This week on the Oakley Podcast, guest host Megan Cummings chats with Tony Hollingsworth, one of our Owner/Operators at Oakley Trucking. During the episode, Tony is joined by Dustin Eagle as they talk about Tony’s departure from the company due to health reasons. Tony reflects on his transition from company driver to owner-operator, the challenges he faced, and the continuing support from Oakley. The conversation also explores the importance of a driver’s relationship with dispatchers, switching from hauling hoppers to tankers, and the family-like culture at Oakley, and more.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Tony’s Journey to Oakley (1:31)
- Buying a Truck and Starting at Oakley (3:00)
- Highlights of Tony’s Time at Oakley (9:13)
- Relationship with Dispatchers (11:34)
- Family-Like Atmosphere at Oakley (18:24)
- Attitude Towards Safety and Cameras (00:19:29)
- The importance of safe driving (20:25)
- Making money and company support (22:16)
- Future plans and new opportunities (25:33)
- Relationships with colleagues and customers (27:44)
- Professionalism and company culture (33:12)
- Farewell and appreciation for Tony (39:23)
- Final Thoughts and Parting Words (41:26)
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
Tony Hollingsworth 00:12
My wife and I decided I was going to buy a truck and we were coming to work at Oakley. It was the only place I mentioned to her. I’ve been seeing him for years before I came to work here. I bought that truck pretty much sight unseen. I told my wife all I need is the truck and you know I don’t have to have the big fancy truck. You know to start out with I just need a seat to sit here. I had faith in here and I knew long that I was given an opportunity I can make it happen.
Jeremy Kellett 00:39
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 inside to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family.
Megan Cummings 01:06
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to the Oakley podcast. I’m your guest host for this week. My name is Megan Cummings and I’m joined by Tony Hollingsworth and Destiny Eagle. We’re conducting a little bit of a What did I call it before the cameras started rolling an exit interview. Perhaps Yeah. So we’re going to talk to Tony today with the help of his recruiter Dustin Eagle. Tony, give us a little intro
Tony Hollingsworth 01:31
Tony Hollingsworth I’ve been here for almost six years. I had a little medical problem about a month ago and had a heart attack in Amarillo. And due to doctors and doctors appointments I’m gonna have to leave, not a decision that I wanted to make, not or not. The outcome A will lead the burden to what life gave me, so here we are. At least we’re not leaving on bad terms. This is home this will be home I’m gonna try to sneak into the company party there’s absolutely even after I’m gone you know just see what a balloon that’s what they’re there for.
Megan Cummings 02:06
Oh, without a doubt you’ll be able to blend now probably
Tony Hollingsworth 02:08
nobody will throw me under the dollies that oh, they’re gonna miss.
Megan Cummings 02:14
So almost six years. Do you remember? What were you doing before you came to Oakley?
Tony Hollingsworth 02:18
I drove hold liquid co2. So pulled a liquid or tanker? When
Megan Cummings 02:25
you company driver? Yeah, company driver? Is Oakley your first owner operator?
Tony Hollingsworth 02:30
No. I’ve owned a truck more than Oh driven a company truck. I tried to do a company truck thing and I just like to be more hands on. Yeah. And I like for my truck to be in my driveway and me to be able to work. I’ll let her play with it or Well, you know, and companies don’t take her like you to add lights to their truck. You know, we’re that type. So we and my wife decided I was gonna buy a truck where we’re coming to work at Oakley. I was calling plays. I mentioned it to her. I’ve been seeing him for years before I came to work here. They’ve been where I live in Mississippi, and they’ve been huge in Mississippi for years. So for
Dustin Eagle 03:11
a long time. I remember I can’t believe it’s been six years. Because I remember like it was yesterday. Tony called me because I’m gonna stop by the yard. I’ll say Come on, man. We love for you to stop by and talk and I remember him pulling up in the back lot back there and you had your air gas trucks trying to hide everything and had a great talk. Tony, thank you pretty much to Saturday and he was going by truck to Oakley. And I remember you actually bought a truck from one of the owner operators at work. Yeah,
Tony Hollingsworth 03:42
He got a new truck. I bought that truck pretty much sight unseen. Do you remember how he bought it? Yeah, I’m not gonna mention. Yeah, I mean, nothing bad. I don’t like that. I don’t know if he wants his name out. Yeah, he’s not here anymore either. He retired. But he had a truck for sale. I mean, you know? No, get me wrong people. It’s there’s different things for everybody. But I mean, I told my wife all I needed was the truck and jeans. I don’t, you know, don’t have to have a big fancy truck. You know, to start out with I just need a seat to sit here. And that’s exactly what about I mean, I bought a $25,000 seat, you know?
