“It’s pretty simple when you lay the facts out about retreads to fleets: they’ll save them a lot of dad-gum money.” –Robert “Bobby” Ford, assistant center manager, Goodyear Truck Care Center, Dallas TX.

Got a chance to sit down with Ford and Scott Schranck the other day and talk not only about how retreading truck tires can save fleets money but also about how proper tire maintenance can save them even more – and may determine whether fleets get an opportunity to retread their tires or not.

(Scott Schranck checks over tires being readied for inspection and then retreading. The barcode Scott is pointing to allows Wingfoot to track each tire individually for fleet customers — vital when it comes to compiling wear pattern evidence that may reveal alignment or other wheel issues.)

Schranck, regional business operations manager for Wingfoot Commercial Tire Systems LLC – the retreading arm of Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. – explained to me that the economics of retreads is pretty simple. “On average, a retread is one-third the price of a new tire and is much more environmentally friendly,” he says.

[Below, Bobby Ford highlights the types of irregular wear that can damage truck tires — preventing them in some cases from being retreaded.]

Industry figures note that it takes 22 gallons of oil to manufacture one new truck tire, most of it used to make the tire casing, which is then reused in the retreading process. As a result, it takes only 7 gallons of oil to retread a tire – and that’s why retreading helps save annually more than 400 million gallons of oil in North America.

According to retreading expert Marvin Bozarth, one-time executive director of the former American Retreaders Association (now merged into the Tire Industry Association), more than 33.5 million tires on North American commercial vehicles wear out and must be replaced every year – and 16.5 million, or nearly 49% of them, will be retreads.

(“Old style” retreading: this is where new tread is carefully stitched on manually once a tire clears inspection, the old tread is “buffed” off and any minor nicks and dings are repaired.)

“[Truck] fleets favor retreads over new tires because it makes economic sense,” he says. “That’s because the cost of a retread is typically 30% to 50% lower than a new tire.”

In addition, the quality of retreads has improved in recent years to the point where they provide comparable life and performance to new tires, Bozarth adds. “In the 1960s and 70s, treads would wear out in 60,000 to 70,000 miles,” he explains. “Now a retread tire can go 200,000 miles or more, depending upon the wheel position and application. The tire construction has improved and today’s tread compounds are more resistant to heat so they wear better.”

For example, the Buy Recycled Business Alliance (BRBA), an offshoot of the National Recycling Coalition formed in 1992 in partnership with 25 major American businesses, said that when the original tread is worn off the casing of a large truck tire, less than 30% of the tire investment is realized. Retreading can recover the rest of the investment, the group notes.

(These retreads are being loaded into the “chamber” where they will be “cooked” or vulcanized so the new tread firmly adheres to the old casing. As you can imagine, this process creates a lot of heat — and with three chambers in Wingfoot’s Dallas location in operation at any one time, added to the outside temperature on a typical summer day of over 100 degrees, being inside the building is like being in a sauna at times.)

Thing is, though, truckers won’t get the benefits of retreading if they don’t care for their tires properly in the first place, stressed Goodyear’s Ford. “Tire wear comes from heat, generated by frication on the pavement and low tire pressure,” he says. “The lower the tire’s air pressure, the hotter it will run and the faster it will wear out. And we’re talking about running 10% to 15% under-inflated here, too.”

That includes not only maintaining proper tire inflation pressure but also pulling the tire before all of the original tread is used up – usually between 6/32nd and 5/32nd of tread depth, according to tire industry averages. Go below that and you risk damaging the tire casing and thus eliminating the possibility of retreading that tire.

I also toured Goodyear’s Wingfoot retreading facility down here in Dallas, TX, to get a glimpse of all the technology and care being expended on retreads – largely because more and more fleets in these tight economic times are beginning to realize retreads can save them some serious money.

[And of course, I could NOT resist the chance to have some fun, as the video below illustrates …]

“Typically, it takes a full day – one 12 hour shift – to go through the entire retread process for one tire,” Ford told me, trying to be heard above the din of tires being buffed, repaired, then retreaded. “Naturally, when fleets are sending us hundreds of casings at a time, we can’t turn them all around that fast, so we typically offer a seven-day turnaround window for them.”

About 75% of truck tire wear during the year occurs between April and October, leading to a falloff in retreading activity during the remaining months – the biggest drop from December through February – simply because the heat brought on by spring and summer temperatures is a major tire killer.

“It all depends on the state, though,” adds Schranck. “Florida, where it’s warm almost all year round, only sees a 10% drop in business over those months, whereas in an area like Dallas we may see a 20% to 25% drop.”

(Good as new: once vulcanized, painted and tagged, retreads get stacked in preparation for shipping back to customer fleet terminals — by trucks, of course.)

Ford stresses, though, that it all goes back to properly taking care of tires. “You must keep them properly inflated – not only does that prevent irregular wear, it improves fuel economy as well,” he says. “Take care of your tires and you’ll save a lot of money over time.”

“We are giving back to a soldier and his wife for the sacrifices they have made for our country. Ultimately what we are doing for Staff Sergeant Karl is very little compared to what he has done for us.” –Joel Ross, marketing communication manager, Avery Dennison Graphics & Reflective Products Division.

How do you properly thank our military veterans for the tours of duty in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa, and other nasty hotspots around the world? How can we even come close to offering a proper gesture for men and women who’ve lived through some of the worst trauma human beings can go through, day after day, month after endless month?

