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Phil Madsen's BlogLearning Something New Every Day |
Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.
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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, March 1, 2010 I learned today that I'm not much of a plumber. Learned by being embarrassed by the simple solution I had to call someone else to get.
Diane and I woke up this morning in our truck, parked on a freeway rest area in Southern Minnesota. We have been home for two weeks and it is great to be back on the road again.
Before we left last night, a pre-trip inspection revealed a light circuit in need of repair. Today it was the kitchen sink in our sleeper.
We bought this truck new in 2006. It is now 2010 and the odometer is approaching a half-million miles. Repairs increase as the truck ages and I expect to put more and more time and money into keeping the truck in tip-top shape. We have no intention of letting the truck go. If something needs repair, it gets repaired.
Water used to come out of the kitchen faucet at a good rate. Today it came out at a trickle. Worried that the water pump had failed, I looked around a bit and remained clueless. A call to the service department at our bunk builder (sleeper manufacturer) yielded the suggestion to unscrew the screen on the faucet. I did and water flow returned. I had not even thought to try to shower to test the water pump or to look for a clogged screen. Duh!
• We picked up freight in Iowa this morning as scheduled. We will haul it overnight and deliver it in the morning. We are already dispatched on the next load. It picks up tomorrow afternoon. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 I learned today what it sounds like when the supply line to your driver's air seat ruptures (loud, continuing hiss). Learned when it happened.
Diane was asleep. I was driving at 4:00 a.m., eastbound on I-68 in Maryland. The air line let go with no warning. My first thought was brake hose. A quick glance at the gauges on the dashboard showed normal readings.
It was hard to tell where the sound was coming from. That made sense after I located it. It came from under my seat. That made it hard to zero in on while driving the truck. A freeway exit was in sight and I stopped at the top of the ramp to figure out what was up. I was able to stop the leak with electrical tape and we were underway in 30 minutes.
Mechanical ability; it is not a requirement to be a truck driver but the more of it you have, the better off you are. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, March 3, 2010 I learned today about a well-run NAPA store and nearby chrome shop that are operated by the same owner. Learned by visiting both.
I discovered a burned out light on the truck at this morning's delivery. It was the right rear identification light (that group of three lights you see on the top center of truck trailers and boxes are the identification lights).
We spent last night in the consignee's parking lot. It was raining in the morning. My joy knew no bounds when I spotted the failed lamp and knew a cold, rainy-day light repair would follow the delivery.
While driving to a nearby truck stop to make the repair, I spotted a NAPA store in Winchester, Virginia and stopped to restock my electrical supplies. Then learning of the nearby chrome shop I visited it too. Both stores were nicely set up and well run. I ended up parking on the street near the chrome shop to repair the light and permanently repair the air line (see yesterday's blog entry).
• While I worked on the light, we got dispatched on our next run. It picks up tomorrow and delivers the same day. We drove to Maryland to get closer to the pickup. Soon after we parked, we got pre-dispatched on another load. It picks up in the town where tomorrow's first load delivers. Zero deadhead. Nice. The second load delivers Friday morning in a southern state.
• If that's all I told you about dispatched loads things would sound good. The sad part is we turned down five bad loads before getting two good ones. By good, I do not mean cherry-picked, high-pay, high-mileage runs that some people sit and wait for. I mean plain old ordinary runs that pay enough to profitably drive those miles to move the freight.
This has been going on for a while. The trucking industry talking heads are projecting that a driver shortage and freight rate increases will come with the economic recovery. That can't happen soon enough.
We have grown tired of seeing one load offer after another that leave us wondering why they were offered in the first place. No one, no matter how low their operating expenses are, can profitably run freight at these money-losing rates. The people who accept these loser loads doom themselves to a slow and painful financial death as they donate their time and truck to shippers who are happy to accept the gift.
The good news for Diane and me is there are enough decent paying loads to keep us running. We just have to turn down a high number of loser loads to get them. We did not used to see anywhere near the number of loser loads we see today. Seeing them day after day, after day, after day wears on us and makes it less fun to be expediters.
Diane and I spent some time talking today about the bad feelings these loser loads give us. There is no way we will haul them because we are not in this business to donate our time and truck to our customers. As we have said many times, if the freight don't pay, we won't play.
