00:04 You stay ready, you won’t have to get ready. So, I just try to be on top of my game. And I don’t want to jinx myself. Since I’ve been in the driveaway business, I haven’t had a fair inspection.

00:15 I’m sure that makes Renee very happy.

00:17 Oh, yes, it does.

00:23 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. It is a venue where we elevate and celebrate the drivers that move all across the country eventually moving the trucks that move the freight that make your life much better. And of course, this is a time when we can lift them up and look at all the things they do, all the things they come across. And we have a very special guest with us this evening. That is Fredrick Waller. Fred, how are you—

01:08 Doing? Fine.

01:09 Okay. What are you doing at this moment, Fred? I’m just sitting at the house getting ready to hit the road in the morning.

01:17 Okay. Now, sitting at the house relaxing. Where is the house?

01:21 It’s in Reynolds, Georgia.

01:22 So, you’re in Reynolds, Georgia, which is a little south of Atlanta. How long have you been living down in Reynolds?

01:28 I’ve been in Reynolds my entire life.

01:31 Okay. Okay. Are you a Braves fan?

01:34 Braves fan. Go Dogs. I’m a huge Dogs fan.

01:38 I’m Atlanta Falcons fan.

01:40 I’m homegrown. I’m sitting here as we’re recording looking at my Georgia cap. I’m a huge Dogs fan myself. Went to school there. So, yeah, go dogs. But, anyway, you said you’re getting ready to hit the road tomorrow.

01:55 Yes, sir.

01:56 Where are you taking off to tomorrow?

01:58 I have to go to Duncan, South Carolina. It’s 10 miles north of Greenville, South Carolina.

02:04 So, you got you a shorty short run?

02:07 Yes, sir. Well, I brought it out of Fort Meyers. So, I rolled in yesterday and did my 10 hour.

02:14 I got you. Fort Myers to Duncan, South Carolina.

02:17 Yes, sir.

02:17 I got you. You got— Let’s see here. You got a joining load coming out of Duncan?

02:22 No, sir. I have to come back to Georgia. I have another load in Georgia.

02:26 A Milligville pickup?

02:28 Yes, sir.

02:28 Gotcha. Now, you and I were talking earlier. This is not your first rodeo. How long have you been doing le?

02:36 I started in April 2018. So, that’s five years. How did you fall into the driveaway space?

02:43 A buddy of mine, he introduced me to the driveaway and I just started just reading up on it and getting more educated about it and I decided it to try it because I always wanted my CDLs and I wanted to travel and just see the world.

03:01 Gotcha.

03:01 And get paid for it. I decided to hop into the driveaway. So, you’ve been doing it for five years and you talked about your passion for traveling and seeing a lot of the country. How many, if you had to guess, how many states have you been in? All of them.

03:19 I’ve went to all except three. If I had to guess—

03:23 Which three have you still on your list that you need to check off?

03:26 Vermont, Maine, and North Dakota.

03:30 Okay.

03:30 I haven’t been to those.

03:32 You’re staying out of the cold weather. Stand out of the real cold weather. Now, as you’re on your time on the open road there, I’m sure you’ve seen all kinds of things including some dangerous things. Tell us a little bit about some of the hazards you’ve seen on the road. I think the worst that I probably I have seen was around the winter time up north, trucks just getting stuck on the road and you’re stuck in traffic for hours and hours and some trucks just where you can’t stop, you know, when it’s the weather is preventing you from stopping. You just slide and people just the big pile up.

04:11 Gotcha. Gotcha. The reason I was asking, we got a special guest joining us this evening, and that is our safety director here at Norton Transport, Renee Daring, and she is sitting right beside me here, and she is going to join in and talk with you quite a bit, Fredrick, about safety because she actually recommended you as a guest on the Six-Figure Trucker because of your stellar record in safety. Renee, thanks for joining us. Well, thank you, John. I appreciate that.

04:43 Tell us a little bit about how you and Fredrick not necessarily came to know each other, but you knew about him.

