00:04 Because if you hate what you’re doing, then it’s going to be a hard job. It’s going to be work, right?

00:08 If you love what you’re doing, it’s actually fun. It’s almost like playing a video game. So, I guess I’m looking at this job like something that if I could live off of this and not make a dime, I probably could still do it.

00:20 You enjoy it that much?

00:21 Yeah.

00:22 Wow, that’s impressive. Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:46 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport where we celebrate and elevate the drivers, the men and women for Norton Transport and all across the country that make this country go round and round and make your lives much better and of course in the process make our lives here at Norton and our drivers lives better. Joining us tonight, we’re very pleased to have Alvin Ross. He joins us now. Alvin, are you on the road right now? Are you at home on— Are you on a run?

01:14 Yeah, I’m on the road right now actually.

01:17 Where would you be?

01:18 Well, actually right now I’m in Indianapolis.

01:20 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now we’re talking to Alvin Ross here. It’s early mid January now when we’re actually talking to him. What’s the weather like in Indie?

01:29 It’s kind of rainy out here right now.

01:32 Not too cold.

01:32 Kind of cold. Kind of. Yeah, it’s around 39 degrees. It’s kind of gloomy, but just rainy.

01:38 Gotcha. Now, have you pulled off for a break? Are you on your headsets? How are we talking with you tonight?

01:44 Well, actually, yeah, I’m on my headset.

01:46 How do those work out for you? Do you like the headsets? I mean as far as communicating with whether it be for business or personal passing the time, are those the quality of sound that you get do they work out pretty nice?

01:58 Yeah. Yeah, they actually work out perfect. I mean, as you can hear right now, you probably don’t hear any noise in the background. I mean, they cancel all the noise out. I mean, you know, handsfree, so it’s safe. It’s safe. I mean, it’s convenient.

02:13 Gotcha. Yeah, you sound great. I mean, I can you sound crystal clear. And you know, for other drivers who may be listening, this would be a good time to point out, not for product placement per se, but what type of headsets do you have? When did you find them? And how much did they set you back?

02:29 Well, actually, this is a Blue Parrot. I think at the time, I mean, it’s older. I think at the time when I did buy it, I might have paid like maybe $200 for it. But yeah, this one is about probably five years old. It’s still going.

02:46 It’s doing the trick.

02:47 Pretty good. Pretty good headset. Now, I’m assuming if you had some before that, if you had a pair that’s not as good in quality as what you have now, how frustrating is that as a driver when you spend, you know, the lion share of your time behind the wheel?

03:05 It can be frustrating because I mean, if you have an important call and you got a bad headset, you more than likely going to have to either take a break, pull over just to have a conversation. It depends on how important the call is.

03:18 I got you.

03:19 So, yeah, it’s it could be frustrating at times because I mean, you definitely can’t talk on speaker phone with the engine and everything going because you won’t be able to hear—

03:28 Right? You’re listening to Alvin Ross on his headsets in Indianapolis here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, which direction are you headed, Alvin?

03:38 Well, I’m headed west now. I’m headed to California, LA, actually to be exact.

03:44 Where did you pick up? I picked up in Syracuse. Syracuse, New York.

03:50 That’s a gem of a ride you got there. Choice Syracuse to California. And you picked up, I’m guessing yesterday or the day before?

04:01 Yeah, yesterday.

04:02 So, you got a nice sweet ride in front of you. What’s your path that you’ve planned out and you running into any weather? Oh, well, yeah. I’mma run into weather all the way up until I wouldn’t say bad weather, but it’s going to be kind of gloomy because it’s a lot of rain right now. I mean, it’s been raining. I mean, since I got out of Ohio, it’s been raining from Ohio all the way. I think it’s going to be like this all the way until I get to St. Louis.

04:27 I gotta gotcha. Now, you were talking about not bad weather, but just gloomy weather. Picking up in—

04:33 Well, it’s raining here and there. Windy a little bit, but not nothing too major.

04:38 What was it doing back in pickup in Syracuse?

04:41 Syracuse is it was actually nice in Syracuse. It wasn’t too bad. It was gloomy over there, too, but it wasn’t raining or anything.

04:50 Was there snow on the ground? Still on the ground?

04:53 No, it wasn’t snow on the ground or anything. It looked like it had melted cuz I actually went through Buffalo and you know Buffalo a couple weeks ago, you know how bad it was. But I mean, it was clear through Buffalo, too.

05:04 Okay, good deal. Good deal. What are you driving this evening, Alvin?

05:08 I got a Freight Line Cascadia. It’s like a 2015.

05:12 Is it a sleeper or a day cab or a—

05:15 It’s a sleeper. It’s a sleeper cab.

05:17 Gotcha.

05:17 Manual transmission.

05:19 What’s your preference to drive? I mean as far as the type of truck and the type of transmission, which one do you like and why? Well, I love the sleeper cab because I mean you definitely don’t have to worry about getting a room or anything. I mean, when you p when you done for the night, you could you got a bed to sleep in, so you don’t have to spend any money. As far as the manual transmission, I mean, I’ve been driving for so long. So, I mean, I love the manual. I like the manual. The automatics are convenient, but the manual, I just love driving with the manual.

05:50 Right. Right. You know, we’re a pretty good sized company as far as the number of drivers we have. And you were talking about driving a manual. Is it surprising to you, not only within this company, but across the board in the whole industry, that there are a number of drivers who either can’t or won’t drive manual transmissions. Does that surprise you?