So it was a welcome piece of news the other day when I heard about Avery Graphics, GatorWraps, and a couple of other companies that joined forces to give Staff Sergeant Jacob Karl of the U.S. Marine Corps a one-of-a-kind homecoming present – a free-of-charge custom vinyl mural, upgrade suspension package, and high-toned chrome and polish treatment for his beloved 1997 F-250 pickup.

(Pictured left to right: Rod Voegele, GatorWraps’ president; Tammy Karl, Koby Karl, age 8; Sadie Karl, age 10; SSgt. Jacob Karl; and Bear Scharbarth, TAG Motorsports General Manager).

This is a 13-year veteran Marine, ladies and Gs, that’s served THREE tours in Iraq – each lasting more than a year, leaving his wife Tammy to hold down the home fort solo for some long, lonely stretches. So how cool is it that several companies stepped up to the plate to make his homecoming to Camp Pendleton even more special?

For those interested in the nitty gritty, Avery donated its popular MPI 1005 EZ RS film and DOL 1100 matte overlaminate for this truck wrap project – a wrap custom-designed with the new Mossy Oak Break-Up pattern, printed and then installed by GatorWraps at its Ontario, Calif., location. Note that this vinyl wrap can be adjusted or removed without damaging the truck’s original paint, notes Avery.

Tammy Karl, SSgt. Karl’s wife, knew her husband has a weak spot for the Mossy Oak Break-Up pattern so she contacted GatorWraps a few months before he rotated home on Aug. 7 to see if it was possible to create a special design for his truck. Avery, GatorWraps and Mossy Oak didn’t hesitate to grant Tammy’s request – creating a unique truck mural that includes the U.S. Marine Corps emblem, silhouettes of Marines, and the shadow of a bull rider to reflect SSgt. Karl’s love for the rodeo.

That’s not all, of course. Tag Motorsports installed a Banks Stinger 2 Power suspension free of charge, with Banks Engineering donating the system. Herbie Auto Detailing also got into the act with a full detail & chrome polishing of Karl’s truck as well.

So, after this latest tour spent training Iraqi police forces, let’s hope SSgt. Karl and wife Tammy get some time off to enjoy his new custom truck and each other’s company. SSgt. Karl, thank you for your service to our country and to us – “Semper Fi” indeed.

“If you wish to prosper, let your customer prosper… When people have learned this lesson, everyone will seek his individual welfare in the general welfare. Then jealousies between man and man, city and city, province and province, nation and nation, will no longer trouble the world.” –Claude Frédéric Bastiat

OK – THAT quote is definitely over the top! But the extremity of what Bastiat (b. 1801, d. 1850, a French economist, legislator, and writer who championed private property, free markets, and limited government) said is meant to highlight how important the relationship is between customer and service provider – a relationship that’s becoming more and more critical every day in trucking.

Of course, many shippers in the freight world are focused solely on price (and lord knows, many shippers and receivers docks need electroshock-style customer service training for the way they treat truck drivers) so the value of courtesy, hard work, and diligence oft times get lost in the demand for low cost.

But not always. I talked to Gary Kelly, senior director of transportation and distribution for Schwan’s Logistics, a few months ago about this subject after his firm – a division of the renowned Schwan Food Company, based in Marshall, Minn. – presented a series of wards to contracted carriers are rated for their on-time delivery, customer service, invoicing accuracy, damage free deliveries and technology.

K&J Trucking, Inc., of Sioux Falls, S.D., received the Gold Carrier of the Year award from Schwan, while Floyd Wild, Inc., of Marshall, Minn., received the Silver Carrier of the Year award and Triangle Trucking, Inc., of Salina, Kan., received the Bronze Carrier of the Year award. Doug Bradley Trucking, Inc., of Salina, Kan., received the People’s Choice Award — given for outstanding customer service.

(Pictured left to right: Gary Kelly; Jim Gray, Marketing Manager, K&J; Shelley Schipper, President, K&J;

Joe Buysse, Carrier Relations Manager, Schwan’s Logistics.)

“We are well aware of the high level of commitment and fully appreciate the hard work that our entire carrier base does day in and day out,” said Kelly. “Their hard work assures that our company and our customers are serviced in the most effective manner. These carriers that we have specially recognized and honored clearly represent the best of the best.”

It’s this level of customer service that reaps rewards for truckers over the long term – but it doesn’t happen without constant attention and training. Professor Jerry Osteryoung from the college of business at Florida State University has a few thoughts on the subject, gleaned not only from the classroom but from real life experience as well. Here’s why he thinks ongoing customer training service is essential in the business world today:

“I went in for some routine tests at a doctor’s office. My appointment was for nine in the morning, and I showed up at 8:45 a.m. (for some reason, I am always early). The receptionist told me to have a seat in the waiting area, and that they would call me when they were ready.

At 9:45 a.m., they still had not called me. I went up to the same receptionist and asked her when I would be called. It did not seem to matter to her that I had been waiting, but she begrudgingly said that she would check. She returned a short while later saying that one of the machines was down, and that they would get to me as soon as they could. When I asked her how much longer this would be, she said that she did not know.

During this entire exchange, the receptionist’s attitude was completely uncaring, and she never did apologize for the wait. When I finally told her that I was leaving, she asked if I wanted to reschedule my appointment. Of course, frustrated by the experience, I did not want to at that time.

