00:07 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. Next, it’s your host, Justin Scott. Let’s get to the show.

00:29 All right, welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker. I’m your host, Justin Scott. With me today, I have Larry Jordan. Larry Jordan is a deck driver with Norton Transport. Larry, how you doing today, buddy?

00:38 I’m good, my man. How are you—

00:40 Man? I’m doing good. I’m doing good. Enjoying the day. We got a little sunshine here in North Georgia. Looking at the other parts of the country, it’s not looking like that everywhere else. So, I’m thankful. You might be the only place in the country other than maybe the West Coast that has a little bit of sunshine right now. It’s been a crazy past couple of weeks weatherwise. That’s for sure.

01:02 That’s what I’ve heard. So, I want to say first off, thank you for the road warriors that are out there, including Larry, dealing with this weather. I know there’s been a lot of it. I’ve talked to a lot of guys who’ve been held up, stranded, blizzards, cold. So, thank you to all that are out there enduring this weather. I know it’s no fun, but Larry, thanks for coming on the show today. We really appreciate you. You know, we’ll kick it off by saying, you know, what do you have going on? What’s in Larry’s world right now? Are you currently on a load or you chilling at the house? What do you got going on?

01:32 Well, twofold. I am chilling at the house, but it was just a quick stop to grab my tools. I’d been on a series of singles and left my tools at the house. Didn’t need them. However, I am on a two-way from Hebrew, California going to Bronx, New York. So, stop by, do a little bit of laundry, maybe change the wardrobe a bit to head to arctic and snowy weather.

01:56 Freshen up a bit. Freshen up, you know. Nothing like a home shower.

02:00 Well, yeah, that too in my own bed. And I’ll be taking off later tonight, but yeah, on a two-way. It’s amazing even what a two-way will pay when you’re going across the country.

02:10 Oh, man. I bet. I mean, what a hell of a run.

02:13 California to New York. That’s the big one. That’s what they all want, right? The creme de la creme.

02:19 Absolutely. Absolutely. And I happen to be in the right place at the right time for it. So, fine. Might have got down on a knee. Not that you saw and begged for it, but my dispatcher Ryan made it happen. And yeah, here I am headed to New York.

02:32 Yeah, man. Those—

02:33 Where everybody wants to go. Everybody wants to go to the Bronx. And that’s a big why right there.

02:39 Well, absolutely. And I understand that. But at least you only have two. I mean, good gosh, taking a four-way into the Bronx. I don’t know what that would be like, but it doesn’t sound fun to me.

02:50 I don’t know that that’s possible.

02:52 It’s probably not. It’s probably not.

02:54 I’ve never heard of a four-way going into the Bronx. My first unit actually drops just outside of New Jersey, so it’s a single that’s going to end up in the Bronx, but—

03:03 Cool. Cool. Well, well, take us through, you know, how you ended up at Norton Transport, Larry. What got you into trucking and how did you land on with us and what did that look like? Well, you know, I’ve been in trucking for quite a few years and my first wife and I, we bought our first house and I got off the road and I worked local out of Muskogee in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And then we bought our second house and I just I you know I had gone to work for C to Dr. Pepper for quite a few years out of Muskogee, Oklahoma. And I just got to where I was looking for something a little bit different.

03:41 Sure. And I honestly don’t remember how I ran across Norton Transport specifically, but I did. And the old safety director long ago. We had a couple conversations and I went through the paperwork process and boom, there I was.

04:00 Was that first s that safety director was that Gary Vanzant?

04:04 Yes. Yes, that was it. That was it.

04:06 Yeah. Yeah. I know Gary very well. Very well.

04:09 Yeah. Gary was a good guy. Yeah.

04:12 And so yeah, I started long ago. My very first load was a bus—

04:18 Out of Tulsa going up somewhere into North Dakota in the winter in the snow.

04:25 So you’ve been with us for a while. So what when did you decide to go the deck route? So you— Well, we didn’t have deck trucks when you started and it was a while before we did. So what made you switch over to the decking side and how did that what was that process like? Well, I had I took a couple of years off and did some other things. You know, my wife and I adopted three kids and we were having a you know, just some issues, you know, all of a sudden a big family, etc. Etc.

04:52 Oh, yeah.

04:53 And we right about time I was looking to go back and go back on the road, my first wife passed away—

05:03 Suddenly. And you know, even though I hadn’t been with Dorn for about a year and a half, two years, you know, Mike Hers always checked in on me, always said hi. We remained friends. Michael called me a couple of times. Renee Daring, our current safety director, would reach out to me every now and then. Anders just hit me at the right time. He, you know, hey, how you doing? You know, the kids okay? And by the way, again, are you maybe ready to come back to work?

05:37 Little persistence there.

05:38 Oh yeah. Yeah. But it was all in, you know, it was all out of love. I mean, you know, haters didn’t have to call me like he did, but we share sports in common, big fans of football. And—

05:51 Even when I wasn’t there, we’d, you know, make our little hamburger and beer bets on whatever game was going on. I still don’t know who’s ahead of who. We probably owe each other a bunch.

06:05 But he said, “Hey, by the way, we’re in the deck loads now.” And I said, “Oh, you have my attention. Let’s talk about this.” And well, next thing you know, I came back. And I got our guy, David, who runs our yard down in Von Ormy, Texas, south of San Antonio. David trained me. Great guy. I don’t think there’s anybody in this business who knows anything more about decking than David.

06:28 He does.

06:29 And here I am. Been back for a good while now.

06:33 Yeah. And you came back and I guess you know things are going good. Then you got inspired and you know I’m going to mention this because you’ve got a little bit of brand recognition if you’re wearing shorts.

06:45 I’m always wearing shorts. Well, what if you’re undecking or if you’re delivering a truck or, you know, if you’re out at the mall and somebody’s standing behind you, walking behind you, what is it they’re going to see?

06:57 Well, they’re going to see an incredibly large Norton Transport logo tattooed on my right calf with my driver name above it. You can’t miss it. It is. It will attract the eye and you will look at it and stare at it.

07:18 When you deliver, does anybody ever ask about it or what are some of the conversations that have struck up because you’ve got that on your leg?