06:10 Not today. It doesn’t because the requirements are is different now because a lot of the companies now are switching over to automatic. So, it’s basically forcing all of the drivers not to get the experience with the manual. So, it’s not surprising today because I mean, if you go to any company now, they more than likely I worked with a company before I got on here and they switched all the way over into automatic. Everything was automatic. A lot of the schools are going to automatics because they training the drivers just to drive and get behind the wheel and not have to worry about switching gears anymore. So, today it’s not surprising at all.

06:46 Not surprising, but I guess from your standpoint, you’ve been doing this for a while. Wouldn’t it be beneficial for drivers to have that skill set? I mean, because not everything’s going to be new off the factory OEM trucks. I mean, some of them, obviously, we’re still moving used trucks.

07:02 Yeah. Yeah. Some of the new ones are manual, too. Like, if you get a custom Peterbilt and you have to move one of those, you definitely going to have to know how to drive a manual or you won’t be able to take the load.

07:12 Well, you prefer a manual. What about it do you prefer? Is it more of the sensation of actually driving or what do you like about it? Yeah, it’s more of the sensation of actually driving it. I mean, with the manual, you can kind of like operate the truck to its full ability. With the automatic, it kind of does what it wants to do, especially when you pulling hills or whatever.

07:33 And a lot of these new automatics I’ve had issues with some of the automatics that got these Allison transmission in them.

07:40 They basically run out. I mean, it’s like a computer. So, a lot of these automatic transmission have they have a lot of flaws in them. So with the manual, you getting to operate the truck to its full potential. So yeah, I like the manual. I mean, it’s automatic is good in traffic, but you know, if you’ve been driving a manual for so long, you know how to operate it.

07:59 You made a great point there on like hills and mountains with a manual transmission. If you need to gear down, you can. It’s pretty simple. But I not necessarily the same with these new modern automatic transmissions. Now, what about the auto shift transmissions? That’s correct me if I’m mistaken. That’s kind of a hybrid between an automatic and the manual.

08:19 Yeah, they kind of those are pretty much cuz you can switch between the automatic and then the manual. It’s almost pretty much the same. I mean it’s really no different than driving an automatic because all you’re doing is pushing a button.

08:32 Right. Right.

08:34 All you’re doing is pushing a button. So it’s not a true manual transmission. But Yeah. Yeah. The manual is a better, you know, it’s a better drive and it should still be a requirement, but it’s no longer a requirement today, but it should be because there’s still a lot of manual transmissions out here.

08:54 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

08:55 Brand new trucks. Yeah—

08:57 Absolutely. Now, we were talking about you’ve been doing this for a while. How long have you been driving a truck, Alvin?

09:03 I’ve been driving trucks for 10 years now. Since 2012. Over a little over 10 years.

09:10 Gotcha. What’s it been like?

09:12 It’s been good. Yeah, I love it. That’s why I’m still doing it. Probably the longest thing I ever done.

09:17 What pulled you into it? How did you get into it?

09:20 Well, I wanted to try something new. I had my CDLs when I had my CDLs at a younger age. And when I did get my CDLs, it was hard for me to find a job. So, I had to wait till I was 21—

09:31 Right? Right.

09:32 When I finally became 21, I wanted to get into it and basically do what I went to school for.

09:40 Gotcha.

09:41 So, I mean I love doing it. It’s a piece of mind. It’s it keeps you like it’s like an escape almost. It’s a it’s work but not really because I mean you kind of on the road. You get to see different things. So it kind of keeps you well traveled and then at the same time it keeps you from being bored. Like you get to go from place to place. So it’s like you never know what to expect out here. You never know where you’re going to go.

10:09 You know, you said there at the beginning it’s kind of an escape. Kind of elaborate a little bit on that. Kind of branch it out from us. Put us in the seat with Alvin Ross. We’re riding shotgun with you. What’s your frame of mind when you’re out on the open road or when you’re in a city?

10:25 Well, when you’re in a city, like I mean your first thing, your first frame of mind, you know, you want to be safe out here. But at the same time, like what I mean by an escape, if for me, I love certain cities at night. And if I’m riding through Chicago at night, that’s one of my favorite cities to ride through at night.

10:43 That’s a great city—

10:44 Because I mean, you get to see the you get to see the skyline, you know, you get to see all of that. So that’s what I mean by an escape. I mean, you got you also have a peace of mind out here, you know? You get to escape from all of the anything back home. You get to escape from a lot of things, you know? So, it’s kind of like that’s what I mean by an escape. Once you get out here, you basically on the road and mentally you out here—

11:06 Right? And that’s what’s on your mind, driving.

11:09 Yeah. That’s what’s on your mind. Yeah.

11:10 Now, you were talking about you like to see city skylines, Chicago. For those who have not been through or been to Chicago, in my opinion, one of the great American cities, of all the places you’ve been, which one has really struck a chord with you?

11:25 I think California might be California might is one of my favorite places, too. But I think the place that really did kind of strike a chord with me was something that I didn’t expect. Portland.

11:37 Oh, really?

11:38 Yeah. I like the infrastructure in Portland. I mean, Portland is a it’s a real nice city.

11:42 Gotcha. They’ve got some— They got some really good beer out there.

11:46 All those micro breweries. Are you a beer guy?

11:50 Yeah, I drink a little bit of beer.

11:52 What’s your beer of choice?

11:53 Melo.

11:54 Oh, Melo’s a good beer, man. One of my favorites. I’d probably have to put it in the top five. Top four maybe. Their dark beer. Do you like it?

12:05 The dark one. Yeah. Yeah. I like the Medel black.

12:08 Yeah. Squeeze a little lime in there. And you know in the regular Medel you get that ice cold that’s a solid beer right there.

12:17 Yeah.

12:17 I was going to say that’s a summer beer. I do I kind of do tend to stick with the Melo black in during the winter time.

