Dave MacKENZIE Publisher / Editor Dave@canadiantruckingmagazine.ca Dave brings to the magazine 36 years of valuable experience in transportation, management, business and compliance. Dave has driven in every condition across North America and overseas as military, police, company driver to owner operator. Now Publisher & Editor of Canadian Trucking Magazine the one you pick up, read and keep.
People in Canada have worn red on Fridays to show support for troops serving in the Canadian Forces. Red is chosen because it is an official Canadian colour, and historically is a colour of remembrance because it symbolizes the red poppies in Flanders Fields and the loss of life that the country has endured. Our Canadian military has made many sacrifices in the name of peace, not only for Canada but for many other countries around the world.
Wearing Red on Fridays is a symbolic gesture to show fellow Canadians and our troops that we care and honour those who fought for our freedom, our peace, our resolve. The goal is to show nonpartisan support for our military troops. We do not support any particular policy, political position, agenda or the nature of military missions. This support is for all Canadian Troops regardless of their activity if it’s here or abroad. As Canadians we need to show support for our men and women that place themselves in harm’s way for all Canadians. They are our National Treasure.
United we stand for peace in Canada no matter of opinion, creed, religion, colour or race. Show you care by becoming a part of this sweeping support.
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Wear RED on Fridays to show you care. Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing RED every Friday.
The reason, Canadians who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority." We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing. Many Canadians, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of Canada supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that ... every Canadian who supports our men and women afar, will wear something RED . It could be just a small RED ribbon. By word of mouth, press, TV -- let's make Canada on every Friday a sea of RED, much like a homecoming football game in the bleach-
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ers. If every one of us who loves this country, will share this with acquaintances, co-workers, friends, and family, it will not be long before Canada is covered in RED and it will let our troops know the once "silent" majority is on their side more than ever, certainly more than the media lets on. The first thing a soldier says when asked, "What can we do to make things better for you?" is ... "We need your support and your prayers." Let's get the word out and lead with class and dignity, by example, and wear something RED every Friday.
How lucky was I to be able to have my good friend and comrade Ken Poitras with his great daughters Candy and Lori on the front cover of this months magazine to spread the word! On page 29 this month I have a special advertiser I asked to come on board. Many of you read my story about our friend Peter who passed away down south late last year and the issues his brother had recovering Peter and his truck. Pete had written on his next to kin, “estate�, I guess not thinking of the issues it would cause if he went behind the wheel deep down south.
Our advertiser has some great information about preplanning to prevent serious issues should this happen to you or I. It does not have to be deep down south, it could be in Canada or our own back yard. Decisions, choices and things to do that you can plan. We all know proper planning on anything makes it easier on everybody. Page 29! Here’s a good time to see if you are reading my articles. I will give away the name of the Great Server placed on my page. You may not of noticed this very quiet shy excellent server at my favorite Husky in Golden. When you go through there next, say a big Hi, and tip heavy as she is one of the Best! After all silence is Golden,,,,, Our Great Husky people on the left were enjoying a piece of cake to celebrate another issue of Canadian Trucking Magazine. There is a chance you may see Shauna as an upcoming CTM Girl? That Policeman in the Points Ad looks strangely familiar but I just can’t place the guy. Sure looks like he means business. How many of you are on the internet. With our Facebook Fan page, if you become a Fan, it
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COULD THEY BE CELBRATING SATILLITE
gives you updates and first look at the Front cover of the magazine. On our web page is answers to the crossword puzzles, upcoming events and most important the Web Edition of the Canadian Trucking Magazine which has more articles, NASCAR and entertainment. It is a must to visit the web page often and check the digital version and watch it grow. Another matter pointed out to me was a lot of you hadn’t noticed that the models from the CTM pages also appear in Ads in the magazine. This month Jen dressed in red for RED FRIDAYS also appears in the Beaver Ad. If you are looking to buy a truck now is the time. Has anyone ever notice as you drive north bound down #5 BC past the Wells Grey Inn between Blue river Husky and Valemount a lone sign in the rocks advertising towing. On that corner I have noticed 3 trucks on thier side right in front of that sign.Talk about placement. Happy Trails, hope to see a lot of you on this delivery. Dave
WHO IS THIS GOLDEN SERVER
KELLY ANDERSON What Drivers Should Consider age. Experienced drivers should expect to be paid for their experience. Inexperienced drivers should look for a progressive pay scale.