07:27 Well, I get a lot of, “Oh my gosh, you’re dedicated, aren’t you?” And I get a whole lot of Norton Transport, huh? I’ve heard of them. And I get a lot of they must treat you right for you to put the logo on your leg. And I tell them, well, yes, of course. Most I don’t know if it’s most, but I’d say at least half the drivers in this industry, they will pull for, you know, two or three other companies.

07:57 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

07:58 And I’ve never, you know, work with anybody else. It’s only Norton. You guys keep me as busy as I want to be. I’m treated extraordinarily well at Norton. I think part of that is I’m willing to do singles all day long.

08:13 Yeah.

08:13 I mean, I may go a month without doing a deck load and it’s whatever needs to be done, but it’s always an ends to a mean. And I think that helps me in getting loads I want. You know, I’m willing I get phone calls all the time. Hey, Larry, we need a favor. Now, back in the day—

08:32 You’re that guy. Yeah, I’m that guy. Long ago, it was, “Hey, Larry, Michael needs a favor. Michael Norton’s name was invoked constantly. Can you go do this? Can you go do that?” And I’m also the guy that never says no. So, it’s, you know, if I’m in the area or close by or, you know, whatever. Yeah, sure. I’ll go do it. I don’t care because I know I’m gonna be taken care of.

08:59 Right. Right.

09:00 In the long run. So it, you know, it to me I no offense to any of our deck drivers. We have some of the best guys in the industry, bar none. Period. But, you know, there’s guys out there that don’t want to do singles. The singles are the bread and butter. That that’s all the singles is what fills in the cracks, pays the bills, takes care of the business, and allows us to have a whole bunch of deck loads.

09:29 Yeah. And no doubt, I love what you mentioned there. You they you talk about the give and take. You know, obviously, you know, scratch our back, scratch your back type mentality. So, you know, I think that’s extremely important in our industry and you know, we appreciate you going the extra mile to help us out when we need help. So, that’s huge. And also having the tattoo helps. We want to have you as many places across the US marketing for us as we can.

09:56 Well, let me tell you about this tattoo. I’m gonna tell you a story about how the tattoo came about.

10:01 That’s what I want to know. That was my next question. How does this happen? How did it come about?

10:07 Okay. A couple of summers ago, I was getting ready to fly to Heber to get a load and I guess Michael and Mike were together and I was told, “Well, that load we’re going to give to somebody else. We’d like you to go to Virginia and help out settling a bunch of trucks. It looks like we’re going to have 500 trucks or more that need to be moved around for Volvo for Amazon.”

10:38 Yes. Yes.

10:40 And we got out there and myself and a couple other drivers after a week it looked like well we’re just going to need one guy at least now for the next few weeks. And so I was a guy that was left there, lived in a hotel. Of course, Norton paid for all this. And all I did is shuttle Amazon trucks nine miles back and forth, back and forth, staging lots so Amazon could inspect them themselves. And then they may go back for some upfitting, which is adding extra little gear and tools to the truck, radar, whatever, cell phone holders. I basically lived there for an entire summer and moved 500 trucks approximately three times each.

11:28 Wow.

11:29 Which was fantastic for Norton. Fantastic for us.

11:33 I remember that project. We got a nice Camry out of it, too. That the that eco-friendly Camry that we still use.

11:41 I know you remember that Camry well, don’t you?

11:44 Oh, yes. We hired a local person that was familiar with Tiger and Volvo and the situation up there and her name is Melissa and she became my shuttle driver and she and I worked together all day every day for weeks on end. Oh, there’s probably three, four times we had to call in other drivers to help out for some rough days and it worked out nice. There came a point in time where I had to I took a unit down from Volvo. I ran it down to our office and met some of the new people, including you. I hadn’t met you yet and had a meeting with Michael and we were on a pause while Amazon was inspecting some units. So, I was going to go off and do some deck loads and then go back when needed. And in the process of meeting with Michael, you guys had Norton had updated their logo just a little bit. Nothing crazy.

12:44 Yeah. Yeah.

12:45 But the logo was updated.

12:47 And I looked at Michael in the conference room at the old offices and I said, “Hey, you know what you should do? You should have a contest. See who’ll tattoo the Norton logo on them and give him some money or something. Have some silly contest. See who’s willing to do it.” And Michael said, and I quote, “I was thinking the exact same thing last weekend. I might have been drinking, but I was thinking the same thing.”

13:13 And I said, “I’ll do it.”

13:17 You know, I’m in my early 50s. I don’t care. I don’t have to impress anybody.

13:22 It’s a cool story.

13:24 Really? He said, “I’ll pay for it.” Well, push comes chub. And a couple of months later, boom. He’s on my leg.

13:34 Oh, that’s awesome.

13:37 Just a silly conversation and next thing you know, I’ve got him on my leg.

13:41 Those are the best stories though. The ones that, you know, out of nowhere and then you’re like, “Hey, this would be funny.” And then, “Okay, I’ll do it.” The funniest part is in the process of getting it done once it was laid out, you know, I took a couple of pictures and then I took pictures and they were finished and I sent them off to Mikeers, Michael Norton, whoever else and Mikeers forwarded the what was on my leg to Calvin. And now I know Calvin’s cell phone, you know, I most people I know there I’ve got their cell phone number. So I started getting back a lot of feedback. Then all of a sudden I started getting feedback from just numbers. I had no idea who is this. Oh, this is so and so. That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.

14:34 Now whether it’s the coolest thing anybody’s ever seen or not, that’s up for debate. But—

14:40 Well, I could tell you this that that that picture was getting shared with every single person in the office because that was probably one of the coolest things we’d seen in a while.

14:48 Yeah. Yeah. So, and I’m thrilled that it’s still there. I love my driver name. Michael Norton decided to give me my driver name. It’s Sleeping Beauty. The reason it’s Sleeping Beauty is there’s no I will drive late into the night and then get in my hotel. What time is checkout? Checkout from hotels is 11 o’clock in the morning. Well, I’ll leave at 11 and I’ll drive till 10 or 11 at night. So, everybody knows don’t bother Larry in the morning because you’re not going to get a hold of him. And Michael Norton decided I should be sleeping. So—

15:27 Boom.

15:27 I don’t blame you there. Yeah, that’s a good setup.

