This week on the Oakley Podcast, host Jeremy Kellett chats with Corey Huey and Jeremy Paul about the company party and upcoming truck show. They discuss the logistics of the truck show, including parking, voting, and prizes while also discussing the recognition and awards given to drivers for their safe driving accomplishments, such as million-mile awards, the Owner Operator of the Year award, and more.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Introducing Anna Belle and her work behind the scenes (3:16)
- The truck show at the company party (5:47)
- The voting process for trucks (10:00)
- Hotel accommodations and shuttle buses (12:16)
- Expansion of the party area (16:40)
- Prizes for the truck show (20:16)
- Safety awards for drivers (24:56)
- The million-mile awards (28:19)
- The challenges of driving long distances (29:00)
- Recognition for two million mile drivers (29:56)
- The importance of safety and paperwork (36:58)
- Accommodating everyone at the party (37:42)
- Bringing family to the company party (38:25)
Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruceoakley.com.
Transcription
Jeremy Kellett 00:12
Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley trucking headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. The purpose of this podcast is to communicate with Oakley owner operators and their families by giving them up to date information concerning Oakley trucking and the trucking industry. From business advice to safety updates to success stories. Also to give an insight to outside truck drivers who might be interested in joining the Oakley family. There’s Jeremy kellett director recruiting here at Oakley trucking and I’m your host for this podcast. This is the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. And once again, we are bringing you some good material from this Oakley studio GC man. We have really come around and got this looking a lot better than we used to. It’s come a long way in the last few years since we started this podcast in the old office. Now we’re in the new office and got some new chairs and stuff we’ve had for a couple of months. Now it’s a whole lot better. Today’s episode is gonna be good. We’re talking about a company party, which is happening on October the 21st. The plan is for this to come out the Wednesday before week and a half before the actual party. So we’re gonna give you some information on some changes. We’ve made it. Some things that talk a little bit about the truck show, you know, and the contestants that we have in how to vote. You know how to get your hotel room, some of the awards that were given away and why and how do you qualify for those. And we just got a little more detail on the company party that’s happening October the 21st that we hope everybody knows about. And if you haven’t attended, you still have plenty of time to come and we want everybody to be there. It’s a big Oh, it’s a big party and recognition of everybody that you know employees and independent contractors and their families. It’s just a fun time. So
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Jeremy Kellett 02:36
I had a request from somebody to meet Annabelle because I guess I talked about Annabelle like I used to miles miles used to be here and had him on once or twice but somebody was like who’s this Annabelle I said hey we need Annabelle people need to know who Annabelle is so Annabelle Stout is joined us about what how far how two months ago and it’s doing a great job and she’s handling all the the work with the cameras and microphones and the pictures and the social media and the Facebook and all that good stuff that me and Cory are not any good at she’s doing it so hey man, welcome to the family Annabelle. Glad to have you. So I’ve got Corey Huey joining me. JP from the safety department can talk about some of the safety awards. And we’re just gonna dive off into this and get started with you guys making it all out today, Mike?
Jeremy Paul 03:34
Oh yeah, thanks for having me.
Jeremy Kellett 03:35
Oh yeah, we gotta we gotta get the important people in here. We started talking about parties. We got to include you and JP details on the party. And once you know before we get started I was off last week and went to the Grand Canyon Jaipur you’re going up to Grand Canyon ever
Jeremy Paul 03:57
I’ve never been west of Tulsa Oklahoma fun fact. Oh, I need to get out.
