 2009 showed wide single tires ... increased vehicle fuel economy by 6 to 10 percent,..." Learned by reading this in the April 15-30, 2010 edition of The Trucker.
From the time we ordered our truck, Diane and I have considered, on and off, putting on wide-single tires. We may yet do so. Fuel economy is a consideration, as is replacement tire availability, the fact that our truck has 10 wheels, not 18, the expense and weight of super-single tire chains, the need to buy new rims, the trade-in value of the tires and rims we now have, etc. We keep kicking these things around and continue to run on conventional tires. There are pros and cons but a change to super-singles would be close to a wash, we believe.
• 
On this weekend's run from New Hampshire to California, we made a brief stop at the Iowa 80 Truckstop, "The World's Largest Truckstop," in Walcott, Iowa. It has been a while since we have been there and I hated to leave. New to us is a trucking museum they have opened. There was no time to visit it during our run but I would like to one day.
Iowa 80 is one of America's great truck stops. If you are not a trucker but have even a little interest in trucking, you would find a few hours or a full day at Iowa 80 to be fun. It is worth driving out of your way to see. I want to go back and spend a full day there.
It is a place where truckers are respected as something more than components in the supply chain. It's a place where the work truckers do and their history is celebrated. The food is good. The place is clean. They even have a pet wash facility where truckers can wash their pets.
The Iowa 80 Group operates other truck stops around the country. Diane and are pleased to patronize them whenever we are close. These folks do it right!
• We arrived at our California delivery last night and unloaded the freight this morning. The delivery was routine and completed by 9:00 a.m. local time. Not being dispatched, we now sit near I-80, between Sacramento and San Francisco, waiting for freight.
Update: After enjoying together a nice walk in nice weather this afternoon, Diane and I received an offer for an immediate pickup and rolled on it. It cancelled a few miles into the run. The dry run paid $24, gave us less than 75 status and moved us into the Oakland express center, where we now sit. We could get dispatched at any time but the next step is to find a good place to park and settle in for the night. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, April 20, 2010 I learned today that this month's trip map will be something else. Learned when we accepted a load that will be one of our longest runs ever, if not the longest.
We woke up this morning in a retail area near Oakland, California, and did not have to wait long for freight. The run is 3,400 miles long. It was dispatched to us at our price. It will keep us rolling until Friday and take us into and out of a Canadian province we have never been to before. In other words, it's a fun run!
With the New Hampshire to California run we just completed, we will need to be careful in managing our log books. Diane and I are each allowed to drive no more than 70 hours a week. We have the time for this run but only a couple hours to spare. We told dispatch that we can do the run but it might be wise to bump the pickup time if the customer is open to it. That will provide a cushion in case we are delayed doing border crossings.
I don't expect to blog much on this run. It will be mostly drive and sleep from now to Friday.
Remember me talking about managing our time and activities to be run-ready when we made our California delivery? This is why we do that. A long run came through this morning and we are able to roll on it moments after the offer came in.
Update: So, if it's the middle of April and we are leaving California on a long run, what is a picture of me hanging tire chains doing in today's blog? It surprised me too!
Our route took us east on I-80 and over Donner Pass, which is 7,227 feet above sea level at the summit. It was raining down below but began to snow as we climbed to 4,000 feet. We could not believe it but on roads that were only wet, CalTrans shut truckers down and made us chain up.
You have two choices when chains are required. You can sit and wait for the weather to clear or chain up and continue your trip. Not wanting to give up our run, we decided to chain up.
I told Diane this was a great opportunity for her to work on her tire chain skills. She told me it was a great opportunity for her to work on her supervision skills. Perceptive readers will notice that it is me in the photo.
This is a milestone event for me as I have never put tire chains on a truck before, except in practice, and that was in warm, sunny Florida where a friend and mentor showed me how to do it. This time was for real and the weather was not pleasant, though, I was glad to be doing this in the daylight. Chaining up at night would not be fun.
We were parked in a bad place. The truck was just inches off the freeway and cars and trucks sped by. Knowing what to do but not being experienced at "hanging iron," I decided to do the passenger side first. The thought was to practice there and minimize my time exposed to traffic. I took my time and was careful to think things through. I did not want to throw a chain once we got started.
Diane stayed in the truck and heard on the CB radio that the chains required area had been shortened and now began eight miles up the road. Preferring to drive without chains instead of with them, I took the chain off and up the road we went. Maybe, I hoped, they would lift the chains required rule before we got there.