On the other hand, our carrier tracks the percentage of loads we accept. Load acceptance is an important number by which our carrier evaluates its contractors. Every time we decline a loser load, we become losers ourselves by reducing our acceptance percentage. That's not fun.
As I said, the sooner the projected truck driver shortage and higher freight rates develop, the better. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: Preparing for the Next Crisis • A Change of Plans • Sleep Management
• I learned today that the likely outcome of the financial reform proposals that are making their way through Congress is the preservation of the status quo. Learned by listening to podcasts on the topic.
There is not going to be any meaningful financial reform, despite the financial panic of 2008 and the Great Recession. The financial lobby has succeeded in re-writing the bill that came out of the House. The watered down version now in the Senate preserves the status quo, does nothing about derivatives and even sends another pile of money the banker's way.
Citizens are not likely to rise to bring the needed political pressure because the issues are too complicated for the average Joe to understand. Complex issues do not light public fires. Simple issues do. With no leaders rising to advance simple rules that could bring meaningful reform about, the status quo will continue. The same things that led to the current crisis remain in place and will almost certainly lead to another one. Congress fixed nothing and only kicked the can further down the road. Our elected officials are sewing the seeds of the next great panic; one that may make the last one look like a walk in the park.
For Diane and I survived the last crisis one by living within our means, and being self-employed and debt free. The next crisis may see not a debt bubble burst but a dollar bubble. That would mean the value of the dollar would plummet (inflation). A dollar denominated cache of retirement savings (like cash in a savings account, bank CDs or U.S. Treasury bonds) would buy less then than it buys today.
Normal inflation turns a fifteen-cent McDonald's hamburger into a dollar hamburger over the years. A dollar bubble burst would erode the purchasing power of the dollar more quickly.
To prepare for that possibility Diane and I will continue to build wealth as best we can and invest in a wider mix of non-dollar-denominated assets. (Cash is not king.)
• I got the chance to listen to these podcasts because our run plans unexpectedly changed. When we got ready for bed last night, we were dispatched on two runs that were to pick up today. The first would take us from Maryland to Long Island, New York. The second would pick up in the same town we delivered to and take us to North Carolina. We were feeling good about this freight and especially glad to be getting in and out of the New York City area so quickly.
Then the phone rang. A dispatcher wanted to know if she could pull us off these two runs and put us on one that picked up ASAP in Pennsylvania and delivered on Friday in Texas. The money was better and we agreed.
• This is where good sleep and log book management pays off. Notice this Texas run came unexpectedly, just as we were getting ready to go to bed last night. Our new mission was to immediately pick up freight and drive straight-through to Texas. We got a good sleep the night before but yesterday began with an early morning delivery. We then parked elsewhere while I made minor truck repairs. We next drove to Maryland to spend the night and position ourselves for a morning pickup.
Diane and I have a rule. If we feel even a little bit tired, we listen to what our bodies are saying and lay down to get whatever sleep our bodies need. Sometimes that turns into a ten minute snooze. Other times it becomes a four-hour nap.
Sleep is our first priority — always. It comes before the freight. If we are too tired to drive, we go out of service and get the sleep we need. Sleep comes before truck maintenance. If I am tired, I sleep first and fix the truck later. Sleep comes before trading. If I am tired, I sleep. I don't trade because trading while you are tired is a near-certain way to lose money. Sleep comes before business book work. If we try to do administrative tasks while tired, we get short with each other and make bookkeeping mistakes. Sleep comes before family. If we could drive a couple hours to visit relatives but need sleep first, the family visit is put off and we get the sleep we need. Sleep comes before each other. If one of us wants to sleep and the other does not, the tired one always wins. The other leaves the truck, moves to the cab or gets otherwise situated to allow the tired one to sleep.
Having settled in Maryland in the afternoon, we did what we always do, sleep as needed. I was first on the log book this morning. We did not drive much so I did it all. When we got dispatched on the Texas run, Diane was next to drive and I had been in the sleeper for several hours.
When we headed to the Pennsylvania pickup and then on to Texas, Diane did not drive a full ten-hour shift. She drove until she felt tired. I went immediately to bed when we left Maryland and had several hours of good sleep in me when she was ready to switch.