Jeremy Kellett 04:03
You need to get out. And this was pretty much my first time I had been out to Albuquerque, flew in Albuquerque one time and drove up to Farmington. We had no terminal there at one time. But as we knew years ago, you don’t get the experience. If you load up your spouse, a significant other will load up and hit the interstate to the Grand Canyon. Y’all drove out there. We drove out there. We had a great time. Me and my wife tested our 28 years of marriage to see if we could make it. We only had two fights. You know that was really not that significant. You know, we were one one argument for I got into this was we were at the Grand Canyon walking down the edge you know and everything and and I said I don’t know why we can’t drive out here. You know, maybe there’s a road right there and she says that’s the buses only I said well there’s a car. Well, it’s a handicap too. You know, I said I think we can drive out here. I mean, you’ve I’ve walked five and a half miles. Wow, we can’t drive out. So we’re sitting there arguing and kind of having this discussion. And a lady goes, Hey, excuse me, Where Are y’all from? And I go, Arkansas. She said, I could tell by the way you talk. So we’re from flippin Arkansas. So first thing on my watch, mouth is go, can you sell an argument for us real quick? Can you drive out here to this? Or is this bus only she says, I don’t know what’s a bus? I want
Corey Huey 05:28
to ask. Yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 05:32
It was a good trip and fun stuff. sidetrack, let’s get back. Let’s talk about this company party. I think it’s something that everybody looks forward to, you know, we’ve been, we won’t get into the history of it, we actually got into the history of the company party last year, year before me and Tommy did it, I forget what episode it was. But we got into some details of the history. But it’s been ongoing, since I’ve been here, you know, for 30 years, or 2930 years, it’s been going on, and it’s something that everybody looks forward to every October. And we’ll have just a great time for people to get together that out of the work environment, you know, and you get to see some of these owner operators, you get to see other people in the company that I don’t even know that works upstairs, right when you actually get to have a conversation with them, and get to know him. So it’s just a great time to do that. But so we got some stuff we started last year with the truck show. And that was the first time we did the truck show. So I’d kind of like to start there. Because to me, the main attraction to the company party now is the truck show. So what’s the plan for the truck show this year? Cory?
Corey Huey 06:39
Well, so a lot, I mean, real similar to last year, I mean, as far as like tent location and the trucks and where we want it to be, you know, close proximity to the tenants, or when everybody’s getting there, you know, they can kind of mingle around and look through all the different trucks about the same amount as far as quantity of gas, I’ve got, you know, 2526 signed up now, a couple of those are still kind of 5050 up in the air. So I’m sure we’ll have maybe one or two Fallout just can’t make it or, or something. But yeah, I mean, we’re gonna try to park everybody right there around the same location and might be trying to angle them up a little bit differently. I know, had some, just some feedback from some of the guys last year that, you know, we’re saying, Man, I got a lot of money invested in my truck, I’d like to have it where you’re not just looking at the grill, you know, might be looking at the side B or something. So we might try to angle them in there a little bit differently for everybody just kind of see but yeah, we got to be able to do that. Yeah, I think so. We should have room especially with the, you know, and we’ll get into this I guess a little bit but kind of moving the tent back a little bit. So we should have a little bit more room there.
Jeremy Kellett 07:55
So on the truck show you’re gonna have about 20 Something entries. They need to get here. That yeah, Saturday morning.
Corey Huey 08:05
Yeah, Saturday morning. Some of them, you know, might get here on Friday, then you know, the 20th, which is what we did. Last year we had maybe half of one here on Friday. So we went ahead and parked them and staged them, but yeah, definitely get her you know, early Saturday morning. We’ll try to get you stays and you kind of you know,
Jeremy Kellett 08:23
we’re gonna set time yet do you figure out how you wouldn’t eat start parking? Yeah, as you know, kind of like at the truck show. It’s a we got to I mean, the earlier the better I miss ya
Corey Huey 08:32
Are there better I mean, I just I just you know, I send everybody that’s the end kind of these rules and kind of some ideas but you know, I just said hey, rags down by two o’clock, you know, so I wanted everybody to have all their stuff done. Cleaned up, by the way when people started showing up that you know, we didn’t have a bunch of trash out there and stuff. So it looks complete and ready to go. So yeah, the earlier the better. I mean, we got you know, some giveaways are gonna be done before the party starts just for the contestants, you know, so I want everybody to be here for that. And then we’ve also got James Wooldridge. If you’re here last year, we had him and his wife and kids come up from South Louisiana and cook some awesome gumbo for an owner operator. He’s Johnny has been here three years I think pulls the tank with us and actually just got off the phone with him not long ago to see if he was gonna do that because I was wanting to have some food for for people and I didn’t wanna have to go
Jeremy Kellett 09:34
capitalize. Yeah, launch prior to the product.
Corey Huey 09:40
But yeah, it’s so you know, I want everybody here for that. We can just kind of hang out and have some lunch, have some gumbo, get some giveaways and just, you know, get all their decals and you know, numbers put up in the truck and you know, while you’re ready to go whenever the boat starts feeding when Speaking of voting, yeah, voting, that we’re using the same platform that we use last year. I can’t remember the name of it, but it’s, you know, we’ll have some iPads out there, we’ll have a, you know, a pop up tent, you know, that you would take to the beige or something like that, and we’ll have some tables on there. And so we can help.