When I got back to my office and calmed down, I called the office manager at the doctor’s office and explained the problem. She said she did not understand what had happened, as the front office had received training in how to deal with these types of issues. When I asked her how long ago this had been, she said she thought it was about a year and a half ago.

Evidently, the staff had received the proper training a long time ago, but they had since lapsed into old forms of habitual behavior. But if you are going to change behavior and maintain it for any length of time, you must have continual training to reinforce the wanted behavior. Great firms have customer service training every month to ensure that exceptional customer service stays in the forefront.

In my case, the receptionist should have noticed how long I was waiting and done something about it. Basically, she needed to take action instead of being a passive receptionist. The real problem was not that a machine was broken, but that no one told me about it or really seemed to care when I brought up the problem.

Obviously, this experience was awful, but with additional training, it could be easily fixed. Customer service is a critical function of all offices – medical as well as non-medical. It is an important way to keep your customers returning. Since it is roughly 15 times more expensive to get a new customer than it is to keep an existing one, maintaining your customer base is vital. Once a customer walks in your door, it is the job of customer service to keep that customer happy and returning.

Every firm needs to have a continual customer service training program for all their employees that interact with customers. This training could use role-playing to simulate various problems and situations the staff might encounter. Having other staff observe the way an employee deals with a simulated situation is a powerful motivator for changed behavior. Customer service training could also cover the appropriate words to use when a customer is upset, current customer issues, and how to be proactive in customer service. That will ensure that you maintain great customer service.”

No doubt the carriers working for Schwan know more than a little about how that gets done.

“As these new statistics show, we are making progress, but far too many of our friends, neighbors and family members are still getting killed or seriously injured.” – Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

The statistics Madame Peters, head of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), are referring to are these: In 2007, the overall number of traffic fatalities fell to 41,059 – the lowest number since 1994 – pegging the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled at 1.37, the lowest fatality rate on record, she noted.

Peters added that 2.49 million people were injured in highway crashes last year, the lowest seen since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began collecting injury data in 1988.

One the trucking side of the safety ledger, the news is even better. The total number of traffic fatalities in large truck involved crashes decreased 4.4% in 2007, from 5,027 in 2006 to 4,808 last year – the lowest level since 1992. Truck occupant fatalities decreased 0.4% and fatalities for occupants of other vehicles involved in the crash dropped 5.2%, while fatalities for people who were not a vehicle occupant, such as cyclists or pedestrians, decreased 4.7%.

This is all good stuff – if not great stuff – but the questions we need to look at are what’s behind this big drop … and is a drop of this magnitude sustainable?

Let’s see if we can answer the second question first. One reason I think we’ll see even lower highway fatality and injury rates for 2008 is that people are simply driving less – way, WAY less. In June this year people logged 12 billion FEWER miles on the road than they did in June 2007 – and with fewer people on the road, obviously, fewer fatalities should occur. It also seems that people are slowing down for the same reason they are driving less: sky0high fuel prices.

Though gasoline and diesel costs have been in retreat for 26 days now, they are still far higher than last year, which, hopefully, means people will continue to drive less, thus reducing their chances of being injured or killed in a highway crash. (We’re also reducing the golden lining of OPEC’s pockets a little bit – to the point where they are mightily worried, as oil production has jumped 24% over the last month. But that’s for another post for another day.)

So, now, back to the first question: WHY are highway fatalities and injuries – especially those related to large trucks – in such rapid decline? Governor Bill Graves, president and CEO of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) said recently that slower speeds being enacted by trucking companies larger and small to save fuel are also tangentially helping reduce crashes. He also noted that the slumping U.S. economy is reducing mileage for many truckers, too, which is reducing their exposure to crash risks as well (though this isn’t what we would call a ‘win-win’ by any stretch of the imagination.)

Technology is playing a role as well. “Some of the decline in fatalities may be attributed to trucks utilizing more safety technologies such as collision avoidance, lane departure warning, stability control and brake stroke monitoring systems,” he noted – one reason ATA is supporting the Safety Technology Tax Credit Bill (S. 3428) introduced at the beginning of August that focuses on providing incentives to add such systems to trucks.

The bill – which mirrors H.R. 3820, the Commercial Motor Vehicle Advanced Safety Technology Tax Act, introduced in the House of Representatives last year – offers a tax credit equal to 50% of the cost of a qualified system up to $1,500; allowing for a total credit of up to $3,500 per vehicle; limiting the qualifying taxpayer to a maximum credit of $350,000 per taxable year; and extending credit eligibility for the purchase of school buses, intercity buses and vehicles used in commerce weighing over 26,000 lbs.

“The statistics from this most recent study also show that the efforts of law enforcement agencies to focus on the most likely causes of crashes, such as speeding and impaired driving, are making our highways safer,” ATA’s Graves added – stressing that this continued safety improvement occurred under the new federal hours-of-service (HOS) regulations, offering to his mind more evidence that the regulations are working and should be retained.

He also noted that ATA continues to call for a national speed limit of 65 miles per hour, while asking DOT to require speed governors for heavy trucks be set at 68 mph on trucks at the time of manufacture, to both improve highway safety and reduce fuel consumption. We’ll see how that effort fares in the months ahead.