Behind the wheel went I,
into the bunk went she.
The iPod came on,
toward Texas went we.
Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, March 5, 2010 I learned today where not to park in the Fort Worth, Texas area, even though the parking space looks perfect. Learned when a police officer woke us up and ran us off.
We woke up this morning in the truck, which was parked on the street in a Fort Worth suburb. We arrived two hours ahead of our delivery appointment. Having driven overnight, we found a parking place near the delivery and went to sleep. About an hour into the nap we woke to a loud knock on the door.
My first thought was the consignee had seen us and wanted to say it was OK to go in. That sometimes happens when we arrive early and park nearby. Not this time. I stuck my head out the sleeper window into a bright, sunny morning and saw a smartly uniformed cop standing at our door. When he saw me he said "you can't park here" and then did something nice. He gave me directions to a place where we could park. We went to the delivery instead of going there.
There are times when expediters and street people have things in common. All Diane and I wanted was a quiet place to get some sleep. We picked a spot where we thought we would be legal and no bother to anyone. Then someone in authority objected to our presence, woke us up and ran us off; lest the better citizens of the community become uncomfortable that someone with lower social standing or objectionable traits was getting too comfortable in their space.
I would not have parked where I did if there was any reason to believe parking was not permitted, but there wasn't. It was a wide street with curbs on both sides. There were no signs at all, let alone signs that prohibited parking or truck parking. It looked like the ideal spot to take a two hour nap. But it wasn't and we were soon on our way to the delivery.
We went next to a nearby Walmart to sleep, re-supply the truck and wait for freight. The remainder of the day passed in the now-usual fashion. We accepted a load offer but did not get it. We then received and declined a number of offers we did not want.
Just as we were giving up on freight for the day and thinking we would be spending the weekend in Fort Worth, another offer came in. The money was not good enough to take the load but it went to Tennessee, not far from where our reefer dealer of choice is located. Being due for reefer maintenance, we took the load.
While the run was not profitable or only slightly profitable, it moved us toward a reliable reefer dealer under load instead of on our own dime. The kind of reefer work that needs to be done is specialized. Only a few dealers in the country can do it. We were glad to get some freight that brought us close to our favorite reefer dealer.
The load was as ordinary as they come. It was two 1,000 lbs. boxes of plastic pellets going to a plastics factory in Tennessee. They are used in injection mold machines. You pour the pellets in one end and a toy baseball bat, plastic dog dish or other such thing comes out the other. We figured the factory must have run out of the pellets because mundane freight like this usually ships slower and cheaper than what we provide.
A two-man crew was waiting for us when Diane bumped the dock at the warehouse. They quickly loaded the truck, shut down the warehouse, locked it up for the night and sped out of the parking lot before we left. If it was Miller time somewhere, these guys were in a hurry to get there.
The run will keep us moving overnight. Our reefer maintenance appointment is set for Monday morning. We will go out of service after tomorrow's delivery and spend the weekend in the Memphis area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, March 6, 2010 I learned today about the Pinks All Out drag race events. Learned from a friend who is competing in one in West Palm Beach.
A drag racing fan I am not but a good truck-driver friend of mine, Glen Rice, is passionate about it. He sent me these photos of his car from the track.
Driven by Dennis King (pictured with the car and a model), it hit 158 mph with a 1,000+ horsepower LS General Motors engine that Glen is proud to have built (1,300 hp at the flywheel).
King owns the Redline Performance shop near Daytona Florida and worked with Glen to build the car. If you watch the SPEED channel on cable TV, you may see this car when the taped event airs in the future.
Diane's and my day was less exciting. We delivered our freight early this morning near Memphis Tennessee, slept, fueled, showered, restocked the truck, nursed a skin rash and called it a day. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Sunday, March 7, 2010 I learned today (actually yesterday) that the internet is useful in diagnosing skin rashes. Learned by using it to do so.
Sleeping in late, we woke up this morning in a retail area near Memphis Tennessee, having delivered a load nearby yesterday. We have a Monday appointment for reefer maintenance in the area and will spend today doing laundry, business book work and truck maintenance.
