Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/723417
Voices 8 | Overdrive | September 2016 I was sitting around being all mopey because I'm about two years behind on my goal to make enough money to bust my gran out of the nursing home. She had to go into a facility three years ago, and it's something I think about every day. I promised her I'd get her out one day, and I try really hard to keep my promises. Don't get me wrong, she's in a good spot — my family wouldn't leave her in a poo-hole — but I once worked long-term care in facilities just as fine as the one she's in. They weren't places I'd want my priva- cy-loving grandmother to live out the rest of her years. My feelings don't change the fact that she needs professional care 24/7, and being able to afford private, professional in- home care 24/7 requires large sums of money. Anyway, my gran isn't the point here. The point is: Sometimes we have to make conscious decisions between making money and having integrity, no matter what our drive is to make the money. I posed the question, "What's more important — integrity or money, and why?" on the George & Wendy Show Facebook page to get a little inspira- tion from the people we interact with. Men like Jerry Novack and Bill Weaver answered, "Integrity. No question." It reminded me that we know some of the finest people in trucking. I started feeling much better about being broke. Kylie Worm summed the prevailing sentiment this way: "I once heard it phrased something like, 'Integrity is the backbone and nervous system of life, money is the heart. The heart may keep everything supplied, but the backbone and nervous system support and control everything else.' Without integrity, you're just wealthy and worthless. Integrity is what makes you worth something." And while we're giving props to folks who inspire me to refrain from selling my soul to the devil, let me trot out ol' Jamie "Hellbent" Hagen, with a great example of combining integrity and the ability to earn a premium rate. Jamie owns Hellbent Xpress and is leased on with Cliff Viessman, out of Gary, S.D., pulling a food-grade tanker. He recently posted some pics of a receiver yard and relayed this episode: Receiver: "Can you blindside-back through the gate and around these cars and get the trailer against the building?" Me: "No problem." Receiver: "We get a lot of trucks in here that can't." Me: "Sir, Cliff Viessman is not your cheapest option, but we are your best." That right there is some of the best stuff I've seen in a while, and it ex- emplifies the reason having integrity doesn't have to be exclusive of having money. Thank you, Hellbent. Faith in humanity restored. Let's go kick some butt and make some money. Wendy Parker chronicles her journey on the road with her owner-operator husband, George, in the George and Wendy Show blog on OverdriveOnline.com. Scan the QR to read more from her on your phone or tablet. Why integrity wins over money Blindside-back through a gate and around some cars to position the trailer against the side of a building? No problem for this Mack's owner, illustrating that having integrity doesn't rule out making good money. Owner-operator Jon Quick records, computes and sorts his state mileage for the purposes of quarterly IFTA reporting, more or less the way 67 percent of owner-operators reported doing so in August polling at OverdriveOnline.com. Many third-party services exist for handling much of the IFTA process, but just 13 percent of responding operators reported using them, given the ease of online state reporting forms. Notwithstanding the ongoing everyday task of recording, Quick says his quarterly IFTA report- ing takes about one hour for the entire process. How do you handle IFTA recording and reporting? I handle it all myself I use a third-party service for reporting I'm leased and my carrier handles it Other 67% 11% 23% 33% 13% 16% 4% Specialized software Pen/paper Combination