Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/107898
Voices Channel 19 Lighting up the night Greg Trott runs in this 2009 Peterbilt 387 powered by a 450-hp Cummins and a 10-speed transmission, getting about 6 miles per gallon. "I am a 12-year-old boy with a big love for lit-up bull haulers!" wrote Ezra Staart. He sent this picture, taken when "my Mom and I were lucky enough to park by him at the Flying J in Rapid City, S.D. Thank you, fellow trucker, for the light show!" Thanks to you, Ezra, for sharing. He called this show "the best one I've seen." Don't pay for the privilege to haul Florida-based Second Wind Transport owner-operator Greg Trott got his own authority in July 2012 and has found rates on brokered reefer freight are, shall we say, less than desirable. Trott sent us a copy of a rate confirmation from a sizable brokerage to give an example. It detailed a frozen load running from Mt. Pleasant, Texas, to McAllen (about 620 miles), paying $700 to the hauler. After deadhead miles to the pickup, that rate "would just cover the fuel cost in the truck, so you have to come out of pocket for the reefer fuel," he says. "And if you have them give you a fuel advance, they charge you 5 percent." Take the quick-pay option, of course, and they'll take an additional 2 or 3 percent. Contrary to popular opinion, "some drivers do know mathematics," he says. If you can make such a load work by booking a second profitable leg to get you to a strong-rate area for freight, it may be worth considering. Problem is, too many people are willing to take such an unprofitable haul, encouraging brokers to "try you," as Trott puts it. He also added his voice to the chorus of others making the connection between safety and pay/income on the road, likewise those looking for more parking options, particularly crucial given electronic logs. See the Dec. 11 and 20 posts on the Channel 19 blog for views from Trott and others. For more of the interesting and odd parts of trucking, visit Senior Editor Todd Dills' 8 | Overdrive | February 2013 Coffee, crates, chicken Who better to sit down with during the yearend holidays at the TA in downtown Nashville, Tenn., than Tim Philmon? ODD LOADS: Philmon was loaded with a series of empty ammo crates bound for the weapons depot in Anniston, Ala. THE TRUCK: Philmon, running an '05 Pete 379 with 900,000 miles on it without an overhaul, is weighing options for power. Potentials include an engine upgrade or overhaul and/or new investment in a Fitzgerald's glider kit. Scan the code for a photo FRIED CHICKEN: "Best you can find," All gallery of State Truck Stop, Pine St., Exit 121 off I-75 Jacksonville, Fla.-based in Unadilla, Ga. Tim Philmon's CSA: The importance of a working-togethLandstarleased 2005 er mindset among owner-operators at Peterbilt 379 the same carrier: "What one of us does and Transcraft flatbed, or now hurts the others. If a driver's damvisit the Dec. aged goods … his record will stay with 17 post on the blog. the carrier when he leaves." Channel 19 blog at OverdriveOnline.com/channel19.