15:31 That’s on my leg.

15:33 And you know what? I don’t regret it. I love it. I think it’s fantastic. It’s a good looking tattoo if you ask me.

15:38 I think it looks great. I think it looks excellent.

15:41 Other people have commented on it. They think it’s just Wow. That’s dedication.

15:45 Have we put that on our Facebook page? We need to I don’t know. If not, I just thought of it. We need to get that on social media. That That’s going to be, you know, that’s going to spur some comments. I got to—

15:57 Well, you would think so.

15:58 Well, we’re going to have— We’ll do that. We got to do that with your permission. With your permission, of course.

16:04 Of course. Of course. I don’t care. Some of the comments may be like, “Really?” But nonetheless—

16:12 You’ve got thick skin. You’ve got thick skin.

16:14 Oh, yeah. I’m fine. I’m fine. I you know, I’ve had drivers that you know, now enough time has passed that I even forget it’s there. But again, 90% of the time I’m in shorts and I’ll be down at Von Ormy and a driver will notice that and go, “Oh, you’re Sleeping Beauty. And you know, it’s because our reward program, which is fantastic. Norton has a reward program where there’s three different levels. And when you achieve a particular level in a quarter, the next quarter, every mile you drive, you get extra money. And at the end of that quarter, you get it in a big check. I just I think second week of January I got my reward for the previous quarter and it was a nice fat check above and beyond my pay and it was fantastic. I appreciated every bit of it and all of us deck drivers, we can look and see at any time we want who’s on the leaderboard.”

17:22 Well, I tend to be up there on the leaderboard. And so yeah, that that’s how we kind of figure out names. And you know, when I meet a guy, I always ask, you know, what’s your driver name? So I know who I’m talking to. And if they’re one of the top guys in the leaderboard, then I’m— Oh, okay. I know you. I’ve known you for a few months. You know, it’s a fun program. It’s a fantastic program.

17:47 Yeah. I love it. And I hear that when I go to our yard or when I talk to guys, like, you know, because it goes by, like you said, it goes by the handle. So, you know, the fact that you can log in and see that and you’re always at the top. I think, you know, obviously it’s still early in the quarter. It’s just now early February, but you’re what third right now on the list. So, you know—

18:06 I haven’t looked the last couple of days. I know I’m just shy of 100 points. When I drop this truck, these two trucks off in the East Coast, I’ll blow past 100.

18:15 Yeah. Yeah.

18:16 I expect to be top five for this quarter.

18:18 I love that it gives you a chance to earn additional, you know, pay per mile. I think I mean obviously you know it’s a loyalty program but it’s rewarding that and I think that’s you know hey the more you do the more we’re going to give you the next time. So it is a loyalty program but it pays for both us and for the driver you know you run a lot of loads for us you know and then we’re going to give back more money for—

18:41 You know and it makes sense right now. I mean we have more deck loads than we can handle.

18:48 It’s busy. It’s busy right now.

18:50 And that’s not in a bad way. No, no—

18:52 We are really one of the industry leaders right now in running deck loads. And I think you’re foolish if that there’s a lot of guys out there and it’s not a problem. They do what they need to do. They make their money through the month. They pay their bills. They’ve got money in their pocket and they’re comfortable. We’ve got a lot of, you know, quite a few older guys. They maybe they do it part-time and that’s fine.

19:18 Yeah, that’s fine. The guys that do this full-time, this is an incredible incentive because it puts— Well, I’m not going to say how much, but I had a huge smile on my face when I got my incentive.

19:32 No, say how much was it? I didn’t even look back. How much was yours?

19:37 You know, I had a terrible October and November and I still pocketed right close to a grand extra money—

19:46 Just in incentives. Just an incentive. And I really did. I had a you know, it happens to everybody. I had a three-way used deck load that had multiple breakdowns on me and the drivers after me. I just for me, I had a terrible October and November. I had some personal issues with family. My fourth quarter just was not fantastic, but I still produced enough to put a grand in my pocket and I’m off to a blazing start this quarter. So, I expect that, you know, I’d like to think I’ll at least double that for the following quarter.

20:27 Yeah. Yeah, I think so. And fourth quarter, I know, you know, December, too, it’s usually tough. We had a good December, though, so that that was good. But I know you had some hiccups along the way. But yeah, I mean you could earn up to 8 cents, you know, a mile for every load, you know, in addition.

20:44 Exactly.

20:44 For every load that you did, you know, for one quarter and, you know, depending on how many loads you run, that adds up.

20:49 And what’s really neat about that program is—

20:53 When you see your settlement figures for a load you did while you’re in your bonus period, you can see exactly what you’re going to get when that quarter is over.

21:03 Yeah. You don’t get it right then and there—

21:05 Right?

21:05 But when I started seeing that I, you know, you’re like, “Wow,”

21:10 That’s awesome.

21:11 Well, that was it adds up.

21:12 Yeah. And that was a good visual to show cuz, you know, it gets hidden like, you know, when you get it, you know, oh, cool, cool. I got it. But you don’t really see what it took to get there, however much you end up getting on your bonus. But to actually see it for every load and then see it add up, I think for me, I’m a visual guy, so I have to, you know, I want to see it. You know, if I get paid, I know how much it was, but I want to log in. I want to see it. I don’t know why. That’s just me. So, I think it’s cool to see that itemized on your pay.

21:42 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I’m that guy, too. It’s, you know, the first time I started noticing that Norton was doing that, I’m like, “Oh, wow. That’s cool.” By the way, I want to give a shout out—

21:53 Yeah.

21:54 In my opinion to the hardest working person at Norton Transport.

22:00 Yeah. Please shout it. Shout it. Becca.

22:03 Yes. Oh, yeah. Thank you.

22:05 Becca does all our pay. She deals with the settlements for all our rental cars, which there’s hundreds and hundreds of those. I can only imagine what Mondays look like for Becca with pay being turned in. She’s on top of her game 247. And I just don’t believe Becca gets at least from the drivers. I don’t think Becca gets her due. Becca has been there forever. Great young lady, soft-spoken, super nice. I’ve known her for a long time and I think Becca is fantastic. Okay. She is the one that hammers through getting our pay on time.