When I woke this morning, I was delighted to see the over-the-counter medicine we bought yesterday to treat a painful skin rash was working. This rash developed a few days ago and did not go away on its own. We have good health insurance and the money to pay for a doctor visit and medicine, but I tend to get stubborn about such things. What is obvious to many is not always obvious to one, and in this case, I was the one.
As the rash grew in size, depth and pain, and began to limit my mobility, it led me to think that treatment options should be investigated. (Duh!). The online medical sites were of little help. I had no idea there were so many types of rashes one could get. The written descriptions did not seem to match what I had so I went to Google Images and did a search for skin rashes there. (Don't do this if you are easily grossed out. Some of the photos are repulsive.)
In a few minutes I was able to match my rash to photos of similar rashes. Now having a good idea of what the rash was, and learning that it is normally treated by over-the-counter medication, we bought the medicine and applied it as directed. It is working and I expect to be as good as new in a day or two.
We take the internet for granted now but most people alive today can remember life without it. I am glad to have it. In identifying skin rashes and with life on the road, the internet makes things easier than they would otherwise be.
On the other hand, having no kids, I have never had the pleasure of having a critical teenager using the internet to compare religions online and, armed with good information, questioning me about mine. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, March 8, 2010 I learned today about marker lights that are available from various manufacturers. Learned by researching them.
To my non-trucker readers, think about the scene in the movie Godfather where two mafia bosses and a corrupt police chief are sitting in a restaurant, and one of the bosses asks the chief to excuse them while the bosses speak with each other in Italian. Now, dear readers, please excuse me while I talk chicken lights with my trucker colleagues.
When our truck was built, 94 chicken lights went on. That's several dozen more than the legally required number of marker lights but we would not want to be without them. They make the truck highly visible from the side at night. This provides some comfort when inattentive drivers are merging into our lane from an on-ramp. The lights get their attention.
The lights also provide nice lighting around the truck when we are parked in dark parking places in truck stops. To the extent that lighting deters people who like to operate in the dark (robbers, vandals, sex workers, etc.) we benefit from the lights. Of course vanity is also served. The lights add a look to the truck that we like.
The company that made these lights, Panelite, recently suspended operations. There are thousands if not hundreds of thousands of these lights in use on the road. When truckers heard Panelite shut down, they rushed to the chrome shops and cleaned out every Panelite Millennium M1 4 LED light in stock.
With the company closed, replacement lights cannot be re-ordered from Panelite. So far, no chrome shop or light dealer I contacted has been able to find an acceptable replacement. That surprised me since I was able to do a search and find an acceptable replacement from a well-established manufacturer.
Our original marker light is the Panelite Millennium M1 LED. It features four LEDs in each light. It comes with a chrome bezel that snaps on over the light assembly. The plastic lens has vertical lines molded into it. The lines and four LEDs differentiate the light from others of the same size and shape that are similar but not identical. This is a deal killer for the discriminating chicken light customer. The replacement lights must be identical.
Enter the Grote M1 Series Clearance / Marker LED Lamp which is an acceptable replacement. No chrome shop I have contacted has these lights in stock. Only one seemed interested enough to care. It is the Chrome Barn in Winchester Virginia, (800-635-0567, I-81, Exit 310) which Diane and I happened to stumble upon on March 3 (story here). Owner Clif Borden is a Grote dealer and is working now to get and ship me some lights. I hope Grote can hold up their end and supply what they show in their catalog.
There are several stories floating around about Panelite, its future and its successors. One is being circulated by Phoenix Design and Manufacturing. The company's press release says it is stepping up to fill the void left by Panelite and talks about key Panelite people who are now with Phoenix.
My caution is raised by something else the press release says. "There are many other organizations claiming to be the replacement company, however only Phoenix Design and Manufacturing has hired the engineers behind the years of design work that Panelite had in service."
Hiring engineers is not the same as being the company's successor, and the M1 light advertised in the Phoenix catalog is not an acceptable replacement to the Panelite Millennium M1 LED. Clearly, Phoenix Design and Manufacturing is moving to fill the void left by Panelite. My problem is Phoenix cannot provide the light I need, at least not yet.