No such luck. Finding a much better parking spot eight miles up the road I started to put the chains on again, this time working on two wheels at once. The earlier attempt was a good rehearsal. It went easier and faster the second time.
Then, when I was about two-thirds of the way through the job, the trucker parked ahead of me yelled back. "Chains lifted! Chains lifted! You can go all the way!" meaning all the way over the pass without chaining up. I looked further up the road and saw every trucker in line taking off the chains they had just put on. Diane then opened the door and said she had heard the same thing on the CB. The DOT guy that was there also appeared to be packing it in, so I did too. I yelled the news to the driver behind me and we were on our way.
Notwithstanding the photograph above, it remains the case that I have never chained up a truck, except in practice. I won't know if I passed the test until the day comes when I fully chain up the truck and actually drive on the chains. Only then will I know I have done it right.
We saw today what happens when it is not done right. This driver's mud flap and fender were badly shredded by a tire chain that flew off. You can't see it in the photo but the fender looks worse than the mud flap.
As we went over the hill, we saw at least 20 tire chains laying loose in the middle of the road. Having installed them wrong or driven too fast with them on, errant drivers left expensive tire chains laying behind.
Flying tire chains have been known to badly damage the underside of truck trailers. We did not see that but I was somewhat taken aback to see so many bad chain-up jobs in such a short stretch of road over a short period of time.
I talk above about having to drive on chains to know that I would have done it right, but I am confident that I would have. Yes, I wanted to get out of the bad weather. Yes, I wanted to roll on our nice load. Yes, I wanted to minimize my risk of being killed by freeway traffic. But no, I did not hurry. I might have taken longer to chain up than most drivers, but I am certain my chains would not have flown off as we drove.
It was interesting to see the immediate culture change on the road when the chains required rule went into effect. Truckers became more helpful in sharing information. Those rolling moved over more than normal as a courtesy to those working on their chains. Scavengers worked the roads at great danger to themselves to claim the chains that were left behind.
Opportunists showed up seemingly out of nowhere. Clearly skilled at reacting to sudden weather changes and profiting in that market, service trucks appeared among the parked big rigs and men offered to hang your iron for a fee. Chain services also came to life at certain exits. Their flashing lights and signs offered everything an unprepared driver might need to get over the hill when chains were required.
This is the closest I have come to chaining up in 6.5 years of driving. If I can go 6.5 more without chaining up, it will be fine with me. Chaining up is a rite of passage among truck drivers. I'll do it if I have to, but it's a rite I will happily avoid if given the choice.
It was desert driving after we cleared Donner Pass and Reno, Nevada. We had a strong tail wind which is always welcome because it boosts fuel economy. It was interesting to watch the tumbleweeds rolling in the same direction as us. The wind was strong enough at times to keep them rolling ahead of the truck almost as fast as we drove. A few met their demise in the midst of their dance as Diane deemed it safer to run them over than to weave to avoid them. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 I learned today what a new stretch of road and Calgary, Alberta, Canada looks like. Learned by driving on the road and through the city.
That sounds easy enough but this has not been a smooth trip. The spare time we would have enjoyed on the 1,400 mile deadhead journey from Oakland, California, was eaten up by the Donner Pass tire chains episode, stretches of mountain-road driving and a level-one truck inspection in Montana (which we passed).
Getting out of Canada was delayed by several hours because of a paperwork snafu on the customer's end. For a while, we wondered if the load might be taken off our truck because of a delay we had nothing to do with. That would have been bad given the 1,400 mile deadhead to Calgary and the empty truck it would have left us with in a place where the kind of freight we haul is hard to come by.
The new stretch of road for us is I-15 in Montana, from I-90 to the U.S./Canada border, and then on to Calgary. Having covered the country's highways and byways for six years, we don't see new stretches of road as often as when we were new in the business.
We got into this business partly to see the country. We have done that, and then some. Except for a few loose ends that lead to border crossings, we have driven every mile of every one-digit (I-4, I-5, etc.) and two-digit (I-35, I-90, etc.) interstate highway in the country, plus a slew of U.S., state and local roads. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, April , 2010 I learned today about the back roads of Montana. Learned by driving them.
They were not really back roads but U.S. highways that go through remote areas. We entered the U.S. at Sweet Grass, Montana. Getting from there to our Dallas, Texas, delivery required 200+ miles of off-freeway driving in Montana. With one exception, it was the kind of driving I love; late at night, rural area, having the road to myself, can drive a long time without dimming the lights.
