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VOlUME 18, iSSUE 3 of 11 PUBLISHER/EDITOR John White john.protrucker@shaw.ca PRODUCTION/CIRCULATION Tori Proudley tori.protrucker@shaw.ca ADMIN/SPECIAL EVENTS Donna White donna.protrucker@shaw.ca ADVERTISING/MARKETING John White john.protrucker@shaw.ca Tori Proudley tori.protrucker@shaw.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Madill • Ben Proudley Scott Casey • Mel McConaghy Ed Murdoch • Colin Black Tamara Weston PHOTOGRAPHY David Benjatschek wowtrucks.com Brad Demelo HEAD OFFICE Ph: 604-580-2092 Fax: 604-580-2046 Toll Free: 1-800-331-8127 Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc., The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees to protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or inaccurate statements; the unauthorized use of materials or photographs; and/or any other errors or omissions in connection with advertisements placed in Pro-Trucker Magazine. The publisher can and will refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading or in poor taste. The publisher does not endorse or make claim or guarantee the validity or accuracy of any advertisement herein contained. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editing at the publisher’s discretion. The act of mailing or e-mailing material shall be considered an expressed warranty by the contributor that the material is original and in no way an infringement on the rights of others.
PUBliCATiONS MAil AGrEEMENT #40033055 rETUrN UNDEliVErABlE CANADiAN ADDrESSES TO CirCUlATiON DEPT. 9693 129th Street. SUrrEY, B.C. V3T 3G3 Email: tori.protrucker@shaw.ca
PrO-TrUCKErMAGAZiNE MAGAZiNEe PrO-TrUCKEr
Like it or not electronic log books are coming. They have been a hot topic for many years and the date for implementation in the U.S. has been pushed back numerous times but rest assured they will come. The latest date for mandatory use in the U.S. is the end of 2017. That could be January 1 or Dec 31st but when it does come into effect, any truck that goes south of the border will be required to have them. The Canadian Trucking Association has long been John White lobbying for their use in Canada and it is expected that Canada will follow suite a short time later. One of the difficulties in having the law passed in Canada is the fact that we have both Federal and Provincial highway regulations. Provincial governments tend to want to hold on to as much power as they can so getting them to agree to a cross country regulation is a job in itself. I’ve talked to a few drivers who already use e-logs and they are divided, they either love them or hate them. There doesn’t seem to be many grey areas. Often the ones who love them are old timers. They say the job is less stressful because they are easier to fill out and they aren’t being pushed by dispatchers giving you unreasonable delivery times. For a dispatcher, who has never been a driver, 4” on a map heading west from Winnipeg carrying ping pong balls doesn’t look much different than 4” on a map heading west of Calgary hauling a full load. They say that fuel economy also improves when speed is recorded and can be scrutinized. They also say if you are asked for your log book at the scales, when you tell them you have an e-log, they often will just wave you through. It also eliminates fines in case you “forgot’ to make an entry. Often those who love them are financially secure or ex-police and military who already have a good pension and drive to supplement their income. On the other side of the coin are those that vehemently hate them, this includes many drivers that still run paper logs. To start with the equipment and service plan is expensive for small fleets and owner operators. One of the main reasons for making them mandatory is you cannot cheat on them - at least not yet. (They thought paper logs were fool proof too.) This means that many drivers will not be able to run as hard as they are used to which will reduce their income and force some drivers, who are just getting by now, out of the industry. One of the biggest arguments against them comes back to the fact that they will make you drive when your body is telling you to sleep. Safety is the main reason for having them in the first place but it does not address the problem of a driver who finds himself an hour away from his or her family when they run out of hours. Let us know what you think (please keep it civil) on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ProTruckerMagazine
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e Whit ine John Magaz
ker Truc ProJohn White
r Magazine Pro-Trucke
John. Maybe you can answer a question that has irritated me for years. How come, after I haul a load of calcium chloride, where I have to placard the load and have all essential paperwork to accompany the load, including a spill phone number for Canutec, I then see crews take the load and put it on the roadways? Also if you cut out a piece of metal from an auto panel and put it in a solution of this calcium, it will eat the metal to nothing in just a few days? Why does the environmental people let this stuff be put on the roads to eat the road surface and ultimately run off the road and into the ground water system. Throughout Canada this chemical is wreaking havoc with vehicles of all descriptions rotting away, wiring rotting away, and contamination of water everywhere. It baffles me to see this going on ,and nobody cares that it is. Thus endeth my Rant !!