Jeremy Kellett 10:21
So you have to come up to the right table
Corey Huey 10:24
come up to that table to see us and the wall will get everything loud in and, you know, it’ll just have kind of a scroll there of all the trucks with the top truck it is and an actual picture of their truck. And they will all be numbered based on the number that’s in their truck, and you just one click Hey, this is who I think is the best, and then hit submit, and you’re done.
Jeremy Kellett 10:47
So they have to do that with you, or whoever’s at that table. Correct? Do they do that? Because you’re using it? Yeah, we’ll have our coders writing that you gotta. Yeah. So that way, everybody, everybody at the party can vote one time, right. And I think the main thing that we ran into last year was voting stopped, right, and you had some people still wanting to vote Yeah. But we can’t, I mean, you gotta put a cut off on it. Right.
Corey Huey 11:13
So the kind of the plan is, you know, seven o’clock is kind of gonna be the cut off to vote. So you know, that gives you, you know, three hours, roughly, I mean, if you get in there, four or five o’clock, you know, two to three hours to walk around, look at all the trucks and get your vote in by seven because I want to, I want it to be done. I know where we can kind of tally up the results. And then after all the safety awards, and employee awards and stuff are done before the band starts, I can get up there like I did last year, and go ahead and announce a winner that way. We know that night.
Jeremy Kellett 11:47
So you have to think about this, if you’re coming to the party, and you’re gonna see 25 trucks, and then you’re gonna vote on one of them. You can’t get here at six and vote by seven and see all of them probably, but you know, so it’d be nice if you get here. I mean, they’ll be staged at three o’clock. So if I want to get here and walk around, there won’t be any services, there won’t be any food or drinks or anything. But if they want to get here and walk around the drugs, right, and so yeah, then they kind of know how to vote
Corey Huey 12:16
Yeah, and kind of a side note, we’ll kind of touch on this more too. But the hotels, you know that we’ve got reserved for the owner operators and their families out there Holiday Inn and the Wyndham we have shuttle buses, you know, bringing people to and from and they start running at three o’clock. So
Jeremy Kellett 12:36
Let’s go ahead and talk about that. We got the Wyndham which is here, the riverfront, Wyndham and North Little Rock just down the road. And we’ve got the Holiday Inn, which is across the river where everybody stayed last year. For the most part, we put up with people every week in it. So you got a this year, we’re not paying for rooms. For the last few years, we’ve always paid for everybody’s hotel room. This has been a chaotic mess, and a way of organizing that. So you do this year, get your own room paying for your own room, the only thing we did was get you some good rates. I think the writer with the windows 99 books is a nice place, the Holiday Inn, the one on the hill, there’s a Holiday Inn on top of the hill at the World x is at the airport exits airport airport exit on the other side of 440. It’s good, good, right? I want to say 6569 bucks right in there. So really good right there. And you just call him and they have a set of rooms waiting on us. If you hadn’t already booked it, you need to go ahead and get that done. Yeah. And
Corey Huey 13:36
I think, you know, just to kind of I wrote that down last count this and this was as of you know, a couple of days ago, we had like 144 rooms between the two reserved already
Jeremy Kellett 13:48
so it’ll be more than just next week’s come in. So okay, so hotel rooms, you got that holiday and Wyndham if you need any info, let us know caller I will point you in the right direction.