I heard another story about Panelite from the staff at the Empire Chrome Shop in West Memphis Arkansas. I was there yesterday looking for lights but did not succeed. A woman working the counter there said the entire Panelite company, including its plant and patents, will soon be auctioned to the highest bidder. She had heard this from others in the store and could offer no more information.
Asking around and searching online for more information about such an auction produced nothing. I have no reason to doubt that Panelite is on the auction block but have not been able to verify it either. With stories like this going around there are probably hundreds more on the CB radio and truck stop lunch counter circuit.
Drivers, I would love to hear any information you have about Panelite, its products, patents or successor company. I will share in my blog anything more I learn. You can e-mail me here.
If you happened upon this page while doing an online search for Panelite information, also try the search engine on this site. Any additional Panelite mentions I make will show up there.
• Changing topics, Diane and I woke up at the Pilot truck stop on U.S. 78 in Memphis Tennessee this morning and went straight to Crow's Truck Service where we are having preventative maintenance and TVAL certification work done on our reefer. We plan to go back in service later today. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 I learned today that Erskine Bowles, co-chairman of the commission on U.S. deficit reduction, is confirming something I already knew and have come to accept. Learned by reading of a speech he recently gave.
He said U.S. entitlement programs such as social security will turn the nation into a “second- rate power” if their costs aren’t reduced. He also said, "All of our revenue is completely consumed by entitlements. This is today, not some forecast into the future. Every dollar we spend on the military, homeland security, transportation, education and research is borrowed, and half of that comes from foreign sources. That is a recipe for disaster.”
When the financial panic of 2008 went on and our leaders jumped on the bailout bandwagon, I spoke against it. I said transferring private debt to public debt only kicks the can into the future and weakens the country in the long run.
I wrote and called my elected officials urging them to let debt-laden institutions and people fail. Let them take the pain today instead of forcing greater and more widespread pain on us in the future. My pleas fell on deaf ears. The debtors were bailed out big time and we now live in a bankrupt nation.
How might we know that the people and government of the U.S. have borrowed themselves into second-rate status? Consider this.
China is a huge buyer of U.S. government bonds. With the supply they currently own, they could easily flood the market by selling a bunch on the open market in a way calculated to throw the U.S. economy into turmoil. They can do this at will, anytime they wish.
They don't do it now because it serves China to keep making shoes that are sold at Walmart and solar panels sold to California homeowners. It also suits China to play nice in the global economy, at least for now.
But suppose the political winds shift in China and the new leaders start thinking less about economic gains and more about regional or global domination. China believes Taiwan is rightfully theirs. How might they recapture the island? It would not be difficult.
They could move ships and troops nearby to pose a threat. Behind the scenes they could tell the White House to keep out lest China shatter the U.S. economy by flooding the market with our country's own debt instruments. That financial threat, proceeded by a limited demonstration in the marketplace, might be enough to keep the U.S. at bay.
China has far more troops in uniform than the U.S. and almost all of them are on home soil. The U.S. is mired down in two theaters, fighting with volunteer forces already spread so thin that soldiers must serve multiple tours. With the U.S. out-gunned and out-financed, I believe China already has the freedom to pressure Taiwan to surrender. China could re-take the island without firing a shot.
You might say that would never happen because of promises made to Taiwan by the U.S. government in years past, and because we have superior technology. Think again.
About the technology, there is a good chance the computer you are using right now was made in China. About the promise, the U.S. government once promised to pay me social security benefits when I turned 65 and then broke the promise and changed the deal. While they continue to collect my money against my will, and more of it, my social security benefits have been cut such that they won't start until age 67. If the U.S. government can't be trusted to keep its promises to its own citizens, how secure is Taiwan really?
Get used to it, ladies and gentlemen. In our lifetime, we will see the United States of America decline to a second-rate world power. It happened to Rome, the British Empire and the Soviet Union. Now it is our turn, and we have only our spendthrift ways to blame.
This is not the end of the world. Lots of people in Italy, Great Britain and the former Soviet countries live happy and meaningful lives. It's just time to let go of the idea that the U.S. is number one.
