Bruce Outridge

Snow Strapped

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Bruce

Winter wasn’t the same, for Canada and those old enough to know what weather used to be like during the months of November to April this mild weather could have been considered spring. It was so mild that more people had been seen in shorts and t-shirts than winter coats and boots. The news was telling people that the conditions are changing due to global warming and people were starting to relax. Jim was one of those people who felt that he could beat anything, he was a new driver with only a couple of years experience and was just starting to be awarded longer runs. He had never experienced any problems on the road other than traffic and the odd driving rain.

The company had been awarded a special contract running freight into Denver Colorado. Two trucks would be sent with specialized freight and the boss thought it would be a good learning experience for Jim as he was sending one of his most experienced drivers in the other truck to help him along. Jim was warned that the weather can change drastically in that region and to be prepared for the worst. Unfortunately the worst that Jim had experienced was considered the best for some so he didn’t think of things other than a heavy coat.

The trucks roared out onto the highway. Nothing but clear sailing for the pair and they made good time their first day. The only thing that Jim noticed about his partner was that while Jim had been buying things like chips and pretzels for the road his partner was stocking up on canned goods and crackers. When Jim asked why he was buying that stuff the old timer just kept saying, “You never know!” Jim didn’t understand, but he would. After another day of decent weather and then things started to change, the mountains had a way of creating unexpected changes in a hurry. As the snow started to fall it changed in intensity and turned it icy at the same time. As they approached traffic stopped ahead and the C.B wrung with chatter about the set of trains that had flipped over at the bottom of the hill closing the road. They were now idle with an unexpected wait time ahead. As the hours passed hunger set in. Jim had run out of junk food and was concerned it would be morning before things got underway. The thought alone was making him hungry. With the weather it turned to a 10 hour wait before the accident was cleaned up. Thanks to an experienced driver, and some canned goods and crackers, hunger for Jim would have to wait for another day.

Severe weather, accidents, and many other conditions can change or block our routes to customer destinations. Always plan for the worst and your survival. Food, shelter, and heat should always be priorities to think about on any trip.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge has been in the transportation industry for over 30 years and is the author of the books Driven to Drive and Running by the Mile. To learn more about Bruce and his work please visit his website at www.outridgeenterprises.ca

It’s a free ride, so why try?

Posted on September 19, 2014 by Bruce

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I am all for people getting opportunities and being encouraged to work in different industries by government funding. These programs are in place to help people get a leg up and learn a new trade or start a new career in a new industry. Right now in the transportation industry many programs are in place to help people enter the transportation industry. I fully support that and hope those that need it take advantage of it. But do these programs bring the right people for the job or are we just filling seats? That’s what we are trying to get away from. Is it too easy of a free ride for some?

As a trainer I see all types of people come through the classroom and for the most part many are eager to learn and start on their new career. I do however see many who won’t make it and I have to wonder if they are using the program as a free ride. Now I agree that not every person is good at learning in the classroom, I get that, I wasn’t either. But we are not asking you to go to University.My theory is that if you can’t sit through six full day classes then you are going to have a really hard time when you enter the industry and find you can’t keep a job. Will you be any better off? I see people who sleep through the whole class, don’t bring pens or papers to write with, and have all kinds of excuses as to why they can’t make it to class, or why they can’t hand in their exercises. My question is why are you here? When someone is interested in something, has a passion for it, you don’t have to tell them how to learn about it, they will anyway.

My advice is no matter what program is available or how good it sounds, if you don’t have a burning desire to be involved then don’t let someone talk you into that career. You are not helping yourself, the industry, or the programs. Yes people need choices, yes people need chances, and yes people need jobs, but if we are just putting them through the motions so the numbers look good on some graph are we really helping them? The answer might be no!

Good businesses know when to say something isn’t a fit with their services and move on. I am not suggesting we don’t help people but think people are being put in programs that don’t fit with the career that they are entering into. Let’s stop the hamster wheel of just filling seats in our industry. Let’s get people that want to be in those seats and put our industry on top with people who want to be there. We will all be a lot better off in the end.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge has been in the transportation industry for over 30 years and is the author of the books Running by the Mile and Driven to Drive. He is an author, trainer, columnist, and speaker in the industry. To learn more about Bruce and his work visit his website at www.outridgeenterprises.ca

Marketing Offers No Shortcut!

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Bruce

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As someone who works with web design and social media for businesses I often find that the subject comes up in conversation on how a person can improve their web presence. I don’t know how many casual conversations have turned up the topic of someone trying to get that quick new way to get more people into their network. So many seem disappointed when I tell them that the best marketing deals with consistency and content.

Right now blogging is hot and the reason is that Search Engines are rating websites based on content being provided by the owner. This rating has been around for a while, but people still don’t seem to understand how the rating affects them. When I tell business owners to get fresh new content for their site the first thing they ask is can I find articles and share them on my website? You can, but you are not helping yourself as much as you need to. When you share another article you are actually helping the other author’s website that created the article, therefore it isn’t being rated on your website as far as search engines are concerned. It may be helpful to your customer base but it isn’t helping your search engine rating. So finding a way to write your own content on your website is the most effective way of improving your website on the web.