However, it’s not all peaches and cream, as fatalities among motorcycle riders and passengers increased significantly. DOT Secretary Peters Motorcycle fatalities now account for 13% of all fatalities and, in 2007 alone, the number of motorcycle riders or passengers killed on the nation’s roads increased 6.6% over the previous year. No doubt this is partly due to more people trying out motorcycles as a way to cut their fuel bills and commuting costs, though that’s a very risky way to do it.

The big takeaway from all of this is simple: the highways are getting safer, with big rigs contributing to that safety improvement in a huge way. Let’s hope that trend line continues – and that trucking gets some props for making it happen.

“The absolutely number one thing we focus on is providing top notch service to the customer. If we didn’t provide that, we wouldn’t be nearly the size we are today.” –Brett Hartman, vice president and director of operations for Truck Enterprises Inc. (TEI), which operates eight truck dealerships throughout Virginia.

Sit and talk with Brett Hartman for a while and you’ll quickly understand why his family’s had such success in the truck dealership business.

(Brett Hartman in front of the trucks for sale at TEI’s Manassas Va. location.)

Hartman’s grandfather founded what became Truck Enterprises Inc. (TEI) in Harrisonburg, Va., back in 1961 as a sideline business to his trucking company – an ambitious thing to do with a family of four kids underfoot. Brett told me, though, that the time soon came when his granddad had to choose between his trucking company and dealership – with the dealership winning out.

Not that it was a huge operation, you understand. “It was a small place – barely fit five trucks,” Brett told me. But oh how they grew that small operation over time, slowly but steadily expanding TEI’s reach, opening dealerships in Richmond Va. (1971), Roanoke Va. (1978), Kaiser Md. (1985), Hagerstown Md. (1995), Chesapeake Va. (1996), Lynchburg Va. (2004) and finally Manassas Va. (2007).

[For fun, I made a short video of my visit to TEI’s Manassas Va. location. Enjoy!]

The reasons TEI expanded to each location differed – some were heavy with current customer business, so a new location was needed to adequately serve them; others had strong truck populations where TEI felt good market share was available for the taking – but the reason the company succeeded at each boiled down to two reasons: an almost fanatical devotion to customer service and the grit, determination, and loyalty of the company’s 350 employees.

All the dealerships have all-makes and models parts and service operations working multiple shifts and Saturdays to meet the needs of customers. Franchises include Kenworth, Volvo and GMC trucks, Rhodes and Ox bodies, and Rhodes and Transcraft trailers. Full service body shops are located in Harrisonburg Va. and Richmond Va., with Harrisonburg also featuring Josam frame straightening and alignments systems.

(TEI’s “youngest” dealership in Manassas Va. sits on 12 acres 25 miles outside of Washington, D.C., just off I-66. Much of that property is as yet undeveloped, giving TEI plenty of room to expand as business volume grows.)

“All I really am here for is to support our operations – we let our general managers really run things day-to-day, telling them to run each dealership like it was their own business,” Brett explains. “We give them a lot of flexibility to address customer needs. We want them to have the authority to make those crucial decisions, with corporate really just setting the overall strategy and guidelines.”

Brett feels that if every employee understands and acts on the philosophy that the customer comes first and that it’s a team effort to serve the customer – without regard to what position that particular employee holds – then the foundation for ultimate success is in place. “Hey, if a customer needs a part and I am heading up that way, I’ll take that part with me,” he told me. “I get those 1 a.m. calls from a customer broken down in South Dakota, and we do what wee can to help them even if though they are out of our area.”

[That mentality extends to the company’s heavy truck technicians as well – as a short chat with Jimmy Bailey below illustrates.]

The Hartman’s boil it down this way: their strategy is to build lasting relationships with current customers and attract new customers by providing exceptional products and services – all of this accomplished through talented people committed to high ethical standards; people that anticipate the customer needs and exceed their expectations.

“The mentality is, if we take care of the customer, then the business will take care of itself,” Brett explains. “That’s why we try to be a one-stop shop – selling new and used trucks, offering finance, insurance, maintenance, stocking our parts inventory properly, etc. – so we can take care of the customer. I don’t ever want to be tasked with the customer calling to say ‘you didn’t take care of me.’”

That’s one reason Brett spent two and a half years centralizing TEI’s finance arm, so the company’s economies of scale – the business of several dealerships instead of each one individually – could pay off for the customer. “It gives the customer better rates – that’s why we did it,” he says.

Of course, maintaining that philosophy in the tough market of today isn’t easy. The Hartman’s saw the writing on the wall about a year and a half ago in terms of sales of new trucks falling way, way off, so they started switching their focus from trucks sales to parts and service.

“As trucks get older and aren’t traded out, they need more maintenance, they need more parts,” Brett said. “So we saw this as an opportunity to build more relationships with customers through exceptional parts and service capability, which we hope to turn into truck sales as well when the market returns.”

(Trucks of all makes, modesl, sizes, and applications get worked on at TEI’s Manassas dealership — and at all of its other locations as well.)

In the meantime, everyone is focused on cutting expenses and trying to boost absorption to 100% or better, so parts and service business can be in a position to pay the bulk of the bills. “That strategy takes the pressure off truck sales in a down market and gives us more flexibility,” Brett explained. “We’re not yet where we want to be with absorption, but we’re on the right path. And we’re all focusing on this as a group – general managers, sales people, our parts and service departments, everyone.”