• So much for the geopolitical future. In our local present, Diane and I are occupying a parking place in a truck stop in Memphis Tennessee while we wait for freight. We have received a few load offers this morning but they paid low. It would cost us more money to haul the freight than the freight pays. There is little sense in accepting loads like that. A good load will come along sooner or later.
Naturally we hope it is sooner. We are in a race against time to build wealth and achieve financial independence. It is as fruitless to count on a government safety net as it is to haul freight at money-losing rates. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 I learned today (actually yesterday) of a chart that shows people's happiness levels do not grow with their income. Learned by listening to this TED talk.
Of course, you may say. Everyone knows that money does not make you happy. Be careful about going there. It is more subtle than that.
The speaker presented a chart of survey data. It showed that affluent people rated themselves as no happier than people of lesser means. Does that mean that money does not make you happy? Yes it does. If you are see money as a source of happiness, you are likely to be disappointed. It also means that money will not make you unhappy. The level of happiness did not decline as income rose.
It is also true, and this is important, that the lack of money tends to make people unhappy. Unhappiness grows with the inability to use money to meet basic needs. In other words, money will not make you happy, but the lack of it will make you unhappy.
Diane and I are self-employed business owners. We put a great deal of time and effort into making money. I put additional time into that quest by trading. We are money-motivated, goal-oriented people who seek to have more money in the future than we have now. The good news is we do not expect to be happier because of it. We are happy now. There are many good reasons to make money but happiness is not one of them.
• We spent all day yesterday in the truck stop parking spot where we woke. A good chunk of time was put into completing income tax work for our 2009 return. I listened to TED Talks to take breaks from this tedious work.
The tax work is taking longer because I am at the same time developing better bookkeeping procedures. Operation Streamline continues to pay off. I believe that next year it will take less than two hours to do our income tax return work and we won't have to go home to do it.
• We woke up this morning in that same parking spot and without receiving any load offers overnight. The first offer that came in this morning was a good one and we accepted. It was awarded to our truck over others in line and we will be picking up the load this afternoon. It delivers tomorrow morning. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Thursday, March 11, 2010 I learned (relearned) today how reviewing our financial transactions can trigger pleasant memories from the road. Learned by experiencing it.
Doing some business bookkeeping yesterday took me into our financial transactions. It is fun to look at something we did and let the memory flow. For example, a spreadsheet entry shows we ate at a New Jersey diner on December 31, 2009.
The fun starts when I close my eyes and remember the details like what the diner looked like, where we parked, what the tables were like, the food's smell and taste, etc. I also remembered the people at the next table. There were a father and little-boy son seated on one side of the table and the boy's uncle on the other side. The uncle was teasing the boy with fun riddles.
As Diane and I rose to leave and the uncle posed another riddle to the boy I ended up standing behind the uncle and facing the father and boy. Unbeknownst to the uncle and in the boy's and father's view, I mouthed and hand-signaled the answer to the boy who shocked his uncle by giving it so quickly and in such a matter-of-fact fashion. The boy was a natural and never let on how he knew. The father was smiling at the boy's apparent brilliance but was also working hard to not bust a gut laughing.
The whole episode took 10 seconds but gives Diane and I a chuckle every time we think about it. The previous spreadsheet item is a return of some O-rings I bought at a BMW dealership. The receptionist and parts guy there were wonderful to deal with, even as I troubled them with a $6.00 item.
We have accumulated thousands of such memories in our years on the road. Reviewing the financial transactions helps us remember. We enjoy living and working on the road and it is nice to see that even the tedious book work provides a pleasant benefit. Diane and I know we won't be on the road forever. I can see the day when we wake up in the same house each morning and look back at the same day ten years ago and use this blog, our spreadsheet and other documents to remember and re-live the day.
• We picked up yesterday's load in Memphis Tennessee in the afternoon and delivered it early this morning in Saint Louis, where we are now waiting for load offers.
The load was two plastic buckets weighing eight pounds each. The freight expediters haul is not always about size and weight. It is often about speed or special handling. This load was a kind of HAZMAT (hazardous material) for which Diane and I have the training to handle.