As a professional driver it’s up to you to decide which company will best meet your career needs. In this article we will discuss the 6 items that make up the “Total Employment Package.” In the past some drivers thought it to be enough to ask how much do you pay and when will I get home. That limited analysis of a carrier’s compensation package can lead to a big surprise when you look at your net take home pay. When a driver calls a trucking company the Recruiters job is two fold: Sell you on the company and qualify you as a driver. A drivers’ job on the recruiting call is two fold: Sell yourself to the company and make sure the company is right for you. Item 1 – “Appreciation and Respect” is listed by drivers as the number 1 reason for leaving a company. It doesn’t matter how much you make if you’re not treated like you want to be treated. Drivers spend too much time away from home to work for a company that doesn’t appreciate the sacrifices they make. An idea of how a company treats their drivers can be gained from several sources. First, talk to their current drivers. Second, how do they treat you on the recruiting call? Do they treat you like a number or a person? Item 2 – “Pay per Mile” is only part of the compensation pack-
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Many carriers offer Bonuses for Fuel Mileage, On-Time Delivery and Accident Free Driving and Productivity. Drivers should inquire into how many of the carriers current drivers achieved the bonuses in the last month. Achievable bonuses can be a great way for drivers who put forth a little extra effort to make a lot more money. Item 3 – “Home Time” many carriers offer a variety of runs. You can pick from Local, Regional and Long Haul operations. Two things will usually be affected depending on the type of run you pick: Home Time and Take Home Pay. Long Haul drivers usually gross more money per month. In considering which type of operation is right for and what you can afford to give up in gross pay per month for the ability to be home more you have to consider road expenses. Local drivers incur less road expenses by not having to purchase meals out every day. This alone can save you over $150 a week. Item 4 – “Benefit” cost have increased with all insurance cost. You should take a careful look at what their portion of the insurance premium and co-pay will be. This can make a significant difference in your take home pay. For instance, if your portion of the insurance premium at Carrier “A” is $300.00 a month and you drove 10,000 miles that month then .03 cents per mile went toward your insurance cost.
ANIMAL PROTECTION FROM ECONOMICAL TO EXTREME DUTY STANDARD: ECONOMICAL FLT SERIES
PREMIUM: TOUGH PROTECTION
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ULTRA PREMIUM: EXTREME DUTY
SUPER ROAD TRAIN (SRT)
ROAD TRAIN (RT)
BUMPER
REPLACEMENT
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TEXAS
BIG TEX
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AT HERD YOU HAVE CHOICE. FIND OUT WHAT PRODUCTS ARE AVAILABLE FOR YOUR TRUCK AT:
WWW.HERD.COM/PRODUCTS CONTACT US AT
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So if you were making .35 per mile once you take your insurance premium into consideration you are now making .32 per mile. If Carrier “B” is offering to pay you .33 cents per mile and they cover the full cost of your medical premium then on the same miles per month you are actually making .01 cents more per mile or $100 more per month. Other things to consider are: What is the insurance deductible? What is your maximum out of pocket expense per year? Do they offer a prescription card? Every dollar you don’t have to spend goes to your bottom line. A close look at benefits should be part of your employment decision. Item 5 - “Type of Commodity” being hauled will dictate the difficulty of the job. This will go hand in hand with the type of equipment driven and pulled. Each commodity has its inherent pros and cons. It’s up to you to decide which type of operation is right for you. Item 6 – “Equipment” is another major concern when choosing a company. Not just Make and Model but overall appearance and maintenance.
package. There are other benefits carriers can offer in addition to the ones listed above. For instance, several carriers are paying for XM Satellite Radio for all their drivers. Another carrier is offering WiFi compatible laptops at a substantially reduced price to all their drivers. Making the right employment decision will make all the difference in your career and ultimately retirement. Every time you change jobs you will lose a minimum of one weeks pay, you start over on seniority, vacation time goes back to zero, and you have to learn a new carrier and its operating procedures. Over the course of your career this will make a major difference in your earning potential and quality of life.
