10-4 Magazine May 2023

The Veteran’s View: By Dennis Mitchell April showers have come and gone, the weather has finally warmed up, and it’s time to shake off the winter blues. This is the time of year when the world renews itself. The trees change their foliage late in the year and renew themselves, bursting with a new cloak of leaves, when spring weather brings warm sunny days. A new crop of grass peeks through the mat of last year’s growth. Everything is new and greening up here on the homestead. It appears we are done with the snow, so I can put the scraper blade back in the barn and remount the mower deck on my old John Deere. Mowing grass is a lot like riding a bicycle – you might not do it every day, but you never forget how to do it. This is also the time of year when we make a lot of changes in our personal routines. We pack the heavy coats and gloves in the attic for another season, and some of us will trade our galoshes (rubber over boots) for flip flops or other more comfortable shoes. I’m not one of those drivers, as I wear boots year round. If you see me wearing flip flops, don’t look too closely, because I am probably going to or coming from the shower! On a more serious note, this is when we get out of our comfort zone and stretch the limits of our business plan. All of us have noticed the drop in the availability of refrigerated freight, and the rates have made a downward turn, as well. After attending the MATS (Mid-America Trucking Show) in Louisville, Kentucky, I am confident I made a good choice by changing up my “normal” routine. For the regular readers of this magazine, you knowme as a produce and refrigerated foods transporter. If you have seen me in the last few months, my trailer has made a dramatic shift, as it now “identifies” as a skateboard. For the new readers, that is what we called flatbed trailers, back when drivers used the C.B. radio. Hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t ask if I bumped my head and hooked up to the wrong wagon. I reassure them my trailer has an “open air solar powered reefer unit” and it hauls cold rolled steel. Yes, I’m changing things up this spring. Out with the old and in with the new, or something like that. As a driver, I am not new to this open top thing. I spent years dragging flatbed trailers coast to coast, hauling everything from steel to oversized machines and large wheeled vehicles. In those days I was leased to SSC (Schneider Specialized Carriers) out of Rochester, Minnesota and Des Moines, Iowa. They were a highly respected outfit, previously known as I.T. (International Transport). The same thing happened then as is happening now. When the rates jump around and money gets tight, the smart money tends to group together. In other words, “buyouts” and/or acquisitions of smaller companies by the large conglomerates occur. That’s what happened to SSC – it was purchased by Schneider National Inc. of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The excess terminals and older equipment were liquidated, along with duplicate services and unneeded personnel. At the time, we were all sad to see a great company fade away, but in the course of time, the asset base and core business was strengthened. There will always be those who disagree with this assessment, but I made money. Making money is the reason most of us are out there running down the dotted white line. The rest of them are just rich kids showing off, with their tricked-out show trucks. Just kidding! I’m well aware of what it takes to have one of those “Pride In Your Ride” show 56 10-4 Magazine / May 2023 CHAIN-GING IT UP!