The run was short by our standards, only 300 miles. One of us easily could have done the whole thing but both of us wanted to drive. I drove until we stopped for showers. Diane drove the remaining 150 miles. When we bumped the consignee's dock about 10:00 p.m. and prepared for bed, I asked Diane if she enjoyed the drive. She said yes but it was too short.
I know the feeling. It sometimes happens that we change shifts and the last leg leaves only a couple hours of driving to do when I would prefer to cruise for hours and hours.
The job is getting better now that most of winter is in our rear view mirror. The days are getting longer. We don't have to do rush hours in the dark. The weather is not the threat it is in the winter months. We can go outside without wearing heavy parkas. The truck is not coated with salt that corrodes everything. If we head north we may see the snow again but we are rapidly approaching the day when our tree brothers will wake, color will return to the earth and the sun will warm us again. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Friday, March 12, 2010 I learned today that when I start something new in this blog, like monthly trip maps, it is best to continue it. Learned when I received a reminder from a blog reader that my February trip map was missing.
More about trip maps in a minute. First, this public health message.
I added the February trip map and further developed the Madsen Trip Maps page. I also changed my blog page template, adding a trip map link at the top. You may need to refresh your pages to see the links.
We woke up this morning near Saint Louis Missouri, still waiting for freight. At this point in the day (noon), getting dispatched on a load that picks up on Monday is the most likely scenario. But this is expediting and you never know for sure what will happen until it happens. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Saturday, March 13, 2010 I learned today (last night, actually) how to rent a Redbox movie. Learned by doing it for the first time.
We continue to wait for freight in the Saint Louis area. We did some good business admin work yesterday. For a break I checked out Redbox and was delighted by what I found.
We have seen Redboxes grow in number and use as we travel around the country. I went to one at a Walmart. There were three people in line ahead of me when I got there and three in line behind when I completed my transaction.
For just $1.00 you can rent a DVD movie. It was easy as can be. Pick a movie, swipe your card, take the disk the machine dispenses, and return the movie by placing it in the same slot from which it came. If you don't return it by 9:00 p.m. the next night, another dollar is charged, up to $25 for 25 days, after which you own the disk and the charges stop.
It is hard to see a bright future for video rental stores with Redbox offering convenience and price like this. Video stores are burdened with two things Redbox is not; buildings and employees that work in them. I know nothing of the Redbox company or business plan but am now intrigued. A quick Google search yielded this article about the Redbox business.
A business truth stated by someone whose name I do not recall is that we live in a world in which things are getting faster, smaller and cheaper. It is certainly true with movies. It is also true in trucking, warehousing and packaging. Whatever industry you happen to be in, any business plan you write should not be written without giving serious thought to how "faster, smaller and cheaper" are working their ways into your world.
Look what e-mail and online bank statements did to the U.S. Postal Service. Look at what flat screen TVs are doing to the number of semi trailers needed to haul them instead of the old cathode ray tube TVs. Look at what Walmart's distribution and pricing system did to Main Street merchants. Look at what e-readers are doing to printed books, and the trucks that move books, the factories that make the cardboard to boxes to ship books and the stores that sell books. Look at the tiny generator engines that are increasingly used to heat and cool truck cabs instead of idling 400 hp diesel engines to do the same thing. Look at how thousands of head of beef cattle are now raised on feed lots that require a tiny fraction of the land used in days gone by. Look at how tiny cell phones have made closet size telephone booths obsolete. Look at how GPS on those phones is replacing paper maps.
Think faster, cheaper and smaller; and look, look, look. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Today's Topics: Tweet With Location • Honored to Write • In the Flow • Activities
• I learned today about Twitter's Tweet With Location feature. Learned by reading about it.
You can follow my Twitter posts (tweets) by clicking the Twitter icon at the top of this page. I did not turn on Twitter's new Tweet With Location feature. If on, it publishes your location with your tweets. There are times I don't want to be locatable, like when we are at a shipper or loaded with high-value freight.
• I was surprised and honored by an e-mail invitation received yesterday. It was from the managing editor at Land Line magazine, asking me to write a 600 word piece. My regular blog readers know I recently gave up my position of editor of Expedite NOW magazine. My intent is to write less and devote more time to trading. Then along comes this invite and the chance to publish something again. I happily agreed.