This article was written by : Kelly Anderson, President of Impact Transportation Solutions, Inc.
An independent consulting firm specializing in Driver Recruitment and Retention issues in the transportation industry.
Dirty and poorly maintained trucks attract DOT attention. When you are being inspected or placed out of service you aren’t making any money. You should ask about the age of the fleet. How the trucks are assigned. How often they are allowed to get a truck wash. Look for the companies trucks on the road and judge for yourself the condition of their equipment. The 6 items listed above collective create a complete employment
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WHO ARE THESE GREAT DRIVERS?
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WordSearch Puzzle
FIND THE FOLLOWING HIDDEN WORDS: ROADKING, HIGHLAND, RCMP, LEGION, SEAFORTH, GLENEDEN, PREARRANGEMENTS, SANDYLONG, JACKLEE, KELLYANDERSON, IMPACT, FUELEXPERT, TRUCKERBUDDY, PARKINNGOLDEN, SOUTHBEACH, WELLSGREYINN, DAYANDROSS, WORDSEARCH, REDFRIDAYS, POINTTS, HERD, SIRIUS, ADVERTISEBEAVERTRUCKCENTRE, CANADIANTRUCKING, PUZZLE, CROSSWORD, NASCAR,
Date Last Seen: May 9, 2004 Place Last Seen: Edmonton, Alberta File# 2003-6950
27 Years old at time of disappearance Height: 165cm; 5’5” Weight: 55 kg; 120 lbs Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Blonde
Corrie Renee OTTENBREIT
Date Last Seen: December 1, 2008 Place Last Seen: Edmonton, Alberta File# 09-150392 Agency: Edmonton Police Service (780-423-4567)
55 Years old at time of disappearance Height: 191cm; 6’3” Weight: 79kg; 175 lbs Hair Colour: Black/Grey Eye Colour: Blue
Joseph Thomas ZERK
HAVE YOU SEEN ANY OF THESE PEOPLE?
www.albertamissingpersons.ca
If you have any information in regards to any missing person you are asked to please call the investigating agency at the numbers provided or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
Date Last Seen: January 11, 2006 Place Last Seen: St Albert, Alberta File# 200647381 Agency: RCMP St Albert Detachment (780-458-4300)
29 Years old at time of disappearance Height: 175 cm; 5’9” Weight: 82 kg; 180 lbs Eye Colour: Blue Hair Colour: Brown
Michael Anthony FEIST
Date Last Seen: April 21, 2009 Place Last Seen: Calgary, Alberta File# 09256929 Agency: Calgary Police Service (403-266-1234)
31 Years old at time of disappearance Weight: 61 kg; 135 lbs Height: 168cm; 5’6” Eye Colour: Brown Hair Colour: Black
Monique Leanna MATTAR
Agency: Project KARE (1-877-412-5273)
How Much is Too Much By Sandy Long It is insidious, appears to breed and multiply on it’s own, gets hidden in nooks and crannies, hits you on the head on bumpy roads and falls to the floor tripping you on your way to the bunk. It causes you to misuse money, call home and yell at your spouse, and can get you an overweight ticket. Can you guess what it is? Give up? It is too much stuff! This was really brought home to me when recently I changed jobs. I had been in the same truck for over three years and brought it home to clean it out and up. Starting with the nook above the driver’s seat closest to the roof, I pulled out partial bags of the sugarless candy I like, a partial bag of dog treats, six packs of loose leaf logs, an old log book from ‘01, various items like hand cream, seals, and half a carton of stale cigarettes…this was in addition to all the stuff that I use all the time like my atlas, permit book, DOT manual, pen bag, and extra box of tissues. The sleeper was like a found treasure trove of forgotten unread books, missing socks, old crossword puzzle books, lost screwdrivers and little wrenches from that time my tool case fell over, and thank God, the mate to a lonely single silver and turquoise earring of a set that I had had for over 20 years. You would of thought I had bought out a grocery store with all the canned goods I had in the truck. You know those little pull carts you see little old ladies use to take home their groceries? Yeppers, mine was full up! Then there were the clothes. I always tried to carry enough clothes for three weeks. Hate doing laundry at the truck stops, don’t you? Then of course, we just have to carry clothes for different weather conditions don’t we? I had 20 tshirts, 40 pair of undies, 10 collared shirts, 8 pair of jeans and (count them) 4 different weights of jackets! No wonder my drawers were empty at home! Of course the miscellaneous