Corey Huey 13:59
And then like I said, the shuttle bus will be picking you up from the both hotel locations bringing you to the party. And then, you know, just whenever you get three, three to 1130 Just back and forward. So we were talking yesterday about, you know, the worst case scenario or things that could happen. So we’re gonna have to make sure that we’ve got a sign or something in the window at least buses that says, hey, this bus is going to the Holiday Inn. Yeah, why not stay at the Wyndham and then get on the wrong bus? And I can say that. Yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 14:35
So make sure you’re getting on the right bus because the bus is just going into the Wyndham you ain’t going on to the Holiday Inn. If you go there, you need to go to the Holiday Inn. They’re gonna bring you back Oakley, and you’re gonna wait for the Holiday Inn bus. That’s right. Yeah. So that’s the plan on the shuttle buses. I think one other big part that we ran into last year is parking. Yeah, well and the bus, the shuttle having the places
Corey Huey 14:59
to go Yeah, so we might need to try to tape it off or some kind of orange cone route or something just for the, for the buses to be able to get in there because that was one major issue that we had last year that that was, you know, he got to the levee right there by the drivers lounge, he couldn’t go any farther because the whole parking lot was full of cars. So people were having to walk up to get on the bus. So
Jeremy Kellett 15:25
we need to just hire parking. People have about three or four of them out here and then get it by parks in the right place and leave room for the shuttles to come right up by the entrance here by the trucks coming up. Maybe we’ll figure something out there. But you know, by the time it rolls around, I think we’ll be okay. So. Yeah, so yeah, because parking is always an issue with that, but you talked about where they’re gonna have extra tint. Yeah, we’re making more room.
Corey Huey 15:58
Yeah, yeah, I was talking to Tommy and Bud about this. Oh, they’re extending some asphalt out here. You know, I mean, we’re Oakley grown. You know, we’re getting bigger, more people coming. A little bit of everything. So we needed more space. You know, last year, we had a couple of tables and chairs outside of the tank and we didn’t have enough room. So I don’t know if it’s gonna be like two full size tenants. But they talked about where they’re extending that asphalt, putting a secondary tent for the food and the caterers so that it will be its own room for more tables and bands and dancing and all that stuff. So
Jeremy Kellett 16:41
yeah, because we had made some suggestions and some of them was to have some more food out there later on in the night. Oh, yeah. That’s a good idea. So they actually said, Tommy we teach the party coordinator right? We’re absolutely yeah, definitely party coordinator. Very clear. Let’s get that clear on who’s who’s doing this. But he said he would have the caterer leave food on the table. any leftovers would leave on the tables out there. So people have something Oh, yeah, and water is not an issue. We talked about having more water so that it should not be a problem to have more tubs of water and plenty of water around, too, and the bar is gonna be the same as the bar. Because I don’t think we talked about having too good one but this they say the logistics of the products and everything it just not enough people for what they got so wasn’t gonna work just gonna be one so he’s gonna have a few challenges. Other net. Oh, Dustin, ego lined up the entertainment. They know that. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He’s responsible for the entertainment. So
Corey Huey 17:59
Tyler catch, taller catch.
Jeremy Paul 18:02
Besides, it’s exciting. Y’all know him?
Corey Huey 18:04
I do. Yeah. I’ve seen him a couple times. Oh, yeah. He’s, uh, he’s an Arkansas guy. But he’s got a pretty big name for himself. You know, he’s toured with Justin Moore a couple times. So Oh, okay. Yeah. Pretty good. I
Jeremy Kellett 18:18
I couldn’t get Justin moore.
Corey Huey 18:21
You know? Well, good country music. So
Jeremy Kellett 18:26
Actually, Tommy said he was, so I guess he’s from the country. Tommy said he was on tour with Lone Star a little bit too. So.
Jeremy Paul 18:33
Yeah, he’s gotten really big and I think I can definitely talk to him about how he’s gonna do little cover stuff too. That way. If you’re not familiar with this song, especially just gonna listen to him. He’s very good, but he’s gonna put out some cover songs as well for everybody. Okay.
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Jeremy Kellett 19:30
So that’s kind of just the truck show. I think I had one other thing I wanted to say on that truck show before we go on to the
Corey Huey 19:39
award. Yeah, in order to get something else I want to say. I just kind of wanted to hit on you know, I guess kind of our sponsors really. So we you know, this is kind of like I said, this is our second annual you know, last year we didn’t really know what we’re doing. I mean, it kind of worked out but I was trying to make it Bigger and better this year and reached out to a lot of our customers and just people that we deal with in this industry a lot and got some great feedback from from from customers and you know, they’ve donated some awesome stuff which is you know all going back to the contestants so you know I guess just to kind of start with first place is $5,000 you know and then course a belt you know, we got another belt. I should have worn that thing up here. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 20:29
absolutely. Oh, yeah. You got another belt.
