00:08 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. And if you join us here every week, you know this is a format where we elevate and celebrate the drivers of Norton Transport. Of course, they make us what we are. And we have a special guest with us here joining us from on the road, Arthur Trader. Arthur, how are you?

00:47 I’m doing all right.

00:49 All right. That’s great to hear. Now, do your friends call you Art or is it Arthur?

00:53 They call me both. Art. Arthur. Yes, sir.

00:57 Which one do you prefer?

00:58 Art. Artwork.

01:01 Art. All right. Art. Where are you now, Art?

01:04 Right now, I’m in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

01:08 Okay. All right. How warm is it down there?

01:11 79 right now. 79.

01:14 79 at 8:30 at night. Wow.

01:16 Yes.

01:17 Now, you’ve had quite an adventure in the last few days. I’m aware of some of it, but you just got back from a pretty tropical exotic location. Tell us about that.

01:29 Oh, Key West, man. Key West is pretty cool. A lot of resorts for 100 straight miles. Resorts and water. That’s all you see. Two-lane highway. You probably average about 40 miles per hour all the way down though.

01:44 Now, you were going to Key West in a righthand drive garbage truck. Is that right?

01:49 Yes, sir. Sounds like a country music song. Garbage truck to Key West.

01:58 What was it like driving that garbage truck? Be real with us. What was it like driving down to Key West?

02:04 Well, the right hand right-handed garbage truck, I mean, it wasn’t that bad to Key West. The great thing about going to going to Key West once you got the last 100 miles there, it was only two lanes. So, you didn’t have to worry about nobody driving beside you. You just had to worry about what was in front of you and the barriers on the side of you. But, as far as the right-handed garbage truck it can be kind of stressful at times, especi especially if there’s a lot of traffic around—

02:37 And you really got to pay attention. You got to hug the right lane. You got to make sure you hug the right lane. And that that’s pretty much it, you know, and just watch your left lane and make sure you know you’re not over in somebody’s lane on the left.

02:51 Gotcha. How many right-hand drive trucks have you driven?

02:57 Probably. I know at least five. Probably more though, but probably at least five.

03:03 Right. How much difference is there between a right-hand drive and a conventional left-hand drive? The difference is really well I guess it’s not normal for us in America to drive on the right hand side. That’s the most unusual part of it. And also personally I guess the site because you’re so used to on the left side you know everything is close to you. When you’re on the right side you everything seems like it’s far from you. So therefore, you have to kind of make sure that you know watch your mirrors and make sure you know you’re not in that left lane because like I said, usually when you on the left side, everything already is right there.

03:52 So you can navigate and pretty much look at your left mirror and not much have to worry about your right mirror. But this time you have to worry about your left and your right mirror all the time. So let it literally now you paying attention more. That’s pretty much the difference. Even though that might sound crazy, but it’s way different. It’s like you 100% of the time you got to pay attention to that left and right. Just left, right, left, right. You know, looking at all time.

04:19 Yeah. You got to compensate, I guess, for that left hand side since you’re physically positioned on the right hand side of the truck.

04:27 Right.

04:28 Gotcha. How long were you in that truck? It was from you picked it up in Fort Payne, Alabama, straight to Key West. Well, actually I it got dropped off in Ringgold, so I had to drive it a little farther because I was up north.

04:42 That’s right.

04:44 So—

04:46 Right. It was at the office there. Yeah.

04:48 Right. So, it was like 912 miles. Basically 55 miles per hour. So, you’re basically looking at, you know, a good 10-hour day, no matter what, if you want to, you know, in a two-day trip.

05:09 Yeah. A few two 10-hour days. What’s the gas mileage on one of those trucks? A fullsize garbage truck. What’s the gas mileage on that?

05:19 Okay. I can tell you the difference. The Mack probably get the best fuel mileage because it’s set up better because it’s built to hold heavy heavier much heavier things.

05:31 So the Mack probably get it got to be getting between 8 and 10 miles to the gallon.

