When I first came to yellow 21 years ago, I had the pleasure of getting to work with some of the old time freight haulers still working at that time. There was one Brother in particular Mr. P., his handle was “Chief” and was a character. He always wore a Yellow uniform and ONLY ran to NEW from ATL.
I got to run to NEW with him one night after being there 6 months. He talked the whole trip over there, stopped at some old, and I mean old truck stops many of you younger drivers only heard of in stories and songs. Mr. P. was talking about how drivers were not “money smart” and would do nothing but spend all they had, paycheck to pay check.
He told me this company allowed him to take care of his family and it was up to him to take care of his money that he earned from Yellow. He told me that I would be making more money than I ever would make in trucking freight with Yellow. He said these city and dock men get paid for 40 hours of work a week and make so much…..he must have been reading my mind over the CB, because the next thing he said was, “yeah Kennesaw Kid, you are thinking you will make even more on the road Mr. P.” “That is my point exactly!” “Live on what they make for 40 hours a week, and put the rest back in a savings account, CDs or bonds. There may come a time when freight is slow that you will be lucky as a road driver to even make what the city does in 40 hours and you may need that extra money, and it will be there for you to borrow from yourself.”
21 years later I can still hear Mr. P. saying those words to me. He gave me a 1958 Freight Contract book and told me this is where he came from, and it is there to remind him were he started. You always need to know where you started and where you will go.
I guess we will know next month if we will continue to know where we are going…..KK