04:51 Well, as I was reviewing inspections roadside inspections, I came across Fredrick’s record of clean inspections, and it looks as if you’ve had five clean inspections just in the past few months. Is that correct, Fredrick?

05:11 Yes, ma’am.

05:12 So, I just want to thank you for these clean inspections because that is what helps our CSA scores. And if those that are listening do not understand what I’m talking about, it is actually how I explained it to John was when you are in school and you are graded on your subjects in school. Well, that’s the same thing for a trucking company. And there’s different categories within the safety measurement system that trucking companies are graded. And that is unsafe driving, the crash indicator, which is accidents, hours of service, vehicle maintenance, controlled substances and alcohol, hazardous material compliance, driver fitness, and insurance.

06:04 So those are just the things that that we are graded on. So when a driver goes through an inspection, he is inspected on all of these categories and if there is a problem within one of these categories, then he receives a violation or possibly a citation. So, with Fredrick when I came across his clean inspections, I saw five. Three of them are actually from Florida. And we do receive a lot of inspections from Florida from other drivers. But Fredrick, I mean, we got to know, we got to know on this podcast, what is your secret to a clean inspection? Well, first I start with making sure that my logs are correct and I’m in hours, not in violation. And then I make sure I have all my pack cards and if just in place and I just I was always I was brought up on if you’re if you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready.

07:11 So, I just try to take myself on that and just try to be on top of my game. Talk a little bit about what you just said there. If you stay ready, you don’t have to get ready. What does that mean in the process?

07:26 Meaning if because you know sometimes out on the road, you know, drivers, we get loose and DOT pull over on we don’t have our laws ready or whatever. So that’s why I say if you stay ready, you won’t have to get ready. So, if you just keep your laws intact, if you keep your up, if you keep up with your hours that you drive a week, if you’re logging every day, it’s just it’s staying ready. If you have if you every day before I leave, I make sure I have my medical cards, my license, just making sure nothing is suspended, nothing is out of date, which the company will let you know, but I just try to do those type of things on my own. But therefore, it just go a lot smoother when they pull you over.

08:08 Now, he’s talking about keeping your logs intact and up to date. Do you have a routine that you follow? A kind of a step-by-step process?

08:19 Yes, sir. Normally after every whenever I shut down after my 10 hours, I just log I just do it daily every day. That’s just my routine. I’m sure that makes Renee very happy.

08:35 Oh, yes it does.

08:39 Now, you’ve been driving what do we say, five years, and Renee was laying out here that you’ve had five straight clean bills of inspection. Is this something going back that has been a common practice for you?

08:54 Yes, sir. Now that I think about it, I haven’t, and I don’t want to jinx myself, I haven’t had a since I’ve been in the driveaway business, I haven’t had a failed inspection.

09:06 He has not had a failed inspection since in the last 5 years.

09:09 Oh, wow. I am so impressed.

09:13 Now, do you share this these flying colors with other drivers? Do you stress the importance of it to your friends that are also in driveaway? Yeah, I have a couple buddies that I talk to and I tell them, you know, the same thing. So, we kind of be on the same page.

09:29 Gotcha. I mean, you know, obviously it’s an obvious question. You’re driving many times a truck that weighs over 33,000 lbs. It’s a big piece of equipment. You could end up in a really disastrous type situation if you’re not safe. Is that at the forefront? In addition to doing your logs, being prepared, your pre-trip inspection, is that something that you do also or keep it in the back of your mind, maybe the front of your mind as far as I’m in a big piece of equipment here. I’m driving a large truck. Is that something that you always keep right there?

10:06 Yes, sir. I pay attention to other to I just pay attention to the road. I stay focused and I watch out for the other drivers as me as well. So I try not to make, you know, just stay in your lane and that those type of things. So yeah, I pay I hop on the safety part and just watching out for other drivers because you have to not only pay attention to yourself, but you have to pay attention to other drivers as well. You know, Fredrick, you were talking about routine and how you have your own routine of doing your logs and checking on them at the end of the day. So, what is your specific routine for a pre-trip inspection and maybe share a little bit about your post-trip inspection as well?

