AdVANtage Contractor Newsletter

Company driver becomes owner operator
"I can do this"

Ron Nester thought long and hard about becoming an owner operator. He was doing well as a company driver, but he wanted something more. That “something” was the freedom and independence of owning his own truck. But he isn’t one to jump into anything without thinking it through.

“Look, honey,” his wife said. “We’re doing fine now. What if it doesn’t go well?”

Ron knew he couldn’t make the move without his wife’s support, so he did his research. He talked with more than 20 owner operators to learn from their experience. In the process, he became particularly interested in the truck purchase program offered by Highway Sales, Inc., a truck and finance vendor to Dart Transit Company.

So he went back into his records to see how he would have made with the same loads as an owner operator at Dart. “Adding it all up, I would have made a lot more money as a Dart contractor. I showed my wife what I found, and she said, ‘OK, if that’s what you really want to do.’”

Ron says he got a good deal by leasing his truck from Highway Sales. The process was easy, and three months later, neither he nor his wife are disappointed. His 2005 Columbia is comfortable, and with his Mercedes Benz engine still breaking in, he’s already getting 6.5 mpg. As a bonus, he’s grown to really like his Ultrashift automatic transmission. “It surprised me how much less stressful it is to drive.”

Before starting with Dart, Ron’s biggest worry about buying a truck was making the monthly payments. “It hasn’t turned out to be a problem at all. I like the way it is set up.” His truck costs $61 a day, and the payment is automatically deducted from his settlements. “Payments are never a big deal,” he says.

Ron was also concerned about fuel cost, and that hasn’t been a problem either. As a Dart contractor, Ron receives discounts on Dart’s Advantage Fuel Network, and Dart’s “No Worries Fuel Cost Adjustments” cover more than half of his fuel cost.

“Buying this truck is a big step forward for me,” Nester says, “and my wife is happy with the financial results. We’re making a whole lot more money than we were before.”

Best of all, Nester says it feels good to be an independent owner operator. “It feels like you grew up a little bit,” he says, and then he laughs. “It’s like you’re not driving your dad’s car anymore. You’ve finally got your own.”

“Dart takes care of the paperwork and permits, so I don’t have to worry about that. It makes it a lot easier to become an owner operator.”

The Holiday Inn Express in Eagan was
home to the McDermotts for a week
after they escaped Hurricane Katrina.

Escaping Hurricane Katrina

Before it hit, no one knew for sure where Hurricane Katrina would go. As the storm headed toward New Orleans, Dart contractor Albert McDermott decided he had better check on his family before picking up his load in Baton Rouge. He was only an hour away from his home in New Orleans.

He arrived Saturday night. Some people were evacuating, but the weather report was still uncertain. Al and his wife, Jeannie, decided to wait until the next morning before deciding what to do. Sunday morning arrived with a bright blue sky, but the mayor announced a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. Their decision took but a moment. They would evacuate right away with their three children, 13 year-old daughter Taylor, 6 year-old son AJ, and 22 month-old Jacob.

Their plan was simple: Albert would pick up his load in Baton Rouge and deliver it as scheduled in Illinois. Jeannie would follow in the family car as far as Baton Rouge, then turn west to Houston where family waited.

But they were not alone. I-10 was jammed, converted to evacuation status with both sides of the freeway clogged with outbound traffic that slowly crept northward. The one-hour drive to Baton Rouge dragged out to nine, as the hurricane approached and the clear blue sky changed to gray.

Then the serpentine belt on Jeannie’s car broke. In the middle of an evacuation there was little to do. They limped the overheated car to a parking spot and loaded the entire family into Al’s International tractor.

Even in all the chaos, Al was the consummate professional truck driver, determined to make his delivery on time. With his family on-board and staying ahead of the storm, he delivered his load in Illinois. He was re-dispatched for a Wednesday delivery at Dart’s yard in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

Until then, Al had been totally focused on his deliveries. “It wasn’t until I walked into the Dart’s Safety Department that it hit me,” he says. “Our home was underwater, and we had just lost everything we owned. And I had no idea where my friends in New Orleans had gone. Not a phone in the 504 area code was working.” McDermott felt devastated, terribly alone -- and homeless.