12:23 Yeah it’s good beer man. It’s really good. That nice caramel brown color to it. Now when you’re having let’s say it’s winter time which we’re in right now. You’re having a negroello. What are you having with it? Is this is it a dinner thing by itself? How do you do it? No, every once in a while I could just have it could be by itself. I could just have me a little beer here and there by itself.

12:44 Gotcha.

12:45 Maybe after dinner or something like that.

12:48 Now, are you a cigar man by chance?

12:50 No, I will have a cigar, but I don’t tend to smoke at all. I keep I you know, I’ve had a cigar here and there. Every once in a while, I may have a cigar if I’m going to like one of the little cigar spots—

13:01 Right—

13:02 Where you can have cigar and brandy or something like that. So, it’s basically I’ll have it for the taste, but not really.

13:08 I got you. I got you. You know, we were talking about some of the things you like about driving, the escape, the open road. It’s work, but it’s not really work. And you get to I think that’s what you said. It’s work, but not really. What do you mean by that? It’s work, but not really.

13:24 Well, it’s work, but I guess it’s not a lot of physical work. It might be mental, but when you get out here on open the road, you’re working because you definitely got to you got to follow the guidelines. You got to be safe. You got to make sure you do compliant. You got to keep your laws. You got to keep all of that stuff up. But I guess if you love what you’re doing, then because if you hate what you’re doing, then it’s going to be a hard job. It’s going to be work—

13:52 Right?

13:52 If you love what you’re doing—

13:54 It turn it goes from being work to it’s actually you love what you’re doing. Is actually fun. It’s almost like playing a video game. So, I guess I’m looking at this job like something that if I could live off of this and not make a dime, I probably would still do it.

14:08 You enjoy it that much?

14:10 Yeah.

14:11 Wow, that’s impressive, man. Now, how long have you been with Norton? I know you’ve been driving for 10 years. How long have you been with us?

14:17 I’ve been with Norton since October.

14:20 Okay. Okay. Now, I’m going to brag on Alvin Ross here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Did a little research before we got on the phone call here. Just a couple of statistics about Alvin Ross. On the personal side, he wears a large shirt, so I’m assuming you’re in pretty good shape.

14:38 Yeah, I’m trying to stay in pretty good shape. I had I gained a little weight before, but I got right back down to where I needed to be.

14:46 Are you at your playing weight?

14:47 Yeah. Yeah, I’m back down where I need to be. I had I gained a little weight before being out on the road previously, but yeah, I lost all of that. Did you get back in the gym or how’d you lose it?

14:58 Yeah, I got back in the gym and then I started eating better. Stop eating a lot of the junk—

15:03 Right?

15:04 Yeah. Yeah.

15:05 Just eating health diet and exercise as they say.

15:08 Eating healthier. I cut out all the sweets cuz I love candy and cakes and stuff like that. So, I cut that out completely.

15:17 Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.

15:19 I didn’t mean to go down a rabbit hole there about your eating habits, but let’s get the train back on the tracks here. Talking about some of the statistics as a driver here for Norton Transport, your check-in percentage is 100%. Were you aware of that?

15:36 No, I wasn’t.

15:37 Yeah. Check-in percent 100%. 100% right now. Obviously, it’s important to you.

15:44 Yeah, it is.

15:45 What about that makes it important to you? I mean, to be where you’re going to say you’re going to be when you’re say you’re going to be there. Well, that was something that was always important to me because I feel like I mean, you got to make sure the customer is happy, but I mean because as long as the customer is happy, we stay in business.

16:03 Exactly.

16:04 So, I’ve always looked at it like that. I mean, you know, I was an owner operator before I had my own truck. So, it was a it I’ve already had that I’ve had that mentality because I’ve I ran my own truck.

16:16 That gives you a lot of perspective to draw from.

16:19 Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, a lot of things that a lot of drivers may not feel is important. I mean, I had to have that mentality because when you got your own truck and you dealing with contracts and stuff like that, it’s just it’s a natural thing. Like, it’s like second nature to me now. So, it’s kind of like I’m still working as if I got my own truck because that’s the only way I know how to do it.

16:43 Right. Being a former owner operator there, does that give you a perspective you think that a lot of drivers or some drivers may not have of the expectations and the pressure that comes from the customer wanting that truck yesterday?

16:58 Yeah, it does. I mean because thing about it when you’re an owner operator you want to make sure the customers are happy because you want to continue to keep those loads especially if you got like a I mean you may get the CocaCola contracting and you reaching you pulling the load from Florida to California and back you want to stay on that load because that’s a good run right there and it’s a set run. That means I’m only going to two places.

17:26 Mhm. And I mean that’s a real good run because you gonna take the odd 10. You never gonna have to go with the 40. So a run like that you want to keep that.

17:33 That’s money in the bank.

17:34 You definitely—

17:35 Yeah, that’s money in the bank is guaranteed. The way to make sure you keep that run is to keep the customer happy. I mean be on time, you know, if anything happened with the truck. If any problem, if you have any problems, you want to call ahead of time. You want to do all of that type of stuff. Well, you’re clearly doing it because not only is your check-in percentage 100, but your completion percentage is 100.

17:58 Oh, okay.

17:59 Yeah, we’re dropping some dimes on you here. Dropping a little knowledge on you there. Check-in percent 100%. Completion 100%. And you are monthtodate on time 100%.

18:14 All right.