Corey Huey 20:33
Yeah, I slightly got a snakeskin belt this year. For fires place and then second place is $2,500. And we got some big old Super Bowl looking diamond rings made up, you know, for second and third place. And then of course, third place is 1500. But, you know, a lot of that cash and prizes are coming from you know, all the sponsors and obviously the live obviously, Oakley is Hey open. With all this we’ve got Ozark Kotar that we deal with. A lot was donated and you know some gift certificates for a set of Michelin steer tires, so you know, that’s pretty good. Pretty good thing of course Mack trailer donated a lot for us. It might say Kenworth, in Little Rock who we have a great relationship with Arrow Truck Sales who the sponsor our podcast and you know that we deal with a lot Netra dine I mean all which is what all of our cameras Camera Camera Camera company and quality trucker player here at LoneStar truck group and Texarkana, Gmail, they’re trans flow, which is a company fiber logging company. EFF is our fuel card company. Pittsburgh power donated some stuff for us and then you know, some of our advertising Kiyomi ran rally donated some stuff. So
Jeremy Kellett 22:08
What gives us a little more specifics, what are some of these goodies? Well,
Corey Huey 22:11
So I’ve got you know, besides the steer tires, I’ve got some of this Pittsburgh power that everybody you know, these fuel borne catalysts. I’ve got several gallons of that to give away.
Jeremy Kellett 22:27
I’ve got like 200 gallon a
Corey Huey 22:31
gallon, I got three gallons of that. I’ve got, you know, a bunch of YETI Coolers and just different coolers to give away I’ve got you know, Mac, trailer T shirts and hats and soft sided coolers and $100 gift cards and different things like that some custom Oakley cornhole boards and custom coolers and things like that. Yeah, some pretty good prizes. So how’s that gonna go about receiving those prizes? Well, so that’s what I was talking about, you know, prior to the actual company party story, I’m gonna have like a drawing for that. Because that will give those away. Prior to the the actual party starting to deal,
Jeremy Kellett 23:19
you’ll send out an email to the controller saying, hey, you need to be here this certain time, right? To where we can give them out, and then they can maybe display them or whatever, they are out there. So it’s awesome. Yeah. All right. Now, let’s just get back to the king of the purpose of the company party, besides a truck show is recognizing employees and independent contractors, a lot of different things. Of course, the employee is pretty much just tenure, right? 510 2030 year recognition, I think, for that, but more than that, what about now? I don’t know. I actually don’t even know the prizes on the five tier and 15. I know for our 10 510 and 20. Don’t forget to get the jacket,
Jeremy Paul 24:11
You know, owner operators and employees get the jacket at five years of Oakley jacket, then 10 years later you get the tenured watch. And then I can’t remember. I think we are just for employees and employees and drivers. Yeah. Okay. After the fact we do. You know, plaques, pretty sure on the tenure wars.
Jeremy Kellett 24:29
Okay. And then what about, you know, let’s talk a little bit on the independent contractor side on the safety awards, because that is where the bulk of the awards goes on. We also do an owner operator of the Year from dispatch, we’ll talk about it in a minute, but let’s talk about the safety award gap and how that works. And kind of so people know what to expect if they’ve never been here. This is what’s gonna take place.
Jeremy Paul 24:56
Yeah, sure. So starting off, we have the five Have your safe driving awards. And with a five year safe driving award, you’re gonna receive a really nice truck trophy. And, you know, a safe drive and this is going to mean that there’s no preventable accidents you know? Meaning not the owner operators fault they haven’t had any you know major property damage accidents I mean we’re little flexible with that as far as you know, if you back into Poland a little scuffle and try there we’re not gonna hold that against you but it’s gonna be the kind of your major events there but the pneumatic owner operators they actually receive a on the trip revenue Mac trailer, you know, looks really nice the end the end up and, and Hopper bottom owner operators get an end up trying they’re on their trophy because they don’t make a hopper one unfortunately,
Jeremy Kellett 25:44
sample that you can show Annabelle
Jeremy Paul 25:47
II is a picture. That’s actually one right there. Sure. Yeah. So yeah, yeah, we got several in the office here. Now, they’re actually really nice. And then after that, we do the, you know, 10, year 1520 2530. You know, every five years, pretty much you also get the safe driving award as well, which is going to be just a safety plaque. Showing that as far as your five year increment awards,
Jeremy Kellett 26:16
so we were arguing yesterday, well, we wouldn’t argue but he’s talking to Barnett. I don’t know if he ever got clarification on it. It’s it’s five years. Safe driving award. Okay. Hadn’t had anything in five years. Is that from the time I started? Or is that from time to time if I had an accident? Then it restarts and if I go five years without an accident, I get five years?