“Then I talked to Steve Kaufmann in Safety and I told him what had happened. Suddenly, it seemed like everything at Dart just went into overdrive.” Kellie Reis from the Claims Department took the family under her wing. Recognizing that a family of five couldn’t live in Al’s truck, she checked them into the Holiday Inn. For free the hotel upgraded them into a suite.

Expecting to be with family in Houston, Jeannie had packed only four days of clothing. Kellie set about finding what the family needed, and soon items donated by Dart employees accumulated into a small mountain of clothing, food, toiletries, toys, and bedding. As the search for longer-term housing proceeded, someone donated tickets to the Minnesota State Fair to help the family forget their troubles for a few hours. Disney contributed tickets to Camp Snoopy, the indoor amusement park at the Mall of America.

An irony of the McDermotts’ situation is that they had planned to move to Minnesota next June after the school year ended. Then nine months early, they unexpectedly found themselves in Minnesota, desperately working to put their lives back together again.

Despite feeling homeless and destitute, they are discovering that they still have the most important things in life. Their family is together and well. Al still owns his truck and his own trucking business, contracted to a company that cares. And most important, the McDermott’s have hope, buoyed by the kindness of strangers who were neighbors in a time of trouble.

Jim Addison

It's all about family
Kristin Ries, Staff Writer

Who do you think of when you hear the word “Family”? The people you trust and depend upon? The ones who help in times of need? These are the reasons why Jim Addison thinks of Dart as family.

When Jim contracted with Dart 16 years ago, he came for the pay and the opportunity to buy a truck. He stayed because “the people here work with you and help, no matter what the problem.”

To prove his point, Jim relates one of his most difficult experiences. Three years ago he was involved in an unavoidable fatal accident. To get his head straight, he took two months off from driving. “Before I even thought about money, Dart called home to my wife and asked how much money she needed to keep things going at home,” Jim said. “Dart gave us more than we asked for. They didn’t have to do that. And that’s why they’re family to me, because they were there for me when I needed them. Believe me, I’ll be with this company until I retire.”

Addison bought his first truck in 1989 through Highway Sales, Inc., one of Dart’s truck and financing vendors. Since then he has driven over two million miles with Dart, and has received many awards for his achievements. In June, he was selected as Dart’s Contractor of the Month, an honor that few receive.

While Jim started with Dart’s 48-state contract option, he switched to one of Dart’s dedicated customers so he could get home more often. As part of Target’s National Dedicated Fleet, he makes about four trips a week, and still has three days at home. He operates between Virginia and Georgia, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and father Leon.

Jim and Leon both contracted with Dart at the same time, and Leon would still be driving if health problems hadn’t forced him to retire. “My dad taught me a lot,” Jim said. “Keeping a professional attitude on the road is something you have to work on and practice. He told me sometimes you just have to stop, regroup, and take a break.”

When Jim needs advice, he looks to his dad and other Dart contractors for help. “We’re like a big family out here. If one of us doesn’t have the solution or an idea, another will.”

When Jim is at a truck stop, other drivers sometime ask him about Dart. “What do I tell them? The recruiting department’s phone number, of course!” he says with a laugh. “No, actually I tell them I’ve been with Dart for 16 years, and they are family to me. That’s got to be worth something.”

Dan Kincaid is another Dart
contractor who gets super fast
settlements with Scan & Go.

Want to make a fast buck?
Kristin Ries, Staff Writer

The bucks don't come any faster than they do at Dart. "This new Scan & Go service is fantastic," says John Johnson, a Dart contractor from Britt, Iowa. "I can get paid the same day I deliver my load."

The secret to John Johnson's fast cash flow is Dart's incredibly fast contractor settlements, combined with the speed and convenience of Scan & Go scanners at Flying J truck stops.

"It's easy to use," says Johnson, "and I'm no computer genius." To settle a load, Johnson swipes his EFS card in the machine to retrieve his unsettled loads. He then scans his paperwork. Scan & Go prints a receipt with the transaction information and a copy of what he scanned. "Nothing gets lost," John says, "because I've got proof of everything I've scanned, and I get a confirmation of my settlement on my Qualcomm satellite unit."