18:15 You’re doing great, Alvin. I mean, we everybody here, I mean, the account managers, the dispatchers, obviously the from the top of the management all the way down, they love having drivers like Alvin Ross. I mean, because the numbers speak for themselves. And not only is your on-time percentage 100% for the month to date, it’s 100% for the quarter to date, which of course we are just in the first month of the quarter, but obviously you’re off to a great start. What do you attribute that to? I guess I attribute to like, you know, just hard work, man. You know, and like I said, well, I’m not even gonna say hard work. I’m just going to say like it’s just a mentality I have and it comes from I guess it comes from me having a different perspective on things. I mean, being an owner operator and being able to see it from a owner standpoint, I guess I’m still working as if I’m a owner. I’m own operator. I’m working as if I’m still running my own truck.

19:17 If you could communicate that to other drivers who may not see it the same way, how valuable is that viewpoint that you have? Do you think it’s something that should be shared by many of the drivers, the majority of the drivers? Yeah. I mean, because from a company standpoint, you know, I’m just one guy, you know, from a company standpoint, if we all do what we’re supposed to do, then that’ll keep us in business and it’ll also get the word out and it’ll get us more business. So, from a company standpoint, yeah, if everybody operated the way they were supposed to, I mean, you know, and did it the right way, that can keep us in business and get us more business. More business, the more opportunity.

20:00 Absolutely. Now, we’ve already talked about your great track record so far in your time with us, 100% in all the major categories. And how much do you like to be on the road? Are you a runner?

20:14 I tend to run now. I tend to run about three weeks on and then I’ll go home for like a week.

20:22 Gotcha. You like the long runs?

20:24 Yeah, I like the long runs. I think for veteran drivers, experienced drivers like yourself, the long runs are the way to go. And I pulled a little bit more data up before we got on the phone here. You’re doing 6,350 miles a month. Is that about where you want to be?

20:42 Yeah. Yeah. That’s kind of good cuz that’s about— Yeah, that’s about three weeks worth of work.

20:47 Do you try to knock out a couple thousand each week?

20:50 Yeah. Yeah.

20:51 Now you’re going from Syracuse to California. What part of California? I’m going to LA. Yeah. Commerce, California. It’s close to LA. It’s like around the corner.

20:59 Are you in a rider truck?

21:01 Yep. Ryder.

21:02 All right. You’re moving one of mine. I thought that was it, but that’s awesome. I’m glad that you’re in mine because we talked last week, myself and another account manager. We had a joint load, a grouped load, and we were trying to find out which driver to put on it. And we pulled up your stats here, and I’m like, I’m all for that guy. And of course the other account manager was like, “I’m all for that guy.” So, that’s the way it happened. And, I didn’t know you were on which— Are you on the second leg of that group or the first leg?

21:32 This the second leg of it.

21:34 I got you. Cuz it was a you had to deliver a show truck, didn’t you, before?

21:40 Yeah, I delivered a show truck to Vegas. And then from Vegas, I flew to Syracuse and I picked this one up and then I’m headed to California. Tell us about the show truck. What kind of truck was it? And I think I know, but I want to hear it from you first. Oh—

21:58 It was a 2023 Western Star. It was a Mixer truck—

22:02 For the show that’s going on.

22:03 Yeah. Yeah. For the convention out there in Vegas.

22:06 How did it ride? I mean, a brand new truck, Mixer. How was the ride in it?

22:10 Yeah, it rode. It actually rolled pretty good and it was pretty decent on I mean, most of those mixer trucks, you know, they kind of, you know, how bad they are on fuel, but I mean— Oh, yeah.

22:20 Wasn’t too bad. I mean, as far as the transmission goes, I mean, it wasn’t sluggish like most of them because most of them they kind of geared low, so they pull a little different, but this one kind of like it was a smoother ride. It was a smoother ride, so it was it wasn’t too bad.

22:38 Now, was it a drum mixer or one of those volumetric guys?

22:42 Yeah, it was a drum mixer, I think. Yep.

22:44 Oh, gotcha. Gotcha. Now, were other trucks arriving at the show or were you one of the first ones there?

22:50 Well, actually, I dropped this one at the what it was because I think this one went straight to the Freightliner dealership and they—

22:57 They’re going to clean it up.

22:58 They keep all the show trucks in. They keep them in storage before the convention.

23:03 Yeah. They got to buff them up, clean them up, shine them up.

23:06 Yeah. So, yeah, it had to go there first and then as far as the convention, I didn’t even get to that point. Any added pressure when you know you’re driving a show truck?

23:17 Well, not really. I’ve drove I’ve driven like maybe I think I’ve driven like three show trucks already.

23:24 Mhm.

23:25 And I keep the same mentality. I treat it as if it’s my truck.

23:29 That’s awesome, man. That’s a great way to look at it. Now, you’re going to Los Angeles. Let’s see. What’s your target date of when you’re going to hit there? I should be there Sunday and I’ll make the delivery because I think they closed Sunday. I’ll make the delivery Monday morning.

23:46 Gotcha. What happens after that?

23:48 Well hopefully because I’m trying to get into the decks. I mean, I got in touch with a guy today. I should be getting into the decks next week sometime. I’m thinking that’s probably my next move.

24:00 A little deck training going on there.

24:03 Yeah. Yeah, deck training. I gotta tell you, I mean, that’s you know, people inside the industry know that’s where the money’s at. And of course, those of us back here at the office that work with the singles, we hate to lose the good drivers, but I kind of make the analogy, it’s kind of like you know, it’s going from double AAA baseball to the major leagues when you get to the decks.

24:27 Yeah. Yeah. Well, from what I understand, she told that my dispatcher told me I could kind of do both if I wanted to. I can do decks and singles.

24:38 You absolutely.

24:39 I don’t know. I don’t know how that works.

24:40 Oh, you absolutely can. Because I mean you know, you can’t do singles and decks, but you can do decks and singles. Does that make sense?