05:36 The Peterbilt—

05:39 It don’t the Peter doesn’t get it that much because for the simple fact like I said to me it’s really not built for that I feel my personal opinion. So it probably get six and a half the Peterbilt.

05:54 Gotcha. What about those auto cars? What about the auto cars?

05:59 Heavy. You be lucky to get seven sometimes.

06:03 I think I know where you’re going. They’re heavy.

06:06 Yes, they are heavy.

06:08 You can feel it on the road, too.

06:10 Yes. Yes.

06:11 How bumpy was it in that garbage truck?

06:14 The Autocar or the one I just got out of? Autocar?

06:17 The one you just got out of. Oh, now that the mag is great. I mean, it hold to the road. It I mean, you really don’t feel the bumps. Now, what you do, you hear a lot of noise, you know, because you’re inside of a tin can, you feel like, and you hear the wind because you’re right there on the windshield.

06:34 But as far as the bumps, that the mech is it’s immaculate. Yeah, it holds well. So, it takes the bump real well.

06:41 I like what you did there. Immaculate. Emphasis on the Mack there.

06:49 Yes—

06:49 Absolutely. Now, you the reason that I selected you to be on the podcast was twofold. Your dispatch team was bragging on you. They were saying Arthur’s great. And I know personally from what you went through before you got this garbage truck, it was quite an ordeal in Minnesota and Iowa. Tell us about what you went through to get finally on the road.

07:20 Well, I had to leave what I had to go to Dodge Center and from Dodge Center, I kind of forgot where I went to be honest with you, but yes, I had to get down to Dodge Center—

07:31 In order to get to Fort Payne. Well, Ringgold. So, what ended up happening was I picked up a garbage truck, which was a Peterbilt a chassis and it had no—

07:48 Tail lights or no mud flaps. So, I had to drive down to Waterloo and the nice people in Waterloo, which I appreciate them—

07:57 At the Freightliner dealership, was able to, you know, get me, you know, working. So, yeah, that’s what I had to go through. No, no mud flaps and no—

08:08 Back on the road.

08:09 Yes. Yes.

08:11 You know, there was more to it than that, Arthur, because you were the third driver that we had to send in there because of no mud flaps, no tail lights, and I was able to reach out to that Freightliner dealership and I think they found the mud flaps back in their yard. They had some that they had that another truck had on it, temporary mud flaps, and they were able to get you hooked up. And I was talking to one of the guys there, Carrie, and he was telling me about how cool you were. And I was just thinking to myself, I said, “Arthur’s got to be a patient man.” Are you a patient person?

08:47 It is. Yes. Yes. Now I am. And it took me a long time, you know, but now— Yeah. I Because I understand, you know, every day is not perfect and you’re going to go through days and you going to have your trials, you going to have your errors. People got to be patient with you just like you know people well Norton is patient with me so that’s why I’m patient with them so we work hand in hand and we work together because my dispatch team they know how I am you know they know I can when I get frustrated I’ll probably just go quiet for a couple of days so they know well he when he come back he going to go to he going to go to work you know what I’m saying but right there something just went wrong so he just you know been cooling off— So they work with me. My dispatch team, they pretty cool and they whatever they tell you, they give you their word. That’s what they try to, you know, live up to what they told you they’re going to give you or what they’re going to do for you and stuff like that.

09:47 So I appreciate my dispatch team.

09:50 Yeah, they appreciate you, too. They spoke very highly of you, Bri and Ashley. Ash, I guess you were on the phone with them just about every day—

09:58 Right? I know they go through a lot, man.

10:04 You’re listening to Arthur Trader. Art here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Art is joining us from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Just went to Key West. And did you get to have any fun while you were down in Key West?

10:18 No, sir, I didn’t. I didn’t get a chance. I met a nice fell down there who was that gave me a ride back up to Fort Lauderdale to pick up my rental because now I’m headed to Jacksonville to pick up a truck to take back up to Atlanta, Georgia. So, he gave me a ride up here. So, I didn’t get a chance to do anything.

