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10 • SEPTEMBER 2023 THE NATION Thetrucker.com Great Pay, Full Benefits & Bonuses! Nebraska Atlantic Transportation, Inc. is a family-owned & operated company that has been in business for over 30 years. It is our goal to make you feel like you are part of the family and are treated as such. High miles and good pay are what we strive to provide our drivers. We offer an in-house mechanic shop, weigh scale & fuel tank, and our drivers’ lounge features a rec room with a pool table, mounted TVs, a separate TV room, washer & dryer, a full kitchen, and furnished bedrooms. Call or apply and join our family today! ★ $0.60 Per Mile ★ Cell Phone Reimbursements ★ Unloading Paid in Full ★ $40 Extra Stop/Pick-Up ★ Yearly Bonuses ★ Full Health Insurance ★ Full Life Insurance ★ Home Weekly ★ Driver Apartment w/Washer & Dryer, Stocked Kitchen, Large Screen TVs & Pool Table YELLOW cont. from Page 1 noting that customers had already started to leave Yellow in large numbers and that the carrier had stopped freight pickups. Those reports arrived just days after Yellow averted a strike by the Teamsters union amid heated contract negotiations. A pension fund agreed to extend health benefits for workers at two Yellow operating companies, avoiding a planned walkout and giving Yellow “30 days to pay its bills” — notably a total of $50 million owed to the Central States Health and Welfare Fund. Yellow blamed the nine-month talks with Teamsters for the company’s demise, saying it was unable to institute a new business plan to modernize operations and make it more competitive during that time. The Chapter 11 bankruptcy, filed Aug. 6, came just three years after Yellow received $700 million in COVID-19 pandemic-era loans from the federal government. While a Chapter 11 filing is used to restructure debt while operations continue, Yellow, like other trucking companies in recent years, will liquidate — and the U.S. will join other creditors unlikely to recover funds extended to the company. In 2019, two trucking companies, Celadon and New England Motor Freight, filed for bankruptcy protection and liquidated. According to reports, Yellow fell into severe financial stress after a long stretch of poor management and strategic decisions dating back decades. Former Yellow customers and shippers may face higher prices as they take their business to competitors, including FedEx or ABF Freight, experts say, noting that Yellow historically offered the cheapest price points in the industry. Yellow, formerly known as YRC Worldwide Inc., was one of the nation’s largest LTL carriers. The Nashville, Tennessee-based company had 30,000 employees across the Firefighters rescue piglets country. The company says it has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware for permission to make payments, including for employee wages and benefits, taxes and certain vendors essential to its businesses. Yellow has racked up hefty bills over the years. As of late March, the carrier had an outstanding debt of about $1.5 billion. Of that, $729.2 million was owed to the federal government. In 2020, under the Trump administration, the Treasury Department granted the company a $700 million COVID-era loan on national security grounds. The Teamsters supported the $700 million loan when it was first announced. A congressional probe recently concluded the Treasury and Defense departments “made missteps” in the decision and noted that Yellow’s “precarious financial position at the time of the loan, and continued struggles, expose taxpayers to a significant risk of loss.” As of June 30, Yellow had paid $67 million in cash interest on the loan, the balance of which is due in 2024, the company said. The financial chaos at Yellow “is probably two decades in the making,” Stifel research director Bruce Chan said ahead of Yellow’s bankruptcy filing, pointing to poor management and strategic decisions dating back to the early 2000s. “At this point, after each party has bailed them out so many times, there is a limited appetite to do that anymore.” Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins summed up his company’s demise in a short news release: “It is with profound disappointment that Yellow announces that it is closing after nearly 100 years in business,” Hawkins said. “For generations, Yellow provided hundreds of thousands of Americans with solid, goodpaying jobs and fulfilling careers.” The Associated Press contributed to this report. 8 Overland Park Fire Department REQUIREMENTS ★ CDL-A ★ 24 years old minimum ★ Two years OTR experience 888.858.8217 www.thetrucker.com/nebraska-atlantic Kansas firefighters helped save the lives of hundreds of piglets after the tractor-trailer they were being hauled in broke down in sweltering heat last month. Because the truck was stalled, there was no way to circulate adequate air through the stock trailer. Firefighters from Overland Park, Kansas, firefighters were called to U.S. Highway 69 after being told the animals wouldn’t survive without ventilation or water. Emergency crews immediately began hosing down the trailer, allowing the piglets to stay cool until the truck could be fixed. According to firefighters, the driver of the truck exclaimed, “You saved 1,368 lives today!”
