00:05 You know, the main key for anybody in this is to make money. And if I’m eating 90% of my profits up by plane fairs, bus tickets, Ubers, it’s not a profitable load—

00:16 Right? And that’s being resourceful. Yeah. You may miss that load that you see those big dollar signs on, but it may have been a blessing on the long run. Got you. 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. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport, a platform where we elevate and celebrate the drivers that make the wheels go round and make our company the company that it is now. Now we’ve taken the podcast the show on the road. We are not in the office. We are in middle America. We are in Louisville, Kentucky at the Mid America Truck Show, Matts. And this place is huge. Everything you can imagine about trucks, they’re here. The trucks are here. Different varieties, different types, all the accessories that go with it.

01:19 Financial and literal accessories that go with the trucking industry. They’re all here. And we’re fortunate to have one of the Norton drivers here with us. That is Dewey Church. Dewey, welcome.

01:31 Thank you for having me today.

01:33 Absolutely, Dewey. We’re glad you’re here. And for you, it was not a long trip.

01:39 No, not at all. About 25 30 minutes. So, you live in Indiana, right?

01:45 Southern Indiana. Yeah.

01:46 What’s the name of the town where you live?

01:47 Laneville, Indiana. It’s up by Georgetown.

01:50 Okay. Okay. Now, this is not your first truck show.

01:54 No, I’ve come to many of them. I’ve actually worked for a company that we set a booth up here. Louisville Idle Spring Brake Company, Lasco. I worked for them for about two and a half, three years as a mechanic. And then when I had to have had back surgery in 2004, I went to the service counter and worked the service counter and sold parts and service and etc.

02:16 Gotcha. Now, how many truck shows like this one would you say you’ve been to?

02:20 Oh, half a dozen to a dozen, something like that. You know, it’s just part of the being around the industry most of my life.

02:28 Gotcha. What do you get from these truck shows? What do you go out?

02:32 Knowledge is what you try to expand. How trucks have changed, what benefits this and that. It just and networking. More people you know, the better opportunities you have.

02:43 Now, when you talk about networking, do you seek out a certain profession, a person or just whatever happens?

02:50 I know nobody that’s not a friend.

02:53 That’s awesome.

02:54 I don’t know a stranger. More knowledge you can absorb in life, the better off you are.

02:59 You’re listening to Dewey Church here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. If you could see Dewey, which you will later, he’s got a smile on his face. Looks like a very pleasant guy. And we were talking previously before we started recording. How long have you been in the trucking industry total?

03:16 I’ve been around it since a teenager. Gentleman across the street from me had a truck. Me and my father worked on it. I was in the army for four years during Desert Storm. I worked on turbine engines and helicopters. I got out, one of my first jobs when I got out was cleaning chemical tankers. And ever since then, since 94, I’ve been around it. I’ve worked on them, driven them. You know, I was a mechanic for 30 years and—

03:45 Right—

03:46 You know, worked on I had to give the big truck side up, but I was still around them.

03:51 Gotcha.

03:52 Because of back surgeries and that. And then I went automotive and then in 2018 I decided to do driveaway after my third back surgery.

04:01 Now when you decided to do driveaway, did you start with us or did you start with another company?

04:05 No, I started with quality driveaway. They taught me a lot. I have a lot of friends that are in the industry that taught me a lot. And you learn from other people’s mistakes—

04:16 Right?

04:17 And you if you don’t learn from mistakes, then there’s no you might as well give up. We were talking about that with your mechanical background. How much does that help you on the road?

04:28 Helps me quite a bit. I know what to listen for when there’s issues. I feel things. It just you just look at trucks differently. You know, when the light comes on it, you know, etc. Or you feel a vibration, you know what to expect is the bottom line. And having that knowledge helps a lot. It also helps me to look at a truck cuz I do flat tow my car behind and I look at a truck going, “This is how I need to attach to it safely.”

04:59 I see guys out here that I wouldn’t want to follow behind of how they attached their car to a truck.

05:03 It could come loose.

05:05 Come loose or it can do damage. That’s the key thing is delivering that unit the way I picked it up. No damage—

05:12 Right?

05:13 Or even people seeing that I’ve been hooked to it—

05:16 Right? That’s the key because I’m representative Norton and I’m representative of the other companies I work for because I do work for two other companies to fill in the gaps cuz that happens.