10:38 I gotta— Are you going by the Ryder dealership to pick up the truck in Jacksonville?

10:43 Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

10:45 Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. I wanted to brag on you here a little bit. I was looking at your stats some of the things we measure on the driver qualities, and you’re off the charts, man. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, and we were talking about this before we got on the air. You drove a lot last month. Do you have any idea how many miles you put on the road last month?

11:06 No, sir.

11:07 You want to take a guess?

11:10 I know probably I would say at least 7,500 miles at least. You did 10,000 miles last month.

11:20 Wow.

11:22 10,000.

11:23 Wow.

11:24 Now, you were pretty close on your guess there. That’s about your average is that your average per month is 7,323 miles a month.

11:34 Okay.

11:34 What’s your secret to staying consistent and being on the road for that many miles? Actually, to be honest with you, your dispatch team going to be the most important thing to you for you making money ignoring my personal opinion. So, that’s number one. Number two, I mean, I just like the challenge. I like the challenge. I mean, I like to push myself and just, you know, being able to come out here, see, you know, what I could do and, you know, try to maximize, you know, my time and, you know, once I maximize my time, you know, the money is time and time is money. So, you know, maximize your time and like I said, work with your dispatch team.

12:24 I heard that.

12:25 That’s the most important time thing. I would think that doing 10,000 miles last month you made a pretty good paycheck last month.

12:34 Yes, I did.

12:37 I was I did pretty well.

12:42 That’s good, man. We like to see that.

12:44 Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

12:45 You going to do anything special with the money? Doing any special plans with the money you pulled in?

12:52 Well, I’m going be honest with you. Yeah, I got special plans. My grandkid. They got special plans for it.

13:02 I got you.

13:04 Okay, that’s cool. Now, I was looking at your qualifications. They’re just about every qualification you can have. You’re manual certified. We already talked about the right-hand drive. You’re specialty qualified, so that means you can pretty much drive anything, garbage truck included. And you went on the ride along down at Heil in Fort Payne some time back. How much did that ride along help you as far as getting accustomed to the garbage trucks?

13:34 Well, number one, when I rode got that ride along, that was the first time I ever been in a garbage truck a day in my life. So, that ride along was very important because it let me know, you know, what I was actually going to be dealing with. Even though the ride went as far like on the interstate per se, as many miles as we do in them now—

13:56 But it gives you an idea of what you working with and what you’re gonna have to deal with. Cuz I’m 6′ three and a half, almost 6’4.

14:05 And sitting inside of a garbage truck is—

14:08 That’s garbage truck.

14:10 Yes. So, it did give me it let me know, okay, this is what I’m going to be dealing with before I actually, you know, got in there and just seen it for myself. So that way I w in no shock.

14:22 I got you. I got you. Now let me tick off some of your stats here. These are impressive. We already talked about 10,000 miles last month. 7323 is your average per month. And you’re on time. This has got to be a point of pride for you, but you’re on time 89% of the time.

14:45 Yes. And I’m mad about that.

14:47 And I’m upset about that. I did look you were at 100%.

14:57 Right. Yeah. A couple like the storm.

15:00 What’s your key?

15:01 What’s the key?

15:02 Right.

15:03 The key—

15:03 Yeah. What’s your key to being on time?

15:06 Well, number one, when before I take a unit, I like to look at how many hours I got available, where I’m at, how many miles. I calculate, like I said, all that and how much time I think it’s going to take for me to get there. So, my key is try to give myself enough time to get there. But that way, I won’t be in a rush. That way, I’m not in a rush. I’m not in a bind.

15:30 I’m not being careless.

15:32 So, that’s the number one thing.

15:35 Yeah, that’s great advice. And I guess also if something does happen like say getting mud flaps and tail lights, you have built in the time to take care of that.

15:46 Yes, sir. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

15:50 Now, would you pref do you prefer driving a manual or an automatic?

15:56 You know what? It doesn’t matter to me at all. Just give it to me. I drive it. I don’t have a favorite. But now, one of my favorite vehicles I love to drive.