Dustin Eagle 04:24
Exactly right. So I’ll get started with owner
Tony Hollingsworth 04:27
Basically, I had to borrow the down payment to come to work here. And they told me I needed a windshield on top of that truck. I had to put her on a credit card and I’m like, I’m freaking out because I just bet the Ponderosa on this working out. You know, I mean, but I had faith in here and I knew I was given an opportunity I could make it happen, you know.
Dustin Eagle 04:49
And you started out pulling in dough. Yeah, I started out with four and a half years. did end up for
Megan Cummings 04:54
a while. Yeah. And I remember when you swapped over,
Tony Hollingsworth 04:58
flipped over to tank Oh, enjoy a night that you know I still missing a piece in the heart with the handlebar that that really fit me like that’s a lifestyle kind of thing, I guess is the best way to put it. But
Megan Cummings 05:10
Did you just want to try out? Spread your wings? Thanks.
Tony Hollingsworth 05:14
Okay, so I drove the $25,000 truck for nine months. And I worked on it every hour I was at home on the weekends. And mine and just because of the date, we had one day a week when I went home and that was Saturday morning going to the Kenworth dealership to ballpark to work on the truck the rest of the week, until it was time to leave on Monday. And I mean, that’s what you get with a $25,000 truck. I’m not complaining, you know, I mean, it’s, I knew I was gonna have to work on it every weekend to make it work the next week, but and nine months, I had enough money saved up to buy a three year old W nine, you know, I mean, and work on that one, you know, so she told me it was time for me to find a truck and she was talking about our date day being the RAD to Kenworth, you know, on Saturday morning, say that I
Dustin Eagle 06:06
blame her for ya know,
Tony Hollingsworth 06:07
but, you know, I mean, I’ve trained break chambers laying in the driveway and Fornelli with her with an umbrella over the top leading up. She was a team player, but we bought the truck I’ve got now. I’ve had it for five years, I guess, five years. And it was nicer than the other truck and doing stuff and just a tad. Yeah. And, you know, I supported the scrapyard for years in that truck, you know, but I just kind of decided I wanted to change. And it’s
Megan Cummings 06:41
just a testament of saying, I know, this is what this job requires. Yeah, we’ll start here, and then work our way up. And
Tony Hollingsworth 06:50
If you want to work and you have a wheel to work, there’s no reason you can’t make it here. I mean, you have to be self motivated, though, because there’s nobody here that’s going to call you every morning to wake you up or tell you to go do something, you know, I mean, you got to have the hustle. It also helps if you have a little ingenuity that you can do some of the work yourself. No, I mean, you know, that’s a whole probably a whole nother podcast that I probably won’t make far No, you know, it’s there’s every different realm here. You know, you don’t have to be the old school guy that rods are able to shop and decide it was true. Like I you know, there’s other drivers here that don’t hardly check the tire pressure and they’re tired, they take it to the shop to get it done. You know, there’s nothing wrong with either one, it’s got to be done. You just have to decide whether it’s going to be you do it or you’re gonna pay to have it done. You know, and I enjoy working on my Kroger. I mean, that’s kind of a hobby, you know, I have an antique car or something. So it doesn’t bother me, but you know, I’ve got friends that they go home, they drop their truck off in the shop, it doesn’t matter what it means the shop does it you know, they get seven miles to the gallon and then I get for half so I mean, you know, offset that a little bit. That’s my argument. When they say well your truck doesn’t give you valid room. Your truck goalie fails to shop when he goes home and sits in the driveway, I get to work on the sale. Yeah,
Arrow Truck Sales Commercial 08:17
Using a semi truck is a great way to kick off your career as an owner operator on a budget and buying from a reputable dealer like Arrow Truck Sales ensures you’re getting a reliable truck that fits your needs. They carry trucks from all the major manufacturers in the trucking industry and perform a thorough inspection of every check on their lot to ensure safety and quality and give you confidence that you’re getting a reliable truck that will last you for years at a price that you can afford. Being a longtime partner with Oakley trucking and the Oakley podcast, we trust them to provide our owner operators with the truck that fits their needs and matches our qualifications. So whether you’re a first time owner operator or just looking for a new T rig, be sure to give Keith Wilson and Trey Baiser a call at 573-216-6047 and let them know you heard it here on Oakley podcast.