10:58 Okay. Yeah. I when I get to the truck, I arrive, I walk around truck, make sure all the tires are good, and I check for any dents or scratches. I check for the window, the front window, make sure it isn’t any cracks. I open the hood and I check the water level and the oil, just make sure nothing is leaking. And then I turn the unit on and I turn the AC on and just see if anything’s coming from under the truck because a lot of time it’s hard to tell just looking at the truck. So sometimes you have to turn it on and just let it run, go through the checks and see you know if anything is leaking oil or anything like that. Is this something this practice is this something that you learned from experience to keep doing this or that you built into habit? It—

11:53 It came from multiple breakdowns. I want to say it like that, but that’s what it came from. Just when I first started, I used to run into different breakdown problem where the unit running hot. I had to add stop by the truck stop and get water. So over a period of time, I just started just checking to make sure there’s water in there.

12:14 Fredrick, these sound like some very simple steps that that we could actually share with our drivers. And I appreciate everything that you are saying about doing the pre-trip and doing your logs and keeping those up to date. Is there anything any specifics that we may have not touched on that you would like to share as to maybe your attitude when you when you’re pulled over doing an inspection, how you are to react to certain situations when the officer is standing right there in front of you.

12:54 I just show respect just yes sir, no ma’am. And it normally just go smooth, you know. I’m not, you know, I’m not aggressive. I don’t talk in aggressive tong, you know. I just whatever question he asked, I just— Yes, sir. Or no, sir. Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am. And just pretty much just a respect thing.

13:18 Clearly, it has worked for you with your track record that you have here. And we knocked on wood for you earlier so that you don’t jinx yourself. Just so we’re at a wooden table. We knocked on it in case you didn’t hear it. But I wanted to ask you also about the breakdown component of it. No one wants to have a breakdown. Obviously, they’re a pain in the butt. Clearly for everyone involved. And, how quickly did you decide it’s like I can control this to a degree. I mean, no one can control stop one from happening. If the truck’s going to have one, it’s going to have one. But, I mean, as far as the steps that you take to try and prevent it how long have you been doing that? And how much has it helped you down the road?

14:03 I started when I first started, I ran into a couple of breakdowns. So I would say probably after my third breakdown, you know, it’s three scratch you out. So after my third breakdown, I just started checking it more thoroughly and just being more cautious because with a breakdown, you know, if it’s break if it break down, you know, company will pay you attempt to pick up, but what you was going to get for that load, you kind of lose out just depending. So I try not to I want to stay on the positive side and earnings. So I just try to check that stuff. So I like you said it eliminate it’s not going to just eliminate the full breakdown but it’ll it can eliminate to a certain extent.

14:48 Now in your time on the road did you drive in a truck before driveaway?

14:56 No. No sir. My first time driving a truck was when I hopped in driveaway.

15:00 Gotcha. Now, have you seen some close calls either personally or other drivers out there on the road as far as like that could be disastrous?

15:11 I haven’t seen any personal knock on wood again, but I you know I just pass through and seen a couple of wrecks.

15:20 I guess that gives you cause for concern when you do see that.

15:24 Yes, sir.

15:25 Gotcha. Now, wanted to talk a little bit about on the checklist, pre-trip, do you look at the tires, the wear, the tread on the tires and those kind of things.

15:36 Yes, sir.

15:38 What do you look for?

15:42 I look for the depth in the tires. I look for like scratch, like just tire awareness. If some of the tires if it’s like ball what we call is ball and don’t have any thread and I look to see if depending on how far I have to go and can the truck make it to my destination.

16:05 I got you. Have you always been a safety conscious person?

16:09 Yes sir. Yes sir. Yes sir.

16:12 Where did that come from? Is it just something that was instilled within you or something developed? How did it come about?

16:19 It’s I would say when I got on the road just understanding and knowing how dangerous, you know, just like you said earlier, we driving in 33,000 lbs. That’s real dangerous if you’re not careful. So, and I pride myself on, you know, want to make it back home to my family and loved ones. So, I take safety real serious.