22:50 Yeah. I mean, no doubt. I appreciate the shout out and I can’t wait to tell her that, you know, we got a shout out on the podcast for her because no doubt, I mean, she does she comes in, she puts her head down and she grinds it and, you know, you won’t hear a lot from her, but you know, it’s because she’s down there working and, you know, her role is so vital to the operations of what we do, you know, so she gets it done and she gets it done well and she gets it done efficiently. So, thank you for that.

23:17 Very, very much so. I love Becca to death. I She’s a fantastic young lady and I just don’t think she gets her due nor do most drivers understand what she has to go through to get us paid.

23:28 Yeah, it’s a process and she grinds it. I mean, boy, she grinds it. So, thank you. Well, speaking of pay, so I guess take me through, you know, you did singles and you do singles now, but you know, can you what is the formula or is there a Larry Jordan formula that works for you in terms of making the most money, let’s say, in a quarter or even in a month maybe if you want to break it down to be that granular. You know, you’re going to throw some singles in there. You’re going to do some deck loads. What’s the money like with singles and deck? And what’s the best formula for you where you have a successful month or quarter? You can look back and say, “Okay, that’s how you do it. That’s what I need to do every month or every quarter.” Well, for me, it’s always keep an eye on the load board and know where I’m going and see what might be in front of me in a couple of days and then think, do I want to get on an airplane and waste my entire day to fly back to Von Ormy, fly to Heber, fly wherever, or do I want to grab that single and maybe spend a couple of days getting it delivered, but I’m going to get myself right back to where I need to be or close to where I need to be.

24:34 Right now, here comes another favor.

24:37 Yes.

24:37 As soon as I deliver in the Bronx Monday morning, I’m going to go another 30 miles into Long Island. God knows why. Well, it’s Ryder. So, Ryder’s an important customer for us. I’m going to move a single seven miles.

24:51 Oh, okay.

24:51 And I’m going to race up to Liverpool, New York. I’m going to grab a single tractor and I’m going to run it to Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis puts me right there. Short drive. Get myself down to San Antonio to Von Army to our yard or I could go to Denton, Texas, Stony, pick up a deck load. Either place, go where I want to go. So, do I want to fly out of New York City and go back to get a load or does it make more sense to clean up that short single, go get a longer single? I might get lucky and it’s loaded with fuel coming out of Ryder. I might get lucky and have a little bit more profit, but it’s a quick two-day turnaround. I’m gonna make at least 600 bucks off of it for two days. Two days work. 600 bucks in my pocket. I’m gonna drop it and spend the rest of that day when I drop it driving to Stony or Von Ormy and then I’m on a deck load.

25:50 So to me, throwing those singles in there just makes so much sense because a lot of the time I can get a single or I try to get a single that’ll take me and put me in a position where I can either make a quick drive or if I have to fly, it’s a quick flight and I’m on something, I’ve got it picked up on time and then get on down the road.

26:15 That makes a lot of sense. And I think too, I think you just kind of hit the nail on the head for me of why you’re constantly at top of the leaderboard. It’s the planning, the load planning that that’s there, you know, reducing expenses, reducing dead head and downtime as much as possible. There’s always going to be dead head and downtime, but you know, I think you’re planning ahead. And now that I think about it, you’ve got to be a dispatcher’s dream when you’re doing that much planning by yourself. Cuz I’m sure by the time you call your dispatch, Larry’s already thought of a plan. Am I accurate or not on that?

26:49 No, you’re correct. And it’s not because he’s newer. I was the same way with Mike Hers. My first dispatcher, believe it or not—

26:58 Was Renee Daring. Oh, wow.

27:00 And Renee is our current safety director. Renee and Nicole—

27:04 Were my first dispatchers.

27:06 You know Nicole’s best—

27:08 Right?

27:09 I do. I do. I talked to her here a while. Well, I did a refire out of Oklahoma City for her here a while back.

27:15 Awesome. Awesome. We’re glad to have her.

27:16 I love Nicole. Nicole and Renee are fantastic. I love him to death. I’d punch a guy in the forehead for him. They are fantastic ladies.

27:26 Hell yeah.

27:27 I think Renee needs to probably work on decaf. She can’t help herself. Renee just does not like to be behind on anything. But you know, hey, she is fantastic. After about three months there, Mike Gators came on board. Mike’s a long time friend of I think Mike came out of the medical industry.

27:52 He did. A long time.

27:53 Yeah, he did. That’s right. Yeah, he did. They—

27:56 And he’s a long time friend of Calvin, the owner of the company.

27:59 Way back. Played basketball together. I mean, grew up together.

28:03 Yeah. Yeah. And I love Mike. I was, you know, that was one of my conditions to come back, but Mike was my dispatcher and Michael Norton said, “Done.” That lasted a short period of time. Was moved up. Had some other responsibilities and I got this new young punk, some kid named Ryan.

28:26 Yeah, you got the young bug, didn’t you?

28:29 And I’ll tell you why. Well, you know, as it was with AERS, I was told, well, he’s got to have somebody this good. You know, a minor hiccup here and there, but it’s probably more my fault than Ryan. I have a particular expectation. And, you know, my grumpy old ass probably put a little more pressure on Ryan that was needed from time to time. But Ryan’s a great young man. He’s a really good dispatcher. He’s still learning, but he’s fig you know, you’ve got to figure your drivers out. You’ve got to figure out what they want, when they want, how they want and Ryan and I have a fantastic relationship and I try always because it’s in my benefit and you know, I’m out here making money for me first and foremost and my family. You guys are secondary. That’s just how it is with any driver. Anybody tells you anything different, they’re lying.

29:24 No, that’s the absolute truth. We’re and I, you know, I’m not doing this for fun, so I feel you.

29:30 Right. I Yeah. I try to be extraordinarily proactive and so like, you know, like now what’s going on with the current loads I’m on. I call Ryan and we talk about it. Oh, hey. Yeah, that makes perfectly good sense. So, I guess in a sense a bit of a percentage I dispatch myself, but that’s just I’m proactive. I’m looking at what’s going on. I’m looking at what’s ahead. You know, back in the day, it used to be we had a lot of jobs, singles, only singles, maybe not as many, you know, nowhere near as dry as many drivers as we have now. And if I was in a particular location, you know, would give me five or six jobs at a time. Okay, go run all of these out of Aaronburg to San Francisco. Cool. I have it done in x amount of days. I’ll talk to you later.