It all adds up to a pretty draining job for Brett – on average, he gets 150 emails a day – moving from dealership to dealership across large swaths of Maryland and Virginia, in his role as coach, trainer, fire support, and morale booster. But he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“The most stressful part of the job is knowing that 350 employees and their families rely on us for their livelihood – that weighs most heavily on me,” he said. “But I take a lot of pride in watching them grow and create success, getting to that level to where they are excited to come to work, that it is a career for them, not just punching a time clock. They make me look good.”

Brett notes that “can-do” attitude among TEI’s employees is what helped the company expand from one to three dealerships back in his grandfather’s day and from three to eight over his father’s tenure – and should help the company keeping right on growing, though still at a very deliberate pace.

(The management team at TEI Manassas. From right to left: Al de Charleroy, sales manager; Dane Tice, service manager; Brett Hartman; Adam Harms, parts service manager; and Patti Deariso, office manager.)

“We’re not a mega-dealer – we’re not expanding by three or four locations a year,” he said. “When we open a location, we take our time and grow into it, keeping the focus on serving the customer.”

Brett points to TEI’s Chesapeake dealership as an example; a facility that struggled for a while, reaching just a measly 4.3% market share by 2002 until a crack team of employees moved in, re-focused the business, and drove market share up to 23% by 2006.

“Once we get customers believing in us and what we can do for them, that’s when we really shine,” he says.

“When I got into this industry in the 1980s, I wouldn’t tell people I was a truck driver – I’d just say I drove for a living. But as time has gone on, that’s really changed. Driving a truck is something to be proud of. We know what we stand for out here, for without us, everything stops.” –Wayne Crowder, relay driver for FedEx Freight and a captain with America’s Road Team.

Talked to Wayne a few days ago, and man, what a charge I got from my conversation with him! This guy really, REALLY loves driving big rigs for a living. Not only did he dream as a kid about being a truck driver when he grew up, Wayne frankly admits that his driving career actually surpassed his boyhood dreams – a very rare thing these days.

“I never dreamed driving a truck could be this great,” he told me. “I grew up on a farm a bit of a motorhead, really fascinated with trucks and trucking. More than that, though, as part of the Road Team I’ve given lots of speeches to kids and competed in truck driving championships. I’ve really lived the glamorous side of trucking – the last few years have been awesome for me. I just wish every driver could be a lucky as me to experience these things.”

(Wayne Crowder, speaking to the media as part of his Road Team captain duties.)

However, as quoted at the start of this blog entry, it wasn’t always so for Wayne and his brethren. When he started driving almost 25 years ago, truckers had a very different – and very negative – image. As a result, he kept his head down and talked little about his career choice with others outside the industry. Not anymore, however.

“I tell kids today that from them in this room, one day there will be doctors, lawyers, maybe a few astronauts, maybe even a U.S. president – and truck drivers,” he told me. “Because driving a truck – like being a doctor – is a necessary profession. We’re needed. That’s why there are so many trucks on the road in the first place, it’s just that people don’t realize why we’re there.”

Wayne’s also a big believer in sharpening the professionalism among drivers – which is why he’s a big supporter of the National Truck Driving Championships (NTDC), an annual event organized by the American Trucking Associations (ATA) that’s free to the public. He talks about why this is such an important event in his own words below:

(Wayne explains in his own words the importance of the annual truck driving championship.)

As part of his Road Team duties, Wayne spends a few days a month talking to fellow drivers about the importance of image and safety for the industry, while educating the motoring public about safe driving practices and the importance the trucking industry.

And he’s definitely got the chops for it, accumulating 1.3 million accident-free miles over his two-plus decades on the road along with a host of trophies. He’s taken home honors as Rookie of the Year at both the state and national level, won first place in his division at the Kentucky State Truck Driving Championships in 2004 and 2005, plus earned the title of National Grand Champion at the 2004 NTDC as well. He was also named Kentucky Driver of the Year in 2007.

(Want to see how tricky it is to win? Then check out Warren Lewis and his championship run at last year’s NTDC.)

“People just don’t realize what it takes just to get the chance to compete at the NTDC,” Wayne explained to me. “You must have been accident-free for at least a year before you are allowed to compete, then you must work your way up through local and state competitions before reaching the national championship.”

Events like this also put a driver’s skills to the test among his and her peers, too – not something taken lightly, Wayne noted. “I also learn something new every time I compete, elevating my ‘game’ in terms of driving skills and safety management to the next level.”

(Here’s a slideshow from the 2006 National Truck Driving Championships, to give you a flavor of what the entire event is like.)

Not that it’s all fun and games for Wayne, though. He lives in Lanesville, IN and operates a Volvo day cab, pulling doubles, between Louisville, KY, and Hebron, IN. Married with three children, Wayne said that while trucking provides a good living for his family, driving and his Road Team captain responsibilities do takes time away from them on occasion – and his other hobbies of fishing and line dancing.

Still, it’s a career he wouldn’t trade for the world. “I tell people I don’t work in an office as my truck is my office,” Wayne told me. “It’s great – I am out on the road, doing what I love, with no one looking over my shoulder. Frankly, I don’t think I’d like working in an office.”