16:45 Very well said there. Making it back home to your family and loved ones. Let’s talk a little bit about your family. We were talking with one of your, I believe, former dispatchers, Jessica. And do you have several children?

16:59 Yes, sir. I have three kids. One newborn, one and my daughter is six and my son’s five.

17:07 I bet they keep you active.

17:08 Yes, sir.

17:10 Yes, sir.

17:11 Tell us about the newborn.

17:13 He’s very active. His name is Silus. He’s— He was born in Jan of this year.

17:21 He was born in January of this. Okay. He’s—

17:24 Yes, sir. January of this year.

17:26 I got you. I wanted to ask you something kind of going back to safety here. Rene is still sitting here with us. Talking with Fredrick Waller here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’ve been asking you all the questions. Thought you might have a question for Renee. I mean, she this is her life. This is her passion. She deals with all the regulations every day. I mean, is there something that may come to mind for you that Renee could address?

17:56 Not at the moment. I haven’t. No, sir. Not at the moment.

18:01 He’s just trying to be nice.

18:05 No, I really don’t. I really don’t. I don’t have any I don’t have too many, you know, any concerns about it. I just I would tell you that, you know, I appreciate you. I thank you and doing a great job with the safety.

18:22 Oh, well, that is very nice of you to say that. I will say this that sometimes I don’t it’s very rare that I get to talk to the nice guys and the ones that actually do what they are requested to do. So, I appreciate you too and we just need to make sure that we are always safe out on the roads and you know that that means a lot to me because I have two daughters that are out on the road all the time here in Georgia. So, and in Tennessee. So, it, you know, poses a big I have a big heart for safety and I just appreciate people like you who do everything they can to get these clean inspections and they are safety aware while they’re out on the road.

19:15 So, just know that we appreciate you too.

19:22 Oh, yes, ma’am. Thank you. Renee Daruring, our safety director here at Norton Transport, joining us on the program here, the Six-Figure Trucker, brought to you by Norton Transport. One of the best examples of someone who practices safety on the daily, Fredrick Waller, joining us now. Fred, so what’s in store for you this evening before you get ready to hit the road? Are the Bra let’s see, right now it’s Wednesday night, so I’m assuming the Braves are playing.

19:49 Yes, the Braves come on at 6:40. So, I’ll check that game out until the playoff game come on. Boston Celtics and Still 76ers. So, I’ll check a little bit of that game out and I’ll eat dinner and get ready for bed.

20:05 Gotcha. Where does the Celtics Sixers where does that series stand right now?

20:11 76ers is up one 10 and game two is tonight. I saw where Joel Embiid won the what was the MVP? Offensive MVP.

20:23 Yeah. Yes, sir. He finally got one.

20:27 He was a runup. He was a last two years.

20:30 Gotcha. Gotcha. So, who’s your team? Are you just watching the playoffs in general?

20:36 I’m just watching. I’m a sports type of guy, so I’m just watching.

20:41 Gotcha. I would say the Hawks, but Hawks, they lost last week, so I’m just a fan, right?

20:47 Have you been able to get down and see any of the games in person?

20:52 I have in the past. I have. I didn’t catch any this year.

20:55 Gotcha. Now, did you play sports when you were not saying you’re old, but when you were a younger man?

21:03 Yes, sir. I played basketball, football, and baseball. I played three.

21:09 Which one was your favorite? Baseball.

21:13 I’m going to guess third base.

21:16 I play when I in my younger days I played pretty much everywhere. When I got older, I played center field and left field.

21:25 Okay. So, you could run.

21:27 Yes, sir.

21:27 Now, what about baseball makes it your favorite?

21:30 I just grew up just playing and loving. I had a passion for it. So, I just and I played almost my entire life, so I just grew up loving it.

21:41 Did you play past high school?

21:43 No, sir. I stopped in high school.

21:45 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, let’s see. You’re running up to South Carolina tomorrow and then back home. Is that right?