Megan Cummings 09:05
What do you think about when you think of a highlight reel for your time? At Oakley? Are there any, any parts of it that stand out to you particularly,
Tony Hollingsworth 09:13
I don’t know how it goes by fast. I mean, it really does. Like, in a way. I feel like I’ve been here half my career, you know? And then in a way like I said, when you think about it, it’s like almost late six years but I’ve met some of the best people I’ve ever worked with hearing you know, I mean, the drivers, the people in my office when Dustin brought me in the office for my little walk around to you. They were an old office and they had 100 People I might be wrong in there, pretty close, but it was a desk butted up to the desk all the way from one side and the size of a football field. And you could hear a pin drop when I walked into the office and I’m like there’s no way this place is this quiet all the time. I have to be doing this. Like, there’s no way there’s, you know, dispatch quiet, you know, with a dispatcher, you got three divisions and then commodities were there. So they’re speaking different languages, and stuff all over the world. You know,
Dustin Eagle 10:12
I told him he was coming in to do that, by the way. Oh, yeah, I
Tony Hollingsworth 10:15
figured that, you know, and that’s, you know, it just blew me away that there were that many people in the office and it was that everybody’s on the phone, and it was that quiet. And I’m like, There’s no dispatchers yelling at a driver. I mean, how do you have this many trucks and there’s no dispatcher losing his mind on the driver, you know? And then when I came to orientation, we were doing orientation in the same building. I mean, you walk in the morning, everybody’s talking, but it’s quiet, you know, all day long. And it just blew me away that you could put 100 people in that enclosed area, and everybody gets along for one. And being that quiet, you know, always blows me away. You know? I mean,
Megan Cummings 10:59
I don’t think it’s any louder in the new
Tony Hollingsworth 11:00
office? No, really. But it’s divided. You know, you don’t feel cooler.
Dustin Eagle 11:06
We got a lot of great people in the office. We got a lot of great owner operators. Yeah, we don’t
Megan Cummings 11:11
I have to yell. And
Tony Hollingsworth 11:12
yeah, I just and I know that’s probably not the right way of putting it. But it just, I just assumed you had 100 people in the office, you’d have to have more noise than that.
Megan Cummings 11:22
I think everybody, I think that’s one of the things that I’m always so impressed about is how highly the drivers speak about their dispatchers. It seems like they all have a really close relationship, Christmas gifts, birthday gifts. So
Tony Hollingsworth 11:34
I’ve had three dispatchers in my time here. I had Scotty when I first started, Scotty would run your wheels off, Scotty was the reason I had the money for a down payment on the truck. And that month, yes, we are gonna run out on the road as you could run me. And we were team buddies. I mean, that barely made it home on Friday afternoon work on that truck. And then Scotty got promoted, moved up, and I got Peyton. And I didn’t even like Peyton had graduated high school yet. I mean, like, you know,
Megan Cummings 12:09
He’s a junior this year. Yeah.