24:48 Okay.

24:49 Cuz I mean, what we do is, let’s say, for example, say you’re moving a deck set right now and you’re going out to Los Angeles with four trucks. Well, let’s say there’s a single in Los Angeles that’s going to Chicago. You can drop your four in Los Angeles and take that single out.

25:08 Yeah.

25:09 So, yeah, you’ve got the I mean, it’s kind of, you know, the world is your oyster on the deck side there. It’s like it’s a beautiful thing and I think you’ll look forward to it and based off of your track record, you certainly are on the right path, dear.

25:22 Okay. All right. Thanks, man. Now, what will you have you had a chance to kind of get a layout of the road map of what your deck training will be like?

25:34 Well, not necessarily. I’ve had a I’ve had small experience with I mean, I’ve hauled decks because I did the shuttle runs down there in San Antonio. So, I got the experience driving them for about a week. I got the experience dealing with, you know, the small training that they do down there as far as tightening your load down, tightening the bolts and stuff down on there. So, I know it’s going to be more work. I know it’s going to be more physical work. I know that.

26:04 Right. Right. But that certainly helps that you’re in good shape. And let’s see. I’m trying to do the math here. You’re—

26:12 Early 30s.

26:13 No, I’m asking you 40.

26:15 Oh, okay. My math was off there.

26:18 40 or 41?

26:19 40. 41. I got you. And but you know, we’ve established you’re in pretty good shape and I mean it is there is more physical work involved in decking because you got to deck and undeck and you got to deal with the saddle and the weight of the saddle. Is that something you’ve been exposed to yet or is that something that’s down the road?

26:38 I haven’t been exposed to the I guess that’s something down the road. I’ve got—

26:43 I’ve watched videos and you know I talked to people that do the dick. So, I mean, they was telling me about the saddle and that type of stuff. So, I got some information on it.

26:52 Kind of got the lay of the land. Are you looking forward to it?

26:55 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I’m definitely looking forward to it.

26:57 Now, have they laid out I should know this, but I don’t. How long does deck training last? How long does it take?

27:05 Well, today I think I was talking with the guy. He told me you have to do anywhere from 8 to 12 loads. And it can last I’m guessing it can last a couple weeks. Just depends on how fast you learn it. Your trainer I guess your trainer will be the one that would say when you were be ready to go. But he said it’ll be like 8 to 12 loads with your trainer.

27:28 I guess when you think about it 8 to 12 loads is a small price to pay when you think about the safety needed required for deck driving. Not to minimize singles driving safety, but you know, when you’re pulling three or four trucks total.

27:44 Yeah.

27:44 That’s a different animal.

27:46 Yeah, that is. That’s a different animal right—

27:48 Now. Wanted to kind of back up. You know, you’re going to be in Los Angeles Sunday, dropping Monday. Are you any plans to get back home or you staying on the road?

28:00 No, I’m going stay on the road. I was home from Christmas to New Year. So, I’m back out. I’m going probably work about another two and a half weeks then I may go back home cuz that’ll be right around my 3 week mark right there.

28:14 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, where is home for you?

28:18 It’s in Vegas, Las Vegas.

28:20 How long you been out there?

28:22 Probably been out there about three and a half years.

28:26 And you moved—

28:27 I’m originally from Georgia.

28:29 Okay. I saw on your area code on your phone. I said he must be a Georgia guy. And it looks like you’re an Atlanta guy. Atlanta area guy.

28:38 Yep.

28:39 What part of Atlanta?

28:40 Well, it’s on the outskirts of Atlanta, like around—

28:43 Douglasville.

28:44 Okay. Yeah. Yeah.

28:46 Georgia. Yeah.

28:47 Yeah. They play some good high school football there.

28:49 Mhm.

28:50 Now, what moved you out to Vegas?

28:52 Well, my wife, she’s from Vegas. That’s honestly the reason why I went to Vegas.

28:57 Now, you’ve been out there for three years. What do you think about Vegas?

29:00 Pretty it’s a nice place to be. As long as you don’t have any bad habits, it’s fine. And if you gamble and you got like bad habits, then not the best place for you. But you don’t have any bad habits, you can live out there and live a decent life.

29:14 Gotcha. Gotcha. Do you gamble?

29:17 No, not really. I mean, if I do gamble, it’s basically just for fun. It’s not a serious thing. I will never go in there and lose a lot of money—

29:25 Right? You just—

29:26 Anybody that’s in town to visit to they may want to go to the casino and I may play a game here and there with them or whatever. I mean, I like blackjack.

29:36 So, I’ll probably play blackjack here and there, but yeah, it’s my brother coming town. He may want to go to the casino.

29:41 Right. Right. Now, do you look at it from the standpoint it’s like, okay, I’m taking x amount of dollars with me. No more. If I win, great. If I lose, I’m not digging any deeper.

29:52 Yeah. Yeah. That’s pretty much what it is. Anything that I lose is was already planned on being a loss. It’s like it’s not going to be a lot of money. If I lose, it may be like 50 or $60 at the max.

30:05 I got you. I got you. So, it’s just every once in a while for you or if you’re entertaining guests.

30:12 Yeah, it’s just every once in a while. It’s not even a serious— It’s like a fun thing. Really?

30:17 Gotcha. Now, are you a football fan?

30:19 Yeah, I am.

30:20 Raiders fan?

30:21 No. No, I’m not a Raiders fan. I like Buffalo. Oh, well, we’ll circle back to Buffalo, but while we’re talking about Vegas, I’m sure you’ve seen that stadium out there.

30:31 Yeah, it’s a nice stadium. A real nice stadium.

30:34 That’s like close to5 billion dollars somewhere around there.

