The Trucker Newspaper - November 15, 2018

Business
November 15-30, 2018 • 23
ATA’s Truck Tonnage Index (Seasonally Adjusted; 2015=100)
114
112
110
108
106
104
102
100
98
96
94
JAN - 14
APR - 14
JUL - 14
OCT - 14
JAN - 15
APR - 15
JUL - 15
OCT - 15
JAN - 16
APR - 16
JUL - 16
OCT - 16
JAN - 17
APR - 17
JUL - 17
OCT - 17
JAN - 18
APR - 18
MAY - 18
AUG - 18
SEP - 18
ATA tonnage index decreases 0.8 %
as freight slows at the quarter’s end
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Trucking
Associations’ advanced seasonally adjusted
(SA) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index decreased
0.8 percent in September, sliding to 111.8 from
August’s mark of 112.7.
“Truck freight slowed at the end of the
third quarter,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob
Costello. “As anticipated, the year-over-year
gains have slowed on strength from a year earlier,
but there is no doubt that freight softened
in August and September. Despite the decreases
late in the quarter, based on July’s strength,
third-quarter tonnage rose 0.1 percent from the
second quarter and 5.2 percent from the same
period in 2017.”
August’s change over the previous month
was revised down to -2.0 percent (-1.8 percent
was originally reported in our press release on
September 18).
Compared with September 2017, the SA
index rose 2.9 percent, down from August’s
4.2 percent year-over-year increase. Yearto-date,
compared with the same period last
See Tonnage on p27 m
USA Truck acquires Davis Transfer,
related entities of Carnesville, Georgia
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VAN BUREN, Ark. — USA Truck said October
18 it had acquired privately held Davis
Transfer Co. and related entities of Carnesville,
Georgia.
Davis is a southeast regional carrier with
approximately $50 million in revenue and a
recent operating ratio in the upper 80s. The
company was founded by Harry Davis in 1959
and has been a family-owned business since
that time.
Davis has been managed as a full truckload
carrier for the past 20 years by Gary, Bill and
Todd Davis.
Klint Lowry
klint.lowry@thetrucker.com
Lane
Departures
For the last few decades, there’s been a
certain breed of sanctimonious would-be life
coaches out there spreading this idea that the
key to professional happiness is to “follow
your bliss,” that if you “do what you love,
you’ll never work a day in your life.”
I get the feeling this quote was written by
someone who literally never worked a day in
their life, at least not at a real job. Nevertheless,
it has been a very popular saying among people
who like to present themselves as wise in a windchime
tinkling, “embrace the universal energy”
metaphysical kind of way.
But, as Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion
Todd Davis will join the USA Truck leadership
team as a vice president. Davis Transfer
will operate independently of USA Truck as
a wholly owned subsidiary. Davis’ employees
and customers should notice little change moving
forward, said a company news release.
James Reed, president and CEO of USA
Truck, said Davis has a reputation as a safe operator,
having been named Florida’s Safest Carrier
in both 2016 and 2017, adding that the company
also has a long history of outstanding service
and is a recognized leader by its customers in
regional, quasi-dedicated truckload freight.
See USA on p27 m
If you’re trying to find your bliss in the work you do, you’re looking in the wrong place
teaches us, for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction. And for every herbal tea-sipping
spiritual healer type, there’s a coffee-swilling
cynic hell-bent on bringing the conversation
back down to Earth. Ironically, at least in this situation,
a lot of us gravitate to journalism.
In recent years there’s been growing pushback
in the form of counterarguments to the “Do what
you love” concept. First of all, it just isn’t practical.
Many jobs — check that — most jobs, aren’t
anyone’s idea of a good time, but they have to
get done. That’s why people get paid to do them.
And even if you did find something you really
enjoy that you can get paid to do, once it’s your
job, obligations get attached, as well as standards,
rules and deadlines.
You can’t always do things the way you want;
you have to answer to other people. Soon that
thing you love doing isn’t the thing you love doing.
Oh, you still may enjoy doing it compared to
a thousand other kinds of drudgery, and at least
you have that going for you, but don’t kid yourself.
When you’re doing it for a living, it’s work.
Courtesy: USA TRUCK
USA Truck President and CEO James Reed said acquiring Davis Transfer Co. will give USA
Truck a greater presence in the Southeast.
But for a long time now, we’ve been fed this
idea that self-fulfillment should be part of the
compensation package for any “good” job. And
if it isn’t, then there’s something inferior about
that job. The social implication is that to work a
job where you aren’t experiencing bliss is to be
a failure.
This attitude had caused a lot of people to
have a hard time handling the frustrations of
the working world. I see a lot of that among
truckers.
Recently, while doing my job, I’ve met a couple
of drivers, Dave and David (yeah, those are
their real names), and when I compared my impressions
of the two it brought the issue to mind.
I interviewed Dave as he ate at a truck stop before
heading out on an overnight drive. He drives at
night because there are fewer hassles. I spoke
with David in a morning phone interview while
he was still basking in the glow of an award he’d
won a few days earlier.
David has been a truck driver since the mid-
’70s, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.
Dave started driving 10 years ago out of necessity
when his business went belly-up. He does it
because it’s the best paycheck he can make, plain
and simple.
They seem to live on opposite ends of the occupational
bliss scale. But they are more alike
than you might think. They’re both grandfathers,
in fact, they have the same number of grandchildren.
And on any given day if you gave either one
a choice of being on the road or hanging out with
the grandkids, you’d find their truck keys would
be hanging on a nail somewhere.
They both came up in an era when people
were taught work was for making a living, not
to make life worth living. Relative job contentment
aside, they both know the real happiness
in their lives lies elsewhere.
You know, interviewing people can feel like
happy hour with an old friend or like a nightmare
blind date. I can honestly say I’m glad to
have met both Dave and David. They gave me
something to think about, and that’s one of the
pleasures of this job. 8