Jeremy Paul 26:42
That’s correct. Yeah. So if you were you know, here you’re three had an accident it almost reset at zero, right? Zero. So you know, essentially it would take you, you know, eight years if you’re clean after Africa. It is a madhouse. Trust me.
Jeremy Kellett 26:58
You probably fix it. Get some calls. Oh, yeah. Hey, let’s check into this. And I didn’t get one. I should have got
Jeremy Paul 27:04
one. Absolutely. It’s a lot to keep up with. But we definitely try. We still want to reward the owner operators for still getting that consecutive years. You know, we had so we tried our best to keep track of and make sure guys were getting rewarded for that.
Corey Huey 27:14
That’s been accomplished. Well, you know what I mean? Yeah, almost getting three rights every day coming?
Jeremy Paul 27:19
Well, you think that’s a compliment? We’ve had? Let’s go. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that’s all hell. Yeah. But you know, putting that perspective, you know, is a great accomplishment. But we’ve got, we’re giving out 51 Of those five years safe driving awards this year. That’s pretty good. Which is really, really awesome. So,
Jeremy Kellett 27:36
I mean, again, I mean,
Jeremy Paul 27:38
we’ve got Yeah, so we got as far as safe driving awards, we’ve got 51 of the five years we’re looking at 610 years, we’re looking at 320 years, they’ve driving awards, and then 125 years, like driving a while. And I wish I would have written down the names of all these but unfortunately, I did. I sold the company bonus. Yeah, there you go. We don’t want to spoil the surprise. Because I guarantee you some of these guys, you know, probably hadn’t even thought about it and aren’t really realizing that they might be receiving one this year. So it gives you even more incentive to come to the company party. And hear your recommendation.
Jeremy Kellett 28:11
Well, more than that are the million dollars because yes, to get a million mile award, that’s a million safe,
Jeremy Paul 28:16
right? Absolutely.
Jeremy Kellett 28:18
I mean, we got
Jeremy Paul 28:19
Some of us got 10 individual meows. Two of those teams are eight trucks, but 10 individuals are gonna receive the 1 million safe driving awards this year, which is really awesome. And I can’t remember how long we had last year. She wrote that down, but we had a pretty good number last year as well. So that’s really exciting to see
Jeremy Kellett 28:36
whether your figure I mean, that’s what minimum 10 years probably right?
Jeremy Paul 28:41
Yeah, I would say I’d say right around 10 years, you know, obviously the teams got there faster. But yeah, I would say probably around 10 years Jeremy is right on the money with that. So pretty good. It’s long time to safely drive
Corey Huey 28:54
like a lot of nine miles.
Jeremy Paul 28:57
That and a lot of stress.
Jeremy Kellett 29:00
Me and Elizabeth and we pulled back in. We will have Saturday morning and we pulled back on Friday afternoon and I was about seven miles short of 2800 Miles. Oh wow that I went you know it didn’t didn’t really see market course I’m in a pickup right? That’s a lot easier to cruise you know, than those guys but it gives you a little bit of you know, an idea of doing that many miles just every week you know and and because there was definitely some sketchy times where people were pulling out in front of you stopping in front of ya crazy stuff. So yeah, thanks. No way I could have done that. Yeah. Trevor
Jeremy Paul 29:44
Gatlinburg and back in April and you know it’s two days out of your week, you know, yes, it’s rare to get home. Operators until
Jeremy Kellett 29:54
Yeah, so we got 2 million miles or two.