Thetrucker.com SEPTEMBER 2023 • 11 PERSPECTIVE FROM THE EDITOR: Fall memories Between the lines Linda GARNER-BUNCH editor@thetruckermedia.com You may notice that this edition of The Trucker seems a little heftier than usual. That’s because we’ve added an entirely new section. You’ll find the Job Resources segment on pages 19-25. It’s designed to provide helpful information for anyone in the trucking industry, from drivers to mechanics to fleet managers and more. Let me know what you think, and any topics you’d like to see covered! And now (drum roll, please): Happy fall, y’all! Sept. 23 marks the first day of autumn — my favorite season of the entire year. My earliest memories of fall are of watching my father (even now, I still think of him as “Daddy”) and my older brother and sister rake leaves. I believe I was about 3, maybe 4 years old — too little to hold a rake and help, but the perfect age to jump into those huge piles of crisp, dry leaves! Of course, Clarence, the family dog, was my partner in crime, and we were both shooed away quite frequently by those who were actually working. We were never deterred for long. After a few minutes (my mother always said it was more like seconds) of patiently watching from the sidelines, we were right back in the leaf pile, jumping and whooping and tossing leaves everywhere. It never failed — eventually, my siblings broke down and joined in on the fun, helping me burrow tunnels through the leaves and generally making a huge mess of the lawn. The best part of the day, however, was when those leaves were finally raked into a gigantic pile. That’s when Daddy would strike a match and set the leaf pile on fire. Once it was blazing, Mom would bring out wire coat hangers, straightened into makeshift “skewers,” along with hot dogs, marshmallows and anything else you can cook over a fire. We’d gather around the flames, happily blistering those old-fashioned, bright red, food coloring-filled hot dogs before plopping them into buns and slathering them with mustard. Best. Meal. Ever. Later, when everyone (including Clarence) had eaten as many hot dogs as we possibly could, Mom would break out those fluffy, oversized marshmallows. I don’t remember making s’mores on those evenings — that was a delicacy I discovered years later at summer camp — but I do recall waiting until my skewer of marshmallows caught fire; then waving it in the air like a sparkler. Luckily, I don’t think I ever burned the house down. Until next time, keep it between mustard and mayonnaise — and watch out for flaming marshmallows! 8 Leon Everette rode ‘Hurricane’ to fame RHYTHM OF THE ROAD KRIS RUTHERFORD krisr@thetruckermedia.com Leon Everette may have grown up in Queens, New York, but his South Carolina roots were pure country. During his childhood, Everette didn’t aspire to be a musician. He said the radio was always on, but it was just background noise for an otherwise urban upbringing. In fact, it wasn’t until Everette joined the U.S. Navy and was assigned to an aircraft carrier in the South Pacific that he developed an interest in music. His fellow seamen had a variety of instruments with which to while away the hours. During a stopover in the Philippines, Everette purchased a guitar and smuggled it aboard. Before long, he was eyeballing other naval musicians and learning their techniques and picking up the notes by ear. By the time his stint in the Navy was up, Everette had won a singing contest. He returned to South Carolina with a country music career on his mind. Unfortunately, Seven ways to rev up your energy levels THE TRUCKER TRAINER BOB PERRY In the August edition of The Trucker, I promised to walk you through seven steps that will help boost your energy levels. As a bonus, all seven steps will also help improve your physical and mental health. 1. Create an action plan. Once you’ve done a checkup from the neck up, as they say, and committed yourself to making improvements, write down exactly what goals you want to achieve. These goals could include weight loss, strength building, endurance and even relieving depression. The following steps will help provide the energy you need to achieve your goals. 