Land Line is the official publication of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), a driver advocacy organization in which I am a lifetime member and strong supporter. OOIDA has done a lot of good work for a lot of drivers out there, whether they are members or not. If something I write will help them along, I am happy to do so.
• I listened to a TED talk the other day, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on flow. The TED site introduces the talk: "Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi [SIC] asks, 'What makes a life worth living?' Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of 'flow.'"
I found myself in the state of flow last night — a disembodied experience of creativity and total satisfaction — as I worked on the Land Line piece. Diane went into a bookstore leaving me alone in the truck to work on the piece. She startled me when she returned a few hours later. I was shocked to see it was 11:00 p.m. and realize I had lost all sense of place and time as I fell into the work.
This is not a new experience. I remember times before we got on the road when I was in my home office, fell into the work, and hours later looked out the window to be surprised to see what season it was. I have sometimes been in this state for days at a time, like when I worked on the constitution for the political party I founded in 1992 (Independence Party of Minnesota, went on to elect Governor Jesse Ventura in 1998).
That is not to say it takes hours and hours to write a 600 word piece or that the piece will be an exceptional document. It's just an article for a trucking magazine. But a lot more than the writing goes on when I am in the flow. I see things I don't otherwise see and think things I don't otherwise think.
The piece is about how Diane and I live, work and play on the road. Falling into the flow was a chance to look at that and my Operation Streamline and trading and our relationship and my writing and everything else as a unified whole. For several hours I was in the flow and absolutely content.
I'll provide a link to the piece when it is published. Again, the piece itself is nothing special. It's just an article for a trucking magazine. Last night's flow was a private experience and an unexpected bonus that came when I fell into it.
• Yesterday was pleasant in another way. A regular blog reader named Frank lives in the Saint Louis area where we happen to be waiting for freight. We met for a Cracker Barrel breakfast and had a nice visit.
Frank has a new job as a logistics guy with a company that distributes film and digital movies to the movie theaters that show them. The next time you go to a movie, think for a moment about how the movie physically got to the theater. There is a good chance that Frank's company had a hand in getting it there. I was fascinated to hear all about it and learn many things new at breakfast.
As I said, we are waiting for freight in the Saint Louis area. The weather has been cool and drizzly. We are spending time mostly in the truck, doing business paperwork, reading, writing, watching movies, and studying trading. As desirable as these all are (the paperwork sucks but is desirable to complete), we would prefer to be dispatched and rolling under load. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Monday, March 15, 2010 I learned today about this expediter truck. Learned by receiving photos of it and info from friends.
The truck is for sale at Stoops Freightliner in New Haven Indiana (Fort Wayne). I'm putting a photo of it here simply because it is an interesting truck to view. I don't have the price or specs.
I have seen this truck before. It first had a fifth wheel where you now see the truck body (freight box). It was a tractor then. Now it's an expediter straight truck, complete with a truck body, landing gear and a lift gate. For my non-trucker readers, a fifth wheel sits on the back of a semi tractor. It is the hitch that the semi trailer hooks into.
• Diane and I woke up this morning near Saint Louis Missouri where we have been since Wednesday. We finally got dispatched and are now on our way to the pickup. The freight picks up tomorrow morning and delivers later the same day. It's not a long run but the money is good. The best part is it gets us rolling again.
We expected to be busier than we were last week. I should research this before throwing it out there but I'll go ahead and say it anyway. It's a notion familiar to many expediters. To verify its truth, I'd need to check it against the loads we have actually hauled.
The notion is that freight is busier at the end of the year than s at the beginning, and at the end of the quarter than at the beginning, and at the end of the month than at the beginning, and at the end of the week than at the beginning.
The theory is shippers call expediters last to haul their freight. They start with less-expensive and slower carriers, and turn to us only when they have no other choice. As the year-end, quarter-end, month-end and week-end deadlines approach, expediters get called. Again, I don't know that this is true. I do know it is a widely-held assumption.
Half-believing it myself, I figured we would be running strong in March as the end of the first quarter approaches and indicators of a modest economic recovery twinkle. The theory may have held true in other cities but there twern't much twinkle in Saint Louis last week.
That's OK. We put our layover time to productive use and are rolling on a good load now. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page
Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page