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LETTERS to the EDITOR
Editor’s note: After doing some reseach, I have found that most people, myself included, have a number of misconceptions about loads labled as dangerous goods. It turns out that there are a number of products that are deemed dangerous goods when in large quantities, but in reality have a low toxicity rating and are not harmful to the environment at normal exposure levels. If there was an accident, calcium chloride dust can cause eye and throat irritation as can high concentrations in the liquid form. If there was a tanker spill into a creek or stream the high concentrations would definitely kill fish and some plantlife – hence the dangerous goods label. That being said, calcium chloride is one of the most common food additives that is used in everything from canned goods to cheese and even some brands of beer. It is also used in some prescription drugs and injected into patients during specific hospital procedures. Calcium chloride is much less corrosive than salt and for that reason is also used in swimming pools and aquariums. We of course are more familiar with it being applied to road surfaces. It is better than salt for ice because it is still effective at much lower temperatures than salt, it is also far less corrosive and is much more environmentally friendly. In the summer it is used on gravel roads and parking lots to keep the dust down, instead of using the oil that was once used - again because it is much more environmentally friendly. r
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FROM
THE
DRIVERS SEAT
By Ben Proudley Ben has been a Class 1 driver for 17 years. He started out driving wreckers and currently heavy hauls for Hertz Equipment Rentals. Ben was our Rig of the Month in March of 2008
Professional Driver A professional (as defined by Wikipedia) is, “a member of a profession or any person who earns their living from a specified activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skills necessary to perform the role of that profession.” So this begs the question, do you meet the standards as such as a Professional driver? Truth is we often call ourselves Professionals but do we really live up to the term? For some it is a no brainier, yes is the answer. Born and raised as truckers, some are second, even third generation truckers. Some, like me, developed an obsession with trucks as a kid and it never went away. Others do it out of necessity. Does that make one group more of a professional than other? Not really. It is all about education. This does not mean you went to the best driving school in town, or took a certain program to be a professional. Yes some schools
may be better than others, but that in itself does not make professionals. For some it is instilled in them growing up around trucking. For me, I had a neighbor who was an owner operator that took great pride in his trucks and his appearance. His trucks were always clean and shiny, his clothes were always clean and his hair always combed. He was also easy to talk to and was always willing to pass on his knowledge to drivers when they asked for help or had questions about certain things. Sure he gave new guys a rough time, but in the end if the help was needed it was always offered. He maintained his equipment to the highest standard - all the makings of a professional. What I learned watching him as I grew up was the base for my professionalism and I work hard to maintain that professionalism every day. When people ask questions, I am always willing to help and offer advice. By the same token I am always willing to listen when advice is given back to me. I followed a post on social media awhile back that made me think there just might be hope for our industry yet. A flatbed driver posted about how a new driver approached him to see how he was tarping his load as the young driver had never been taught properly. In the process of learning the tricks that only come from experience, the young driver helped the other driver tarp the load which in turn helped him get on the road that much faster. It was a win-win situation.
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The driver then pulled out of the way so the young guy could back in. The new driver was struggling to say the least, so to return the favor for the help in tarping the old driver jumped in and showed him the right way to back a set of super B’s. Once he had backed the trailers in for him, he stuck around and offered him advice on how to do it next time. The new driver thanked him and the two went their separate ways. This is a great example of a true professional and the makings of an up and coming professional. The professional was willing to let this new driver help him so he could learn and then offered him advice so he could grow as a driver. The young driver was a professional in the making as he was not afraid to ask for help so he might
obtain the knowledge he needed to be a better, safer, efficient, and professional driver. That is just one aspect of what makes a professional driver. How you deal with shippers, the public, fellow drivers, and customers also plays a role in the equation. This for me is the hardest part of the job when trying to be a professional. My fellow drivers get to me some days, four wheelers are a pain, not all, but some, shippers are not big issues since I am paid by the hour so if I am forced to wait, for the most part it is not the end of the world. The vast majority of my customers I know and see regularly and get along well with them. We are all judged every day by our actions. If you are always pleasant with customers and shippers, try to be the same with the public, even if
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they are being unreasonable, try to be courteous to fellow drivers, you are well on your way to being a true professional. As a driver you are the front line representative of your own company or the one you may drive for. A true professional will want and strive to be a good representative and is often rewarded for his professionalism. A true professional also knows when he is in over his head or about to get there. Like driving in road conditions that he or she is not familiar with and making the decision to pull over and wait it out. The last thing any company wants to see is their truck on the 6 o’clock news. Likewise a true professional will offer to help someone learn to throw chains, if for no other reason than they may be the one who blocks the hill and you will now have to wait even longer than if you just gave them a quick hand to do it right the first time. I by no means know it all, I am far from perfect but I do think of myself as a professional and I try to act as such every day. I do falter, but I always go back to basics. I have pride in what I do, and who I am - a professional driver.
REFLECTIONS THRU MY WINDSHIELD By Dave Madill Dave was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001
Road Repairs
Recently I was in Kelowna and a semi with a dry van pulled into my lane and after following him for a couple blocks I could see his trailer lights were not working properly. The brake and tail lights were flickering as he crossed the bridge as if he had a bad ground. I followed him up the hill and he pulled into the Petro Can for fuel so I stopped to let him know about his lights. He said he knew about them but that’s how he picked the trailer up in Toronto and he would report them when he dropped his trailer in Vancouver. I told him it was more than likely just a bad ground on his pigtail and he did not know what I was talking about. I unplugged his pigtail for him and found that it was full of corrosion and the ***** ground on the trailer was squeezed closed. I knocked Policing 101 most of the corrosion out and scrapped it with an old key A police recruit was asked during the exam, ‘What from my key chain and then I opened up his ground with would you do if you had to arrest your own mother?’ my pocket knife, and he had lights. He informed me that He answered, ‘Call for backup.’ he had never heard of doing that before.
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ALWAYS HIRING QUALIFIED DRIVERS
FOR OUR LONG HAUL SUPER B FLATDECK DIV. EXTENDED BENEFITS, PENSION PLAN TO JOIN SUTCO’S HIGHWAY HAUL TEAM TODAY APPLY ONLINE: www.sutco.ca Fax: 250-357-2009 Phone: 1-888-357-2612 Ext. 230 Now I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer but when I started trucking we fixed our own trucks on the side of the road if something went wrong and if you needed a hand or expertise it was always available from a fellow trucker. Remembering back over the years I helped my friend Norm change his transmission in a parking lot in Calgary. Lou Norris and I swapped out a rear end on the side of the road up by Red Deer and many more repairs both big and small were done without our trucks going to the shop. Dad and I swapped more than a few engines with a front end loader in the pit and back then everyone had a basic tool kit in the truck. Now I know trucks have changed over the years but electricity still runs through wires and metal still cor-
rodes. Even with my last truck it was nothing to change a fan belt on the side of the road or cage off a brake to get you into town where you could get to a shop. Seems like some drivers today are nothing more than steering wheel holders who know nothing about the rigs they are driving and they need an electronic gadget to tell them where to turn as they don’t carry or read maps. Sadly the truckers I knew and worked with have all retired and some of the new ones taking their place are not always up to par as drivers. Oh well, he did know where to put the fuel in.