30:18 Yeah.

30:19 And, you know, things have changed. Just, you know, a different way. We pick up a load, we log into the load, we get our fuel money, etc. Etc. But, you pay attention to the load board. You get a good relationship with your dispatcher, and you just work together, and you there’s no reason you can’t succeed. You put your time in. You do the singles in between deck loads. You do things that make sense, that make Norton and you money. There’s nobody made flying on an airplane all day.

30:51 That’s true.

30:52 But at the same time, sometimes that’s what you got to do. But I would like to think, you know, I’m not special. But Norton, even in between singles, I’ve been there long enough. I paid my dues. I don’t say no. I do favors. Whatever needs to be done, it’s got to get done. And in the end, I’m going to get what I need to take care of me. So Norton is real good about they pay for my rental. I get stranded in the snow. You know, there’s been a handful of times, not a lot, but there’s been a handful of times where, okay, Larry stuck for a couple of days. We’re going to take care of his hotel. But I think I’ve earned that.

31:30 Absolutely. You from the beginning. You’ve been around a long time and helping us out the way you do. I mean, it’s there’s got to be some benefits for doing that somewhere if you know.

31:40 Yeah, there is. And I think more guys should realize that. I think that’s where some of the drivers miss the ultimate mark down the road. And I would like to think their dispatchers would consider that or think about that. Just do us this one little favor. Move that unit and then we’re going to put you on a beast.

32:05 Yeah. But, you know, as with any business, some guys are, you know, this sounds really crappy and but some guys are a little shortsided. Some guys don’t see the long hall, the big picture.

32:20 No, I agree. Yeah, I think that’s good for airing. You’re right. I mean, there’s a lot of different ways to be successful and sometimes, you know, did it take I guess my question for you. What how did you learn that for you? Did you learn the hard way or did you just at some point something snapped or was that just the way you were in the beginning because Larry Jordan is just that kind of guy?

32:45 I think it was in the beginning. It doesn’t take them five minutes to understand that if you’re going to do singles and back when we only had singles, you need to be able to get some distance in your singles to make any money—

32:59 Right? So, if I’m willing to do all these short ones right when I began, my first one, I told you, was a bus up to North Dakota. And then I had a tractor at a Little Rock going wherever the hell it went. Chicago, somewhere outside Chicago. And then from up there, I ran a couple of box trucks back and forth like over to Pittsburgh, something like that. I ended up with a load going to North Carolina. And Nicole called me and said, “Hey, Larry, Michael needs a favor.” Okay. Well, we’re going to get you in North Carolina all the way to I think they took me out to California.

33:39 Wow.

33:39 It was a monster single. Paying good money and I got lucky and the fuel tanks were full.

33:45 Oh, yes.

33:46 And but when you get there, we did a lot of help with Aaronburg and Ehrenberg, Arizona, which is right on the border with California, right next to Ble, California, right on I 10—

33:57 Right? There’s a huge Morgan body plant there. Seasonally, usually like starting right about now for the next couple of months, there is the potential to be massive, massive business out of there. So, they wanted me to help out and you know, this is back when I had a tow vehicle. They wanted me to run a bunch of whatever I could handle. I was doing little 200 mile jobs, 300 mile jobs, 500 mile jobs up to the Bay Area, whatever it took. And at that point, I was actually gone from home 67 days.

34:39 Wow.

34:40 But did what needed to be done, met up with a guy, trained a guy while I was at it. We ran doubles for weeks. We knocking them out. We were there. We were there so long that the hotel we used would let us leave our stuff and not charge us for the room until we came back and actually we’re in the room.

35:03 Oh, that’s nice.

35:05 So that that’s how long we were there. And it was great. It was fine. And then when the time came, I trained another guy and they had me come out of Southern California and we went all the way to the east coast with singles. So, it, you know, worked out fantastically. But it doesn’t take long to learn what’s going to actually put money in your pocket because when you’re on the road, you’ve got to stay somewhere. And in new vehicles or in box trucks or whatever it may be, you really can’t sleep in them. Although back in the day, you can just lay over in the seat, sleep—

35:40 Sleep where you can—

35:41 But you know, you’ve got to figure out your hotels and your food expenses and stuff like that real fast. And I think I did pretty well back then. And now with deck loads, it’s a little bit different. You’ve got a little more money in your pocket. You’ve got a little more leeway with your decision making as far as how you’re going to spend your money. So I think I figured it out pretty quick. What’s the best way to make money and what’s the best way to keep money in my pocket? And I’ve just gone from there. And you know, sometimes you take the good with the bad.

36:14 Yeah. Yeah. It’s not always, you know, it’s not always sunshine and rainbows out there, you know.

36:20 No, I was on a I picked up a unit in Yuba City. It turned out to be kind of a repo for one of our really good customers in Minnesota unit to bring back. Yeah. You know, well, I’m just not going to say names.

36:34 Yeah, you’re cool. Yeah. But you got, you know, obviously, you know, you guys called me and said, “Hey,”

36:42 Before you leave the area, there’s a whole bunch of Amazon trucks that need to be moved 70 miles. Okay, I’ll do it. Good money. It was good money. Then after the fact, I find out they’re CNG. Then after the fact, I find out they have to all be washed, which every wash, the average wash time was 90 minutes.

37:06 What?

37:07 As far as sitting in line.

37:10 So, what I thought was going to be a three or four day job turned into a what was it? An eight day job.

37:18 Yeah, that sucks.

37:20 You know, then you’ve got to get an Uber back. Of course, Amazon took care of the bills. But the time where I thought I was going to do three, four, five units a day and just knock it out. No, it averaged out to two units a day and that’s all there was to it. There was no choice. I spent the longest time I spent in line before I got washed was just over two hours once.

37:42 Gee—

37:43 That now you do that twice in a day and that just eats your day.

37:46 That’s dead. That’s four. That’s dead day, you know. That’s four hours of wasted time.