05:27 I got you.

05:28 How long have you been with Norton now?

05:29 I’ve been with them two and two and a half years now.

05:32 Two and a half years.

05:33 Yes.

05:33 We hope that it’s been a good two and a half.

05:35 Oh, it has. And I hope it’s been a good two and a half years for you all.

05:39 Yeah.

05:39 My main key is pick up on time and deliver on time with no damage.

05:43 We love that. We love all three of those. You talked about being resourceful. Does that venture out beyond mechanical as far as—

05:52 Oh, yes. How so?

05:54 Before I take a load, I do a little bit of research. I found out where it’s going. How you with me being flat towed, it’s a little different, but I have been where my car’s been down. You got to look at how am I going to get from the delivery point—

06:09 To somewhere where I can get to another pickup point—

06:12 Right? Be it Uber, be it bus, be it plane. Look at those costs and see if that run is costefficient for me to make money on the other end—

06:22 Right?

06:22 You know, the main key for anybody in this is to make money. You ought to make money and me to make money—

06:28 Right?

06:28 And if I’m eating 90% of my profits up by plane fairs, bus tickets, Ubers, it’s not a profitable load—

06:36 Right?

06:37 Or can I even get out of where I’m delivering to? I’ve been into places in Wyoming that are middle of nowhere. There’s no Ubers, no there’s no taxis. There’s— And you got to think of that and that’s being resourceful. Yeah, you may miss that load that you see those big dollar signs on, but it may have been a blessing on the long run. Gotcha. You’re listening to Dewey Church here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And as we said at the top of the program, we’re on the road. We’re in Louisville, Kentucky here at the Mid America Truck Show. And Dewey, as you heard, lives just around the corner here. And he was kind enough to drop in and talk to us. And Dewey, I got to ask you while we’re sitting here at the show. We’ve got a beautiful right in front of us here. When you see these trucks like this all dressed up, dolled up, shining. What is it like for you to see these where you can really admire them?

07:27 I candy. I’m a car guy. I’m a I’ve been all my life, I guess. Does this coming here, does it pick your spirits up?

07:35 That it does. What interests you the most in this show? Is it the trucks? Is it the accessories? What does it atmosphere? It’s something you unique to certain industries—

07:48 Right? Ser armed service members. We have a brotherhood and sisterhood. Truckers have the same thing.

07:54 Mechanics have the same thing. Mechanics will talk to each other a certain way, right?

07:59 And let somebody else interfere.

08:02 Let somebody step on us. And you’ll see we may hate each other in shop, but let somebody step on one of my friends.

08:09 It’s over. That’s just how it’s karm. It’s a brotherhood and sisterhood.

08:14 And that’s what I’m I love.

08:17 You think the chances are pretty good you’re going to see some people you know here?

08:20 Possible.

08:21 Okay.

08:22 But there is a bunch of people come through here.

08:24 Local guys.

08:25 Local and guys from all over the region—

08:29 Right?

08:30 I know I got a friend that lives in Evansville. To be here Saturday. So, I’m having lunch with him. Haven’t seen him in a few years. He’s an owner operator.

08:37 That’ll be cool.

08:38 And he’s supposed to be here Saturday. So—

08:40 Now you’d mentioned all your background is being a mechanic and you said in the army and you served overseas.

08:47 Yes. Desert Storm. Tell us a little bit about that.

08:50 It’s a war. It wasn’t as bad as my friends that went through Afghanistan and Iraq and all that, but still it takes a toll. And that’s all I’m going to say.

09:01 That’s fine. I respect that. We respect that. We certainly appreciate your service. Now, you said you worked on turbines there. Is that right?

09:08 I was an aircraft power plant recruitment. Turbine engines and all the helicopters O58s, Chinooks Apaches, Blackhawks. I was certified to work on them all.

09:19 That had to be pretty fun.

09:20 It was fun. And then politics interfered with the military. And it is what it is. Got. Now, what how do you plan to spend your day here at the Mid America Truck Show?

09:31 Just admiring, walking around, take it all in.

09:34 Gotcha. It’s all you can do.

09:36 Now, I guess it was obviously convenient for you since you live so close by and we do appreciate you accepting our invitation to come join us here.

09:45 I appreciate you giving it to me.

09:46 Absolutely. And do you actively recruit other drivers for us?