From the Patch By Tamara Weston
Tamara and her husband Eric, were the Rig of the Month drivers in our October 2014 issue.
Generations of Bad Habits
We are not a nice normal family, by any stretch. We do not have 2.2 children or a white picket fence. We are a blended family and all toll we have five children. Yes five, and one pretty amazing grandson. Our children, 3 girls and 2 boys range in age from 16 to 26. Up until a few months ago we all lived under one roof which was pretty challenging with only two bathrooms. Our middle daughter and oldest son have since moved out into bigger
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and greener pastures. The reason I've brought up the subject of our children is this, here in Alberta one only needs be 14 to get their learners licence. They must be 16 before they can take the road test and must have held their learners for a period of one year prior to taking the road test. In our house, there are now only 3 licensed drivers. In the past few months our youngest daughter decided she wanted to get her learners, she turned 19 in August of last year. Our youngest son Remi turned 16 this past August as well and had been in no big hurry to get his license either. I had purchased, yes purchased, a "learners test preparedness kit" from the registries for Remi. It contained the learners book and a set of flash cards for him to read through and practice to write the learners test. I also bought another for Sarah. She read through the book and went up to write the exam. She failed her first attempt. No big deal all she had to do was wait 24 hrs to try again. I decided to help her with the flash cards that evening. We went through all 50. Just one card - one out of 50 - had a question about distance from a big rig. That was it. I guess I wasn’t really paying much attention when my two older children went and got their license. It was at a different time in my life when I wasn't driving for a living. But honestly, now that I do, I'm shocked at how little new drivers are actually educated on how to share the road with us big rigs. My children, every single one, has learned how
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to share the road. How to give a rig a break and they fully understands the hazards. But that is because Eric and I drive for a living. What about all their friends? I'm also bewildered at how things have changed to make things easier for people to actually get a license these days. With preparedness kits all the way to having someone actually read the test to you and you being able to answer verbally. Back 30 years ago when I wrote mine, I got one book and I read it. No flash cards, no computer practice tests, no easy way. Both Sarah and Remi have both passed and are now on their way to learning to drive. What interests me about this is, without ever sitting in the passenger seat with either one of my two children, one male and one female, my insurance company and all insurance companies in Alberta tell me it's more expensive to insure Remi than Sarah. They say he is a higher risk. If they actually sat beside him they would think he had been driving for years. He is an exceptional driver and has been driving with his dad since he was young. Sarah on the other hand, and she knows I love her to the moon and back, can't drive to save her life and it scares me. In my mind she is a greater risk than her brother. All this really just puts even more responsibility on mine and Eric’s shoulders to teach her how to drive. And this brings up another interesting topic, who decided it was up to the parents to teach their children how to drive? Have you seen how people drive??? My mother, God love her, taught me how to drive and I
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failed the road test 3 times because of it. I finally took lessons from young drivers of Canada and passed. My mother ‘taught’ me all the bad habits that she took 30 years to develop, before Young Drivers actually taught All Make Heavy & Medium Duty me how to drive. Parts & Service I am now in the thick of it each and every day where gemmdiesel.com I see firsthand how generations of bad habits have been passed down to kids that we have to share the roads GEMM DIESEL LTD. with. It is creating a truckers worst nightmare. How do KELOWNA SALMON ARM we change it? I have no idea but what I do know is that 250-832-6207 250-491-3200 8 - 5270 Auto Rd. SE 359 Edwards Rd. giving my children knowledge about something so simple as being on the road with big rigs is something everyone Serving the Okanagan Valley Since 1982 should be doing. It will take time but eventually it would it all off with some thanks and busied myself with getting create a generation of better drivers. my chains and cinches ready for my cargo. Once I was ready I sat down and waited for my turn. During that time By Scott Casey the driver to my right side finished loading and moved out Scott, our Rig of The Month for of his dock, buttoned up his doors and drove away. Ten May 2003 has written “In the Devil’s minutes went by and another dry van appeared at the open Courthouse” a book about his years spot to my right. With a dozen attempts and close calls with as a gun toting truck driver while the truck to his right and my trailers to his left, he finally serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia parked the trailer at the dock. I sat silently but of course the crowd had reformed, only this time they set to heckling the All Backed Up drivers laboured parking job. I swung the front end of my regular hood B-model W900 With the air brakes discharging the air, the driver Kenworth around to the right, then to the left and then back stepped out of the cab. Everyone stopped laughing and over to the right. It must have looked like a caterpillar as I jeering. Standing flat-footed on the concrete by his rig, lined my flat deck Super B-trains up for a blind side back in to the loading dock I had been assigned. As I started to back in between the two dry-vans on either side of my bay, I could see in my mirror, that a gathering of other drivers had congregated to my open bay door to observe. I shut the vision of them out of my mind and set to backing my agri-trans rig up. My old man’s voice grumbled in my right ear, “The Armstrong & Abbotsford most important part of backing up is the set up. Do that COME JOIN OUR TEAM part wrong and you’ll be wasting time and looking like a dumbass, do it right and you’ll be a star.” Top pay, benefits, RRSP program That was some of the best advice he gave me when he we stand for reliability, was teaching me to be more than just a steering wheel respect & teamwork attendant. With a few minor adjustments the trailers were Full Service Workshop straightening up with the tractor and in seconds the bumper blocks on the back of my pup trailer cushioned the gradual & Truck Sales stop at the dock plate. The crowd at the bay door had grown to six drivers and two forklift operators. Smiling with knowing I had just blind side, one timed a set of trains into the dock, I dynamited the brakes, grabbed my safety vest and gloves and stepped down onto the ground. It’s good to be proud of those times you do something right, it’s also good to be humble, because for every time you do it flawlessly you run the chance to screw it up twice as often. Taking the three steps up to the door I wiped the smile Contact George 1-866-484-8898 off my face and entered the loading area. The crowd was still down at my dock waiting for me and as I neared they george.stewart@agri-trans.ca offered comments of approval. One of the forklift drivers www.agri-trans.ca actually handed me an application for their fleet. I brushed