I was cruising comfortably along when, in the middle of nowhere, without explanation and with no apparent reason, the speed limit changed to 35 mph I got the explanation a mile later when the U.S. highway I was enjoying became a gravel road. Montana is a big state that gets bigger when you find yourself alone in the dark not knowing what lies ahead.
Proceeding slower than the now slow speed limit, I considered my options. Turning back and taking another route was possible but that would have added a lot of miles and long delay. I did not like the idea of driving the truck on gravel for an unknown number of miles. There was no notice of the road turning to gravel. I wondered if there might be no notice of the road closing farther ahead.
This was in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. There was no one around to ask about local road conditions. I did not think at the time to call the police for information but might have if the gravel continued for miles; that is if a cell phone signal was available.
I was not in the situation long enough to start thinking about cell phone signals and calling for information. As it turned out, I had entered an unannounced construction area and was relieved to see pavement resume after a few minutes of gravel road driving.
The sun came up and we continued through the western states. The storm that forced me to chain up in California on Tuesday remained in the news today and hit us hard as we drove on I-70 in Western Colorado. The weather got just plain weird late in the day. I have never before seen a tornado watch, torrential rain, hail, heavy winds, and one inch of snow all happen in the same place in the same 30 minutes.
We entered Montana at midnight. Except for the gravel, night driving was pleasant. We had daylight driving through Wyoming and Colorado. We did Kansas at night and the storm made for terrible driving most of the way.
It was visible from a long way off. Lightning flashed continuously ahead. The winds we had all day long killed our fuel economy. Diane told me she thought sure a truck ahead of her was going to go over on its side for sure after being hit by wind. The winds did not let up when I reached the storm after dark.
The lightening flashes were rapid and continuous, producing a a strobe light effect. The wipers appeared to be moving not in their usual fashion but in rapid jerks with each flash of light. Add in the occasional blinding flash, heavy rains and badly faded lines on the road; it made for a terrible night of driving.
We continued to drive through the night. Thursday night gave way to Friday morning. The rain finally quit as we got deeper into Texas. We stopped at the TA in Denton for fuel and showers and then proceeded to the delivery near Dallas.
The freight was a large wooden crate that was not built to be moved with a fork lift. We were delighted to see that we were delivering to people who had the knowledge and equipment required to get such an item off our truck without damaging either. Three men had it off in no time, the paperwork was signed, proof of delivery was sent, and we commenced to rest.
We went to the nearest Cracker Barrel for a hot meal, returned to the truck and went to sleep. There are times when nothing is more satisfying than an uninterrupted snooze in a non-moving truck. After crossing the country from side-to-side and then top-to-bottom, this was one of those times. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Greetings from Fort Worth, Texas. A security reset and the long run we were on delayed my blog posts this week. I will backfill them soon. Backfills start here.
To my blog reader in Colleyville, Texas: I tried to e-mail you but it bounced. We are out of service to rest and will be in the area until Monday morning, possibly longer, depending on dispatch. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, April 24, 2010 I learned today that today is the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope launch. Learned from news reports.
The Hubble has a special place in our hearts since part of it was once on our truck. A telescope component that was once in space was brought back to Earth by the Space Shuttle. Diane and I moved the piece from a lab in Alabama to another in Connecticut.
• There will be no space adventures for us this weekend. We are laid over in Fort Worth, Texas, resting after a long week of work. We drove over 6,000 miles last week. That is a bit shy of one trip around the globe (7,900 miles) but enough to get us to the Hubble and back 17 times.
More important than those numbers is the pay per mile we earned for the 6,000 miles driven. It was an exceptionally good week in that regard. We can use more of those to backfill the poor weeks we had earlier this year.
• We woke up this morning behind a grocery store in a Fort Worth, Texas, suburb. We ate breakfast in the truck, drove to a truck wash and then to a book store to pass some time. Diane went in. I stayed in the truck to sleep and do nothing in particular. We traded places later in the day.
Still very much in the resting mode, I found nothing on the bookstore shelves to be of particular interest. My mind was not engaged. I was enjoying the inner quiet and had no desire to invest mental energy in reading. I picked up a comic book and settled into a plush chair, more to sit than read. People recharge themselves in various ways. My way is to sit.
My sit was interrupted by the announcement made on the PA system. Open mic poetry reading was about to begin in the magazine section of the store where seats had been set up. Everyone was invited to attend.
I've never listened to a live poetry reading in my life. I thought to give it a try but was careful to sit where an easy and inconspicuous exit could be made. I took a seat in the back row and sat with my arms folded. I don't know why I had my defenses up. What's to worry about, a band of poets is going to lure me in and kick my ass?