“Let me remind you that credit is the lifeblood of business, the lifeblood of prices and jobs.” –President Herbert Hoover, from a speech given at Des Moines, Iowa, October 4, 1932

Scary, I know, quoting President Herbert Hoover at a time when our economy is lurching from crisis to crisis (NOT that we are in danger of repeating the Great Depression of the 1930s … though it really feels like it some days.) He also probably wouldn’t be considered the best person to draw fiscal wisdom from, either.

But as Professor Jerry Osteryoung with the college of business at Florida State University notes, Hoover hit on a very important linchpin for any company, whether you’re involved in trucking, retail, construction, etc. – you need a steady supply of credit to stay in operation.

Lines of credit, however, are getting hard to come by nowadays, as banks continue to reel from their extremely reckless mortgage lending patterns of the recent past. Even stalwart trucking clients are finding their credit lines cut short as banks scramble to increase available capital to cover their losses. Finding new sources of credit is tough, but not impossible, no matter what sector of the economy you’re in, as Professor Osteryoung explains:

“Financial institutions are in such a precarious position. With the economy slowing down and significant losses in their real estate portfolios, so many banks are cutting back credit to both new and established accounts.

With unknown losses from the sub-prime mortgage melt down still to come, plus the financial difficulties of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it is not a good year for banks. With stock values declining by more than 40% and continuing to slide, many national, regional and local banks have taken a beating. The bottom line is that financial institutions are in trouble with both share price and regulators. Losses are going up and share prices are going down.

What is happening? Financial institutions have been incurring losses, and they just cannot afford to be exposed to any further losses. Banks operate on such thin margins, and because losses jeopardize the health of banks, the regulators and banking executives are being very cautious about lending any additional funds. They are even looking at existing loans as well.

We were helping a firm that had been banking at the same bank for over 15 years. This firm went to draw additional funds on their line of credit, and the bank said ‘No’ – a response that was clearly within their rights, but totally unexpected. This firm had to scramble to find another source of funding to help pay for its season increase in inventory. They are now looking for a new financial institution.

With so much happening in the financial world, each firm must protect its ability to acquire the funds it needs to operate. Firms in need of additional financing will find that there are three alternatives. First, they will get additional funding from their existing financial institution. Second, they will not get the funding they need from their financial institution and will find an alternative source of funding. Finally, they will not get the needed funding and will not be able to find alternative sources of financing.

Obviously, if your existing financial institution is willing to provide additional funding, then you really do not have a problem. However, if your existing financial institutions will not provide the necessary funding, you will have to look elsewhere. I believe that the best place to find replacement funding is local financial institutions. With the exception of Wells Fargo, big national banks are being hit hard and are just not willing to extend themselves. However, local financial institutions typically have much better financials than their national counterparts.

When hunting for local financial institutions, look for those that have the knowledge and experience to make business loans. You might get several turn downs, but you must persevere. SBA guaranteed loans, although more expensive, are another type of loan that local banks can offer. These loans reduce the bank’s risk.

If you cannot find an alternative source of funding, you will need to consider slowing down your business commensurate with the amount of financing that you have. While this is not pleasant, it may be necessary just to survive. Using a spreadsheet, you can easily model how much sales you can support with a fixed amount of debt. It really is worth going through this process.

Regardless of the level of funding you are able get, it is important to be prepared with a plan in the case that you are unable to get the required financing.”

Indeed, tough medicine to swallow, especially for the small trucking operators out there. But there’s not much one can do when the financial sector is in such upheaval.

As usual, you can reach Professor Jerry Osteryoung by e-mail at jerry.osteryoung@gmail.com or by phone at 850-644-3372.

“I don’t remember it happening because I fell asleep at the wheel, but when I woke up we were in an accident.” –Candy Baldwin, as told to the Washington Post from her bed in Maryland Shock Trauma Center, following an accident on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge that left truck driver John Short dead.

Let me give you this scenario. A young truck driver (let’s say 25 or 26, been driving for three years now) falls asleep at the wheel of his 80,000-pound rig and causes an accident, leaving a 57 year-old man dead – a man with a wife and kids.

The trucker has no record; he’s a good kid, well liked by friends, co-workers, and family. His log book is clean, but he’d been at a friend’s wedding, stayed up most of the day and night, before going on duty at 3 a.m. Didn’t get a lot of sleep – in fact, didn’t sleep much at all, though he was off-duty for the required 10 hours.

(The Chesapeake Bay Bridge — site of Sunday’s tragic car-truck crash.)

The accident itself is front-page news – ties up weekend traffic on a major bridge for a whole day, leaving thousands of people stuck for hours, fuming in their cars – as it happens not 50 miles from the nation’s capital.

What do you think happens next?

Several things you can count on: civil lawsuits by the dead man’s family against the truck driver and his company, alongside manslaughter charges against the trucker from the state. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) would swoop in to perform an exhaustive safety audit of the company and there would be more press conferences than you can count by politicians, safety groups, etc., calling for more laws, stiffer penalties, and greater enforcement, covering the entire trucking industry in broad, brutal brushstrokes of negligence, incompetence, and other vitriolic prose.

OK then. Now let’s flip it around.

Car driver, just 19 years old: up all night at her mother’s wedding. Falls asleep at the wheel. Resulting accident leaves 57 year-old truck driver dead and traffic snarled for days. You know the accident I’m talking about, too.

Now what happens? More importantly, what’s not going to happen?

[First of all, give the kid credit. She admitted she fell asleep. And my heart goes out to her in a big way – not only is her body badly broken, not only does she face years of physical rehabilitation, she’ll never ever forget that this crash killed somebody.]