37:51 Yes. Yes. But when you added it up and all was said and done, even after hotel and food, I still made some money. It was okay. It needed to be done. Amazon is a huge customer for us. So, it was fine. It was okay. I don’t mind situations or issues like that because I know that down the road again, you know, I’ve already said this once. I did what Norton needed done and I’ll be taken care of down the road. So, I’m fine with it.

38:26 Yeah, that was a big project. I mean, and that’s what was what’s cool is, you know, we’ve got, you know, with our system, Michael developed a software program to where, you know, based on your last check-in, you know, if we got something like that, we can go in and see, you know, okay, we’ve got drivers here and, you know, that would be perfect for this job. And it works out for us to be more efficient. And you know, one thing about this industry that I’ll say is the future. It’s technology. You know, what can companies do to make their technology better, more efficient, better for their customers, better for their drivers? And if you’re not, you know, if you don’t have that mindset, you’re going to be left in the dust. So, I’ll say that is we’re constantly trying to make it easier on you guys. You know, sometimes it’s trial and error, though, and as I’m sure you’re aware.

39:14 Well, of course. Of course. But, you know, hey, I get upset just like anybody else gets upset and you know, it may be the wrong day and you get upset over the little things, but you get over it five minutes later and you understand that, oh, hey, it’ll all be fine.

39:30 We’re humans. That’s of course and we’re family and hey, we treat we try to treat everybody like family. You know, that’s our motto. Calvin is, you know, he started this business, you know, as work delivering school buses on the weekends, working at Bluebird, driving a forklift, working on the assembly line, and then, you know, that family atmosphere where at one point it’s him and his brother and, you know, him and Michael and, you know, it’s been a family company. And so as we grow and we get more drivers, we get more employees, we get more trucks, you know, to keep that gets harder. But it’s something that he talks about a lot and I love that. And I think that’s what attracts a lot of employees and a lot of drivers to us is—

40:09 Calvin Norton. I’ll say this about Norton, the Norton name. Yes, we have grown. And I say we because I don’t work for anybody else. Yeah. And I have—

40:19 You say we. Yeah.

40:21 Norton has grown exponentially. And so some of the more personal I mean it’s nobody’s fault but some of the more personal contact has kind of stretched away a little bit but when push comes to shove it’s there if you need it. Calvin Norton is one of the best individuals I know. I think Calvin is a fantastic man. I love him to death. He is honest upfront. Period. If Calvin says something, that’s it. And it’s truth and he really, really cares about us drivers. Michael, his son, is a fantastic young man. He is honest and he really, really, he’s not a fan of nonsense. The family is very honest. They’re very upfront and if there’s an issue, if there’s a little something, what whatever it may be, they will make it right.

41:26 There’s no— It’s upfront. This is it. There’s no crap. And I hear, you know, I’ve got drivers that drive that that run for other companies. I know Norton drivers that have moved on and they run for other companies and they have to deal with nonsense every now and then. Michael Norton does not ever want a driver not to get his pay. I know this for a fact. So, Norton Transport is just to me based on what I know and I’ve got a couple of stories to tell you about a couple other companies. I won’t mention their names.

42:04 No, please. Yeah, we—

42:06 Tell you some of the nonsense we’ve gone through that that I have personally seen. But I again there’s a reason I have never run for anybody else. And I won’t run for anybody else. I don’t care what’s on my leg. I don’t care if I put pants on and you don’t see it. I’m only going to run for Norton because I know how they’re going to treat me and what they say is what they are going to do. End of story. Period. And you know somebody out there may say, “Well, I get paid this for this and this and this.” And really prove it to me. Drivers talk, you hear stories, you hear—

42:52 Yeah. You know, there’s—

42:54 When you hear you know it’s—

42:56 Yeah. I’ve heard— Yeah. You get that, you know, hey, I get this like, “Wait a minute. What? Let me”

43:02 Let me see that. And then, you know, show me a notebook paper with some scribble scrabble on it. Nah.

43:07 Yeah. No kidding. Let me tell you about a company out in Arizona. There, that’s all I’m going to say. Sure. A company out in Arizona that does what we do for a living. At least as far as singles go. A few years ago, myself and another driver, a guy trains. We were hauling a couple of trucks. We’re going up in San Francisco overnight. The best idea to get in San Francisco is go in overnight so you don’t have traffic.

43:34 Sure. And then all we did is we just laid over the bed seat of these box trucks out of Aaronburgg and at 5:00 in the morning, the Penske guy would bang on our doors to wake us up and we pull in, deliver, and take off and we cruise right on out. No traffic coming out. And that that was just our best idea. So, I was probably about halfway up there and I needed to stop and use the restroom and stretch my legs. It just hit me. Need to stop and take a break, get a little fresh air.

44:10 Yeah.

44:11 So, I stopped and I see a another driver with a box truck going further north for this company that’s in Arizona. And I’m standing there kind of walking around, stretching, taking a break. The young man walks up to me and says, “Hey, who do you run for?” And I told him and he goes, “Oh, well, I work for so and so.” I said, “Okay, cool. Great. How you doing?” And he said, “Are you a seven-day driver or an 8-day driver?” And I said, “What?” And he goes, “Are you a seven-day driver, an 8-day driver?” And I said, “I don’t I have no idea what you what do you mean?” And he goes, “Well, I’m an 8-day driver for such and such company.” And I said, “What does that mean?” And then he proceeds to tell me that he’s allowed to drive x amount of hours within eight days. I said, ‘Oh, I see what you’re saying.

45:03 This is going now. I never heard of that.

45:05 Oh, yeah. I said, “How long have you been doing this?” He goes, “Well, it’s my first job with them.” And I said, “Okay, so what do you think an 8day driver means?” And he says, he says, “Well, I could drive a lot of hours in eight days.” I said, “So, you’re actually filling out a log book?” He goes, “Oh, no, no, no. My boss does that for me.” I said, “Your boss?” So, you’re not sure I got a log book right now. He goes, “No, my boss is taking care of that. There’s a bunch of us going up to I believe they were all going up into Oregon somewhere.” And I said, “Wait a minute. How many of you are driving trucks up to Penske?” And he goes, “Well, I want to say there was nine of them.” And they had a van, a big cargo van that was a chaser that was running along with them and paying for their hotels.

45:55 So I asked, “How much are you making?”