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the trucker could easily look into the cab of his Peterbilt. I guessed him to be near 7ft tall and weighing in at 300lbs of solid muscle. He turned his head sharply toward the bay door, his face adorned with dark sunglasses; the crowd stood silently. He then reached into his back pocket and pulled a telescopic white cane out, and with a flick, extended it to the ground. I looked at the drivers who moments ago had been laughing and snickered when I saw jaws hanging open in disbelief. The driver then took five steps towards the back of his trailer tapping the cane side to side as he walked. He stopped and with a turn he shook his head and went back in the direction of the front of his truck, turned right and disappeared. Three minutes later he reappeared tapping his cane to his loading dock. Everyone just stood there, dumbfounded. How could a blind man be permitted to operate a commercial vehicle, or any vehicle for that matter? As he stopped at the back of his trailer he grinned the biggest grin I’d ever seen. Lifting his glasses he said, “Dammit! I can’t back up to save my life.” Everyone burst out laughing as they realized this driver was making light of his inability to back up. He went on to tell us how he knew he couldn’t back up and took flack for it almost everywhere he went. Earlier on in his driving career, some drivers had short fuses and their words were pretty abusive. Rather than let his size end the conflicts, he designed the ruse to keep other drivers from getting all backed up. r
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TYRES ACROSS THE POND Colin Black lives in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland and has been driving truck for over 40 years. His story shows us once again that the problems drivers face are universal.
Money To Burn
Open 6:00 am to 7:30 pm Mon to Fri 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturdays
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I was reading through one of my favourite UK trucking magazines, Truck and Driver, the other day. I was looking forward to a feature that had been running over the past two issues called, Long Distance Diary. It was about a writer from the magazine who was riding shotgun in the USA with a 71 year old American truck driver named Ted. Due to the driver shortage the old driver had come into the industry when he was 65. Working as a company driver Ted reckoned the desperation for good drivers had pushed up the mileage rate he gets from the 30 cents per mile he started out with, up to 43 cents. So at least some good had come from the shortage of experienced men. We’re in the same boat over here as far as a chronic shortage of good drivers is concerned. But looking at driver wanted ads I don’t see a great rise in the money being offered to tempt men, or woman, into the industry, although some companies are offering free training up
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930-6th Ave., Hope, BC 604-869-9036 Toll Free 1-800-588-8868 to a class 1 license for people with an ordinary driving licence. Maybe that’s the way to solve the problem of old drivers like me leaving the industry, entice youngsters in with the promise of a free licence and a career. It’s certainly how I got into this trucking life more than forty years ago. I got a job with the railway parcel company NCL, National Carriers Ltd. They had their own driving school and if you got your Class 1 licence through them you were contracted to stay for two years or pay back the cost of your training. Driver agencies are now offering what seem like fantastic rewards to sign up, well if you can believe the claims of earning a potential £1000 per week. It’s interesting to see that over on the other side of the
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pond some parts of the trucking industry are very similar to the UK. Old Ted drives a Freightliner Cascadia 12 speed automatic, and has a People Net computer in the cab. Over here automatics are now almost the default choice for big companies buying new trucks, and in the last few years before I retired I couldn’t leave the depot without my mini-computer. Of course conventionals with a big sleeper like the Freightliner has are the stuff of dreams for UK drivers. Although our overall length laws have been relaxed a bit and now you see some companies running a conventional as a fleet flagship. As I read through the story of Ted’s travels I came to a statement that made me say, what? The run was made in summer and when Ted’s Freightliner was starting the climb up the Snoqualmie pass in the Cascade Mountains they passed the chaining up area at the foot of the climb. Ted told the writer that in the winter there’s a sign here to tell drivers to pull in and chain up. He also said that there are usually some guys sitting at the side of the road who will chain up for you, then they follow you over and take the chains off, all for the bargain price of $125. Are some USA drivers so well off they can afford to pay somebody to chain up for them? Is that not part of a truck drivers job? I thought it was law that drivers had to carry chains after a certain month of the year, or is that just Canada? The only reason I can think of that some guys would sit
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Call Al 604-882-7623 beside a chaining up area and get paid to chain up some trucks is, either drivers roll up there without chains and rather than risk getting stuck on the mountain they pay for the hire and fitting of a set of iron. Or they’ve got money to burn and don’t want to roll about out in the snow getting cold and wet. But what I do know is that while I’m only an old Scottish driver who’s never put a set of chains on in my life, I know it’s something I could do. I certainly wouldn’t be paying good money for somebody to do it for me.
Divorce Court
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A judge was interviewing a South Carolina woman regarding her pending divorce and asks, “What are the grounds for your divorce?” “About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property with a stream running by.” “No,” he said, “I mean what is the foundation of this case?” “It is made of concrete, brick, and mortar,” she responded. “I mean,” he continued, “what are your relations like?” “I have an aunt and uncle and 12 cousins living here in town, as well as my husband’s parents.” The judge took a deep breath and asked, “Do you have a real grudge?” “No, we have a two-car carport and have never really needed one cuz we don’t have a car.” “Please,” he tried again, “is there any infidelity in your marriage?” “Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don’t necessarily like the music - all that hip hop and rap tap - but we can’t seem to do anything about it.” “Ma’am, does your husband ever beat you up?” “Yes, he gets up every morning before I do and makes the coffee.” Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, “Lady, why in hell do you want a divorce?” “Oh, I don’t want a divorce,” she replied. “I’ve never wanted a divorce, my husband does. The damn fool says he can’t communicate with me.”