Bruce Outridge

The other part of search engine optimization is consistency. The people that I find that are always trying to improve their websites are looking for that quick method that will boost them up the next day on the web, the truth is that just being consistent is the best program of all. Send out a newsletter to your clients, post to your website on a regular basis, and focus on providing value to your clients. Add to your website every week if you can and you will find your numbers creeping up consistently. The folks that want the quick fix are the ones that are not consistent in their marketing so they are always playing the catch up game.

So here is a simple solution. Add new content on a regular basis, create a consistent marketing program, and forget focusing on the numbers. You will see your numbers go up, after all if the phone isn’t ringing it doesn’t matter how many visitors you have to your website.

About the Author
Bruce Outridge is a business and leadership entrepreneur and author of the books Driven to Drive, Running by the Mile, and How to Start an Artistic Business in 12 Easy Steps. To learn more about the author please visit his website at www.outridgeenterprises.ca

Is Your Mind as Big as Your Truck?

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Bruce

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We have all seen it, maybe some of you have even done it, used your size to bud in line or make yourself known. You may even know someone that is short in stature but is constantly trying to make themselves seem bigger. Usually this comes from a person being small on the outside, but feeling large inside so they are constantly trying to show people how big they are and how they can keep up with others. This can sometimes cause aggressive behaviour from the individual and is known as the Napoleon Syndrome. That’s for people, but what about equipment?

Many will use the size of their vehicles to intimidate others on the roadway. This happened to me just this past weekend when I was on the highway and we were all being directed down to a single lane of traffic due to construction. I had come into the traffic and we were all doing our thing going slowly through the construction when this big black pick up truck came up the lane on the side and almost drove into my car, he didn’t even leave enough room to fit his whole truck into the spot. If I hadn’t swerved onto the shoulder (I am glad there was one to go onto) there would have been incident on the highway. After my honking at this clown showed him my opposition to his driving technique we were able to move on. Now I have not seen good professional drivers drive like that, we are already intimidating to the public due to the size of our vehicles. Good drivers know we can be left liable for using our vehicles to push our way through traffic and usually do the opposite by hanging back in traffic and focusing on driving safely. Every so often however, you will find someone who believes that larger vehicles have the right of way whether you agree with them or not. I am not saying I have never squeezed my way into a line up in traffic, I think we all have at some point, but I certainly didn’t do it putting the other vehicle or myself in the position to have an incident. People get lost, people don’t realize a lane is ending, and yes some people just are trying to get to the front of the line, I get it! Bulldozing your car into other’s vehicles, or using the size of your vehicle to intimidate others is not only wrong for you, but a message that hurts the industry as a whole. We are all in a hurry but causing an incident in a single lane of traffic in the middle of a construction zone is just a way to show people your courtesy level needs a little check the next time you get in your vehicle.

About the Author
Bruce Outridge is a transportation consultant with 30 years of experience. He is the author of the books Driven to Drive, and Running by The Mile. Learn more about Bruce on his website at www.outridgeenterprises.ca

Don’t Be Late on the First Day!

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Bruce

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One of the fastest ways to improve your income in trucking is with good time management techniques. As an entrepreneur I begin every week loading up my calendar with meetings and other projects and slotting them in where they fit to be completed in a timely manner. As a professional driver your goal should be to maximize your time by scheduling it for maximum profit. Most new drivers have heard that the first day of the week is the most important and starting late can wreck your whole week and that is true, however I still come across drivers that don’t understand the importance of trip planning. Especially since the GPS has come along, some don’t even look at their map books. If you have worked for your carrier for longer than a few months you should have a sense to the timeframe for back hauls, the distance from deliveries to pickup locations, and dispatch style of the operation. If you don’t then you haven’t been paying attention.

If you have your load for the first part of the week you already have half the week planned. You may be saying I don’t plan because dispatch will mess it up. That’s true you don’t have total control over your time but the things that improve your income are very small in trucking. Delivering on time, calling in early, and knowing your customers will be the big income producers. The carrier I used to run for had a habit of having their pickups a good couple hours away from their deliveries, unless you were in New Jersey this was the norm. So a driver that delivered before 9:00am were able to pick up a load around lunch time and start back for home. A driver that delivered around lunch time didn’t reload until 4:00pm if they got loaded at all. The driver delivering later may have had to wait for a back haul if all the loads were dispatched already. Multiply that scenario by three and you will see why some drivers are returning home on Sunday, they keep delaying themselves each day and it adds up. You should roughly know your flow for the week, this is easy with a dedicated run, but very different on the open board. So how do you plan your week for maximum efficiency? First plan your days for twelve hour days across the board. Leave the extra allowable hours for emergency or when things don’t go quite right. Leave early on your first day planning your deliveries before 9am each day unless your delivery time is appointed for another time. Always be early and plan for traffic flow and weather. Work on being consistent with your deliveries. Once dispatch gets used to your call each morning at 9am they will start having loads ready for you helping you make more income. Work on becoming the most reliable driver in the fleet. You’ll know when you achieve that because you will never be waiting for a load. Trucking companies always fill their reliable drivers first. Work on these small little items to improve your time management and you will find trucking will be a profitable experience. They may be simple tips, but they work.

About the Author
Bruce Outridge is a transportation consultant and author of the book Running By The Mile and Driven to Drive. Find more information on his website at http://www.outridgeenterprises.ca