45:57 What are they paying you?

45:59 Oh, well, they’re paying for our hotel and they’re paying for our food. And that what he was making was like the change in my pocket.

46:08 Oh, wow.

46:09 Justin—

46:10 He didn’t know any better.

46:11 He was some kid hired off the street. Obviously, no CDL to drive a box truck. They were just a group of guys. They were pulling trucks by the group out of Aaronburg, staging them in California. And then they get a group of guys and they’d all train, you know, a train of them and they’d all run north. And this kid had no idea what he was doing.

46:36 He had no idea.

46:38 He had no idea what he was making or not making. But by God, they were going to feed him and pay for his hotel and put pocket change in his pocket for pay. And right about back then when this was going on, I delivered a Penske unit up north in Seattle area. And then I went and picked up a Penske unit in Tacoma, Washington that was going down south to sold the unit. And they for the first time ever wanted my ID. They wanted access information because there were issues with drivers and nonproper company drivers picking units up, trying to pick units up. You know, one guy was signing out five or six units. It’s not possible for one guy to run them.

47:28 So, there was nonsense going on. So, so long story short, Justin, I am an eight day driver for us. I like how you into that. Ah.

47:41 Oh, that’s good. That’s good.

47:43 So, there are some shady companies out there that are—

47:47 I’d never heard that. That’s crazy.

47:50 Oh, yeah. Yeah. This is an actual transport company. I’ll privately tell you who it is, but they will pull out groups of trucks going to a particular area and they will take cut rate people hired off the street to move these trucks and that company the excess money they make covers whatever the hotels, food, the van, the chaser van may be. And then whoever’s filling out the log books for these guys that are 8day drivers.

48:23 Wow. Wow.

48:25 Having no idea what that means.

48:27 And yeah—

48:28 These guys have no idea what the hell they’re doing. Drive the damn truck to Seattle and call it good.

48:33 And here’s the problem I have with that. It’s like, you know, I don’t mind, you know, the big driveaway companies, small driveaway companies, you know, independent folks working on their own authority. I love that. And I think, you know, when you’ve got, you know, there’s enough meat out there for us all to thrive, us all to be successful, you know, I don’t care who’s out there doing what, but what does kill me is when, you know, these companies try to get a competitive advantage by treating their drivers like That is not a competitive advantage. And that will come and bite them in the ass at some point because that’s not how you win.

49:07 That’s the problem. That competitive advantage is a detriment to the company that is purchasing and wanting those trucks moved.

49:17 Yeah.

49:18 Penske would be mortified to know that Joe Blow off the corner needing a job for the day is moving their trucks just because Joe Blow has a license. But Joe Blow has not been checked to see if that license is valid. He hasn’t gone through the process that we have to go through to be insured to move trucks. I mean, if I’m some piece of crap that’s got a bunch of wrecks and drunk driving in the whole nine yards, Norton Transport is not going to keep me on the books. Nor are they going to let me, you know, haul around $600,000 worth of trucks.

49:59 Exactly. And that’s why those companies can tarnish the driveaway name. So, it’s not good for the drivers. It’s not good for the industry. I mean, when these companies are hiring, you know, smaller companies, larger companies, whatever it may be, they’re expecting a professional driver, and that’s what they should get, you know, and you and you’re not going to be and you’re not well, you can’t do that to a professional driver. So, that’s why they’re able to get over on folks like that.

50:22 And eventually, that goes around and they don’t get to move those trucks anymore. So, let me tell you about some of my favorite Norton stories. Oh yeah, let’s hear it. Let’s get it.

50:35 Back in the day when Mikeers and I got to be good friends and he was my dispatcher back in the beginning. I guess I developed a reputation that you know having a tow vehicle I you know if Larry couldn’t hook up to it nobody could hook up to it. So I would get calls every now and then from I would get a call from and I say haters I know his son also works for us but if I say the word haters it is Mike. No. Yeah. Yeah.

51:09 And either Mike would call me or he would say hey a driver’s going to call you to see if he does up to such and such. And oh my god, that h for a year after I left and took some time off that still happened all the time. Hey Larry, are you available? I got a guy trying to hook up to something. Sure—

51:33 I’ll talk to him. I don’t care.

51:36 So we got to be really good friends. Again, as I told you earlier, because of sports, big football fans, baseball, basketball, whatever. And so it just got to be where every now and then I would talk to Mike and this is what I got to begin the conversation. You ain’t going to believe this.

51:56 Oh wow.

51:57 Back in the day, we did not get to the truck and punch in the beginning of the VIN to get our fuel money to get going. We would say, “Okay, I’m here. Send me my money.”

52:11 Oh, it’s cool.

52:12 You would get some advances. They just pop up on your card. Boom. You got it. You’re good to go. Hell, they didn’t know where the hell we were. I could be sitting in my house in Muskogee, Oklahoma back then and say, “I’m here in Indianapolis. Give me my money.” And you get your money. So, one of my favorite stories is my caterers. You ain’t going to believe this. I said, “Let me hear it.” Apparently, and this is with any company, apparently we would have drivers with gambling problems. We had a driver that was supposed to be picking up in Indianapolis if I remember right, and he got his front-end money for Indianapolis, and it was a pretty damn good load. I don’t remember what the situation was, but a pretty damn good load. Turns out this driver is still like in Las Vegas. Broke. Oh wow.

53:07 Homeless side of the road and getting that front end money just so he gets the job. So he gets his front end money. He gets the job. He needs more money. Wait a minute. I just gave you this two days ago. You’re just picking it up. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and this guy eventually had to admit that he was gambling.

53:31 Apparently that was a big problem. And that was with a few drivers. We had drivers back in the day that would say they picked up a vehicle or they’re there to pick up a vehicle and they never picked it up. They quit the company. I mean, back then it was and you know, every company dealt with this nonsense after nonsense. I personally had a guy that was supposed to go with me and we were going to take some UPS trucks out of Stillwater, Oklahoma down to Florida and he had gotten his money. Couldn’t get a hold of him. Couldn’t get a hold of him. I had to take my truck. Never heard from this guy again. And Norton was almost on the verge of having me go file the paperwork in Oklahoma to see the guy.

54:14 Wow.