Even better, Johnson gets his money the same day. "If I make a settlement request before 1 P.M. on normal business days, I get an EFS check number the same day. If I use direct deposit, the money is in my bank account the next day. You just can't beat it for speed."

Dart's system allows contractors to scan settlement documents 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but settlement requests after 5 P.M. are completed the next business day.

Before becoming a Dart contractor, Johnson operated under his own authority. "Sometimes it took two months to get paid, and then the check might bounce," he recalls. Dart's system is so much better -- I'll never go back to hauling my own freight again."

Two generations of Dart Presidents:
Dave Oren and Don Oren

New President for Dart

For just the second time in its 71-year history, Dart Transit Company has a new president.

A long planned transition in leadership took place October 1st when David D. Oren was promoted from Executive Vice President to company President. His father, Donald G. Oren has been president for 28 years and becomes Chairman of the Board.

The move brings the third generation of the Oren family into Dart’s presidential office. Dart was founded in 1934 by Earl Oren, Don’s father and Dave’s grandfather. Dart grew rapidly in the 1980’s after Don became president and focused the company on developing high-cube trailer service.

Dave started with Dart as a youth in 1975, working part-time as a general laborer in the company’s trailer repair shop. Learning the trucking business from the ground up, he has risen through the ranks to become Executive Vice President and now President. He was instrumental in developing thin-wall trailer designs, spearheaded development of Dart’s D-4000 computer system, and has overseen the company’s sales planning, operations, marketing, and contractor recruiting efforts for the past several years.

“Seeing the company’s leadership transition into the next generation is a dream-come-true for me,” says the senior Oren. “Now is the right time to do it. David is well prepared and the transition will be easy.”

“My job is to build on our success by pursuing improvements with the help of our customers, employees, and contractors,” Dave states.

Don is in robust health and plans to work from Dart’s corporate office in Minnesota. As Chairman of the Board he will work on the broader issues that face the company and the trucking industry.

Dart ranks 53rd on Transport Topics 2004 list of Top 100 Carriers, and specializes in truckload dry van freight. It offers 48-state, dedicated, and regional service with independent owner operators.

Carolina Outlawz

Outlaw band combines music and trucking
Kristin Reis , Staff Writer

From barbeques in Illinois to truck shows in Texas, the “Carolina Outlawz” band performs country music with a rock and roll beat. The Outlawz are independent truckers Craig Duncan, Kevin Hutchinson, Mike Sullivan, and Jeff Newcomb, and all contract with Dart Transit Company. With a little help from their friends in dispatch, the Outlawz manage to combine professional truck driving careers with their love of music, and they produce one of the most original sounds in country music.

If the Carolina Outlawz name sets you back a step, you ought to know that it doesn’t have a thing to do with outlaws like Jesse James, and for that matter, none of them are from the Carolina’s. They were singing at a club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina when the club owner decided he would improve their audience appeal by re-naming them for their “outlaw” style of music. The “Carolina” part of their moniker came from the state they were playing in that night. The “z” in the name came later, just to make it different.

No one in the band claims to be in charge. “There are no leaders in our band,” says Sullivan. “Hutch comes up with a lot of ideas for songs. Craig learns to play any instrument he looks at. And I take my guitar everywhere. It’s out in my truck right now.”

Besides being part of the band, the foursome is a team on the road, too. Duncan, Hutchinson, and Sullivan all run in Dart’s Northern Region with the same dispatcher. One weekend a month the Outlawz get together for a rehearsal and cookout. “Our dispatcher has always worked with us to get us to our gigs. That’s why he is so bald,” Sullivan laughs. “He pulls out all his hair because of us.”

The band is successful in many ways. Together, they own about $40,000 in equipment – all paid for with hard work and sweat. They won first place n the Battle of the Bands in 2002 and 2003. They also put on six shows in one day at Puffer Belly Days in Iowa, and performed at Dart’s Contractor Appreciation Days in 2001 and 2002. But their success hasn’t stop there.

The Outlawz also performed in several shows this year. They released singles in 2001 and 2002. Their goal for this winter is to finish their first CD album. With four songs already done, the album is well on its way to completion. They plan to distribute the album at truck stops, truck shows, and Harley Davidson shops. “When our CD comes out, we’re going to grab the gold ring and take off,” Sullivan predicts.

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