2. Find the right food. Food produces energy. Be prepared — the biggest mistake drivers make is not having energy-packed foods within easy reach while on the road, especially when you’re stuck and sitting still in traffic, or waiting to be loaded or unloaded. Almonds, cashews, dates and water are all good choices, and it had to wait while Everette made a living, working for a power and gas company. But Everette had learned to thrive on applause, and the power industry didn’t offer the residuals he yearned for. Against the wishes of his wife and family, Everette decided to pursue a career in the music business. After a fallout with his boss at the power company, he abruptly quit, bought a new guitar, formed a band and started playing clubs in South Carolina and Georgia. The band was popular, but Everette was the only member who yearned to pursue a career in music. Even winning a contest that included a recording contract with a small label didn’t convince his fellow bandmates, and Everette soon set out on his own. He went to Nashville, where that recording deal offered him very little leverage — but he did manage to crack a door into the industry. He continued to travel solo to Nashville, hoping he’d grab someone’s ear and get a real shot on 16th Avenue. That chance finally came. In 1976, Everette was working in the mail room of True Records, when the company heard that a rival, Doral Records, had released Everette’s first single, “Running State of Mind.” True Records took notice and decided to give Everette a shot. It just so happened that Everette’s first recording session was about the time of Elvis’ death. He recorded a tribute song to the King of Rock ‘n Roll, and it met with immediate success — but only become it was the first out of the gate. As other artists released their own tributes, the popularity of Everette’s song plummeted. Still, Everette’s producers were intrigued with what they heard, and pressured him to record pop music. Everette refused. As far as he was concerned, it was country or nothing. He was so bullheaded about it that when the label threatened to drop him unless he met its terms, he gladly walked away. Not long after the breakup with True Records, Everette performed what he viewed as a farewell show in Iowa. He’d taken a shot at music and didn’t see eye to eye with the industry about his talents, so he decided a 9-5 job back in South Carolina would be his next move. But first, he had to fulfill a contract and perform in the Midwest. There, he met a supportive Florida businessman who knew little about music but offered to bankroll Everette’s career. Everette’s plans to return to the daily grind of an ordinary worker dissipated. Soon, the pair formed Orlando Records. In 1978, Everette returned to Nashville and began to make contacts with songwriters. A See RHYTHM on PAGE 34 easy to keep in the truck. Do your best to stay away from all processed foods. In addition, I suggest researching to find a quality multivitamin. A good vitamin regimen can help you get the necessary nutrients you may be missing from foods. 3. Get exercise. Workouts provide energy! Figure out which exercises boost your energy without draining your body’s “battery,” especially if you are a beginner. Walking is always going to be the first choice; it doesn’t require equipment, just a good pair of shoes and can be done pretty much anywhere, any time. However, it’s important to walk “with intention” 15 to 20 minutes each day. When possible, incorporate some simple exercise-band resistance training. 4. Improve quality of sleep. Getting a good night’s sleep can be both the most important and the most difficult challenge for professional drivers. Your brain needs to reset, and your body to slow down and recover. When you don’t get the proper rest, you become fatigued, your brain short circuits and it’s easy to make bad decisions. Make sleep a priority and make sure your bunk is sleep-friendly — find the best pillow and mattress and the proper lighting. Most importantly, make sure the space is clean and sanitary. 5. Reduce stress levels. We all tend to drive our own stress forward and often worry about things we can’t control. I remember a famous quote from Mark Twain :“I’ve known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” There are many techniques for reducing stress. Check out operationbroga.com, for one that requires no medication. 6. Fight fatigue. We know muscle fatigue can come of overexertion, either from work or exercise. But what about fatigue caused by health factors, such as celiac disease, which can cause poor absorption of nutrients? Prevention is key. Be sure to get regular medical checkups (not just your DOT certification exam). 7. Try natural energy-boosting drinks. Drink plenty of water (you knew that was coming) rather than commercially produced energy drinks. Water doesn’t have to be boring! Here’s the secret: Drop one or two flavored green tea bags into your bottle of water. There are lots of flavors available — blueberry, orange, raspberry and others. This gives you about a third of the caffeine of some other drinks, but it’s but loaded with energy and antioxidants. Known as The Trucker Trainer, Bob Perry has played a critical role in the paradigm shift of regulatory agencies, private and public sector entities, and consumers to understand the driver health challenge. Perry can be reached at truckertrainer@icloud.com. 8
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