30:38 Yeah, it’s a couple billion.

30:39 Yeah.

30:40 Expensive tickets, too.

30:43 I’m sure. Now, let’s go back to Buffalo here because much of the country was watching or even if they weren’t watching became, you know, the talk of the town. What happened? I think it was a Thursday night game against the Bengals a couple weeks ago. Did you see the young man that was close to losing his life there?

31:02 Yeah, he— Yeah. Yeah. He just p he basically I think he was in a— Was he in a coma? No, his—

31:09 I know he got hit and he got up and then he just fell. He just dropped after that.

31:15 Yeah, he just absolutely dropped and they had to do CPR on him and he was out for—

31:20 He was out for a number of minutes there before they had to rush him to the hospital there in Cincinnati. But were you watching the game when that happened?

31:28 I didn’t see that game, but I saw that I saw a couple of highlights and then I think he’s they say he opened his eyes and everything. Now he’s up. Now he’s talking.

31:36 Oh, yeah. It was miraculous because I mean he went that you know it was obviously he was on the brink of death there and you know of course I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve watched football all my life—

31:47 And to see the reaction of the players the Bills and the Bengals and the emotion that was just rocked on their face you know it was like this is something that’s unseen we haven’t seen this before and you know you didn’t want to let your mind drift to the worst but it certainly looked that way. But no, he’s bounced back and from my understanding he’s—

32:11 Last week he was in the hospital. He been transferred back to Buffalo and was able to have—

32:19 Conversations and facetime with his teammates and the first thing he said was, “Did we win the game?”

32:25 Yeah. Yeah.

32:26 Now, you take that with the emotional toll of it, the injury to him, and you’re already a Bills fan. For me personally, I think the Bills are going to win it all. Where do you see it?

32:37 I can see them doing it. Yeah, because I mean they the Bills, they got a pretty tough team. So, I can see that being the case. But the Bills, they got a history of they’ve been a lot. They’ve been they’ve made it there a lot and disappointed. I mean, I even when I was a kid, I think they went there.

32:57 That was when the Cowboys and the Bills went back to back to back—

33:01 Like three times and they lost it three times in a row.

33:05 And they played one of those Super Bowls there in your backyard.

33:08 I think it was 93 they played in Atlanta against the Cowboys.

33:12 Yeah.

33:13 Yep. Now, when are you going to shut down for the night? Are you do you drive at night or in the day? Which do you prefer?

33:20 I tend to try to drive at in the daytime. I like to drive in the daytime. I like to get an early start. That way I can shut down. You know, you don’t have to, you know, you don’t necessarily have to rush when you get an early start. You can shut down. You know, I also like to if I shut down early, if I get an early start at it and I shut down, I got time to maybe find a gym or something, go to the gym. You know, you don’t have to necessarily, you know, because you know, you already got the date that you going to make the delivery. And on a load like this, I know that I don’t have to get that there until Monday because I’mma be in California Sunday. Everything is closed. So, I got time to like, you know, make it there. I don’t have to rush.

34:03 I got you. Got you.

34:04 So, in between in a between time with a load like this, you got time to go to the gym, you know, exercise, that type of stuff.

34:11 Well, take us through a typical day on the road of Alvin Ross. Typical day of Alvin Ross on the road. Let’s look at it this way. Syracuse to Los Angeles. Let’s say that’s the run you’re making. That’s what 5 days. Is that five days travel?

34:29 About five days. Yep. G—

34:31 Give us a kind of a breakdown.

34:33 All right. Take us from beginning to end. You pick up in Syracuse. What was day one like?

34:38 All right. Day one was a little it was kind of tough because day one basically I dropped the load off in Vegas and instead of taking that day off I jumped straight on the plane that same night from Vegas to Syracuse at I think the flight left at 11.

34:58 Mhm.

34:58 So out of Vegas the flight was smooth. We got to Detroit for the layover. I had like maybe an hour and a half, two hour layover, but in the proc process of getting to Detroit that same day, the FAA lost power. So they grounded all the planes in the US.

35:14 I remember that. Oh yeah.

35:15 So yeah. Yeah. We got a delay there. I think another two and a three hour delay. So we were delayed. So I took off about I took off out of Detroit probably about 9:30 10:00. Made it to Syracuse. So you can imagine, okay, I had been driving all day. Caught the flight that same night out of Vegas.

35:36 So, I had minimal sleep. Basically, I slept on the plane—

35:40 Right?

35:41 So, by the time we took off and got to Syracuse, you know, I had a couple hours of sleep on the plane here and there. My 10-hour recheck was done, but I knew that I wasn’t going to take a full, you know, I knew, okay, I’m not going to work a full day today. I’m just gonna I had planned on, okay, I’m gonna get out of New York. I’mma probably drive to Ohio and stop.

36:03 So, basically, that was my trip plan for the day. I had already trip planned. I was like, you know, I’m not going to do a full day today. I know I got to get the load there Monday. I’mma take this day to rest, but I’m going to basically drive out of New York, make it to Ohio, and then I’ll shut down there. So, yeah, my that was my trip plan. So, I got out, went and got the truck, did my pre-trip, got on the road. It had enough gas in it to where I could make it to Ohio. So, I made it to Ohio. I gassed up, drove the rest of the way to Cleveland, and that was pretty much the day. It was probably about a, let me see, about a five and a half, six hour drive.

36:41 Mhm. Now, you know, we’ve talked about in your statistics here, you’re 100% guy, but you got to know internally that you were not 100% that day because of all the stuff that had happened before. I mean, the flight delay, the long flight, the driving before.

36:56 And I mean how important is it to you to be able as a driver to detect that kind of thing? You’re like, okay, I don’t need to push it on this day.