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PrO-TrUCKEr MAGAZiNEe Humble Beginning, Bright Future For Abbotsford Transport Company
After driving his truck for eight years, Pardeep Arora decided to start a small transport company, operating from the garage of his house, in Abbotsford, BC. He spent long days working alongside with his wife, and his first TEAM: Raaj Kang, Rami Gulati, Kaushal Gakhar & Deepak Kapoor to launch Triple Eight Transport Inc., which began with just the one truck in 2001. This was 15 years ago, and now it has grown into a thriving and successful business. Having grown from its humble beginning, Triple Eight Transport provides service from B.C. to Toronto and all points in between, as well as to 48 U.S. states, with a diverse fleet of equipment and drivers. Arora employs 185 people – 100 company drivers, 50 owner operators and 35 dedicated staff members who work from Triple Eight’s new Abbotsford headquarters at 30697 Marshall Road. In addition we provide warehousing services & our own full facility repair shop. “As a driver, I learned from the ground level, so when I started Triple Eight, I could project what our customers were looking for,” said Arora, who immigrated to Canada from India in the mid-1990s and began driving as a TEAM with his brother Jaswinder Arora in 1999. When Arora’s father, Hem Raj, passed away, Pardeep knew he had to step up. This kick-started the idea to open Triple Eight Transport, which he has dedicated in honour of his father. Pardeep is also thankful for his wife, Deepati, for her support over the years as well as Shila Wanti (mother), Jaswinder (brother) and Surinder (sister). Arora has lived
in Abbotsford since he arrived in Canada with his wife Deepati and his two sons Sourav and Karan. He named Triple Eight in honour of the day he met Deepati – Nov. 8 – and the day they were married – Dec. 8. To further mark the special number, their eldest son was born in August (the eighth month), on the 26th day, which when added together is 2+6=8. To continue Triple Eight Transport’s success, Arora ensures he stays on top of the latest transport technology. His trucks have the best refrigeration and temperature control technology, which enables them to transport fresh/frozen food over long distances, as well as dry goods and speciality products such as electronics. Triple Eight also utilizes the most advanced GPS-based wireless tracking technology to track trucks & trailers remotely in real time Pardeep Arora as well as cutting edge transportation software. “This is the Canadian dream, to come to Canada and live this wonderful life, and run this business,” said Arora. “I have a hardworking family and very dedicated staff and without them Triple Eight wouldn’t be possible.” All of the Triple Eight staff, he said, are like family. Arora would like to thank the Triple Eight team for their hard work over the past 12 years and to follow our company motto “Equipment you can count on. People you can trust.”
Pardeep Aroara and family were joined for the official ribbon cutting by Mayor Henry Braun, the Mayor of Abbotsford and MLA Hon. Ed Fast. PAGE 18
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Rig of the Month by John White
Photos by: Brad DeMelo I received a phone call from Doug Pugh, owner of Month. He said he was one of the best employees he’s Overhaul Ventures out of Prince George, who said his ever had as he is an excellent driver who is very reliable driver, Eric, was an ideal candidate for our Rig of The and he keeps the company truck immaculate. Doug also
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inquired about Big Rig Weekend as he wanted to show his appreciation by sending Eric and his wife down for the weekend. We met Eric and Terri at Big Rig Weekend and it was easy to see why Doug was so happy with him. This is Eric’s story: My name is Eric Norum and I was born on October 23,1953 in Jasper, Alberta and I spent my early years on a very remote old fashioned homestead halfway between McBride BC and Tête Jaune. The work on the homestead was very hard as everything was done by hand. It was raw bush so the majority of the work was clearing land. We logged the land with horses, hauling the logs to our small sawmill. We also had a big garden and some cows and chickens. From the time you were young you were expected to do your part. You started by pulling weeds in the garden and collecting eggs then graduated to using a shovel and looking after the horses and cows. I guess that is where I learned my work ethic. I was young when we lived there but when I hear my brothers talk about the homestead it brings back a lot of memories. We moved to Prince George BC when I was still fairly young. Coming from a large family of 9, we didn’t have much and I learned at an early age to appreciate and look after the things I did have. I was named after my dad, Eric, Oddy and Roy, drove delivery trucks around town. Since who drove cabs and buses in Prince George. My older most of my family had some kind of driving job I guess you sisters Shirley and Linda both married truck drivers and my could say I was destined to eventually do the same. brother Norman drove highway, while my other brothers, Breaking the mold a bit I started out my career as a
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body man/painter. I took my apprenticeship at Rice Chev Olds in Prince George and then moved to Schultz Pontiac. I worked at my trade for about 10 years but after a while it was starting to affect my health. When I decided to quit, my brother in-law, Mark, offered me a job as a swamper on his cross Canada moving van. So I got my learners license and away we went. He was very influential in my life as he taught me the importance of being a professional, not only working hard but keeping yourself and your equipment looking clean and professional. He also taught me how to drive in an efficient but yet courteous manner. Time management and customer service was of the utmost importance but had to be done in such a way as to make money. This was in the very early 80’s and his truck was a 70’s something Freightliner cab-over with a Detroit, Screamin’ Jimmy and a 15 over. I spent many off duty hours washing and polishing his truck in order to keep it looking nice. When Mark switched companies, he approached me to buy a truck and fill the spot that he was leaving. I was still running with just a learners license but this didn’t stop me. I went to Toronto and bought a very luxurious cab-over Peterbilt and went to work. I ran with my learners license all over Canada for almost a year before I found the time to go in and get my class 1. I worked in the moving industry for near 10 years running extensively through all parts of Canada from NFLD to Vancouver, through the Yukon and North West