21:55 Yes, sir. I’ll go to South Carolina and I come back and I have a run out of minutes, so I’ll pick it up tomorrow.

22:03 Gotcha. Is it a long run? The one coming out of Milligville?

22:07 No, sir. It’s a short run.

22:09 Gotcha. Now, do you normally do short ones or do you mix it up with the short and long runs?

22:15 It just depends on what type of week I’ve had. If I if I’ve did a couple of long runs through the week, towards the end of the week, I’ll do a short run just keep me, you know, close to the house.

22:29 I got you. Do you like to stay local as far as obviously when you depart for whichever run it may be and on the return? I mean, do you like to be home on the weekends?

22:41 Yes, sir. I try to base my schedule on a Monday through Friday and I try to be back, you know, Friday evening or sometimes I it just depends on the week. I’ll cut it short on the Thursday. But normally I try to be, you know, home on the weekends because like I said, I pride myself in just making it home and spending family time.

23:03 Gotcha. So what do you average about three runs a week?

23:06 Three to four. Yes, sir.

23:08 Gotcha. Now, do you have a particular type of truck that you would prefer to drive?

23:17 I prefer to drive a sleeper. Sleeper. Cascadia Freightliner.

23:24 Yep. That seems to be a that’s a popular answer with a lot of drivers we talk to is the Freightliner Cascadia. There’s a lot of those on the road, too. Now, you can go ahead wide open here. What about the ones you don’t want to drive?

23:41 I don’t want to drive. I don’t really have my I don’t probably my least favorite would be like Western starter. We don’t really I don’t really drive too many Western Stars, but that’s probably would be my least favorite.

23:57 Now, do you get behind the wheel like dump trucks, garbage trucks, some impixers, or do you stay in the dayc cabs and sleepers?

24:04 I get it. I actually I’m in a dump truck now. I’m in a Kenworth dump truck and I have to take it to dump. Oh, I’m I try to stay in the normally I’ll be in the dayc cabs, sleepers or dumps or bot trucks. Gotcha. Are you in a T880?

24:24 T860.

24:26 860. I got you. So that’s a pretty good size truck you’re in now.

24:31 Yes, sir.

24:32 What kind of fuel consumption is that one?

24:36 It’s a diesel.

24:37 I’m guessing you’re getting about five miles to the gallon, maybe six.

24:42 It feel like four.

24:44 It may be closer to that there. What when you know obviously safety is a big component of your driving wheelhouse. Talk about fuel consumption and fuel conservation. Is that something that you pay a lot of attention to?

25:00 Yes sir. I try to save as much fuel as possible.

25:04 What are your tricks of the trade?

25:07 Going six between setting the cruise control on 63 or 65. Don’t go over 65. Once you go over 65, you burning you’re burning your diesel.

25:21 You’re bringing a smile to Rene’s face.

25:23 Yes. I tell the drivers all the time that they need to go at least five below the speed limit to get that decent fuel consumption in that truck because you know going over that speed limit is not it’s not good for the truck and it’s not good for safety either.

25:43 Yes, ma’am. It’s not good for your back pocket either.

25:46 Yeah. And speaking of back pocket, you know, you do have a lot of loads that you have completed in the past few months. So, what kind of tricks of the trade can you give us for the drivers that may be listening?

26:04 Just— Oh, you mean consumpt?

26:08 Yes. I just like I try to save a few meals like far as like on the road meals like I mean I try to eat just one time a day and I don’t try to make it heavy. So I want to watch my weight also. So try to cut my money on just spending on meals and—

26:27 So it’s not McDonald’s every day right?

26:30 No ma’am it’s not McDonald’s. Sometimes it’s slim gym and a water you know just protein. I use the Slim Gym for protein, the peanuts for protein. So—

26:39 Yeah. I gotta ask you this question, Fred. Speaking of Slim Gym, can you give us an impression of what was it? Randy Macho Man Savage there that used to do the Slim Jim commercials. You remember those?

26:50 I do.

26:52 You I don’t I can’t recall right now.