Tony Hollingsworth 12:11
I mean, you know, and it was right when COVID had started. So I’m not saying he got thrown to the wolves, but he had to learn how to field nobody had ever done before. I mean, cause COVID I mean, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life. I’ve been out here for 20 years going on 20 Here, never have ever driven through Atlanta a day, and not hardly seen another car or truck on the road, you know, or Chicago or, you know, I mean, it was just a weird time. And he picked it right up. I mean, we got along great. You know, he ran me like I asked to be run and got me home when I wanted to be home. And then when I swapped over to the black, I had Austin and Austin got along great. I mean, you know, he, the back was a little different than the end up, it’s a lot slower paced, I felt like I was going very much in slow motion, the first couple months, you know, end up being pretty high paced and hostile. And I’m not gonna say stressed, but you feel like you’re running a half hour behind all day long, because something’s gonna happen during the day and you’re gonna be you know, you’re gonna be a half hour for making your delivery or you’re gonna be a half hour from making your deadline, you know, the tank sides completely different, you got to know, schedule your appointment, and you just or you just have a date, you know, be there on the second of April, you know, and it doesn’t matter if it’s midnight or noon, you know, you just be there on that day, you know,
Megan Cummings 13:52
we have to have two years of tank experience before.
Dustin Eagle 13:56
Right? You have to have no not experience to hire straight into tanks, you have to have some prior experience, but we like to bring him swap them over from tanks within the company. Okay, so we at least six months experience pulling a hopper or DOT first, okay, six months, and then we can talk about it. Do you think that’s a good time?
Megan Cummings 14:19
Do you think you need more training before that? So
Tony Hollingsworth 14:23
and I’m not trying to make it sound like I’m any better than anybody else or anybody on tankers any better than anybody on hopper. I don’t mean it that way. But it does take a special breed to be on a tank because of the patients you have to have. And a lot of drivers just don’t have the light. They don’t like to see it. And they’re sick time with a tank. I mean, it’s just what it is.
Dustin Eagle 14:45
That’s the mentality. If you ain’t rolling them wheels, you’re not making no money. And
Tony Hollingsworth 14:49
you have to change that, that it took me I mean, that was the first couple of weeks was hard. I mean, you’re getting paid for sitting, you know, but In the back of your mind, you’re still telling yourself, I gotta go, I gotta go, I gotta go. Well, if you’re used to that, yeah, the end doll is the opposite, you don’t really sit, I’m not gonna say, hey, go get them here and there. But typically, you’re in and out, you know, I mean, if you get out of my way, I can be out of here in 15 minutes, you know, I mean, you just show me where you want this load, I’ll be gone in 15 minutes. And a lot of places we go within the dump are like that. I mean, you know, you’re allowed to be at some farmer’s field with a loader, DDG nobody’s even there. They tell you put it in Bing for you know, and you leave the Beatles in their toolbox on the tractor, you know, I mean, we do a lot of nursery stuff like, you know, rocker, different kinds of gravel or sand, you know, and I’ve had a bunch of him, I would call them early and say, Hey, tell me about 834 I get to town. Is there any way you could tell me how to get in or I could dump over the night and they put a comb and be and they watch the end and tell you the combination lock on the gate? So they end up a little more independent? But you’re always that 30 minutes you saved? Now goes a long way. Only an owner? Tank side? Not so much. You just I don’t know. It’s just slower paced. If you have to get used to it. That’s all I can say is you have to get used to it. It’s not a
Dustin Eagle 16:29
not just jump in. I know you’ve made a lot of life. You know, lifetime friends here quickly. Yeah. I mean, I just know from talking to you talking to everybody. Everybody knows Tony Hollingsworth. Good or bad. Everybody is telling you
Tony Hollingsworth 16:43
Bad and good?