First of all, there’s no logbook to check. She’s not required to have one. No rule says she must have 10 hours off duty before getting behind the wheel. (Not that the 10-hour rule would’ve automatically made her well-rested and ready to drive – you can’t legislate good sleep, just the way you can’t legislate human behavior, though try as we might).

You also won’t see FMCSA visiting her anytime soon. And public press conferences, by politicians and national safety groups, condemning her in harsh, provocative language? I sincerely (and hopefully) doubt it.

Here’s the thing, though, and this is important. Fatigue caused this accident between the car and the truck – and fatigue is a far, far greater problem for car drivers than truckers.

(You just can’t legislate good, restful sleep — for truckers or car drivers.)

You may remember the FMCSA’s exhaustive Large Truck Crash Causation Study published last year. Based on three years worth of study and a detailed examination of over 965 truck-car collisions, the feds found that car drivers caused 55% of those crashes. More importantly, however, they also discovered that on average car drivers we’re TWICE as likely to be fatigued as truck drivers.

The study also found that human error was by far the leading cause of these crashes, ranked among the top eight factors for truckers and car drivers. But notice the huge differences in exactly what KINDS of human error are involved between the two groups:

Truck drivers:

1. Following too close

2. Made illegal maneuver

3. Inadequate surveillance

4. Traveling too fast for conditions

5. Inattention

6. Stop required

7. External distraction

8. Brake problems

Car drivers:

1. Illegal maneuver

2. Fatigue

3. Illness

4. Inattention

5. Internal distraction

6. Inadequate surveillance

7. Illegal drugs

8. Too fast for conditions

Is it not surprising that fatigue, illness, and illegal drug use are major issues in the crashes FMCSA studied among CAR DRIVERS … yet not truck drivers? That maybe logbooks, medical qualifications and random drug testing might be needed for CAR DRIVERS today? It does make one wonder …

It brings to mind something Jeffrey Loftus, a transportation safety technology specialist with FMCSA, said during PeopleNet’s 6th annual User Conference last week: “Everyone is to blame in these crashes; the bottom line is, it’s a shared responsibility.”

That’s a truth, however, we’re having a hard time recognizing in our driving culture.

“It is a tragic loss for the Mountaire family, because it is a close-knit company. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. We will be assisting the authorities as we wait for more information.” –Roger Marino, spokesman for Mountaire Farms, a poultry processing company based in Selbyville, Del., after the death of driver John Robert Short, 57, in an accident this weekend

To me, it’s one of my worst nightmares – a personal horror show suddenly writ large in bold, ghastly type. This weekend, a truck driver lost his life when his tractor-trailer plunged 40 feet off the eastern span of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, following a collision with two other vehicles.

I’ve driven over this bridge on occasion for many, many years now, and it always gives me the chills. The eastern span (built for $45 million and opened in 1952 after three years of construction) and western span (completed in 1973 after four years of construction for $148 million) are both 4.3 miles long and rise to a high point of 186 feet above the dark waters of the bay. They can handle about 1,500 vehicles per lane per hour, with 27 million vehicles crossing both spans every year, according to the Maryland Transportation Authority, providing a key highway link for U.S. Route 50 that used to be served only by a nearly hour-long ferry ride.

Rising up that high, watching big container ships shrink to the size of small boats, makes it hard to stick to the 55 mph speed limit on the bridge. I must throttle the urge to speed up, to get over those mammoth steel and concrete creations as fast as possible, lest some terrible coincidence of events push my vehicle over the side. Am I suffering from an overactive imagination? Probably. Still, just the thought of plunging over the edge of that bridge, heading for the inky darkness below, fills me with dread every time. Excessive speed can also be deadly on these narrow spans, so that helps me keep the throttle in check.

The most dangerous times to travel on the bridges – in my view – is when they open one of them to two-way traffic. That’s when you are racing by cars and trucks with nothing but a thin double strip of yellow paint on one side and the water below on the other. They do that when maintenance needs to be done on one span, or to help improve the flow traffic heading to Maryland’s and Delaware’s beaches (between Memorial Day and Labor Day is when traffic volumes peak). Yet it’s also the time of maximum danger, with traffic speeding by in tight confines.

The crash that took John Short’s life occurred during two-way traffic at 4 a.m. – a time when I used to travel by myself or with friends to the beach to avoid traffic jams. These days, I am hitting that bridge around 9 p.m. at night with my wife and kids asleep in the minivan – just as dark as 4 a.m., however, with all the risks that go with nighttime driving. That’s why it’s just heartrending to think of a trucker losing his life in a crash on the bridge for me — and my prayers go out to his friends and family.

Early eye witness reports chronicled by the excellent Baltimore Sun newspaper indicate a Chevy Camaro crossed the yellow line and hit the oncoming rig driven by Short. That both driver and passenger in the Camaro survived (the passenger walked away and the driver is in the hospital in good condition, albeit with severe injuries) indicates to me that Short must have swerved enough to spare their lives. A Toyota Prius following the Camaro got hit as the big rig spun out of control, took out a 15 foot section of retaining wall, then plunged some 40 feet to the bay water below The crash happened at the eastern edge of the bridge, near Kent Island, where the water is only 10 or so feet deep.