16:07 He’s giving me to I’ll drive it.

16:09 Yes. Yes. My favorite vehicle to drive though do I love to drive the most is a vacuum truck because they are usually big enough for me to fit in there without a problem.

16:22 So, yeah.

16:23 I got you. I got you.

16:25 Well, we got one over in California. I know you won’t be in California anytime soon, but there’s one in California headed for Vegas. So, if you’re in California, we’d be glad to meet you.

16:35 Yep. Yep. Yep. Heading down for an auction there. How did you get into trucking? What How did you get into the trucking business?

16:44 I had a friend, a late my late friend, Mike Michael Thomas. Man, I was young. I was I wasn’t like 17 years old, still in high school. And he used to drive for a company called Sid Motorline, the big gold truck. And I would see him park out in front of his yard with the truck. And I’ll be like, man, I would love to, you know, drive one of those things. And so he just used to every time he came around, I would I was just mesmerized with the truck. So, you know, eventually, you know, when I became of age, you know, where I could drive the truck, I went to training. So, it was all because of him, you know, it was all because of him.

17:21 Gotcha. Now, so how long have you been driving? I mean, you were talking about when you were 17 and he introduced you to the big truck. How long have you been driving a CDL?

17:31 Since 1997. So, we’re going on 29 years.

17:35 You’re a KG veteran there. Very seasoned.

17:38 Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

17:40 All right. What do you like about it the most? Driveaway Trucking. What do you like about it the most?

17:45 Freedom. Freedom. I get I have seen things in this since I’ve been driving this. I’ve seen things I’ve never seen before. In a 18-wheeler, you can’t go certain places in these trucks. You could go anywhere. So, I’ve seen places I’ve never seen before. So, that’s what I enjoy the most about it, the scenery.

18:08 Anything stick out in those places you’ve seen? A memory made?

18:12 Key West will stick out to me. You know, stuff like that like stuff I wouldn’t be able to just—

18:17 Oh, yeah.

18:18 Normally just drive and see. Key West Utah—

18:23 Right? I’ve been to places in Utah that, you know, the big truck probably can’t get in there, but like when we got a single truck, we can get to certain places that we couldn’t get to. And another thing probably a lot of drivers like too, we can go a lot of eating places that we couldn’t go with JT Willis. So, we go to good eating places.

18:44 What’s your favorite, man? What’s your favorite? You’re right. You do get to come across a lot of good food across the country. What’s your favorite? I like go to Corral if we talking about the buffet. Captain D’s that we just talking about a, you know, just a fast and quick restaurant. Those are two of my favorites and like a taco stand thing. You make Dale Taco, something like that when you out west.

19:11 Right. Right. Gotcha. Now, before we sign off here, I was just going to ask you, you’ve been driving for a long time. Introduced to it when we were 17 years old, been in driveaway for a good while. What would your advice be to someone who may be on the fence and is considering going into driveaway? What would you say to them? And now be 100% honest.

19:35 I’ll be 100% honest. I would tell them that come in this with an open mind. Number one, and to me, there’s no limits. You can make as much money as you want to make. That’s my thing with that. But the one thing that I’ve learned is you have to be willing to do certain things that other drivers would do. That’s where you make your money at. Specialty vehicles and stuff like that. That’s where the money is. So try to, you know, get into the specialty vehicles and—

20:06 And like I say, my thing is with me is I try not to limit myself. If there’s units going out to Washington State, Utah, Oregon, even though I stay in the south, I try to go that way because usually that’s where you maximize your profit going that way.

20:26 Gotcha. Those long runs.

20:29 Yes, sir.

20:30 Arthur Trader joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Art, we really appreciate what you have brought to the table, what you’ve shared with us, spent some time in Key West. Now, next week, Arthur is going to join us and he’s got a special project coming up, special challenge, and we’re going to talk about that. Arthur, thank you very much. We appreciate you.

20:52 Thank you, sir.

20:56 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.