Dustin Eagle 16:45
Which, you know, I want to speak to you as the recruiter to crunchy and mana. I know, it’s unforeseen circumstances. You gotta leave Oakley. But you’ve done a great job for us. And I appreciate that. You’ve I know you’ve been a lifetime. You know, you’re gonna be a lifetime friend to me for sure. Yeah, yeah. And this company? Yeah.
Tony Hollingsworth 17:04
I mean, I’ll feel like this is home. You know, I mean, yeah. Even being here today, you know, I don’t even feel like this is gonna be my last time. Yeah, you know, me? Well, I mean, and that’s, you know, it gets hard because you talk about the drivers coming into the office. Like, I come into the office, it can take me an hour to come in the office and leave, because I stopped and stopped out. Do you stop and talk to the One Stop behind? Yep. You know, and by the time I make it to my dispatcher’s desk at the very end you’ve already missed the load button. Yeah, I’ve already. Yeah, he’s like, Where were you two hours ago, you know, because I like to talk, I like to have friends, you know. And I like to be here, you know, I mean, they, I feel welcome. When I walk in the door, I don’t feel like I’ve never had anybody call me by anything, but my name here. And it doesn’t matter if I talk to him once a day or once a year. Everybody here has always known my name when I walk in and have been addressed by somebody. And that’s something you don’t see in the drive trucking industry if you get a number, you know, or they have to look you up, you know, and I have people here that know me that I didn’t know their name. Well,
Dustin Eagle 18:13
We always say Oakley is a big family. Here it is. Nobody knows that till they come. Yeah, it is. And that’s really, really say
Megan Cummings 18:20
that, you know, Oh, of course, you’re gonna say that whenever you want me to leave.
Tony Hollingsworth 18:24
And that goes back to the whole deal. I was talking about everybody. You know how quiet it was? It was you’ve got to be a family to get along like that. You know? I mean, they’re like, I don’t know, it. Just
Dustin Eagle 18:36
everybody. And as a true family, we’re all gonna have bad days where we, you know, yeah, that’s what a family does. Yeah.
Megan Cummings 18:44
I don’t ever have a bad day. I
Dustin Eagle 18:44
I don’t know what to talk about. But five minutes later, five minutes later, we’re back to being a family. You know?
Tony Hollingsworth 18:49
Yeah. You know, just, I don’t know, I’ve never had an issue here. I mean, even with safety, I mean, I don’t know. I mean, we got everybody who hates cameras. You know, when we got to new style 10. When I first came to work here, the camera didn’t hardly do anything, unless you just hit something or hit the brakes really hard going down and activated. This when you know, I mean, it does read speed limit saw hands and I don’t know I don’t really see it as a bad thing. I guess. I mean, sometimes you don’t realize the speed limit dropped, you know, you’re watching traffic and you can miss the speed limit. I’m not taking up for the cameras, but it has told me to slow down. I realize I missed the speed limits on you know, reading prop might have saved me a ticket.
Megan Cummings 19:35
You know, before we came up here. Speaking of safety, you were saying how you’ve only ever had calls from safety. Yeah. But don’t you think that having a good attitude about stuff like that really makes a difference? Yeah. Makes it easier to stomach.
Tony Hollingsworth 19:53
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and talking about having the two calls from the I mean, when we first got these new cameras, nobody was used to telling you to slow down or telling your following to close or there was a lot we had to get used to with these new cameras in the truck because they didn’t turn the volume off on them first, you know. And there were a lot of unhappy drivers because they had a camera yelling at them all day long, the backhoe slowed down or you know, if you just and this is gonna, I’m gonna get thrown, I’m gonna get raked over the coals for saying this. But if you just do it, the camera tells you to do it. You won’t talk to you anymore. If you make sure you’re not riding up on somebody or not speeding. The camera doesn’t say anything, you know. I mean, it doesn’t.
Dustin Eagle 20:38
It’s what it’s there for.
