Driver Lifestyles
"Dieseldiva" and "Doggiedaddy": A driver profile
This edition of Driver Profiles features screen names that are probably familiar to visitors to the Expediters Online Open Forums. "Dieseldiva" (Gene King) is one of the Forum's moderators and her husband;"Doggiedaddy" (Jim King) is a regular contributor to the boards.
The couple is relative newcomers to the expediting business, but both have a wealth of life experiences and have readily adapted to the fast freight lifestyle. If fact, just 16 months after becoming expediting owner-operators, Jim and Gene have purchased their second truck and are as busy as they could hope to be.
The phone interviews for this profile were conducted on both weekdays and weekends and all of those calls found the couple under load and on the road! Of course, it tends to get crowded in their truck because there are six family members making the trip. More about that later.
On those rare occasions they're off the road, Jim and Gene call Medina, OH home. Gene is originally from Bowersville, OH in the southwestern Ohio area, but says that she's moved around a bit, including West Virginia and Cleveland, OH. (She lost her house to the 1974 tornado that demolished Xenia, OH)
Gene has four grown children from her first marriage - three sons and a daughter who have given her seven grandchildren. Two of her sons and the daughter served in the military, with one son currently in the US Air Force.
Jim and Gene (both 52 years old), met in 1989 and married in March, 1999.
Jim is originally from the northeastern Ohio area and after high school; he enlisted in the US Army. This was during the Vietnam War and he spent a year in the Long Binh area of Vietnam working as a crane operator in a salvage operation.
He says that this experience gave him valuable experience behind the wheel (or levers) of a variety of vehicles: "We would take the different pieces of equipment that came back from the field, clean them up, and ship them back to the US. I drove anything from tanks, armored personnel carriers, construction equipment and other vehicles in addition to my usual job of running a crane. If the battery would turn the engine over, I would drive it."
Jim took advantage of an Army program that allowed him to serve his last year of service in a National Guard unit in Akron. After that obligation was finished, he worked in a number of factories in Medina, OH.
Jim says, "I spent a few years as an owner-operator with North American Van Lines, in the late 70's and the early 80's. The money was great, but I got out of that because I was away home all the time. After that, I went to work with a local moving company, driving their truck. The problem with that job was that I was doing the physical work of moving as well, which I didn't care for."
"I took another job with an owner-operator who had a lot of east coast to west coast work, but I think I took the job because the guy had a great-looking Kenworth tractor with a double sleeper. It was nice to drive fancy equipment, but people in the moving business have to work too hard. It was tough to load furniture all day, then jump in the truck and drive all night."
"The man responsible for my love of driving is probably my father. He was a truck driver for forty-plus years. He used to take my little brother and me with him on trips when we were very small and that's what got it in my blood."
Jim returned to factory work and put in eighteen years at a brake plant in Medina. He put in twelve years as volunteer fireman in Medina and worked as a chief engineer, responsible for the fire trucks and equipment.
Jim says that his lifelong interest in driving and machinery was evidenced by his personal inventory of vehicles he has owned: a 1971 Barracuda 340 that he used for street and drag racing, a 1964 Chevy Impala with 327 and two Harleys - a '55 panhead with hand shift and a '77 AMF-era bike "that was always breaking down."
It was at the brake plant where Jim and Gene met. They were both working in production before being transferred to the shipping department. That was where they first became aware of expediting.
Gene says, "On occasion, our department would call in expediters for the shipments that had to go out quickly. Once in a while we would become privy to just how much it cost to ship expedited freight. One time, there was a skid that wasn't going that far, but it cost our company around $800.00. We said, 'hey, let's just load that skid into our Mustang over there and we'll do it for that kind of money."'
"Jim had been in trucking years ago," Gene continues, "and he had talked about us driving as a team, but I had it locked in my head that the only thing out there was tractor-trailer driving. I didn't think I would ever want anything to do with that. I admire and respect the ladies that can drive the big trucks, but it's not for me."
"We were having breakfast at a restaurant one morning when we spotted a FedEx Custom Critical truck exiting the highway. He said, 'that's what I'd like to do.' I asked what kind of truck that was and he explained to me that it was the same kind of truck that came into our shipping department."
She adds, "When we got back home, I got on the Internet and checked things out, and we were on our way."
Gene says that they contacted FedEx Custom Critical and met a recruiter named Mike who answered all of the couple's questions honestly. "We feel that the FedEx name is associated with quality and we wanted to be part of their team."
"At first we were thinking cargo van, but Mike suggested that we consider going into a "D" unit."
The Kings bought their first truck at Fyda Freightliner of Youngstown, a 2000 FL70 that had never been titled. The truck was equipped with a 72-inch ITC sleeper that Gene says is just too small for Jim and she and the 4 Shih-Tzu dogs that travel with them!
"The dogs (two males, two females) are definitely family members, so we have to keep them with us," says Gene. "We keep our top bunk down, so the dogs are always confined in their cage when necessary."