09:52 If people ask, I tell them all about it. I tell them I prefer Norton. I work for two other companies. I prefer Norton and I run from Norton more than I do anybody else.

10:05 Right.

10:06 I love how this if I have an issue, it’s resolved as quickly as possible.

10:13 We appreciate hearing that. And I was just you answered my question about what makes you prefer it.

10:18 It just my dispatch staff is great. I couldn’t ask for better dispatchers.

10:25 Now, whose team are you on?

10:26 I’m on Megan’s team.

10:28 Megan? Okay. Yeah, that’s right. She did tell me that. She said that you would be great and you are. And we appreciate you stepping in here and sitting down, spending some time with us. What do you think about the trucks you saw outside when you drove in?

10:42 They’re nice.

10:44 They’re nice. Are they starter trucks for somebody? No. I wouldn’t advise anybody to go $200,000 into debt on a truck—

10:51 Right? They’re show trucks—

10:53 You know, they’re show trucks. Buy you a reasonable truck. If you’re going to get into the trucking industry, set you a good maintenance plan up policy. That’s the key to any truck longevity is maintenance.

11:05 What when you talk about maintenance, what do you look for? What are the I guess top three, top five things you look for?

11:12 Tire. First thing is oil changes and servicing the truck. Making sure it’s fit to be on the truck on the road and then you go from there. It’s all about if you take care of your truck, it will take care of you—

11:26 Right?

11:26 You know, don’t run it into the ground and then expect not to have a big repair bill. Fix it when early when it’s cheaper.

11:35 Mhm.

11:36 And it’ll take care of you.

11:37 Hit it on the front, too.

11:38 That’s the main thing is maintenance. Got—

11:40 General maintenance. Oil changes, tires, brakes. Keep up with it.

11:45 Now, did you mention that you’d been an owner operator?

11:48 No, I got friends that are owner operators.

11:50 Okay, I got you. I’ve heard some you hear some owner operators get into it with a lot of ambition, but you just talked about it comes with a lot of headaches.

12:00 Comes with a lot of headaches, but then if you do your homework, you pick your loads wisely, which is the same thing I do. Right. I learned a lot from being around people that are more smarter than me. Company owners, people that own their own trucks, own their own fleets. I prefer working for small independent companies versus big companies—

12:22 Right?

12:23 You got to plan ahead. Bottom line, you know you’re getting low on tires, start shopping around to find your tires.

12:29 Don’t wait till one blows out. You’re on the side of the road and they’re charging a road service fee. They’re charging you out the nose for the tire because they know you broke down. You got to have I got you. Kind of got you by the testicles there.

12:40 It’s all planning. Same thing in the driveaway industry. Plan ahead—

12:44 Right?

12:45 Me, I prefer flat towing. I If you can tow your car, then you ain’t got the headaches of how do I get from drop to pickup.

12:53 Mhm.

12:54 I don’t have $500, $600 airfare out of California to get back to where I am. I took it went out to California last spring. It cost me a whole whopping $145 in fuel to get back to Kentucky.

13:08 Wow. Wow.

13:09 In two day three days of driving.

13:11 Yeah. I mean, if you had to do a rental or—

13:13 If you did a rental, then you’re looking at $300 for a rental. Then you’re looking at your fuel on top of it, etc. I got my car. My car actually is an HHR. It’s set up for me to sleep in at night. I don’t even pay for hotel rooms.

13:27 Wow. Unless I want to. I was going to ask you a quick math question and give you plenty of time to think about it, but the way you’ve got your setup with the toe behind and the ability to sleep in it, no hotels, how much would you say in a given year you save? I couldn’t calculate it. Can’t put a number on it—

13:46 Cuz I know my I had another tow car that went down and in the about a month or so it took me to get my other car up and towable I know I spent in airfare alone was three grand.

14:00 Wow.

14:02 So yeah, it’s definitely thousands of dollars to save.

14:05 And the fact I don’t it ain’t for everybody. Like I said, I got the history of the being in the military, etc. So, I don’t care where I lay my head as long as I can get to sleep.

14:16 That’s right. Right. Sleep when you can.

14:18 It’s not for everybody. The no hotel thing. I got friends that get hotels every night. They make it work, but they run as a couple. So, they got two incomes—

14:28 Right?

14:30 To me, 50, 60, $70 a night for a hotel room times say 50 times 5, that’s $250.

