Day 6 of not smoking.

I don't know what it is about quitting, but all I want to do is eat! I've been in the freezer just thinking about what I can cook to eat. I'm not even hungry. Go figure. But, I am determined not to smoke. I think that I'll switch to the Southbeach diet. We've done it before and as a matter of fact, hubby lost 50 pounds on this diet. I'm sure that without being on this diet I'll gain about 10 to 15 pounds, but why go through that?

I was listening to CNN this morning and I heard that there is one bad side effect of quitting smoking: you can eat so much that you become obese and then you develop diabetes. Well, I'd rather get diabetes than lung cancer. I can work with diabetes, I don't think I can work with not breathing! But damn, all I want to do is eat! By the way, I haven't cooked anything either, but I have been looking at my Joy of Cooking cookbook.

I wonder how many of us became owner operators because we were tired of all the crap we had to put up with when we were company drivers? I used to think that being an owner operator would be a piece of cake. With my background and after spending almost nine years as a company driver I was sick and tired of always having to do what the company told me, to go where they told me, to take only the amount of time off that they allowed me, etc. I thought that I would become an owner operator and I could go wherever I wanted to go, do whatever I wanted to do and take as much time off as I pleased. What I dreamer I was.

So, I did my homework that last year that I was a company driver. I tracked everything from where we went to how much fuel we used. I talked to hundreds of other owner operators and picked their brains. I created various spreadsheets that would help us track everything from what our actual revenue was to how many gallons per mile we used. I found all kinds of informative websites on running your own trucking business. I could tell you what our costs were on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis. Finally, in March of 2006 we felt we were ready and we took the plunge; we purchased our first truck.

That first year was very difficult. The first company we leased to had both owner operators and company drivers. They offered us a package where we could get a percentage of the load and we would basically dispatch ourselves. We would be offered several loads and we could choose which one we preferred. The only problem with this set up was that we had never dealt with freight lanes and so we really didn’t know how to pick and choose. After about a month of really bad choices on our part, we decided to make a change.

The second company was a little better. There, we didn’t have to know about freight lanes. We were basically dispatched from point A to point B. The income was okay, although we did do a lot of sitting. The fuel surcharge could have been paid on a timelier basis, but all in all, it was okay. Then in December of 2006, the bottom began fell out of the market in trucking. We spent the entire month basically sitting. While we were sitting we would see all the company trucks moving. That’s when we learned a valuable lesson (for us at least) never lease on with a carrier that has both owner operators and company drivers; when push comes to shove the company driver will get the worm no matter how early you get there.

We finally moved to our current company and it was one of the best moves we ever made. This company is 100% owner operator and is non-forced dispatch. For the first year I carried my old point of view over into my business practices as an owner operator. We would refuse loads going to places we didn’t want to go to and we would take as much time off as we wanted. It didn’t matter to us that our time off fell on high volume freight days. We felt that it was our truck that we were paying for so we had that freedom. In truth, we did. It was our truck and we were paying all the bills. In short, we were developing a bad attitude.

At around this time, I started listening to a guy named Kevin Rutherford. He would be a guest once a week on a show called The Loading Dock on Sirius Satellite Radio. He would talk about taxes, specking your truck, your sweet spot and all kinds of other things. Both hubby and would really look forward to hearing him during his time on The Loading Dock. Kevin was all about personal responsibility in your business (and I might add in your personal life as well). While I don’t always agree with Kevin, I really liked what he had to say about running your business. Listening to Kevin made me really proud to be a truck driver. It reaffirmed my belief that not just anybody could do what we do; that it actually took some skill.

At first, my only interest was in learning new and improved ways to manage my business. I had been in the legal field and I had dabbed a little in taxes and so that was my main interest. My husband listened to Kevin for all the mechanical information he offered. But, over time, I started to really listen to him. I did learn all those wonderful and, at least to me, really interesting things he had to say about managing my business. But, in the process I also learned that being an owner operator was more than just being able to do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it!

