Driver Lifestyles

How The Years and Miles Roll By

In an industry whose history reaches back only several decades, one can attain the status of seasoned veteran after only a few years in the business. For the owner-operator whose expediting career spans 13 years and all of them with the same company, the title of Expediter Emeritus may be assigned. Such an individual is the focus of this Driver Profile.

Dave Detro (67) recently hung up his keys for the last time and is looking forward to enjoying his golden years. After 13 years of service with Panther Expedited Services of Seville, Ohio, Dave says that it's time to move on and accomplish some things he has on his "to do" list.

On his final day with the company Dave was awarded a plaque commemorating his many years behind the wheel, as well as a new Panther jacket.  

Jeff St. Pierre, Panther's VP of Risk Management, had this to say about his veteran driver: "Dave learned to manage his business and how to be successful within the Panther system. We're sad to say goodbye to Dave because he has been a strategic part of what we do and we hate to lose someone with his kind of experience."

Born and raised in Kokomo, IN, Dave entered the U.S. Army in 1958 and remained in the service for 8 years, working as a lineman in the Signal Corps with tours in Germany and Korea.

"I signed up with the intention of going Airborne but my eyesight was too poor and I was too underweight to qualify. They must have figured that I enjoyed high places so they made me a lineman and had me climbing phone poles," he says laughingly. "I was scared all the time but I never fell."

Following his stint in the service, Dave worked at a variety of jobs including vending machine repair, life insurance sales and "a little bit of everything."

Dave began his driving career in 1978 driving tractor-trailer for local Indiana carriers, both as a company driver and later as an owner-operator.  He discovered expediting and signed with Panther Expedited Services in 1996.

Most of his time on the road was spent in the southern U.S. along with many miles running the eastern seaboard and Canada, primarily Ontario and Quebec. "I must have been in Ontario five or six hundred times in the last 13 years with Panther," he says. "I know southern Ontario better than I know most U.S. states." Over his forty plus years as a commercial driver, he has racked up over three million miles and says, "I lost count after that. But," he adds, "no matter how long you do this, you still learn new things all the time."

Over the years, Dave has owned Freightliners and Volvos with Volvo getting the nod as his favorite nameplate and says he's going to miss his last truck, a '98 Volvo 770 with a 500 HP Detroit motor. He accumulated 1,036,000 miles on that truck, all of the miles running with Panther.  

His favorite dealer? General Truck Sales of Muncie, IN. "Unless they were booked up solid, their service department was always able to get me in.  They treated me very well."

When asked about the current economic conditions affecting this industry he reflects, "When I started, you had Panther, Roberts Express and Tri-State. Nowadays, it seems like every other truck you see going down the road has a name with Expedited something or other on it. In the beginning, times were good and I was making sometimes twice as much as other people in big trucks. Then word got around and everybody jumped on the bandwagon so now you have lots of competition."

Dave tells us that the runs that stand out in his memory are those that involved some backing skill to get into the dock. "Those are the places I remember. Now, the easy ones...I'll forget that I've been to a place until I'm backed in and it comes to me, hey, I've been here before."  

Of his company, Dave tells us, "Just like a marriage, there's no perfect relationship, but overall, Panther and I got along. One young dispatcher paid me what I consider to be one of the nicest compliments I could have received. She said, 'You know, we're really going to miss you. When you were on a load, we never had to worry, we knew that it would get there.'"

When asked if he has any tips for the new expediting owner-operator, Dave tells us that he has a short list:

Know your cost per mile Watch the pennies and they'll grow into dollars Be patient; you might have to wait for that good load Try to keep the empty moves to a minimum Be patient with the dispatchers; they've got a job to do, too
Dave plans to fill his days with service to others now that he's left the workaday rat race. "I hope to start working very soon as a Chaplain with Tranport for Christ. You know, over-the-road drivers can be very lonely people and they need someone to talk to, whether it's problems on the job or problems back home. They need someone to listen to them and to assure them that the Lord is listening."  

"Here at home, I have a widow friend who is like an older sister to me and I take her to her medical appointments and such. The Book of James says that we are to take care of widows and orphans so I have my duties to her to fill up my time."

We'd like to wish Dave Detro a happy retirement but if the leisure time ever becomes too oppressive, Dave, expediting will always have a place for you.