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stuff was just as bad. Baby wipes and of course the refills, (you just cannot truck these days without baby wipes), plenty of cleaning supplies (would you believe six rolls of paper towels?), extra windshield washer liquid, a bottle of dish soap for those pesky buggy windshields and greasy hands, tool box, bedding (two blankets and a comforter along with my three pillows), several bungee cords, a piece of rope. It took me almost three hours to get all the stuff packed up and carried into the house. Then came the hard part, sorting it all out to see what I wanted to take with me to the new job and truck. When I got to the new job, got through orientation and was assigned my new ride, I was a little embarrassed when, after an hour of taking stuff from my car and putting it in the truck, the safety director asked me if I was ever going to get through. Wasn’t embarrassed too long though. While I took a quick cigarette break and pondered if I had brought too much stuff, I watched a driver clean his stuff out of his truck to move into a new one. He was loading his stuff into the back of a large pickup truck and it was piled up to the roof of the cab! Now THAT was waayy too much stuff! Sandy Long is a long time truck driver who is also very active within the trucking industry. She was a long time writer for layover.com, is a life member of OOIDA, member of the WIT and owner of a website: www.satinandsteelsisterhood.com for women truck drivers and two yahoo groups: Trailer Truckin’ Tech dedicated to the education of new and prospective truck drivers and Truckers Are People 2 . www.satinandsteelsisterhood.com Do not cuss a trucker or a farmer with your mouth full!
90% of companies could save money by managing their fuel intelligently. W ith oil prices rising, fuel management is too important to ignore. 4Refuel can show you how to reduce your refuelling costs.
1-888-4Refuel
www.4re efuel.com
Ask the Fuel Expert By Jack Lee Total Fuel Management
TFM uses closed loop technology to gather data from every point of fuelling and report it all to a central point of reporting. Whether fuel is dispensed wheelto-wheel, from fuel islands, at cardlocks or from company fuel trucks, the data can be captured and uploaded to a powerful web portal called Fuel Management Online. In the case of wheel-towheel fuelling, the data capture process details every transaction where fuel is pumped into vehicles and equipment. A radio frequency identification chip about the size of a loonie is attached to your equipment and registers it uniquely at time of fuelling. This information appears on your invoice so you can track fuel consumption, by unit.
to track down who pumped what fuel, when. It is all there in a report delivered to your desktop via email. Reconciliation is easy‌it takes the guess work out of tracking your fuel so you know exactly how much fuel you got, where it went and what you are paying for, to the penny. Some fuel suppliers will give you a low price guarantee based on volume purchases which may appear to save you money. When you look at the real cost of fuel, there are other factors to consider. Ask yourself these questions: - How will the fuel be delivered to each piece of equipment? - Will each refuelling occasion be time stamped, equipment identified and fuel measured? - Is all invoicing accurate?
With Positive ID you know where your fuel is going and with TFM operating data is recorded too. This feature gives you the ability to measure one piece of equipment against another so you can get the maximum productivity from your fuel investment. With TFM there are no personal errors, no wasted time reconciling invoices, no time spent trying
Continued on Page 32 YOU MUST KNOW WHO THIS IS!
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- Am I getting the data I need to calculate the best return on my fuel investment? Fuel is a non-renewable resource so it is important to try and minimize consumption wherever possible. When you have consumption data available in addition to accurate invoicing you are prepared to make operating decisions that can cut the amount of fuel; you use. Total Fuel Management uses state of the art digital technology that will make your life easier and the benefits translate to your bottom line.
Jack Lee is CEO of 4Refuel – the largest onsite fuel management company in Canada and a global leader in technology designed to help businesses reduce their fuel expenses. Got a question about fuel? Ask the fuel expert by emailing Jack at AskTheFuelEx pert@4Refuel.com
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A GREAT MANAGER!