Truckload Authority - Winter 2014/15

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Sponsored by Mcleod software McLeodSoftware.com | 877.362.5363 You have been faced with some quite unexpected challenges this year and as hard as it is to believe, your term is actually about to hit the home stretch. Congratulations to you and the search committee for completing your search and eventually naming Brad Bentley as the new TCA president. Tell Truckload Authority readers more about Brad and what you envision for TCA under his leadership. I speak to Brad almost on a daily basis. He’s kind of drinking out of a fire hose right now, but we’re convinced that we’ve definitely got the right guy. I get a weekly e-mail from him on the previous week as to the wins and losses and what he’s worked on and we’re thrilled with that. Coming down the home stretch here and it really hasn’t hit home yet, but it will pretty soon, I feel so blessed to frankly have found Brad and know we’ve got a good man in the seat and that he’s going to take us forward a lot of years to come and grow TCA in a way we’ve probably never seen. There’s a lot of excitement in the air out there and we’re thrilled. I’m thrilled frankly to introduce him to all our TCA members at the annual convention in March down in Orlando. Give us a report on the success of the second annual Wreaths Across America Benefit Gala. Boy that was a fun night, as you know. You were there with your lovely bride and the successes there were just outstanding. I want to say we raised somewhere in the neighborhood of about $260,000. A single check from that was $150,000 from Walmart to the Wreaths Across America Gala. I had one of our members put a little bug in my ear that evening. I have to give him credit. It wasn’t about me, it was about him. He’s the guy who gave me the idea. Michael Eggleton of Raider Express of Fort Worth, Texas, told me, “You know, let’s just see how much money we can raise tonight.” It was a fabulous idea so I kind of took control over the microphone for 10 or 15 minutes and we raised I believe close to $100,000 just impromptu. It just shows you that truckers and membership are more than willing to stand up and help, open their wallets and checkbooks when the time comes. All you have to do is ask and I’m so proud of that. It was a fabulous evening and I look forward to next year for sure. 38 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2014-15
Also, catch us up on the growth of TCA’s health and wellness clinics which took place back in September. It was definitely a success and the partnerships we had through those clinics were just fabulous. I know we actually had some here in Indiana. I was hoping to make it up to one of those truck stops, but ended up being out of town and not able to do so. But it’s a program that has grown every year and we look forward to continuing that tradition. It’s needed and certainly welcomed by the truck drivers across this country and we’re going to continue to do that because it’s the right thing to do. What will you be focused on in the final few months of your term? Well, there are still a couple of programs that I’m hoping we can get finished. One of those is the benchmarking that I began work on midway or early on in Tom Kretsinger’s term and we’re hoping to have that rolled out the middle of this month. And the other thing, one of the things I came out with, was trying to again focus on health and wellness. We still have some work to do there; my goal is to have that queued up for Keith Tuttle coming up behind me in March. We’re coming down the home stretch here and there’ll be more to come on that soon, so my hope is that we’ll be able to announce something on that in the very near future. Before we wrap up this chat, let’s hit a couple of industry issues. Recently a reputable nationwide survey showed the public’s perception of the trucking industry was more favorable, with a total favorability rating of 65 percent, than many realized. Were you surprised by these numbers? Honestly, I was surprised at those numbers, but yet not surprised. You know if you watch TV today, the railroad is doing a fabulous job of doing some advertising, and frankly, I don’t think we give our industry enough credit for the things we do right and we need to do more of that. It’s definitely working, the general public sees that, and they see that in this latest survey so I’m thrilled. All that tells me is that we need to do more of it. Do you see opportunity to improve upon these numbers in the future and how do we continue to drive these numbers upward in our favor? I definitely see opportunities to improve on that. You know the new initiative with Trucking Moves America Forward will certainly help with that; it’s gaining a lot of traction; it’s gathering a lot of funds to be able to put ourselves out in front of the general public, which will do nothing but hopefully make that 65 percent increase more. The other thing is that the image program with Wreaths Across America is gaining a lot of traction. You’ll see some national attention for that again this year. As you’re aware, Brad Bentley was up in Minnesota for the cutting of the national Capitol Christmas tree, which is gaining more momentum. So I would definitely expect to see those numbers increase in the years to come. In what many are calling a wave election, the Republicans have extended their majority in the House and gained the majority in the Senate. How do you think this bodes for the trucking industry in the next couple of years? Well, certainly I think that our industry was probably a little bit surprised by the turnout that the Republicans got; it was more than we hoped for. I was thrilled. One thing I will say is that in the little southwest area of Indiana where we are it’s almost predominantly a Democratic area and the Republicans swept everything here. So there’s obviously a move that’s happening. As far as trucking and transportation specifically are concerned, we can only hope that it’s going to help us. We did lose some folks that are good for transportation historically on both sides of the aisle. But in general I think it’s going to help us get done some of the things that have been slowed down. So my hope is now with the House and Senate majorities we can roll our sleeves back up and go back to work doing what’s best for the country. There’s growing concern among trucking industry stakeholders that trucking groups might support even a modest increase in the liability minimum requirements. Do you share this concern and how do you think trucking should proceed on this issue? Well, the concern from my area is that there are a lot of small businesses, small trucking companies out there that frankly any increases could very well put out of business. Certainly significant increases, doubling the $750,000 minimums to say $1.5 or $2 million, would put hundreds, I would think, out of business. And I don’t think that’s good. You know, we certainly need help with tort reform. I don’t know what the magic number is, it just seems to keep growing, but I know the majority of claims that are filed are well below the current minimum levels, certainly well below the million-dollar levels. We’re really only talking about a very small percentage of the claims that are out there. I’m not necessarily in favor of it. I know that the tendency is to be in favor of it but I’m not supportive of it. I would also say that TCA’s members are typically medium to smaller carriers and I would think there’d be some push-back there. It could be a divisive issue in our industry and I would say it’s probably divisive today, more so than what you hear in the media. As we approach a new year, what do you predict will be the biggest issue facing trucking that we will look back on and say it defined trucking in 2015? I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the driver situation and we’re all feeling it now, we’re hurting from it now, but I really think it’s the tip of the iceberg. There’s nothing better I’d love to do than sit back this time next year and say we licked that one. But I’m really afraid we’re going to be licking more wounds. I really think it’s just going to get worse. As an industry we’re going to have to find more opportunities and ways to bring other folks into this wonderful industry that we’re in and find ways to hang on to those that are here and keep them as long as possible until we do find other ways to replant the seeds and reap those benefits at some point. Do you have a New Year’s resolution for this year and if so, what is it? Even though I’m going out as TCA chairman I really feel a lot of positive vibes from both internal staff and the membership as to what’s going to happen in TCA in the very near future. That’s not necessarily a goal or a resolution but I do feel great things are coming for TCA. And until you sit in this chair as chairman you can’t see that quite as clearly, but I do feel we’re right on the cusp of breaking open in so many areas. It’s exciting to be a part of and I’m going to be thrilled to sit on the sidelines and watch it all happen. TCA 2014-15 www.Truckload.org | Truckload Authority 39
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Truckload Authority - Winter 2014/15

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