In a way they did. A dozen or so people sat in chairs facing a podium. Most of them were poets who came to read their works and listen to others. My interest grew as they took their turns. My arms unfolded. I sat up in my chair. I felt my eyes open wider. My brain triggered a few deep breaths to draw in the oxygen it needed to focus on the task at hand. I was alert and engaged for the first time all day.
Someone new to the group rose to read. He was a trucker from Connecticut who shared a poem that I thought was very good. I gave him my card and asked him to contact me. I'd love to share his poem on this web site, and as I thought about it, poems by other truckers who care to share. Or, if he has his poems already online, I'd happily link to them.
I have written two poems that I can recall: A Trucker's Poem and Forgiveness. As I listened to poets this evening a poem of my own came to mind. It's only one line but it says what I mean. Here it is:
Prose is clumsy, poetry not.
I have used many words to describe our life and work on the road (425,000 on this web site alone). Poetry offers a more elegant way. I thank the writers in Fort Worth, Texas, who woke me with poetry and instilled the desire to explore it more.
A trucker at rest is pleased today
Six thousand miles, at good pay
He'll roll again but not today
He is at rest. That is his way.
Into a store he peacefully goes,
to be among books, rows and rows.
Into the air come words of a show.
Poets will read. Words will glow.
Who are these Texans who don't wear boots?
They come to read poems? What a hoot!
He sits in the back, easy to scoot.
Who are these Texans who don't wear boots?
They read their poems, each in turn.
The trucker's mind begins to churn.
Words can flow, in a new way.
This trucker wrote a poem today!
Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
A rhyme in time,
a stitch in nine.
Mixed up it is,
this head of mine.
I learned today that I need to start a poetry section on this web site. Learned as poems like this interrupt my thinking and blog. Those poets last night, they got into my head.
I also learned more about trading. Learned by studying for the Series 3 National Commodity Futures Examination.
My reasons for studying for this exam are described here. The urge to study returned today. Diane and I are rested and ready to go. While there is always expediting business bookkeeping and analysis to do, I feel re-balanced and able to divide my time between expediting and trading.
We woke up this morning in a retail area near Fort Worth, Texas. We are laid over to rest after a long and lucrative week. After a leisurely breakfast and morning with the newspaper, we drove to a park to relax and pass the day.
A couple of hours into the park, I clarified something with Diane, saying, "We are doing this now so when we retire we can do this then, right?" She agreed. Reassured, I returned to my reading.
The plan was to go back in service tomorrow morning, but after checking the truck count, we went into service now. There are a lot of trucks here and more will likely arrive with their Monday deliveries. The more dwell time we build, the better positioned we will be among the other trucks. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, April 26, 2010 I learned today that poetry is fun. Learned by thinking about the poetic burst I had this weekend.
• Poetry is inspiring to read and fun to write but it won't distract me from the primary goals Diane and I share. I added this poetry page to this web site where my poems will be placed when they come to mind. Poetry is a worthy activity that I will more fully explore, but I'll do it as recreation and stay focused on expediting and trading.
I shared some poems on the EO Open Forum (here). Other expediters responded in kind. It was delightful to read what they wrote.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area in Fort Worth, Texas. We laid over here this weekend to rest and reset our log books. Now Monday morning, we are refreshed, reset and ready to roll, but it does not appear we will be doing that anytime soon.
As of 6:00 a.m., there were 16 straight trucks (C and D units) in the Dallas express center waiting for freight and we are near the end of the line. That is a high number of trucks for an express center that is moderately busy at best.
All trucks are not created equal. Some of those trucks are team driven, others solo. Some are White Glove qualified, some are not. Of the White Glove trucks, some are reefer-equipped, some are not. Of the reefer-equipped trucks, some are TVAL qualified, some are not. Among all of the trucks, some will decline loads that others will accept; this for reasons that vary as much as the people in the trucks.
Since Diane and I are qualified and equipped to haul just about any kind of freight that will fit on our truck, being near the end of the line does not necessarily mean we will be the last of 16 trucks to get out of Dallas. A lot depends on what kind of freight pops up.
Notice too the run we had last week. We drove 1,400 miles to pick up freight because no other trucks were closer and/or willing to deadhead into Canada. Deadheads that long are rare but not unheard of. We are not without hope being this deep in the dispatch que.
