Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/791967
34 | Overdrive | March 2017 $25,000 AWAITS TOP OWNER-OPERATOR Finding a niche in oversized freight K evin Kocmich, 55, of Litchfield, Minnesota, has hauled agricultural products and steel, but he finally settled into really big freight. He averages 115,000 miles a year – pretty good, he says, considering he's hauling mostly oversized loads with curfew restrictions. Kocmich grew up on a farm in South Dakota. After graduating high school in 1979, he got a harvest truck run between Oklahoma and the Canadian border before getting into regional trucking. For a short time, he hauled steel out of Chicago and Detroit to Nebraska, then began moving into long-haul. He bought his first truck in 2000 and has been leased to Diamond Transpor- tation System for three years. With his 2015 Peterbilt 379 and a removable gooseneck trailer that he bought in 2015, Kocmich runs the lower 48 states and Canada, hauling farm, military and construction equipment. His wife, Joy, travels with him about 10 months out of the year, and he tends to stay on the road two to three months at a time. "We want to make our money in the summertime, so we're gone a lot longer that time of year," he says. Kocmich believes it's becoming more difficult to keep his clean record of 2.9 million accident-free miles over his 27- year trucking career. "There's a lot more traffic than there ever has been, and people are driving as fast or faster than ever," he says. "The stress level is getting higher all the time." The motoring public makes it even more difficult when he's hauling wide loads, often not giving him enough space to operate or trying to speed around him to beat him to a construc- tion zone. Something as ordinary as a vehicle parked on the shoulder can pose a challenge because it's hard to navigate around it with a wide load. Kocmich's key to staying safe amid those challenges is concentration. "You're defensive driving all the time," he says. "Used to, everybody looked out for each other, but now that traffic is getting heavier, everybody is in a hurry." He recommends avoiding the habit of taking shortcuts when doing so compromises safety. Business success is all about knowing what freight you need to haul to be profit- able while staying on top of maintenance, Kocmich says. "If you start letting things go on your truck, the DOT will be more likely to take a second look at you," he says. Back to his trucking roots P hilip Keith, 58, has done his time as a dispatcher, but his first love is sit- ting behind the wheel, not at a desk. "I was always a driver first," he says. "I can wear any hat after that." The native of Long Beach, Missis- sippi, has been driving trucks for 33 years, amassing more than 4 million accident-free miles. He's leased to WEL Companies out of De Pere, Wis- consin, and hauls mostly food products in reefers. He met WEL owners Bruce and Randy Tielens in the mid-1980s and began driving for them. In 1986, he took over some of the company's interests in Gulfport, Missis- sippi, trying to expand business while hauling with a Ford CL-9000 cabover. In 1993, Keith moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to become a dispatcher for the company, though he still drove on the weekends. After working for three years as a dispatcher, Keith was among the first to enroll when WEL offered a lease-purchase program. In 2001, he began running team with his wife, Eva, which they still do today. As a new owner-operator, Keith found it best to work a dedicated run because it was easier to forecast expenses and income. That helped with the new re- sponsibilities of money management. The couple recently bought a 2017 Pe- terbilt 579, an upgrade from their 2007 386, which had more than 2 million miles. They usually run from Wisconsin to the East Coast, down to Florida and back to Wisconsin, but Keith prefers to run out West. "It gives us a break from traffic, tolls, weather and things like that," he says. "We look forward to having a trip to California and back." The couple typi- cally runs for 21 days before returning home for 10 days. He received his 20th safety award from WEL and has been named a Driver All-Star for the company 10 times. The Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association named him 2016 Driver of the Year. Keith attributes his clean record to pa- tience, and notes that excessive highway speeds are becoming a thing of the past. "There's too much traffic," he says. "Let everything play out in front of you. You never want to put yourself in a situation where you have to use your brakes to get out of it." PHILIP KEITH: Even working as a dispatcher, he drove on weekends. KEVIN KOCMICH: He stays on the road up to three months at a time.