Tony Hollingsworth 20:39
Yeah, you know, and I don’t speed, I make good money here. You know, I mean, I’m not, it’s not a bragging thing. But I don’t have to run five over the speed limit to make a good check here. You know, I can run 65 to 68. I mean, you know, I don’t even know how fast my truck will go. Honestly, I’ve never done it doesn’t matter to me, I run seek Bob to 68. I don’t follow too closely. I’ve got a hood out in front of me. I can’t see you if you’re 40 feet from the front of my truck. So I’ll make sure you’re 60 feet in front of me because I don’t need hell. I mean, there’s no reason I’m not going anywhere any faster regardless how close I am to you. So why put you in a mind spot where I’m having to guess whether you’re hitting the brakes or not. That does not say that the old Tony you know, back when I first started Rob and I used to think you had to run nose to tail and 100 miles an hour everywhere. But life has taught me that. If you gotta run like that, to make a living, you need to find another way to play for like living at
Arrow Truck Sales Commercial 21:45
Libsyn has been servicing single trucks and truck fleets for more than 20 years across 12 locations nationwide. Lube zone specializes in quick full service oil changes that take approximately 30 to 40 minutes. They also offer tractor trailer grease, gearbox service generator service, reefer service and do T inspections. They aim to go the extra mile when it comes to quality control. This means your tractor has checked not only once but two times to ensure all service and parts meet their guaranteed quality and standards. No other service center has semi trucks better than LubeZone. If your truck needs service, check out lubezone.com to find all their locations. And when you stop by little now you’ve heard it here on Oakley podcast.
Megan Cummings 22:29
So speaking of making money and being very happy. Do you remember when you spoke with Dustin? Do you ever remember thinking this is too good to be true?
Tony Hollingsworth 22:39
No, Dustin, I’m gonna say he is under selves, honestly, he Well, he has to give an average, you know, and we’ll go back to what I said about it’s up to you how much money you make. And, you know, I can’t tell you that you’re going to come here and make 10 downloads a week because it’s just not possible. You know, but if you’re willing to work, the workers there, you know, obviously, everybody has a slow time here in error a week or whatever, you know, it is trucking, you know, but
Dustin Eagle 23:09
always tell guys half hour, it’s up to you it
Tony Hollingsworth 23:11
is. And you know, you have to work as a team with your dispatcher. And communication is 90% of that. You can’t show up at your delivery dump and then call your dispatcher and tell him I’m I mean, if you were to go now, you know, he’s got 40 or 50 other drivers you got to deal with, you know, I mean, yes, he can pull you up at any given time on their computer and see where you’re at. But he’ll know where you’re at, if you call him and tell him you know, and it doesn’t take 30 seconds out of your day to call in for Hey, man, I’m an hour out. I’ll call you when I meet. You know, he’s probably got a plan for you or pretty close to having a plan for you anyway. And I really feel like that’s a lot to do with the success of the drivers that I’ve met here. The ones that call and keep in contact with each other. Yes. The ones that keep communication with their dispatcher tend to do a little better than the ones that don’t. And I run into both fields. I’ve seen some of them that just get fighting mad because their dispatcher did have something the second they called them, you know, what did he know you were here? Why did he know where he sent me yesterday? You know what he knew where he sent 50 on the trucks yesterday too. And you know, I mean, I don’t know I like to call an hour or so before out. Of course with the pneumatic you’re going to be a couple hours getting unloaded if you pull up and go to unload and right now. So that’s a whole different world but what the end of every minute counts. And if you can give him our heads up, you know, that’s an hour he has to look for something or make sure he’s got something nailed down for you. And I rarely sat. I mean not like I mean when I got to load it, I would call you in and they would tell me where to head to you know, and I mean, I liked it that way. I mean, and if I got to call him one more time a day than you do, and I get a load and you have to wait. And that proves to me that calling ladders, you know, do
Megan Cummings 25:13
you think you’ll if you decide to mosey on back over here in the future, do you think you’ll stick with the back tanks? Or you’ll go back in?