26:55 Step into a slim gym. Anyway, sorry. I got off topic there.

27:00 He’s probably younger than we are. Hey, probably. Yeah, that that was back a few minutes ago. But Renee brought up a good point about not only fuel consumption, but planning your meals. Do you plan them or just say, “Hey, I’m not going to, you know, spend 12 bucks at the drive-thru on this one.”

27:18 Well, I when I get my load and I see where I’m going, I go to thinking about, you know, meals then. So, I try to and I try to eat like between certain times.

27:29 Gotcha. Gotcha. Doing the fasting by hour kind— What’s the time frame for you as far as eating? When do you try to eat?

27:39 At least from about noon around 12. So that’ll be my first, you know, my first time eating. Sometimes I go over to at least 1 or 2:00. But between just say 12 and 5. Now, when you’re on a long run and you’ve eaten between 12:00 and 5, let’s say for sake of discussion, you ate at 2 o’clock and let’s say you went to Subway. So, you ate at 2:00 and you’re running well like your past run from Florida coming north there about 7:00. Are you starting to get pretty hungry? Sometimes just depends on what kind of, you know, hot. Did I get a 6 inch sub or did I get a foot long sub?

28:25 I got you.

28:25 Just depends.

28:26 I gotta— What’s your foot long sub? What’s your go-to?

28:31 Chicken bacon ranch.

28:32 Chicken bacon ranch.

28:33 That’s mine, too.

28:34 Gotcha. Chicken, bacon, ranch. You can’t go wrong.

28:39 Now, kind of doubling back here, you’ve been to excluding Hawaii. Have you been to Hawaii? No sir, I haven’t been to Hawaii.

28:49 Okay. But of the 49 states, you’ve seen all of them but three. Which one sticks out as the most majestic to you from the road?

28:59 I would say Miami.

29:01 Oh, okay. Just as a location, Miami. What about Miami?

29:05 Yeah, I love Miami.

29:06 I mean, you know, Miami is often known as a city of beautiful people. Is that what you saw?

29:12 Yes. It just it’s a beautiful— It’s just beautiful. And I like cuz the weather normally the weather’s almost always nice. The weather’s always nice. Even in the winter time here, it’s nice down there.

29:25 Well, you were just in South Florida, right? Earlier today.

29:28 Yes, sir. Yesterday.

29:30 Yesterday. Okay. What part of Florida did you come out of?

29:33 I was in Fort Lauderdale.

29:36 I delivered a load in Fort Lauderdale and then I rented the car and went over to Fort Meyers.

29:42 Gotcha.

29:43 And I picked up there. It’s hard not to eat some solid food when you’re in Fort Lauderdale.

29:51 You’re right. You’re right. It’s very tempting. I had to tempt myself. Don’t stop by this restaurant.

29:56 Gotcha.

29:57 And I also think if you eat heavy, you get sleepy and you want to go to sleep. So, it helps staying alert also.

30:05 Gotcha. I think Renee had a question for you.

30:08 Yeah. Well, I was just thinking about, you know, you were talking about eating healthy and wanted to circle back to that subject because it sounds like that you are a an athletic kind of guy. And so, do you do any kind of workouts while you’re out on the road or do you have something else just to stay fit while you’re out on the road?

30:32 No, I don’t really do workouts on the road. I just watch what I eat.

30:38 Oh, okay.

30:38 I don’t really do workouts no more.

30:41 What about when you’re not on the road?

30:42 Yeah, I do a lot of walking.

30:44 It’s a great form of exercise walking.

30:46 It’s hard to beat.

30:47 So, when I Yeah, I’m home. I walk every day of, you know, like Friday, Saturday, Sunday. It just depends on my schedule, but every day I just try to depend on try to get like a mile, mile and a half.

30:59 Walk in the neighborhood.

31:01 Yes, sir.

31:02 Gotcha. Now, you said that Miami was one of the best places you’ve seen as far as the weather, the people, the surroundings, the scenery. What about out west? Is there anything out west that really blows your skirt up?

31:17 Vegas.