Now, let me be clear, I never took any type of class offered by Kevin which specifically told me all the steps that I needed to take to be an owner operator. At the time I didn’t even know that he had DVDs spelling out a lot of this stuff. Honestly, we have never really contributed very much to Kevin’s bottom line. As a matter of fact, in the last year I have only purchased one DVD for $9.99. Most of what we learned from Kevin he shared with us for free. I sure hope he doesn’t catch on! I’m a big believer of holding on to our money!

Truly, what it came down to for us was Kevin’s professional attitude about our profession. That made me start thinking about my own attitude. How could I expect to be truly successful when I had an employee’s attitude? In order for us to succeed, we had to, number one: figure out who was our customer. Well, that was easy; our customer was the carrier to whom we were leased. Then, number two: we had to figure out how we could keep our customer. Again, that was easy; we could keep our customer by making sure that we were meeting the needs of our customer.

So then came the great attitude adjustment. This was around February or March of 2008. We still didn’t like going to some places, but we quickly figured out that a lot of other owner operators also didn’t (and wouldn’t) go to some places. We needed something that would allow us to stand out from the crowd. So, we stopped turning down loads. This was a great move because our customer really appreciated our willingness to meet their needs. They started showing their appreciation by quickly getting us out of those places we didn’t want to go to (think JFK) by either emptying us out of there (boy did we save a bundle on fuel) or giving us loads that went from one coast to another.

Well, talk about Pavlov’s dog; we started looking forward to those “undesirable” loads. We knew that by taking those loads we were serving the needs of our customer and that in turn our customer would reward us. That began the process of our transition from company driver to owner operator. Now, we look for new ways to meet the needs of our number one customer.

Truth be told, we work longer hours now. We don’t take time off whenever we want to either. You will probably find us in places that make you cringe. We’re magnets to major snowstorms; we spend a lot of time in cities like Los Angeles, CA, Queens, New York, Chicago, ILL and Atlanta, GA. We do a lot of “city work.” Hey it pays really well! If you see a big shiny blue 780 stuck in traffic in any of those cities; it’s probably us! You see, that’s what our customer needed and we’re in the business of customer service.

We finally got it right in time for 2009 which, by all accounts, was not a good year for the trucking industry. There was not enough freight and too many trucks. Trucking companies were failing left and right! The small solo operations were hit even harder. Thanks to our view of our business and our relationship with our carrier, for us it was a good year.

1/8/10 Day four of not smoking.

Have changed from drinking coffee to drinking tea. It helps that I caught a bad cold while hanging out with my nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grand nephews over the holidays. This is the first cold of my adult life that I have not forced myself to smoke through! Still get urges that go something like this: I'm doing something and the thought runs across my mind that as soon as I finish this I can sit down and have a smoke. Then I remember that I stopped and it doesn't feel bad at all. If the urge is really strong I chew a nicorett gum. I'm using 2mg as opposed to the 4mg. I want to get through this successfully, but I don't want to drag it out.

I have increased my walk time from one hour to an hour and a half. I'm trying to compensate for my insatiable appetite. As God is my witness (in the words of my favorite big screen heroine Scarlet O'Hara) I will not be fat! I have been eating healthy. Lots of whole wheat, fruits, fresh raw vegetables, chicken breasts, fish and on rare occasions, lean red meat. We're going out on the road tonight and I've prepared lots of healthy snacks for us along those lines. I purchased one of those vacuume sealers that I will use to keep things fresh.

We're finally leaving the house after a long holiday break tonight. My next big challenge will be not smoking during my shift. I will overcome that challenge and share my experiences here on this blog.

Okay, that's all for now.

The first day of not smoking.

We've finally stopped smoking. I know that it's awfully optimistic of me considering that I have tried to stop quite a few times over the last two years, but I think that optimism is necessary in this case. I can't believe how hard it is to quit. Can you believe that this stuff is legal? I had an easier time quitting contraband (no, I won't spill my guts as this stuff stays on the web FOREVER LOL).