Today will be a truck day to the extent it can be. I don't want to get into anything too deep while we can be dispatched at any moment, but there is truck maintenance work to do. After breakfast we will drive 15 miles to a truck stop where I'll be free to work on the truck. Truck stop owners don't mind if you work on your truck in their parking lots. Owners of most other parking lots do. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 I learned today about a new tool, new to me at least. Learned by seeing it.
Diane and I woke up this morning in a retail area in Fort Worth, Texas. We got dispatched on a short load that canceled soon after it was dispatched. Later in the day we got dispatched on a different load that picks up and delivers tomorrow.
Other than that, we spend a layover day in the usual fashion. To pass some time I walked into an ACE Hardware store to browse and see if there was anything there that we could not live without. That is where I saw for the first time a post level. I'm not about to erect any mailboxes or fences but if I was, this tool would come in very handy.
• It pays to keep an eye on your truck. Puttering around with it today and cleaning our freight handling equipment, I discovered the tires were low on the two-wheel cart we sometimes use to move freight. It would have been embarrassing to have to air them up in front of a shipper.
Having the air hose already out, I did a quick check of the truck tires and noticed a nail in one of them. I pulled the nail out with no trouble as it had not penetrated the casing. Seeing one I looked for more nails and found them. Altogether, I pulled out three nails and thereby prevented the flat tires and possible service failures they could have caused had they gone undetected.
What an exciting day! I bet you are soooo glad to read this blog. Headline news: Trucker visits hardware store. But wait! There's more! We went to a laundromat too! A hardware store and laundromat in the same day! This is Phil and Diane Madsen, living large in Texas, signing off for now. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 I learned today that I am getting better at quieting my brain and focusing my thoughts. Learned by doing it.
We woke up this morning at a freeway rest area, 15 miles from today's pickup. The pickup is at 11:00 a.m. The delivery is at 5:00 p.m.
Picking up where I left off in my brain study, I began my day by focusing on focus. I'm getting better at quieting the mental urges that take me off track and focusing on the things that keep me on.
For example, upon waking this morning I immediately wanted to go online to check the news and internet forums. I wanted to write. I wanted to get into the world in any number of ways to express myself and interact with others. Instead, I stayed off line, closed my eyes, sat quietly and thought first about my ability to intentionally focus on my goals, and then I thought about my goals. The urges quieted and my plans for the day came into view.
I completed what I am coming to call my power hour; a time of meditation, prayer and renewal. I then prepared myself and the truck to run today. I will use whatever additional time comes my way today to put at least one hour into reviewing our numbers in the load acceptance experiment we are running, and another hour into trading study. Tossed into the day will be pleasant distractions like vacuuming the truck (a task I enjoy) and random web surfing.
That's the plan. We'll see how it goes. The major variable is dispatch. Our next run can come at any time. If it comes, it comes. If not, my intentions for the day are clear.
We are enjoying the simpler life we created for ourselves when we got into expediting and do not miss the dozens if not hundreds of interruptions we had each day when we worked in offices in other professions. It's a beautiful morning in Texas and Diane and I are enjoying each other's company as we work together to achieve our business goals. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, April 29, 2010 I learned today more about the various players in the commodities futures and options arena (CFTC, NFA, commodities exchanges, FCM, IB, CTA, CPO, floor brokers, floor traders, AP). Learned by studying for the Series 3 National Commodities Futures exam.
You read my plan for yesterday. I did no expediting business book work or analysis work but did more trading study than planned. Now studying for a specific test, I want to focus more on it to keep the content fresh in mind. My reasons for studying for this exam are described here.
• We woke up this morning in a retail area in Houston, Texas and got dispatched soon after. It is a short run that picks up this evening and delivers tomorrow morning (Friday). It takes to a freight area that is not great but is no worse than Houston or Dallas. We will be working and sleeping in shifts on this run as one of us must be awake and attending the load until it is delivered.
This run gives us a large block of time in a non-moving truck to study and work on business bookkeeping and my database. We would love to get a Friday load that runs us over the weekend or at least to a more active freight area. We won't know about that until Friday comes and goes. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Update: If you are a reader who is thinking about becoming an expediter, listen close and ask yourself, what would you do if what just happened to us happened to you?
We left Houston early this afternoon to avoid traffic and drive 2.5 hours to the pickup. That got us to the pickup town a couple hours ahead of our 18:00 (6 p.m.) pickup time. We advised dispatch of our location and pulled into a K-Mart parking lot to pass the time.
A few moments later, dispatch messaged us, said the freight was ready and asked if we could go straight in instead of waiting until 18:00. We could and did. When we were within one mile of the pickup, dispatch called and told us the load canceled. The shipper was ready to go but the consignee on the other end did not want the freight, at least not tomorrow when we would have delivered it.