14:38 Mhm.

14:39 A week if you stay in five nights at $50. That’s in my pocket.

14:43 Yeah.

14:44 It cost me a few dollars to run the car to keep it warm. About $15 on a bad night. And if it’s warm enough or cool enough, I just crack the windows and go to bed.

14:54 Right.

14:55 So I don’t cost me nothing.

14:56 Yeah. That’s a smart play.

14:59 Yes. It’s costly in the upfront. Tow gear alone will run you all the equipment that I have will run you about two grand to $2,500 for all the apparatus for everything to attach properly to the vehicle. Then you got your toe bar which is about $500 and your plate that attaches to your vehicle is about another $500. Yes, it’s costly in the beginning. I won’t lie to nobody about that. But within the first 6 months, if you do it properly, you’ll recoup every dime of that back. That’s right. That’s right. That’s very well said. The money that you save, it’s worth the investment.

15:38 It’s worth the investment—

15:40 Of putting it in there. I mean, I guess, you know, you probably make that back couple months.

15:46 Couple three months.

15:47 Yeah. Two or three months.

15:48 I got the same bar that attaches to the frame. I’ve had it for three years. It’s due replacement. It’s about $900.

15:57 How hard is it to do the attachment? I mean, are you I mean, how much time does it take? It varies on vehicle to vehicle. Quick ch if I go in and get a just a chassis frame about 30 minutes.

16:09 Okay. 30 to 45 minutes.

16:12 And don’t get me wrong, I’ve made a lot of my wiring attachments myself—

16:17 Cuz you know the constant way that it’s going.

16:19 Well, it’s the nice thing about being a mechanic. You understand how the light circuits work and how everything is and where it’s safe to connect. But they also have wireless lights now, which is great. You just got to get I haven’t found a place that sells them other than a previous employer. The light box control box.

16:39 Okay.

16:39 I’m in the process of buying a new one. Then I’m going to tear into mine and figure out how mine works.

16:44 Take get into the guts of it.

16:46 I don’t want to tear it down until I have a replacement.

16:49 You never know. I may mess it up.

16:51 Yeah. It’s good to have a backup there.

16:52 Yep. Yeah. And I’ve had it since I’ve started.

16:56 Mhm.

16:57 So, some of this equipment will last a long period of time. Event it wears out just like everything else, right? You have to replace it.

17:05 Gotcha. You’re listening to Dewey Church here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’re on the road in Louisville, Kentucky. Neighboring state for Dewey here. And I got to ask you this question. Living right on the border. Are you a sports guy, sports fan? Not really.

17:20 I’m more drag racing. Okay. Roundy Round. This fall, this early summer and June, I plan on going to Bowling Green and see Street Outlaws.

17:31 Oh, okay. Is that real close to the Corvette factory?

17:34 Bowling Green’s about two about 2 hours away from here.

17:38 I mean, no. The event you’re going to, is it close to the factory?

17:41 No. No. Street Outlaw. Oh, yeah. It’s down by the Corvette, but Street Outlaws is a street race.

17:48 Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah.

17:49 It’s they call it MPK. No prep racing to where they don’t do nothing the track at all. It supposed to be closer to simulating racing on the street, but so people can come and watch. That’s cool. Well, Dewey, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate you sharing your knowledge with us. Very valuable knowledge that a lot of drivers out there can pick up something from. And the last question I wanted to ask you, which we usually close out the program, what would you say to someone who’s thinking about getting into driveaway, if you’re thinking about getting into driveaway, plan ahead. I know those dollar signs look great, but they don’t do you any good if you can’t if it’s going to cost you more than what you’re going to make to get to your next location. You know, I’ve done it. I’ve seen those dollar signs. Oh man, that’d be a good run. By the time I’m done, I got $300 out of a $2,500 run. Time you do hotel rooms, watch the weather.

18:51 I’ve had two late deliveries in the last year, and both of them were weather related.

18:55 Mhm.

18:56 I don’t like late deliveries.

18:58 Well, that’s the kind of thing we like to hear from our drivers.

19:01 I hate a late delivery. I rather deliver early than late.

19:04 Right. Well, Julie, again, thank you so much. We’re glad you’re with Norton Transport and thank you for taking time out of your day to come join us here at the truck show. Thank you for having me. You bet.

19:19 Six 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.