10-4 Magazine October 2020

10-4 Magazine / October 2020 35 Dean said his company is a family, and everyone helps to provide a great image by way of their clean and always presentable trucks. Each driver and owner-operator has an investment in the company, which keeps them all striving for great things. The company is USDA certified and specifically sticks to food-grade commodities, including cheese out of Wisconsin. During good weather, the trucks haul to the northwest, but the majority of their hauling is to Arizona, Texas, and Florida. I asked Dean what his favorite part of trucking was and he point blank said the freedom. He loves driving, getting out on the open road, and being in charge of his own destiny. Today, 52-year old Dean still trucks full time, but on his days off, when the weather is nice, you’ll catch him and Arian out on the golf course, enjoying the river on their boat named “Mator Money” (the company hauls a lot of tomatoes), or riding their Harleys. Dean is also the proud father of a 22-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old grandson. Friday Trucking currently owns a total of 4 trucks, with 3 trucks leased on, and they dispatch anywhere from seven to twelve trucks every week when outside trucks are available for work. All seven trucks have the same ace of spades with their respective truck numbers, and if you pay attention, you’ll see the spade wears a top hat. This hat is actually a coachman’s hat, which is a modified top hat, that was once a familiar sight on the gambling boats of the Mississippi River, the same river Dean and Arian enjoy plenty of time on today. If you spy Dean at a show, you will most likely see him wearing his coachman’s hat. Arian works in the office and runs the operations, along with Lindsay Corlett, to keep all of the trucks moving and the paperwork in order. All the trucks are maintained by Terry’s Truck and Trailer out of Dyersville, IA, and Dean trusts all of the mechanics there, as he has worked with most of them in the past. Future plans for the trucking company are to keep growing and offer others a good home for trucking. When asked about any possible advice for new drivers looking to get their own authority, Dean said they should speak to the folks at OOIDA and get a checklist of what needs to be done for a startup. He said to absolutely make sure you have at least three months of running capital set aside to factor the wait time before the money will start coming in. He also spoke of the lease-purchase programs and leasing opportunities out there, saying, “Be wary, because most of the big companies are only in it for themselves, so read that fine print.” Special thanks to Dean for making the time to hang out for a weekend in Georgia, and to both Dean and Arian for their time on the phone with me, as I gathered the information for this article. The “Ace of Spades” alone may not have the same appeal without the coachman’s hat on top of it, but FridayTrucking’s fleet is definitely recognizable by that logo, along with being some of the cleanest and best-dressed rides going down the road. As always, to all the drivers out there doing the deal, truck safe. n