37:07 Well, it’s important because safety, like I said, I was always taught about safety, and I’m one of those guys. I want to make it home. So, and that’s where the trip plan, that’s what you trip plan for. You know, I knew that I don’t have to have this load there until Monday. I’m going to make it there Monday regardless. I mean, if everything had have went perfect, if I had have had all the sleep I needed, if everything would have went perfect and I, let’s just say I would have did my full shift when I first got it, then I would have been way ahead of time. I would have probably made it there Saturday.

37:38 Mhm.

37:39 So, I knew that, okay, you don’t have to really kill yourself. You know, you’re going to get there before Monday regardless of the fact. So, safety comes into play first every time anyway. You know, we all want to make it home at the end of the day.

37:53 Very, very wise words from Alvin Ross here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, Alvin, we know from the first leg of the journey, Syracuse to was it Cleveland you stayed for the night?

38:06 Yeah.

38:06 Okay. So, from Cleveland, you went south to Indie and you’re heading west out of Indie now.

38:12 Yep. Heading west.

38:13 Have you picked a point where you’re going to stop for the evening?

38:16 Probably going to stop around the St. Louis, East St. Louis area. Now, have you already picked out a place you’re going to stay? Have you already made reservations? Or are you playing it by ear?

38:26 Well, I’m kind of playing it by ear, but I’m kind of familiar with that area. So, like once I get to St. Louis or East St. Louis, I know it’s a TA over there in East St. Louis before I make it to like St. Louis, Missouri. East St. Louis, Illinois, they got a TA over there. I know I’mma pass by that. I know they got a pilot in St. Louis. So, it just all depends. It just I’m planning by here. But I mean, I know it’s going to be one of those two places because I’m familiar with that area.

38:53 Right. You’re right. You want to go with what you know.

38:56 Yeah. Yeah.

38:57 Now, what’s it going to be like? I mean, you’ll get a good night’s sleep, you hope, and then a shower in the morning or a shower tonight. Are you a coffee guy?

39:05 Not really. I do drink coffee, though. I’m drinking I do the Starbucks now every once in a while.

39:11 What’s in your Starbucks cup? I normally do the iced coffee, the toasted ice toasted vanilla.

39:18 Oh, nice.

39:19 Espresso.

39:21 Yeah, I’ll do that here and there, but as far as the hot coffee, I don’t normally I kind I used to drink coffee here and there, but I try to stay away from a lot of caffeine. I don’t drink it every day either. I kind of drink it here and there if I feel like I want to have some.

39:36 I’ll drink an espresso every once in a while and I’ll do the iced coffee. So, I’m what I’m driving at, no pun intended, here how do you get yourself going? Are you a guy that’s really up and at him in the morning, or do you have to ease into the day? How does it work for Alvin Ross?

39:51 Well, I think with all of the exercises and with all of the good habits I’ve been doing, it’s been giving me it’s giving me more energy because, like I said, you create a lot of bad habits on the road when you get out here sometimes—

40:04 You eat wrong, you eat late at night and you lay down, you go to sleep, you drink a lot of caffeine. You know, at one point in time when I first started driving, I was drinking five hour shots a lot and I felt like I needed those and this is when I was drinking coffee and energy drinks and stuff like that. A lot of times that caffeine and those energy drinks can take a lot out of you and you know they’ll make you crash and you’ll be tired. You’ll be worse off than you were before you drunk—

40:32 Right?

40:33 So, you know, that’s why I say I kind of stay away from those. I mean, if you eat right, exercise properly, you know, cuz the thing is is honestly, I’m no doctor, but a lot of that stuff, a lot of that stuff is bad for you. Can create insomnia and you’ll feel you’ll be tired on the road driving and when it’s time to shut down, you’ll lay down and you won’t be able to sleep.

40:58 Your mind starts.

40:59 You’ll feel like you were just— Yeah. You’ll feel extremely tired before, but now you can’t sleep. So now, that’s why I say it makes you worse off than before. So with a great with a decent diet, exercise here and there, and you kind of manage what you put in your body, it kind of basically helps your body. And I mean, when it’s time to go to sleep, you go to sleep. You know, it’s better for you. It’s better for you to exercise, eat right, know what to eat, not eat too late—

41:35 And just, you know, just rest.

41:36 Is that information you share on a routine basis with other drivers?

41:41 Yeah. Yeah. You know, I try to tell people because everybody asks me, I mean, you know, how did I lose the weight? What did I do? And things like that. So, and I mean, I feel better than I ever felt before. And I mean, I’m just keeping up the habit now. Basically—

41:58 Once you get started, it’s once the pounds come off, I guess it’s more motivation.

42:04 Yeah. And I mean, as long as you’re doing the right things, like I mean, honestly, to be honest with you, I stopped drinking five hour shots and coffee and stuff like that. Like maybe I’ll say maybe three and a half, four years ago, maybe.

42:18 Mhm.

42:18 I hadn’t had a five hour shot in like maybe four, maybe four years. And I was drinking those every single day. Don’t miss them at all.

42:27 Don’t miss them at all.

42:28 Gotcha. Now, before we got on the phone here, I kind of went around and talked to a couple of your dispatchers. I said, “Tell me about Alvin Ross.” I They said, “Well, what do you mean?” I said, “Well, I want to know a little bit about him, get a little insight so I’ll have something to talk about.” And spoke with Casey. She said, “He’s very professional.” Is that the way you intend to carry yourself?