"We had no real complaints about the truck except that sleeper was too tiny for the dogs and us, along with the 'toys' we carry. We've got our in-motion satellite TV, our XM Radio that we couldn't live without, cameras, our computers and a couple of printers."
"We didn't think that we would be getting into a new truck quite this soon, but we attended the Expedite Expo this year and talked to Dan Tilley of Alumi-Bunk of Knoxville."
"We sold our first truck through the Free Classifieds on Expediters Online. We posted that truck for sale on a Friday night and by Saturday afternoon; we had a number of calls about it. We left all the 'toys' on the truck for a quick sale."
The Kings' new truck (purchased from Dan Tilley) is a 2004 International 7400. It's equipped with a 300hp DT530 hooked to an Allison 6-speed automatic. With the tag axle, the truck has a Gross Vehicle Weight of 52,000 pounds.
The couple went with a 96" Alumi-Bunk tall condo sleeper equipped with an on-the-move satellite TV system, XM Satellite Radio, GPS, microwave, fridge, and other goodies. A 22' Alumi-Bunk cargo box completes the truck.
"I'm into the appearance of the truck," says Jim. "For my birthday, Gene got me a set of aluminum wheels and the International really looks sharp. FedEx Custom Critical has a reputation for good looking trucks, and we wanted ours to look good, too."
Thoughts on expediting
Gene tells us, "We were excited about this business from the first, and we're still excited. We love what we're doing. It doesn't seem like work."
"Jim has a driving background, but I had never driven anything like this. I was kind of shaky about this. In the beginning, I didn't want to drive in the cities and I still don't like backing the truck."
"It has it's days, but we feel like we're semi-retired and making better money than we made when we were working full-time."
"Jim and I split up the driving according to how long the run is. Sometimes 8/8 or 10/10. On a short load, we'll chop up the hours accordingly."
"We enjoy just about everywhere we've gone. I led a sheltered life before Jim and I got together. Because of his military background and driving experience, Jim has been to every state except Alaska."
"I like Vermont, and we both enjoy running Canada. There's always Timmy Horton's up there (EO General Manager Lawrence McCord says, 'Yeah!') and we got so hooked on them that we carry cans of Tim Horton's coffee with us."
Jim says it's essential to protect your investment: "I believe in regular Preventive Maintenance. I use Speedco, oil changes at 10,000 to 12,000 mile intervals. I've had success with Shell Rotella T, in the 15 W40 weight."
"I have Speedco perform an oil analysis every third oil change, I believe in analysis because it gives you an idea of what's happening in the engine."
Jim says that one place to catch potential problems is during the pre-trip inspection. He says that he should have listened to his own advice when competing in the recent FedEx Custom Critical Driving Challenge. Jim states that he had a perfect score on the driving and written tests, but missed a couple of obvious defects on the pre-trip that might have cost him the championship in the "D" unit category!
"Still, it was a lot of fun to compete. Our friends Carroll and Dora Bean won the "D" unit class. We enjoyed meeting the people in the front office like Virginia Albanese and our Contractor Coordinator.
He continues, "We love expediting! Before that next load, you never know where you're going and we enjoy that freedom."
"You can control what your business is doing. We don't experience a lot of pressure to take every load. We do crunch the numbers and the location that the load will put us in after delivery. We will turn down the occasional load, but not that often.
"We don't have a problem with deadhead in the business as long as the run pays enough. We try to stay over dollar a mile for all miles. Hopefully, we make smart business decisions most of the time."
He adds, "We don't want to sit around or just go sightseeing, but we enjoy ourselves if we have the time. Sometimes when you're under load, you don't have time to stop. So far, we haven't been able to get to the west coast and we hope we can get loads headed that way.
Although the Kings feel that they are still new to expediting, they say that one of the keys to better expediting is to cut expenses - "Cook in the truck, avoid truck stop meals by buying Wal-Mart frozen dinners or other easy-to-prepare meals, carry your own coffee and coffee maker; the little things do add up."
Jim says, "Any truck repairs that I can do, I will. I'm willing to attempt a repair on my own and if I can't handle it, I take it to the dealer."
Rest time
Gene likes to read, and enjoys special TV shows such as "The Young and the Restless" and all of the "CSI" series. (Jim admits to a fondness for the "CSI" shows as well.)
Gene says that moderating the Open Forum "The Loading Dock" while on the road presents no problems. "We use Flying J as a fueling stop and take advantage of their Wi-Fi Internet connection, so I can stay in contact with the board. And, everyone behaves themselves on my forum!"
The future
Jim says, "Last year, we had a couple of slow times and sometimes we wondered if we were every going to get a load. This year (2003) hasn't been like that. Every time we've gone out, they're just running our wheels off."
"I feel that this might be the job to take us to retirement. We could be at this for awhile."
Lisa Brooks contributed to this article