(The remains of John Short’s tractor-trailer. Photo courtesy of necn.com)

What investigators eventually determine is the fault of the crash – and who is to blame – no one can say at the moment. It’ll take time to sort everything out. The MTA shut down the eastern span of the bridge for the entire day in part to investigate the crash and to recover the tractor-trailer from the water, leading to 10-mile backups and a host of frayed tempers. None of that, of course, matters when a fatality and injuries must be dealt with.

I will say this, though – all my years spent driving over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge confirmed a saying that’s been bandied about for many years: “familiarity breeds contempt.” I’ve witnessed many drivers treat the bridge as just another strip of blacktop, flying over its length at high speed, swerving in and out of traffic, talking on cell phones, etc., without the slightest care in the world that we’re 186 feet above about a fathom of water, with the danger of high winds ever-present.

It’s become so commonplace, so taken for granted, these big engineering marvels that ease our travels, that we don’t give the risks – speeding, distracted driving, abrupt lane changes – even a second thought.

(There’s little room for error as driving space is limited on the bay bridges.)

What’s really sad is that it takes an accident like this to bring it all back into focus, the risks inherent to driving vehicles at high speeds on the roads. I wish people would take driving more seriously, especially over big bridges where there’s no room for error. That brings to mind another old saying: “wishing won’t make it so.” That’s all too true of life on our highways today.

“It’s very important to us to demonstrate our commitment with action, which is why we have the largest private ‘green’ fleet in the industry.” –Robert Hall, director of UPS’s ground fleet

Needless to say, the battle over who has the “greenest” fleet of all is going to leave a lot of bruises all around. United Parcel Service claims that distinction at the moment, though I am sure FedEx Corp. is all but waiting in the wings to stake it’s own green fleet claims as well.

However, regardless of who really truly has the “greenest” fleet, one thing is for sure – we’re going to see a lot more such green commercial trucks, from diesel-electric hybrids to ones running on fuel cells, compressed natural gas (CNG) and the like hitting the road in the months and years ahead.

UPS for example, ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and a further 300 CNG-powered trucks for its U.S. delivery fleet back in May, boosting the size of its alternative fuel fleet by 30%, from 1,718 to 2,218 units.

Philip Aiello, area automotive manager for UPS, offers further details on this big-ticket purchase in the video below:

[I’d also like to give Phil a personal shout-out, for the last time I personally interviewed him for a story was seven years ago – June 2001 to be exact – when he worked at UPS’s big depot in New York City. You can read that story by clicking here by the way. As you can tell from reading this, he’s one very VERY sharp guy, so here’s a belated congratulations on your promotion!]

“Green” trucks like these, though, are doing a couple of things here. For starters (and most obviously) they are reducing emissions of harmful pollutants, thus keeping the air cleaner and fighting climate change at the same time. More importantly, though, they may save UPS some big bucks as they will reduce fuel consumption in a huge way.

For example, those 200 hybrid electric vehicles – to be deployed in 2009 – are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 [carbon dioxide] emissions by 1,786 metric tons each year: the equivalent of removing almost 100 conventional UPS trucks from the road for a year. They join some 50 HEVs already in operation.

(A diesel-electric hybrid at work for UPS.)

“Alternative fuel research and development is just one of the ways that UPS is mitigating climate change risks,” said Bob Stoffel, UPS’s corporate sustainability officer. “We also are focused on aggressive conservation programs and improving network efficiency to cut fuel use.”

The 300 CNG vehicles will be deployed later on in 2008 and join more than 800 such vehicles already in use by UPS in the U.S. They are expected to yield a 20% reduction in emissions over the cleanest diesel engines available today and – as they don’t use diesel fuel at all – should help cut Big Brown’s fuel bill even further.

(One of UPS’s CNG trucks on its route.)

The chassis for the CNG and HEV trucks are being purchased from Freightliner Custom Chassis Corp., with Eaton Corp. supplying the hybrid power system for the HEVs. The truck bodies are identical externally to the signature “brown” trucks that now comprise the UPS’s delivery fleet, so they’ll feature additional script markings to identify them as CNG and HEV vehicles.

This CNG/HEV vehicle order follows the April 2008 deployment of 167 new CNG vehicles in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Ontario, San Ramon, Fresno and Sacramento, joining those 50 hybrid electric delivery trucks operating in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix that’ve been in service since May 2007.

[There are, of course, more immediate ways to start saving on fuel — as one of UPS’s drivers explains below:]

FedEx, of course, is no slouch in the “green” truck arena, either. Its global hybrid truck fleet has accumulated over two million miles of revenue service as of April this year, with hybrid propulsion improving truck fuel economy by 42%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30% and cutting particulate pollution by 96%.

With 10 new hybrid vehicles introduced into its FedEx Express European operations in June, the company continues to make strategic investments in projects designed to drive the development of new innovative technologies for the transportation industry.

“We continue our work with manufacturers to bring hybrid-electric vehicles that are clean, affordable and widely available to market because the benefits will make sense for the environment and business,” said Mitch Jackson, FedEx’s director of environmental Affairs and sustainability. “[We’ve] been very happy with the operational and environmental performance of the hybrids … and we continue to look for opportunities to introduce more fuel efficient vehicle models, including hybrids, into our fleet.”

And greater fuel efficiency in the end translates into less oil purchased from OPEC nations. Let me tell you, I REALLY like the sound of that.