In the past, when I have quit, I have quit on my own and hubby kept at it (he smokes cigars and while he claims he doesn't inhale, I live with the guy and know better). This time we are doing it together. I have a good feeling about this time!

I smoked my last cigarette last night at I don't remember what time. Here lately though smoking wasn't as enjoyable as it once was oh so long ago. Even that last cigarette was smoked simply to feed the beast. It makes me feel like a hostage. As I inhaled the last of that cigarette all I felt was relief that I was finally on my way to being free.

There are so many hindrances to smoking these days. For one thing, while I don't believe all the dangers attributed to secondhand smoke, it doesn't really matter because everyone else does. When someone comes to my house who is not a smoker I always wonder how my house smells to them. To me I don't notice any smell, but I know from past experience with quitting that there definately is a smell. And let me tell you, it is no picnic having to go outside in subzero temperture to feed the beast! While I'm out there feeling like an adict I wonder why I'm putting myself through that.

I hate that deep need of wanting a smoke after every meal. I mean what's up with that? On a positive note, I really look forward to being able to actually taste my food. I guess I'm going to have to really ramp up that exercise schedule.

The cost of cigarettes has become prohibitive. Here where we live in the southwest it costs $54 a carton, that's just for ten packs. In other areas it costs upwards of $70 to $80 dollars and in other areas it costs a little less. If a carton lasts me for ten days and we have 365 days in the year that means that I am spending $1,971 for cigaretts (on average) each year. That price doesn't include those times when I run out of cigarettes and have to pay a per pack price. Times that by the money my hubby spends: one double pack of Blackstone Cherry (five cigars in each pack) costs an average of $7 each and he smokes at least one pack a day. Times that by 365 and he spends about $2,555 per year. Our grand total for smokes a year is $4,526!!! Believe me, these numbers are understated. Sometimes hubby smokes two or even three packs of cigars a day when we are out on the road. Sometimes I smoke a pack and a half! So, we are potentially looking at saving over $5,000 a year by quitting. I'm motivated!

I always feel bad when people bring little children and babies to our home especially if those people don't smoke. I've always been a polite smoker, but it is really a hassle having to go outside of my own home to smoke at those times.

On waking up this morning, my first thought: damn I'm not smoking! What an addiction! My hope is that by publicizing our progress it will serve as a motivational tool not only for us, but for others thinking about quitting.

Well, we're on our way and we can do it!

Well, we're still at it (trucking that is). We purchased our first truck in March of last year. Boy have we learned a lot by becoming owner operators. The trucking companies make a lot of money off of us. For example: they bill their customers a fuel surcharge and then find very creative ways to keep as much of it as they can for themselves. Some companies take a long time before they give us our fuel surcharge. In other words, they get it right away and then hold on to the surcharge for their own use. The impact on us is that we pay today's diesel price and as a result our settlement statement is a lot less than had we received the fuel surcharge right away. That hurts because when you are a small outfit you need all of your income. Other companies reimburse you the surcharge on a state to state basis and then turn around and charge their customers the Department of Energy's (DOE) average cost per gallon. The difference can be substantial and is also very difficult to determine. Yet other companies only update the average cost per gallon for owner operators on a monthly basis and yet charge their customers the DOE's weekly updated version.

Another thing our current company does (they shall remain nameless because Lord knows what kind of trouble we would get into if we name them) is offer up our vehicles for exclusive use to some of their most valued customers. That offer means that the customer gets to use our vehicle exclusively. They get to hold us for as long as they wish. They have to pay a higher fuel surcharge to the freight company, sometimes as much as 100% more. Of course, the freight company does not pass that along to their owner operators (O/O). We still get that same old fuel surcharge that is calculated on a state by state basis.