Jeremy Paul 29:56
Yeah, we also got a 2 million miler. We’re gonna be given five To me amount awards this year Yeah, that’s awesome. So and with those what you’re receiving when you receive those awards, the million dollars they’re going to receive we we actually started this year, giving them an option to get if they want the diamond Oakley diamond ring, which has their name engraved inside of it, or why people don’t like wearing rings, we’re also giving them an option to, you know, if they want to get a watch that Scott, you know, 1 million safe driving miles printed on it. So they got two different options there. And on top of that, they receive a plaque. But this applies a little bit differently, we actually take their picture that we have on file, you know, what we take with them when they hire on and put their actual picture on the plaque. So it’s kind of more personalized, in a way. And they don’t, you know, I want to mention this, if you ever come in the office, look, in the trophy cases, we’ve got our million mile, you know, perpetual plaques in there that have all of our million dollars, and $2 million printed on those. And we put their name on that plaque as well. And we’re actually about to, I think Roger got with Justin Oakley earlier this week, and we’re gonna actually hang those on the amount of trophy cases and put them on the wall here pretty soon. So that way, it’s kind of some memorabilia that will stay there, you know, pretty much forever so and our $2 million dollars, they’re going to receive another pipe, you know, with 2 million miles and we’re also getting a mile watch for them as well.
Jeremy Kellett 31:19
So now coming to that party is not a little bit of a task, because what we do is get up there and read off the night, right? Yes, of everybody that and there’s a bunch of people. So it kind of gets a little monotonous. You know, we read names, and a lot of them can’t make the party. Right? You know, so if you do read your name, then you come up, get your we don’t let them know till we actually read it read their night off, right? They don’t know if they’re getting one.
Jeremy Paul 31:48
Yeah, the only ones that are really kind of aware that what’s coming is the million dollars because we have to call them and get the ring size we want to ring let them decide on that. But a lot of these are going to be a surprise to him. So it’s very important to listen, once we start, listen to your name, and then come see us to grab those rewards.
Jeremy Kellett 32:06
You think we should let them know before the party? Yeah, I mean,
Jeremy Paul 32:10
they help for sure. Get a little tally on May who’s coming in who might
Jeremy Kellett 32:14
well because what happens is you know we have them we have to get them out. Get the trophies out to everybody. Yeah, which I think last year we just started shipping off.
Jeremy Paul 32:23
You know, we tried getting, you know, we tried to get the owner operators to the Yars to shake their hand and thank them, you know, get a picture with them and do it in person like we would at the party. But you know, at some point you gotta get the awards out to them and so we had a male once we couldn’t get to
Jeremy Kellett 32:36
So we ended up milling your trophy till you take a picture at the house, you know, if you want to take a picture and send it to us so we can promote it. You know, because we’re proud of
Corey Huey 32:47
our Facebook. Yeah, yeah. Sure.
Jeremy Kellett 32:51
Oakley Trucking is a 100% Owner Operator company. We specialize in Hopper, bottom and dump and pneumatic drivers. We provide the trailer free of charge and you provide the truck. We have a large customer base that reaches the whole United States as well as parts of Canada. Our owner operators live anywhere from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and everywhere in between and we get them home weekends. We take it seriously when you join Oakley trucking because we need you to be successful. Oakley offers great benefits and competitive mileage pay so you know that when your wheels are turning, you’re generating money no matter if you’re loaded or empty. We understand that you want to make a good living and that you make our living. We only take on independent contractors and to be honest with you, we are very particular on who we lease on. You must have a good driving record, good work history, and a clean, dependable truck. So if you’re interested in Oakley trucking or just want some more information, you can go to Oakley trucking.com. Listen to our weekly podcast, the Oakley podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel. So the only other thing I’ve gotten is, you know, we have an owner operator the year each dispatcher picks their owner operator of the year and I sent out an email yesterday to all the dispatchers asking them what qualifies a guy to become owner operator of the year. So you can imagine some of the different things I got back you know, me just give you a few of the of the ones I got back from some of these
Corey Huey 34:18
because I’m sure it’s not just a set time and each each guy’s got you know his own
Jeremy Paul 34:24
standards standard. Yeah, absolutely.
Jeremy Kellett 34:26
So I had one hole in the white, clean CSA. Good attitude. Having number one paperwork is a big deal, making sure you do the paperwork with the right attitude, appearance, performance, CSA score and accidents and how long you’ve been here. And then I had another one. A guy that is dependable goes above and beyond to get the job done on time, takes care of the equipment, communicates when there are issues Clean and presentable, helps other drivers and never complains. He’s won the easy. He’s won overall.
