Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/441527
34 | Overdrive | January 2015 ROADS NOT TAKEN is the trucking industry's average techni- cian pay, $38,250. With demand strong, job candidates have had the luxury of choosing jobs in desirable cities, says Mike Besson, vice president of service operations for Rush Enterprises Inc., or naming their price in less-stellar locales. "Weather and geogra- phy play a major, major part," he says. Drivers often fi ll less technical shop positions. Former owner-operator Scott Spoon, truck foreman at Knoxville, Tenn.-based Burkhart Enterprises, serves as liaison between management and drivers for everything equipment-re- lated. "I actually started working for this company when I was 14," changing tires and other shop duties, he says. When Spoon turned 19, he got his chauffer's license and went out driving. Four years later, he went out with his own truck and hauled for Burkhart and others, coming back a decade later with strong trucking knowledge. Aside from a few years when he went back out on the road as an independent, he's been the truck boss ever since. "It's more or less like a babysitter," Spoon says. "You just take care of the drivers as a mediator between the company and the driver." He works up to 70 hours a week making certain the company's trucks are in good condition and fi t the drivers' needs, occasionally dispatching himself with a wrecker attachment to retrieve a broken-down truck. "This job is a good job," he adds, "and I can kind of do what I want to," though he's "pretty much on call 24/7." Spoon reckons he'll be back behind the wheel before it's all said and done. "I've never been hooked on drugs, but if it's anything like trucking, I'd probably be a dopehead," he says. "Dusk, good song on the radio, good horsepower – it's the sound and the feel of it. I get out every chance I get. I'll sometimes take a load of salt or go to Nashville or something like that. If I run two-three days in a row, I can feel the stress go away from me. I just feel better. I still enjoy it." Pay for diesel technicians who stay current with the latest technologies can exceed $100,000.