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Territories and as far north as you can go by road in every province. Since the moving industry services the government, the military, and private industry, we got to travel to all kinds of isolated towns and villages wherever there was an RCMP detachment, Post Office, School, Bank or industrial project. I got to see a lot of little towns and a lot of secondary highways in the summer and in the winter, including ice roads and winter lake crossings. Many times I found myself on bad roads in severe winter conditions which led to numerous hair raising experiences in white outs, desolation and severe cold. The years of moving furniture finally took their toll on my body and I left the moving industry in 1996 as I needed a back operation for a ruptured disc. Workers compensation put me through retraining so I went back to school and got my GED and then went to University. Over the next five years I earned a number of certificates at university mainly in counseling and social awareness programs but all they ever did for me was hang on my wall as I was unable to find a suitable job that paid enough for me to live on. After searching and searching for a decent job where I could use my education the compensation board told me they were cutting me off so I went back to work trucking. I started running team with my son Fred, running super B’s for OTH, hauling lumber and fibre board all over BC and Alberta. I soon found that tying down and tarping was too hard on my back so I looked for another job. I ended
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up pulling a dry van running freight all over Canada and the U.S. for KTL out of Saskatchewan. We worked off a load board and hauled everything from peas to tractors and computer parts. Never being home started to wear on me as I would be gone months at a time so I moved back to Prince George and found a local job with Quick Transport hauling groceries west to Prince Rupert and north to Fort Nelson and sometime south to Vancouver. This eventually lead me to where I work today at Overhaul Ventures. When conversing with them, I was very impressed with their attitude and the way they believed the job should be done. They treat me like a person and not a number. They appreciate your hard work and the finicky way I like to keep my truck. Since I don’t own my own truck any more, it is important to me to be treated with respect. They give you good equipment and so I feel it is my obligation to look after it the best I can and do the job to the best of my ability which in turn shows them respect. The places I have been privileged to see throughout Canada and the US, I would not trade for anything. I have been to and seen a lot of things people only dream about from the Artic to California to Florida and all points in-between. This has been a very rewarding life, very scary at times and sometimes very lonely but if I could do it all over I wouldn’t change a thing. Having a loving and supportive wife has got me through
The
as I couldn’t do it without her support. I met Terri at University when I was rehabbing my back but we never got together until 7 or 8 years later. Some truckers never find a partner that can put up with a truckers’ life but I encourage any of you that are in that position to keep looking because when you finally find that person your world will be complete. As far as bad winter roads and snowstorms, stories are numerous some of the situations are near impossible for others to understand. Being a time management person the truck doesn’t stop unless they make me. My association with police, and DOT and customs have been pretty favourable throughout the years. Most are just trying to do their job and as long as you are doing yours right you have little problems. I’ve noticed over the past few years that 4 wheelers and even some truck drivers are becoming very aggressive on the road, causing all kinds of dangerous situations. To this point I have been able to avoid any major mishaps even though I have always run hard. I am lucky in that I have a very high metabolism and have always gotten by with power naps and never really slept that long on the road. That has all changed now but it was something you could get away with before log books. I’ve logged over 3 million miles and although I have had a couple fender benders I’ve never been in a bad accident or written off a truck. I have always driven for the road conditions and always slowed
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but never stopped unless told to. I have driven all kinds of trucks over the years and I have found that they all have good and bad points. I like the feel of the Kenworth, I like the handling of a Peterbilt and I love the driver comfort of the Volvos. I’m sure many of you have been in just as many tight spots as I have due to winter weather and a few bad ones probably stick out in your minds too. One night I left Winnipeg heading east. At about 11 o’clock I ran into one of those famous prairie whiteouts. I was about ½ way to Portage La Prairie when the snow started swirling so bad that the visibility was suddenly down to zero. That swirling snow where you can’t even see the end of your hood can be very disorientating. You don’t know if you’re upside down or sideways. I stopped right away but I had no idea where I was on the road. I didn’t want to create a hazard so I got out and cleared the snow with my boot until I found the edge of the road. I then pulled over as far as I could with the intention of waiting out the storm. The wind was blowing so hard that it felt really spooky so as soon as there was any visibility at all I put it in bull low and crept to Portage le Prairie stopping several times when it got so bad I couldn’t see my hood again. When I finally got there I couldn’t get off the road because the cops had all the exits and entrances barricaded so that no one could get on the highway. As I came creeping out of the swirling snow a cop came over and asked where I had come from as the road had been
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closed for hours. Apparently I was the last vehicle out of Winnipeg before they closed the road. Another winter trip took me up to the mines at the end of the ice roads in Northern Ontario. Coming from Manitoba you turned north shortly after crossing the border into Ontario. I had been told that afternoon that it wasn’t a good idea to go up at night as the road wasn’t well maintained and the RCMP only checked it once every couple days so if you ran into trouble you were on your own. Being stubborn and having a load to deliver I turned left and headed north late in the day. I hadn’t gone too far up the road before my cab heaters quit. I bundled my blankets around me and kept going. It got really cold over the next 5 hours but I finally got to the drop spot. I would have stayed there but I would have had to sleep in my truck as there was no such thing as a hotel, or even a place to get my truck fixed. Faced with no other option I headed back south. I drove as far as I could but finally had to stop as it got so cold I couldn’t even drive. I started to go to sleep but something told me if I did I wouldn’t wake up again so I bundled the blankets around me again and forced myself to keep going. I’ve been in freezing rain and on sheets of ice so slippery that all you could do was take your feet away from the pedals, put it in neutral, and hold on as any slight movement would cause a truck to veer off over the edge. The Pine Pass was bad for that. The worst thing about the Pine Pass was the ice often came in patches. You could travel for miles on dry pavement and then suddenly find yourself on a sheet of ice. Terri was with me one morning going through Pine Pass when we found ourselves on of those patches just as we came around a corner to see a sand truck stopped in the middle of the road. The trailer had already broken loose when I shut off the jake and took my feet off the pedals. We drifted sideways with the truck on one side of the road and the trailer on the other. I somehow managed to catch enough snow to straighten out enough to miss the sand truck and the get the rig back under control. On another trip I pulled into Kamloops and picked up a load for Bella Coola B.C. I had never been to Bella Coola before but I had heard many stories of the miles of switchbacks from the interior plateau down to the valley