31:18 Vegas.

31:19 Oh, Vegas. What about Vegas?

31:21 Yes, sir. Baby. It’s kind of— It’s not I wouldn’t say it’s not Miami, but it’s kind of the same feel, but it just the atmosphere and just how it looks. And I was before I actually went, I always wanted to see it. And what you see is just on TVs and stuff, this is how it look in real life.

31:46 Gotcha.

31:46 And the food is great.

31:48 Oh yeah. Oh yeah. And it just if you’re going for vacation or anything like it just the night life is, you know, it just it’s amazing.

31:56 Lots of choices out there. Now, are you more of a city guy or do you want to see the open landscape or would you rather see the skyline?

32:06 More of a city.

32:08 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, we’re coming up on the summer at least. You’re living down there in Reynolds, Georgia. It doesn’t feel like spring right now. At least it doesn’t up here in Ringgold, just outside of Chattanooga. We’re still seeing 40s in the mornings. Are you seeing that at home?

32:29 Yes, sir. We Yes, sir. This morning not yesterday morning, I think it was 55. So, we still hanging around the same temperature.

32:39 Now, from what I’m picking up here, you’re a warm weather guy. You got any big plans for this summer as far as vacation travel with the family?

32:48 Yes sir. We are going down to Disney this summer.

32:53 I’m sure the kids are going to love that.

32:56 Yes sir. We’re taking the kids down to Disney Universal. So—

33:00 Are you taking the new—

33:01 We’ll be down for a week.

33:03 Oh, a week. That’ll be fun.

33:06 Yes, sir.

33:07 Newborn going with you or is he going to be staying with someone else? No, he’s going. He’s going.

33:13 He’ll take it all in.

33:16 I did want to ask you really quickly there about those three states you haven’t been to. Have you made a checklist? You’re like, I want to make it to those just so you can say you’ve been to every state in the contiguous.

33:30 I have eventually. And it’s crazy because I was talking to probably one of my buddies a couple of weeks ago and we was talking about it about going up to Vermont and Maine. But I probably wouldn’t go right now. I wait till it gets summer.

33:46 I got you. We’re— Yeah, I got you.

33:49 You know, it’s probably kind of cool up there. So, I’ll wait till it’s summer. Summer.

33:53 Yeah. Then go on up to Maine and get some lobster while you’re up there. That’s on your diet.

33:58 It should be.

33:59 Yes, sir. Renee had something she wanted to say to you since you are a Georgia boy here and live down south of Atlanta there. She wanted to say something to you.

34:10 Well, you know, we have lots of drivers that come and visit us here at the office and you know, I would love for you to come by and introduce yourself. We’ll take you to lunch and I promise I’ll have some slim gyms for you, too. And I think last week or was the week before last I had a load that came right into Ringgold and the dispatcher she wanted me to come by but I kind of got behind schedule and I couldn’t make it by but I told her the next time I was up I was going to stop by and meet everyone.

34:48 Well there’s a pretty good chance with where you live and where you travel and where your loads go. I mean, you’re going to come up 75 and back down 75 and we’re right off of 75. Literally, you can see it from our office practically. And so, I mean, we’re just a stones throw away from the freeway. So, come by. Renee will make sure you get a solid lunch like she said. She’ll you can step into a slim gym and for the road, of course, but spend some time with us. I now you’ve been in this for 5 years. How long do you see yourself staying in it?

35:26 I know at least another five years at least.

35:32 Has the money been good to you?

35:34 Yes sir. Yes sir. The money has been you know I’ve been maintaining and stuff that I want to do I’ve been able to do it. The only thing I would say that I wish I would have started when I first started was just like insurance and that type of thing. But the company I you know I started with they would they didn’t offer it. So but now you know I have so I think that’s probably the only thing I would say that I didn’t start when I first started.