54:15 And yeah, that then apparently the guy got a hold of him and they worked it out, whatever the situation was. But yeah, those kind of nonsensical things back in the day when everybody wasn’t quite as hooked up as they are now with—

54:29 Technology. Technology. Yeah. And that’s what’s cool. Advancements. Advancements in technology have helped our industry and you know I mean one what is it one bad app I mean sometimes you wouldn’t even think that you need to put something in place until somebody goes and does that then you’re like oh what if more people do that you know we’re screwed so it was—

54:50 Oh yeah there was a lot of that every now and then you know you get a new rule or a new procedure or something you just think to yourself well somebody that up oh I said a bad word sorry—

55:02 No it’s— Oh, who gives a Truck drivers are listening to us and whoever is. Who gives a anyway?

55:07 You know, I I’ve seen some rules and some text messages and emails come down the pike over the years that you have to think to yourself, okay, somebody did that. That’s why we can’t do that anymore—

55:19 Right? Yeah. No, and here we are learning the hard way, like, you know, damn, we need to put something in place to prevent that or whatever. And you wouldn’t have, you know, you wouldn’t have thought that. So, no, I get that 100%. Yeah, there’s it’s been a lot of stuff out there, but yeah, it’s a I think it’s a fantastic way to make a living. If you’re good at this, I think I’m pretty good at this. I’m not the best. I’m never going to say I’m the best, but I’m pretty good at what I’m doing. I’m pretty good at getting myself around the US.

55:48 Well, the load board shows that, you know, you coming in on top means you know what you’re doing somehow. You know—

55:53 You know, there’s good with the bad. I think a lot of our drivers need to probably rethink how they run their business. There’s a good handful of drivers that have been with us for a while that are very very good that are friends of mine and we talk constantly. There are guys out there that I know that could probably increase their revenue and do a better job if they’re willing to throw some singles in there, you know, fill in some gaps. It would probably work out for the better in the long run. But bottom line, there’s enough work out there. There’s too much work out there right now. I This time of year, Justin, historically should be tough. Right now, there should be guys sitting at home because it’s slow and we’re not really ready to pick up yet. But for some reason, this year we are exponentially busier than last year at this time of year as far as what’s on the board. And if guys are willing to take the good with the bad, those guys in the end, I’d like to think, are going to be remembered for taking the good with the bad, and when push comes to shove, they’re going to be able to request and get that better load.

57:07 And there’s good damn money out there to be made.

57:10 Great money. Well, Larry, I’ve enjoyed it, man. I couldn’t agree with you more. But, you know, well, I’m going to shift gears a little bit before we wrap it up. And I do this because I love to talk about this and maybe you care, maybe you don’t, but I always talk about this at the end of our podcast. As long as you’ve been in the business, as long as you’ve been in trucking—

57:28 You know, what is one or any of your favorite places to visit in terms of eating? What is your favorite food or your favorite restaurant or what is somewhere out there that you can give us that that we just need to go? We got to try it because it’s the best you’ve ever had. Whether it be a margarita, whether it be a taco, whether it be a steak, whether it be a burger, where do you go?

57:50 I got to be honest with you, Door Dash.

57:54 Hell yeah.

57:55 You know, I’m going to tell you right now, it’s been so tough since CO started.

58:01 It’s been a different world out there, hasn’t it?

58:03 It is. You know, I Chinese food.

58:06 Yeah—

58:06 I’m a Chinese food freak. And I’ll be honest, I can’t remember the name of the place, but I was doing some work out in West Sacramento. And then I was back in Sacramento and able to order food from West Sacramento when I was doing those Amazon trucks. And there’s a Chinese place I honestly don’t remember the name, but I love Chinese food. I love sesame chicken and this place is fantastic. So, for me, I’m a big Chinese food guy. I can save myself extra fees and I tend to order double so I can heat it up in the microwave the next day at a room at a hotel. I cook a ton at home. In fact, my daughter was so excited that I was gonna stay tonight last night here at the house that Dad, can you cook dinner for us?

58:52 Like, oh my god, I just want to go to bed.

58:55 Yeah.

58:56 Oh. She goes, “Well, we were wanting to try salmon.”

59:00 Oh, what?

59:02 Wow.

59:03 Oh, yeah. I cook salmon for my diet to go to a damn store with—

59:06 Yeah. You got you don’t have that laying around.

59:09 Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Sam, it’s just not— Oh, it’s over here in the cupboard.

59:13 Yeah.

59:16 So, I’m probably not the best guy to answer that question.

59:19 No, that’s good. Hey, that I love hearing that, you know, because that’s the different strokes, different folks. Door Dash is huge.

59:26 Everybody that knows me, I’ll either order heavy on KFC so I can eat it up again the next day or it’s Chinese food.

59:34 I like it. I try to think about bang for the buck and no fee the next day, no taxes the next day or whatever. Just order up a little extra. But—

59:44 That’s that load planning.

59:46 If push comes to shove and I got to have something quick, I am really a fan of when I’m in Southern California. I’m a big fan of In-N-Out Burger.

59:57 Oh yeah. There’s—

59:58 When you go to Heber, most guys will show up in Heber. Half of us anyways will show up in Heber to get our trucks ready, go to a hotel, the next morning take off. I’m a big fan of hitting In-N-Out Burger.

1:00:12 Yeah. The first time I went was last year. We Gosh, no, it’s two years ago now. Sorry, I don’t even know where time goes. Co, you know, but we went out to California to Palm Springs for this big, you know, trucking event, the UTA convention, and you know, we stopped by In-N-Out and damn, I was hooked. Place is awesome. It out burger is fantastic. They’re fantastic.

1:00:33 Awesome.

1:00:34 So, if it’s got to be a quick fast food thing and I’ve got a minute, anytime I’m in Eber before I go to my hotel, I will make sure I grab In and Out in El Centro, California, boom, go to the hotel, eat it, I’m happy. Next morning, get my load and go—

1:00:49 Ready to go. Well, Larry, man, that’s great. I’ve enjoyed it. I appreciate you coming on. I know I’ve taken up some of your home time. You know, I know you got to head out. You got things to do—

1:00:58 But you’re fine. I’m happy to do it.

1:01:01 Well, I appreciate it.

1:01:03 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.