Imagine the profit to the freight company if the fuel surcharge (FSCH) on a given Monday is at $.34cpm. Here is an easy way to figure this out. Lets use as our example one O/O and come up with a figure for the total 100. Here goes:

One O/O (solo) runs approximately 2000 miles (low ball) for say 48 weeks. That comes to: .34 times 2000 = $680 in FSCH. Now, lets multiply that amount by 100 (the number of O/O leased to the freight company). That comes up to $68,000. Now lets continue on with our little scenario. If you times $68,000 by 48 weeks you get a running total of $3,264,000. That averages out to $32,640 per O/O per year. That is what they pay their O/O in FSCH. But, we can't forget that that is not what they are charging the customer. They are in fact charging the customer $.70. What that means is that they are in fact keeping $3,264,000. My God! What a profit. And all of this because we are leased on to them. And who said truck drivers are dumb?

Well, we know the issue, but I don't know what we can do about it. Last year legislation was presented to ensure that O/O received all of the FSCH collected by the freight companies. That legislation did not make it because it was said it would allow too much government intervention. Unfortunately, this is true. But as truckers we are really struggling and need every penny we have earned. I think that in this case, government interventions is definitely needed.

Well, I'm getting ready to go. I plan on purchasing a digital camera and will post pictures to this blog. Of course I will have to figure out how to do this as I am 50 years old and this stuff is really hard for me. You can't imagine the time I had in getting this blog up and running. It took me a year to remember that I had started it:).

Talk to you all soon (actually no one has even looked at my blog). Nonetheless, I'm going to keep on.

I have been a truck driver for the last eight years. It seems that when I became a truck driver I stepped over some kind of divide. On one side I was a respectable legal secretary and on the other side I became this low life truck driver.

My husband and I have been married for over 16 years. He began trying to talk me into becoming a truck driver almost from the very beginning of our married life. It took him eight years to succeed. What really tipped the scale in his favor was the very low wages I earned working as a legal secretary near the border. Since I wasn't bi-lingual, many higher paying positions were not available to me.

Let me tell you, learning how to drive that big rig was no easy feat. I think that I was terrified almost the entire first two years. And then there was my husband. He has been driving for over 25 years. For the first time in our marriage he was the boss (out on the road). That made for some interesting conversations while I trained under him.

There are many things that I don't like about trucking. For one, I don't like being away from home for so long a period of time. I also don't like having to wait for hours to get loaded and unloaded. We don't get paid for waiting. The thing that I hate most is how we are compensated: by the mile. But, overall it's a good job. My husband and I feel that we are doing a service for our country. I smile every time I go to a Walmart store. I know that if it weren't for people like me, the store shelves would be empty.

You won't catch me smiling while I am waiting to get unloaded at a Walmart store. They have very strict requirements. For example, you cannot arrive any earlier than one hour before your load or unload time. Also, they charge you to unload their own products. Finally, you can spend up to 12 hours waiting to get loaded/unloaded at one of their distributorships. You do not get paid for the wait. By the way, Walmart isn't the only store that does this.

What I really love about being a truck driver is the freedom. I think that it is one of the only professions remaining where you don't have someone watching your every move. Also, every day out on the road is casual Friday! I guess that we are the last of the cowboys.

I wish that the compensation methods were changed. You can't pay a person by the mile and then jump all over them when they try and get as many miles as they can. We are forced to waste hours waiting to get loaded and unloaded. We are not paid for our actual miles run. If people really wanted truck drivers to slow down, they would change some of the rules we work under. Oh, I almost forgot, most of the time it is not us the drivers that are in a rush, it is our companies that are in a rush. They have to keep that contract. Trying being late on a load more than a time or two and you will not have that job or you will not get the good runs!

We are so regulated (i.e. drug screens and back ground checks) that I don't know how they can find any fit drivers at all. Did you know that we have to be drug tested within hours of any accident whether it was our fault or not? We also have to be drug tested prior to any employment with a carrier. Then there are the DOT phyical requirements.

The drivers that we know are all aware of the awesome responsibility that we carry. We all try very hard to be safe and courteous to others out on the road. We report irresponsible drivers. Almost to a person, we love our jobs. Even now, when I'm driving down the road and I look out of my sideview mirrors and see that big old trailer, I have to smile to myself. I am driving a big rig!