42:51 Yeah, I tend to carry myself like that. And I think it all goes back to having to work as far as an owner operator, having to deal with clients, deal with customers and contracts and stuff like that. I think I tend to handle things as if I mean it’s the only way I know how to do it, I guess. I mean, because honestly, I started out as an owner operator, you know. I did that for like maybe three and a half dealing with Land Star and then I started doing my own authority. So I was able to once you start doing your own authority, you kind of have to do everything on your own.

43:32 You’re dealing with every you doing everything by yourself at that point. So I guess me having to do all of those things and the way I was operating I think I kind of still am operating that same way. You know, communication is a key. I mean, I still try to keep my communication up with the dispatch. I do pretty much doing the same things I’ve been doing.

43:52 Gotcha. Gotcha.

43:53 Nothing’s changed.

43:55 Now, you were talking about you’ve been with us since October. What’s it like in the driveaway space?

44:02 Well, I love the driveaway space, honestly. I mean, it’s good money and I’m still kind of operating as if I was a owner operator, you know, and I mean, it’s the freedom. I love the freedom. I also love the fact that you know this job pays you almost the same as being an owner operator honestly.

44:23 And we try to—

44:24 Without all the risk without all of the risk that comes with being an owner operator because with owner as an owner operator you’re responsible for the truck repairs all of that. Mhm. And you know, we try to pay you guys as quickly as possible, and we’ve heard from a number of drivers that have been on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton transport that they appreciate that. Is that something for you that I guess compare it to when you were an owner operator and how quickly you got paid then versus how quickly you get paid now?

44:56 Well, with this, I think I get paid quicker doing this. I mean, we pretty much get paid as soon as we drop the load. Yeah, it’s way faster over here. I mean, when I was on operator, I still had to wait on settlements. I had to use this is more convenient because I don’t ever have to look for a transflow machine. I can just do everything from my phone.

45:15 Like when I was out there, I had to use a transflow machine. Had to wait on them to do that. You may not get your settlement until the next week. But, with this, soon as you scan your paperwork in before 12:00, you’re getting paid the same day. How rewarding is that?

45:31 That’s very re rewarding because I mean depending on how many loads you can do a week, sometimes you can get paid twice a week or it depends on how you run. You might do a lot of short runs. Sometimes you can get paid three times a week.

45:46 Does that ever come into your mind? Do you factor it in say, “Hey, I want this two loads to end Friday at noon.” I mean, do you think about it that way?

45:56 Sometimes. Sometimes. Now, you had mentioned your wife is from Vegas. You guys moved out to North Las Vegas. Any children for you guys?

46:05 Yeah, I have two twins. Well, I got a twin set of twins. They it’s a boy and a girl. Two years old.

46:12 Two years old. Oh my goodness. I bet they’ve got you wrapped around their finger.

46:17 Yeah, they do.

46:18 What are their names?

46:20 Kinsley and Calvin. It’s a boy and a girl.

46:22 I got you. Both spelled with the same letter.

46:25 Yep. Which one has the did the personality traits did one pick up one from your wife, one pick it up from you? I mean, which one’s most like you? Which one’s most like your wife?

46:37 I think my son is more like me. He likes to likes to play a lot. He’s probably going to have my sense of humor. He’s more of the happy go-lucky playful type. My daughter, she’s kind of got my wife’s personality.

46:56 I gotcha. Now, do they miss dad when he’s out on the road? I’m sure they do.

47:00 Yeah, they do. I FaceTime them every day. Yeah, they definitely miss me.

47:05 Do does that add I mean, being able to FaceTime your children. Does that hold them over until you get back and they can actually see, hug, kiss on dad?

47:16 Yeah. Yeah, it does. And I try to make sure they see my face. I talk to them multiple times, especially over the weekend. Might talk to them all day depending on if I’m stop when I stop or something like that or if I’m down for the night or if I’m laid over somewhere. I talk to him all day.

47:35 Gotcha. Gotcha. Speaking about down for the night and laying over somewhere, how far from St. Louis are you now?

47:42 I’m probably about three and a half hours away from St. Louis right now. Feeling pretty good.

47:48 Yep.

47:49 You push on to St. Louis and look for that truck stop or one of the two truck stops you already know about.

47:55 Yeah.

47:55 And I’ll be pretty much done for the night.

47:58 You’re listening to Alvin Ross joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Alvin, we’re about to wrap it up here. Just wanted to ask you, leave the mic open to you. What advice would you give to someone who may be considering stepping into driveaway trucking? What would you say to them?

48:17 Well, first, if you want to be your own boss, because I mean I feel like I’m my own boss here. If you want freedom, this will be definitely the best place to come and do that at. And you know, just come here with the right attitude, you know, work hard, take your work serious, and you’ll definitely be successful here.

48:41 It’s worked for you.

48:43 Yeah, it’s worked for me. Have the right attitude.

48:46 How important is it that you know, you’ve talked about it, mentioned it twice there, having the right attitude. How would you describe the right attitude?

48:54 Well, the right attitude will get you a lot of a long way. I mean, especially dealing with customers, your dispatch, all of that, because, you know, you can’t hold anybody responsible for things that’s not their fault. And a lot of drivers, you know, they’ll get mad because maybe they didn’t get a load or maybe the load is not going the way they want. And you know, they may deal with the customers the wrong way. And I mean, a lot of times they because nobody will make you a priority that way if you got a bad attitude.

49:25 Mhm.

49:26 And that can slow you down even more. So having the right attitude, being patient, you know, is the best thing for you out here.

49:34 Those are some great words to close it up on there from Alvin Ross joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Alvin, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate the wisdom you shared with us and the insight that you had there at your fingertips and be careful and be safe out there.

49:51 Oh, I will, man. Thanks for having me.

49:52 You bet. Alvin Ross, thank you again.

50:00 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.