Jeremy Paul 35:11
It was a picture perfect packet
Jeremy Kellett 35:14
to figure it out, but those are just some of the characteristics that get you to become owner operators of the year. I mean, it’s, you know, many of these guys work with them every day. So they know on a first name basis, and they know how they operate and work and you know, there’s a, I’d say, I did also, I know it’s hard to pick one. Oh, yeah. You’ve got more than one. Absolutely. Owner Operator, the easier but, you know, not everybody gets a trophy. Yeah. Yeah. So it’s one of those things where they were asked to pick an owner operator of the year, so the dispatcher is going to get up there. I don’t know the agenda of the, you know what, they’re gonna get up there at some point during that party after we’re buddies. And they’re going to announce their owner operator of the year and he comes up and gets a plaque or trophy or something and bright black. I don’t even remember what else free truck washes for a year, maybe? I don’t know. Don’t hold me to that. I forget what they get, actually. But it’s a big deal. It’s, it’s more than it’s more than what you get with it. It’s the No, you do get a decal that says owner operator of the year on the side of your truck. And it’s mean, you know, I mean, we’re, most of us are a little competitive. Oh, yeah. So it’s nice to know that, you know, each dispatcher might have 50 people.
Corey Huey 36:42
Yeah, anytime we got 21 dispatchers I counted. Okay, so there’s 21 owner operators. Uh, yeah. So out of 900. Guys, that says a lot. You know,
Jeremy Kellett 36:54
That’s a good way to put it in perspective there. Yeah. Yeah, that is
Jeremy Paul 36:57
as good. A top 21. And that’s a huge number. They’re a big accomplishment.
Jeremy Kellett 37:02
Yeah. Well, and you know, what, I think, you know, what’s, what’s notable in this list that they responded is it really wasn’t money motivated, right? Yeah. None of them said how much money they make me or how much money they make this more of the basic job that gets done every day, the things it’s got to be done with safety and paperwork, right, and taking care of customers and my nuts. That’s how you get it.
Jeremy Paul 37:28
Yeah, and I was very surprised. We had a lot of these dispatchers come up to us this year. And I asked, Hey, how do they look safe? You know, we’re considering the owner operator of the year. So it is the broad spectrum of what you’re doing as an owner operator, and we’ve got some good ones. We do.
Jeremy Kellett 37:42
So I think overall, guys, you know, we’ve tried to make a few changes to accommodate everybody. We always try to get a little feedback afterwards. You know, the party is and of course, we can’t please everybody. But we should. We should try to make it an enjoyable event and fun for everybody. The main thing is everybody is safe. We don’t have a bad problem. We don’t have anybody get hurt. We don’t have any issues. That’s the main thing. You don’t want to be, you want to have fun, but you know, keep it to keep it to a limit. And we’re all safe and have a good time. Get home safe. That’s the main thing. Anything else you’d like to add? We are all good. We cover? Hi. Oh, thanks. Oh, yeah,
Jeremy Paul 38:25
I just want to add real quick. Because we do like you said we had been growing hard on Robert asked me earlier this week if he’s allowed to bring his family to the party. And you know, absolutely. So if you’re a newer owner, operator out there and bring your family and kids and have a good time.
Corey Huey 38:39
Yeah, it’s kid friendly. We got to have a lot of kids. Absolutely.
Jeremy Kellett 38:42
That’s a good point. Because this is not for outsiders. Correct. We’ve had some outsiders, we’ve had to run some outsiders off, right. So if you’re not associated with Oakley, Bruce Oakley and Kong Enterprise employees, or an independent contractor, I’m sorry, you’re gonna have to go get your company. There you go. Good point. All right. Well, thanks, guys for joining me and you don’t want over this. I think there’s some really good details everybody can learn from us. Be prepared and hope we’re prepared and everything works out well. So bear for too long. Yeah, absolutely. Ready. Thanks, everybody for listening to the podcast. We appreciate you guys everyday. Be sure and tell somebody about the podcast and spread the word. Let everybody know what’s going on. And that we put out some good information every week. We bring you a new episode every Wednesday, trying to help you learn more about Oakley trucking and be a successful owner operator. So appreciate y’all listening every week and we’ll talk to you next week. Thanks. Thanks for listening to this episode with Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show in the podcast platform of your choice and share it with a friend. We love hearing from our audience. So if you’ve got a question, comment or just want to say hello, head over to our website, the Oakley podcast.com and click the leave a comment button. We’ll get you a response soon and may even share some of the best ones here on the show. We’ll be back with a fresh episode very soon. Thanks for listening.