Neither the shipper nor consignee thought twice about canceling the shipment. Neither one gave a moment's thought to the fact that a truck had been ordered and a driving team committed in good faith to do the run. The consignee decided he or she did not want the shipment and that was that.
The ordered truck and team did not even exist in the shipper's mind once the shipment was canceled. We became instantly invisible and meaningless, as did the miles and time we had already invested in the run. The miles are partially compensated by dry run pay but no credit is given for the time. We have been committed to this run since early this morning.
It may not have been intentional, but in effect, the consignee stole a day from us by letting us get just one mile from the shipper before canceling the load. Or the shipper did by not verifying the shipment earlier. Or dispatch did by not confirming delivery. The reality is none of them will say they did because they each have two others to blame.
Canceled loads seem to go in streaks. We may go for months having nothing but routine pickups and deliveries. Then we may have a week or even a day where three loads from different shippers cancel.
It is a lopsided deal in which the deck is stacked against the trucker. A shipper or consignee may cancel a load at little or no cost. If there is a fee at all, it is minimal. Carriers are not likely to demand full payment or significant payment because they don't want to lose the customer. The carrier has some money invested in a scheduled shipment (employee time, communications costs) but it does not break the bank when a certain percentage of shipments among hundreds cancel each day. It is a cost of doing business, as is the nominal fee a shipper pays when the load is canceled.
For an owner-operator or driver, a canceled load is a major event. We did not accept today's load with the option of canceling it if our business needs changed or if the opportunity to accept a better load came along. When we accept a load, we are fully committed to it from the moment of dispatch to the delivery.
Today's cancellation cost us one day in time lost, the loss of money in partially-compensated miles driven, the movement from a major metropolitan area where new freight to haul can be found to a rural area where new freight is scarce, and the cost of driving to an area where new freight is more likely to be found.
We have had loads cancel where we were dispatched on a Friday to pickup on Monday hundreds of miles away, we made the trip, and the load canceled shortly before pickup. Once again, we paid more to make the trip than what we were paid to make it and the cancellation meant only minimal costs to the shipper and carrier. That cancellation cost us a lot of money and four full days of time (Friday through Monday inclusive) that could have been used either hauling freight or waiting for loads that would not cancel.
Canceled loads are a cost of doing business for shippers, carriers and drivers. The costs are minor to shippers and carriers, but great to the drivers. I believe our carrier does what it can to minimize canceled loads, but it never seems to be enough when a load cancels and the costs are involuntarily imposed on us.
The concept of billing a profitable rate when the truck is ordered but not used is an appealing but competitive pressures keep that from happening.
Today's canceled load leaves us 2.5 hours out of Houston, in an empty truck, in a small town in Texas, on a Thursday late afternoon, and nowhere near a decent express center.
Our dry run pay was quickly credited. It came to $171, making that our total revenue for the day. If you drive a truck for which a single fuel stop costs twice that, you will understand that $171 is not a fair price. Less-than-75 status was assigned to our truck. That puts us first in line in the dispatch order where we sit or where we move to, if we decide to move.
The planning department authorized us to go to Memphis since there are no trucks there now. Memphis is eight hours away. Dispatch will pay us $0.20 a mile plus fuel surcharge to make this authorized move. Moving to Memphis means a full day (or night) of driving at a price that costs us more than it pays to drive those miles. If we deadhead anywhere else to wait for freight, we get no pay at all.
So, expediter wannabees, put yourself in our shoes...
...how do you (choose to) feel about this?
...what do you (choose to) think about this?
...what do you (choose to) say about this?
...to whom do you say it and for what purpose?
...what do you do next?
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Friday, April 30, 2010 I learned today that I get to buy a cutting wheel. Learned when the need for one developed.
I've always wanted to have a cutting wheel but, until today, never had the need for one. Now I do. The door keeper (part of the latch on the truck back door) has rusted and become difficult to operate. I have a new one ready to install but the old one is rusted such that I risk damaging the door if I use too much force to remove it. It is best to cut it apart from the inside and for that I get to buy a cutting wheel.
• I had time to putter with the door keeper and other parts of the truck today because we are not yet dispatched. We moved last night to the Dallas express center (area), thinking it would be a better place to wait for freight than where we were. It may yet be but wasn't today. Much of today was spent at a truck stop where I worked on the truck and Diane did business book work.
• It's the end of the month. This month's trip map is shown below. See other trip maps here.
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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page