36:07 Gotcha. You’re in a good position. And you’ve been doing this for 5 years and you worked you’ve worked for a number of driveaway companies and obviously with Norton too and you and I had talked a little bit earlier. What about Norton separates us from the other companies you’ve worked with? Just the just like the loads that Norton has and like you know you have loads in different states and that’s important when you trying when you run full time cuz you can connect different you know you can say if you going to Florida you can get a load out of Florida just as I did the other day. So that’s very important to me. And just all like all the incentives. You get incentives if you use your car at C, you know, get gas with your car. You get if you pick up on time, you get an incentive. I like the pay, you know, you get paid daily. If you have an in at a certain time, I love that.

37:11 Oh yeah. You know, it don’t take cuz a lot of companies take two, three days to settle you out and you know, people you deliver the load and you know, you want to get paid that day. So, I love that and just I like the variety of loads, you know, I love the availability of work, you know—

37:32 Never really slow. That that’s a common answer what you’re talking about being able to be paid quickly and that’s something that we really pride ourselves on being able to do for our drivers who work so hard to deliver these trucks all over the country. I just wanted to talk a little bit about the availability of loads where you can make these connections and really plan out your week. I guess I mean how much of a plus is that for you?

38:00 That’s a huge plus. That is a huge plus when you’re able to go to another state and get a load and, you know, go elsewhere, get a load, and eventually that would rot you back home, you know, cuz you just it’s just money that you’re making. You’re not losing, you know, or subtracting from running cars or bus fairs or in that nature. So I got the different lows in different states is just—

38:31 A amazing plus.

38:33 Now I guess kind of break it down for us here. How much of it do you do yourself planning as far as looking at the load board and how much of it comes from interaction and communication with your dispatch team?

38:47 Normally I mean I’ve been in it so long that I kind of you know it just normally I just get the load and I plan it myself. I guess. Does that give you a sense of comfort to have that kind of control?

39:03 Yes, sir. It does. It does.

39:05 Gotcha. Well, let’s see. Let me look at the clock here real quick here. We got the Braves in about 10 minutes. Is that the first pitch in about 10 minutes?

39:16 Yes, sir. 64. Yes, sir.

39:18 And what time in the NBA playoff comes on a little bit later? I’m assuming—

39:23 At 8. It starts at 8. Well, you’ve got a good night in front of you before you hit the road in the morning. Fredrick anything you want to say to Renee here as we sign off?

39:33 Oh, no. I just, you know, like I said earlier, just thank you. And, you know, your work doesn’t go unnoticed either.

39:41 You know, I have just fell in love with you. But, on a serious note like I’ve said before too, we just we at Norton, we do take safety seriously and I try to pay attention to drivers who are self-conscious about safety and you were one of the ones that came to that were that was brought on my radar due to these five clean inspections in just a few months. So, I just encourage all the drivers that are listening to strive to maybe take on some of these tips and tricks that Fredrick has talked about during this podcast and apply it to their journey in driveaway and hopefully they will do the same and get some clean inspections and stay safe.

40:36 Well said, Renee. You heard it right there from Renee. Follow in the footsteps of Fred. Following Fred’s footsteps. That’s what we need to need to think about there. Fred, I wanted to ask you before we sign off and let you get in front of the television with the remote there. What’s going to be do you have a slim gym beside you as you’re sitting back in the remote there?

40:57 No sir. I have one I’ll get one in the morning.

41:00 Okay.

41:01 Before I hit the road.

41:02 Kick off the day with it. Well, Fred, I want to go ahead and sign off with you here. Thank you so much for joining us and any piece of advice you might have for someone who wants to become an independent contractor and step into driveaway. Yeah, it’s I just I took a chance. If you want to just take a chance and I’m pretty sure that you will love it and you know, if you know, you make your own schedule and if you want to hop in, you know, I encourage you to and you could tell someone hop in with Norton. You know, they’re good and they’re always available and they’re willing to help. So, I would say just come on in and try it out.

41:46 There you have it. Wise words from Fredrick Waller here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Fredrick, thank you so much for joining us. Be safe out there on the road tomorrow and every load afterward.

41:56 Yes, sir. Thank you. And glad for you guys having—

41:59 All right. You bet.

42:07 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.