Tony Hollingsworth 25:22
Probably a back tank? I mean, I’ve already got the blower which I’ve got to get through I keep
Dustin Eagle 25:32
speaking. Speaking of the future, everybody knows Tony, he’s leaving by now. Yeah. He has to for some personal reasons. But what’s next for Tony?
Tony Hollingsworth 25:43
I think I’m gonna try Harlan, which you got from friends of mine that had been doing it for a few years. gave me some numbers to go, you know, to home. Yeah, there’s a lot of that action going on around the house. It’s an industry I’ve never paid attention to, you know, I mean, I’ve seen them go by I live 12 miles from a labor market. I see him go by all day, every day and didn’t had never even looked at him twice and talked to a couple friends of mine. And, you know, they said they’re happy doing it. And we’ve worked together in other places. So I know, you know, we work alike. So, yeah, I mean, a sort of mantra. I mean, it might work out, might not, I mean, I might end up with another end up. I’m gonna hold a local I don’t know. I mean, y’all
Dustin Eagle 26:37
I heard it here. First, I gave him a year he’ll be back.
Tony Hollingsworth 26:41
I wouldn’t be going. What’s your hopes? So yeah.
Dustin Eagle 26:46
Man, just go get better. And yeah, we wish you the best of luck in everything you do. Yeah.
Tony Hollingsworth 26:51
I mean, it’s, like I said, I really, I don’t want to go, you know, I mean, but I don’t want to hold Oakley in New York to try and I thought a bit
Dustin Eagle 27:02
cool story. We’ll try to get you all for what, two or three years now? And you kept telling us no, you
Megan Cummings 27:06
know, what made the difference? No. What made the difference was he had someone else asking him? Okay. That’s what it was for. He was like, I don’t know what you tried to get him on the podcast for a while. And I was like, let me handle it. Well, I
Tony Hollingsworth 27:18
I was shocked. I was driving home yesterday, and you called me. I’m leaving tomorrow.
Dustin Eagle 27:26
Fever. One really, it’s good for everybody to hear your story. And you know, someone that doesn’t want to leave. That’s leaving, say everything you’re saying about Oakley and what we’re saying about you too? Yeah, we want people to understand that. We really care about our drivers. Yeah, yeah.
Tony Hollingsworth 27:44
I mean, so I’ve gotten a call once a week. Anyway, I’ll probably do more than that. But just to check on me. Nobody. My trailer has been at my house for a month and a half. And not wanting somebody to call me one night when my trailer is gonna be home, you know? You know, and I mean, it cost Oakley a lot of money for that trailer to be at my house. I mean, that trailer makes a lot of money. And that weighed on me while I was at home. You know? I mean, I don’t want I don’t want y’all trailers sitting in my house anymore. No, we’ll go further. Now, nobody ever once called me when my trailer was coming back, you know, they called to see how I was doing. You know, that’s the only question over rascasse How are you feeling? How are you doing? You know,
Megan Cummings 28:30
you kind of take for granted how close you get with people that you talk to every day or even every few weeks, you know, you’re gonna have a real relationship with people that’s like that’s a member of my family that’s sick, or that’s leaving, you know, or retiring or whatever the case may be. And it does. It takes a toll on you if I would have known the emotional turmoil that the job held I might have reconsidered. I feel like my heart’s been broken a time or two by you guys leaving? Not that it was your choice. Yeah, I understand that. But yeah, but yeah, it really does.