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below. My swamper at the time had been down that road a few years before and didn’t seem too anxious to do it again. We ran into a lot of snow between Williams Lake and Anahim Lake and when we got there we were told that the road down had just been reopened after being closed for a few days due to the snow. They also said that the road was still in pretty rough shape. My swamper said he remembered a turnout at the top of the hill so I decided to drive that far and then decide what to do. When I got to the top we swung into the pull out and took a look. We decided not to go down the hill as it appeared too dangerous but as we looked around we realized there was not enough room to turn a furniture van around. I was told later that most trucks pulled smaller trailers when they went in by road. We talked for a bit and I said. “Well we can’t turn around and we can’t stay here,” so down we went. On the way down the swamper had one hand on the dash and another on his suitcase in case he had to jump. I don’t know where he planned on going, as the road is cut into a rock face with drops of hundreds of feet on the down side. It is comprised of switchbacks all the way down to the valley floor and the majority of it is one lane with only a few spots wide enough to pass another vehicle so we kept calling out our miles all the way down. It took about an hour to get down with having to jockey around a few of the corners but we finally made it. When we got down to the hotel where we were delivering the furniture they wouldn’t believe we trucked
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in, they thought we came in by ferry like most other trucks. You give up a lot to be a long haul driver. The home life, time with the family and the milestones and special events you miss with your kids. It can also be a lonely existence at times but I’ve loved every minute of my driving career. I always got such a feeling of satisfaction every time I heard that engine start and personally I think a person gets addicted to the adrenalin rush. I used to pull in at the end of the day and just sit there for a while looking around the interior. One time I counted over 300 buttons, lights, switches and gauges. It made me feel like I was sitting in the cockpit of an airliner. I’ve always said there are truck drivers and then there are truck drivers. Some want to do the job and go home, others just want to drive and be good
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never been to a truck show before. Terri and I enjoyed every minute of it and I wish now that I had started going years ago. To top that great experience off I felt very blessed and appreciative to be able to take a trophy back home to the staff at Overhaul Ventures.
NEW Extended Hours Mon-Fri 8 am- Midnight • Sat 8 am- 5pm at it. For me it was all encompassing - it was my whole life I always took great pride in doing a good job and getting the load there on time often while others were parked. Yeah, maybe I had to cheat on my log book the odd time to get it done but I always put the customer and company first. Over the years I have made many friends all over north America – most I’ll never see again but I know they are still there and if I were to see them tomorrow we would just pick up from where we left off. A major highlight of my trucking career was last year when Overhaul Ventures, showed their appreciation for my work, and how I look after their truck, by sponsoring me in the 2015 Pro-Trucker Big Rig Weekend in Chilliwack. I have always taken pride in having a clean truck but I had
Doug Pugh, Terri & Eric Norum I was diagnosed with cancer just before BC Big Rig Weekend last year and just recently I was told that I’ll never be able to drive again. I have to say that the day I cleaned out my truck was one of the hardest, saddest days of my life. As I cleaned it out I couldn’t hold back the tears and I still miss it every day. So to all of my friends and all others out there who love the job as much as I do – savor every moment, because nothing lasts forever and the day will surely come when you too will have to hang up the keys. r
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DRIVING THROUGH MY MEMORIES
By Ed Murdoch
Ed has held a commercial drivers license for 63 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. You can get Ed’s new book at www.drivingthroughmymemories.ca Saskatchewan is one of only two land-locked provinces in Canada, the other being its neighbour Alberta. Over half the land area of Saskatchewan is forested but only half of that has commercial value since access is limited by road which restricts activity pretty much to the southern fringes of forest. In my flat deck days I hauled many loads of lumber from Saskatchewan Forest Products mills in Big River and Carrot River to points in eastern Canada, mostly 8 foot lengths of spruce 2X4s which were oh so slippery. One day back in the mid-eighties, after unloading a highboy load of machinery at the Prince Albert paper mill, which was then under construction, we were dispatched to a remote logging camp that was harvesting green timbers. It was somewhere north of Highway 55, off Route 106, which eventually ends up in Flin Flon, Manitoba. With instructions from the owner’s daughter in Smeaton, we forked where we were told to fork but
PAGE 32
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were not particularly smitten with the condition of the new gravel path we were following. I use the word path because that’s barely what it resembled. After passing two signs stating the road ends in six kilometers it narrowed even further each time as we passed through a gate into the next section. We eventually met another vehicle coming south, it was a Friday and a crew cab pickup filled with forest workers from a rival camp was on its way out for the weekend. We asked directions and they said, “Oh yes just keep going and you’ll see their sign up on a tree.” After the crew cab driver pulled off the ‘thoroughfare’ to let us pass, we continued on slowly, since the surface was not particularly conducive to high-speed motoring. After a while there it was, a sign with letters hacked out by a chainsaw. Now imagine the terrain, it was a boreal forest in late spring. The ground consisted of muddy prairie goop navigable only by large-tired Timberjack skidders along the skid trails. When I was instructed by the foreman to drive into the bush where they would load me I almost laughed out loud. I told him in no uncertain terms that my unit was a highway truck, not a bush wagon, and they would have to bring the timbers to my trailer once I got it turned around and pointed toward the escape route. “Oh we’ll tow you in and out,” he argued. I alternately offered him a choice. They could bring the product to us or we would leave, never to return. They wisely opted to bring the wood to us.
