Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/647205
NEWS & NOTES 14 // OWNER OPERATOR // MARCH 2016 years, I've had different ways to contact com- panies, from flyers at truck stops to occasional use of a freight broker. "If the driver shows up and clearly knows what he's doing, is present- able, I'll give him a handout to take to their company owner." From his base facility in Naperville, Ill., just west of Chicago, Hazel says, the company in particular "sends a lot of stuff up to South Da- kota, Iowa, and Minnesota and surrounding states," rural areas where the dairy cows are. Operators domiciled in those areas, and oth- ers where the company commonly ships, he's always particularly interested in working with — a possible to way to put together a solid back-and-forth lane with his loads on the re- turn. (GEA itself also has some flatbed freight originating in Wisconsin and New York State.) Service needs are the paramount concern, he says, making an old transport analogy to a horse's superior speed coming back to the barn versus the outbound trip: "If you can get a guy coming back to where he lives, you're going to get good service." And rates, he says, but don't sell yourself short just to get home, as it were. At once, the company also has freight that runs in 250-gal. totes that are round-trip pos- sible, loaded both ways as far west as Colorado and back. "Anytime I can sign a person that's interested in doing some work for us, I take the time to talk to him," Hazel says, encouraging anyone with future interest to contact him directly: 630- 548-8321 or ron.hazel@gea.com. "I get brokers that call me all the time," Hazel says. "If I've got time to talk to them, I'll get into a conversation." He always is quick to ask, "Where do you buy groceries?" The invariable answer — the grocery store — then prompts questions of why the broker doesn't use a delivery service like Peapod. "They buy their groceries at the grocery store because the groceries are there," Hazel says. Personally, he adds, "I don't want somebody else buying my groceries, and 'I don't want you buying my transportation.' If I'm spend- ing a dollar for transportation I want to get a dollar's value out of it, and If I've got to pay a higher price, I'd much rather" that money go to the man doing hauling. With the continuing rise of automated broker- age and the so-called "Uberization" of truck- ing, Hazel has dipped his toes into services like Go By Truck, one he says he tried and which was "not bad" for filling a last-minute need. But "I plan a lot of my loads three-four days out – positioning a driver to come home rather than waiting for the last minute." When we talked Monday, "I'm starting on working on loads to pick up a load on Friday," he said. "I'd rather the carrier directly tell me they can't do it than have a broker say, well, I reckon we could raise the price to find some- body else." In the end, Hazel believes the principle rea- son some owner-operators "are struggling is they're surrendering their profit to the broker." For better margins, and long-term health, do- ing the hard work on relationship building with direct shippers will pay off in the long term. There are plenty more folks out there just like Hazel, no doubt. OO