In Gear - Today's Trucking

LIVING LARGE: The only part of his
operation Stephen Large doesn’t
handle with care is himself.
It was only weeks after his Rotella-sponsored trip to Toronto.
By stroke standards, Large’s was mild. He wound up in the hospital
with some blurred vision and immobility, and he’s expected
to recover.
But it sidelined him. And the money stopped coming in.
While the doctors say they’re not sure what caused the stroke,
Large admits it’s not a complete surprise. “I have been on bloodpressure
meds for 12 years and also on cholesterol meds.
“I don’t,” he adds, “get my blood pressure checked very often,
usually only at prescription renewal time, so maybe it gets too
high at times.”
He had a ruptured spleen a few years back and his mother
passed away due to a massive heart attack when she was only 50.
And yes, he’s Large. He says he knew that when he reached 350
lbs, it was time to lose some weight.
“Yeah, it’s a wake-up call,” he says. “And I guess it’s time to look
after my health better.”
Baby the truck; ignore the driver. It could be a trucker’s anthem.
And Stephen Large, like tens of thousands of others in trucking,
has no disability insurance or extended health coverage. “I’ve
had no luck finding any outfit that offers proper coverage to selfemployed
people,” he says.
Of course he’s an optimist. When trucking slowed down in the
past he found work as a welder in his friend’s equipment business
in Spirit River. The community is rallying around the family; The
Trucker Health
Larges have got most of their acreage paid off and, he says, “my
wife has a way of paying $150 worth of bills with a $1 bill.”
“I think I’ll be alright financially as long as I get my licence
back soon,” he says.
I’d like to introduce Stephen to an Orillia-Ont.,-based entrepreneur
named Tom Tiffen.
Tiffen is the president of the one-month-old LifeLine Logistic
Services Inc.
Tiffen’s new organization, he says, is designed to help “the
thousands of guys out there like that.” Translated: Tiffen says, the
thousands of owner-operators who could benefit from being a
member of a purchasing group, when it comes to buying all sorts
of commodities, ranging from fuel and truck insurance to longterm
disability (LTD) insurance.
“We sort of have a desire to help the truckers out,” says
LifeLine’s chief administrator Marc Holterman.
The cost to join Tiffen’s membership-based company? A buck
a day per year, he says.
And he says he’s currently negotiating with ManuLife Financial
to develop a suitable LTD and medical insurance program for
truckers like Large.
For a broader look at Tiffen’s new organization, visit www.
membertruckers.com. (The url with the words LifeLine Logistic
Services belongs to a Singapore transportation company).
If it works, it couldn’t come at a better time. Truckers, as a
group, are aging, and health-care costs are what one might call
the elephant in the room.
Raynald Bouthillier is another big trucker. He’s six one and
weighs 285 lbs. He and his wife Elaine run a very successful fleet
of flatbeds out of the Northern Ontario town of Hearst. (He was
also featured in a recent issue of Today’s Trucking for decorating
his 2007 Pete 379 with a complete wrap mural in honor of his late
son Jack who was killed in action in Afghanistan last March).
Generally healthy, Bouthillier just found out that his monthly
costs have gone up by “a couple of hundred bucks” for his latest
prescription; blood-pressure medication. He already takes diabetes
pills. And this is in addition to the regular costs of maintaining
health.
Bouthillier admits that when he was younger, he felt invulnerable
and didn’t think about the future or his health. “You just take
that for granted; so you’re just working and givin’er all the time.”
“Then suddenly you get older, things don’t work so well and you
could be in big trouble. And if you’re only payin’ a couple of hundred
bucks a month for medication, you ain’t that sick,” he says.
“And I don’t have prescription, dentist or glasses coverage,” he
says, adding “I’m also paying for Michelle.” That’s his daughter
who attends university in Sudbury.
First priority for Bouthillier will be looking into Ontario’s
Trillium Drug Program. Every province administers its own version
of the Trillium. It offers subsidies for drugs for residents who can
prove that their regular need is financially burdensome.
Check www.drugcoverage.ca for your home’s plan.
Second Bouthillier priority: Find out more about LifeLine
Logistics.
For Stephen Large, job-one is getting back behind the wheel of
his beloved truck. ▲
JANUARY 2010 27