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drive your career Siemens Transportation Group Inc.
Currently Hiring Company Drivers and Owner Operators for our U.S. and Domestic Fleet Mountain driving experience required LCV experience preferred Join a company with heritage, credibility and exceptional values Ask about our Lease to Own program! Contact us at: driver.recruitment@kindersleytransport.com or 1.888.878.9585
APril 2016
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PrO-TrUCKEr MAGAZiNEe
The plan was to load 16 of these large square green timbers which would have been a nice size load 3 or 4 feet high with dunnage. So how much did each lift weigh I innocently inquired, a question to which no one had an answer. Heavy seemed to be as close as anyone could come since the scale on the machine was conveniently broken. I said, “Fine,” we’ll start with 12. By the time 8 were loaded I could see the tires beginning to bulge so I called a halt to the process and began to tie down my precious cargo. Did I mention that the wood was green and dripping sap? There was a bit of grumbling at our leaving four pieces behind but the crew was friendly enough to invite us for supper, however once we entered the cooking trailer to sign the bills of lading and saw all the filth, we made excuses that we had to get going before it turned dark. So off we drove into the sunset and with the passing of each kilometer I just knew we were vastly overloaded. We stopped at a lovely little Italian restaurant in Nipawin, enjoyed a nutritious, relaxed meal complete with a bottle of wine and retired to our semi-retirement home for a well deserved night’s rest. The lumber was going to an outlet in Winnipeg and we dawdled over the weekend getting there partly because we stopped at a private scale to weigh our axles and discovered that not only did we exceed 10,000 kg. (22,000 lbs.) over our gross but we were insanely over on every axle
besides. A bit of a circuitous route was pursued which bypassed all government scales and a great time was had by all. Yes, we got a well-earned surcharge added to our revenue for our trouble and a promise that the salesman would do a better job in the future of getting all the facts.
Avian Flu?
*****
Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority found over 200 dead crows near greater Boston recently, and there was concern that they might have died from Avian Flu. A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and to everyone’s relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu. The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts. However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paint appeared on the bird’s beaks and claws. By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car. MTA then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills. He very quickly concluded the cause: When crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger. They discovered that while all of the look-out crows could shout “Cah”, not a single one could shout “Truck”.
JACKSON CORPORATEFuelCONSULTING LTD. Tax, PST, Excise Tax Refunds d s n f u o f r e t R h x e a T T r u d e c z k i i l n a i g c I e n p d S u f stry since 1985 o n o i t a r a p rP e Call us to discuss possible refunds if your company is involved in any of the following:
• Prorated (IFTA) highway hauling • Off highway servicing to oil and gas drilling operations • Off highway log hauling • The operation of engine mounted PTOs
No cost to your company if no refunds are obtained Contact : Ted Jackson, MBA, Partner email: tedjackson@jacksoncorp.ca phone: 604-224-2549
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PrO-TrUCKEr MAGAZiNEe
The King And Queen Go Fishing Once upon a time there was a King who wanted to go fishing. He called the royal weather forecaster and inquired as to the weather forecast for the next few hours. The weatherman assured him that there was no chance of rain in the coming days. So the king went fishing with his wife, the queen. On the way he met a farmer on his donkey. Upon seeing the king the farmer said, “Your Majesty, you should return to the palace at once because in just a short time I expect a huge amount of rain to fall in this area”. The king was polite and considerate, he replied: “I hold the palace meteorologist in high regard. He is an extensively educated and experienced professional. And besides, I pay him very high wages. He gave me a very different forecast. I trust him and I will continue on my way.” So he continued on his way. However, a short time later a torrential rain fell from the sky. The King and Queen were totally soaked and their entourage chuckled upon seeing them in such a shameful condition. Furious, the king returned to the palace and gave the order to fire the professional. Then he summoned the farmer and offered him the prestigious and high paying role of royal forecaster.
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i n fo @ t i m s t r a i l e r re p a i r. c o m The farmer said, “Your Majesty, I personally do not know anything about weather forecasting. I obtain all my information from my donkey. The way I check is very simple I go outside and I look at him. If I see my donkey’s ears are standing up I know that the weather is going to be nice and sunny. If when I go out I see my donkey’s ears are down a bit I know it will be windy with a bit of rain. If I see that they are drooping then I know that it will be most certainly strorm and rain hard. So the king hired the donkey. And thus began the practice of hiring dumb asses to work in the government and occupy its highest and most influential positions. And the practice is unbroken to this date...
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EC
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O C T H IT W U S
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Jesus Wept It was a cold and lonely highway about a thousand miles from home The night was dark and stormy; I was out there all alone. The thunder rolled like cannon fire, the lightning danced like flame I thought someone was calling and I swore I heard my name. Just then the lightning struck a tall and stately tree And left there was a giant cross for all the world to see. Frightened, I pulled over and got down on my knees to pray I knew my life was over; I had reached my Judgment Day.
C
Then once more the lightning flashed a clear and perfect light,
Y
M
CM
And suddenly before me stood our Saviour Jesus Christ.
MY
CY
And now I knew I heard a voice, a voice so sweet and clear
CMY
K
Then as I looked up towards him I saw him shed a tear. He said “Your life, it is not over; your soul, it is not lost. For I forgave the sins of man when I died upon the cross.” Then suddenly around me I felt his boundless love, Gathered close around me as his tears fell from above. He said “Arise, O sinner man, and live your life for me.” Then another bolt of lightning turned the cross back to a tree. Now I’m out here on the highway, my sinful soul set free
Dave Madill
Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores or amazon.com
My life I gave to Jesus the night the Saviour wept for me. PAGE 38
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You’ve Got to Get Meaner...
than the Deposits Constantly Attacking Your Engine.
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APril 2016
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