Tony Hollingsworth 29:05
I’ve been a heartbreaker. If you do your best to make the highlight. That’s my legacy. Yeah. Leave him the last quote we’ve ever had. Yeah. The
Megan Cummings 29:17
next viral clip, but yeah, you get close to people and you just don’t realize it until it’s a situation like this and it really hurts my feelings a little bit makes me sad. You know,
Tony Hollingsworth 29:26
I know I wouldn’t. I was looking forward to coming here. But you know, it was bittersweet because I didn’t want to come over here for the reason that I was coming up. And I could stay up here all day. I mean, I spent an hour when I got here in the shop talking Oh, God. Couple hours left. I might spend the night here in the morning. My dog somebody let me understand the drivers lounge when you get my last shower. Get your money’s worth. Watch TV. Did I? Yeah, I mean, the whole place is that way. I mean I go out to the wash bay. I joke with the guys in the wash bay. I’ve seen some of them ride the bus in the morning that really wanted to make a difference in their life and now they work here full time. You know, I mean, and you know, we’ve developed friendships you know? Yeah, I mean in the shop and wash bay in office, you know,
Megan Cummings 30:21
you make those relationships do with our customers mean you know, places where they call
Tony Hollingsworth 30:26
you by name. Yeah, that means a lot to the attitude on the job. Yeah, I mean, that gets you a long way sometimes. I mean, if you show up with a bad attitude, they don’t want to deal with you. They don’t care if you sit in your truck for six hours. How many hats
Dustin Eagle 30:43
have you got out of me over for the customer?
Megan Cummings 30:48
We’re gonna send you the bill for that next month.
Tony Hollingsworth 30:50
I’m gonna get some for leave today.
Dustin Eagle 30:52
I’m fixing a drop down. I think he’s got to call it full on Yeah, I’m
Tony Hollingsworth 30:56
gonna leave with some swag Yeah, hats and mugs and I was talking about that last night I had my driver appreciation I was drinking out of last night I swore I will miss getting nice once a year. But yeah, I’ve gotten a lot of hats from you, man. And there’s a lot of customers that go through that hassle. They collect those hats and it means something to them when you give them one like hey, what color hat do you have? What color hat and yeah, you know and I mean it’s like Trading Card something when you get an operator that’s gonna load you and you give him a hat he you know a lot of gray hosel for you you know I mean it like I said, it’s a hat does. But it’s something that is him you know, I mean, it’s and we laugh and joke about it. I mean, don’t get me wrong but if you don’t have a customer, you don’t have a job. And that’s with Oakley and that’s with you. Because Oakley is not going to keep sending you to a customer if you can get a loan customer out just I mean, I hope that’s public knowledge. But you know, you represent Oakley, you represent yourself. So great advice. Yeah,
Dustin Eagle 32:00
somebody wants at least. Come over Oakley. Yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 32:06
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, 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 wants more information, you can go to Oakley trucking.com. Listen to our weekly podcast, the Oakley podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Megan Cummings 33:07
Do you have any other little nuggets of truth? Oh, I
Tony Hollingsworth 33:10
I don’t know. I got lotto or any other Tony isms? Oh, I don’t know about Tony, you’re probably gonna get in trouble. No, I mean, attitude is most everything. I mean, it really is. And Oakley has got a dress code. You know, I get people. We always get an email in the summertime that flip flops and flip flops and shorts are further from the beach. Not here. You know, we’ve been getting that email since I came to work. I’m not a flip flop, that short fry even at home. I’m short. Gotra doesn’t pertain to me. But people do look at how you dress whether you want to think that or not. You when you pull up at a customer, even your truck and I’m not saying you have to have a show truck. But a clean truck gets attention. It’s my first impression. Yes. And you get out of a clean truck. And you look presentable, you know, I’m not saying you have to wear a $200 shirt, you know, but wear nice clothes. I mean, we make money here, you know, you don’t have to wear a holy t-shirt. You know, I mean we make money here, you know? And I have no problems wearing nice nice clothes at a job that I make good money and I’m happy to be here you know? And the customers recognize that I’m talking about a safety call with me. I had safety call me another time. One of the customers actually called and told them that they appreciated their drunk driver showing up in a nice truck and dressed nice.
Megan Cummings 34:41
And he was talking about I guess me
Tony Hollingsworth 34:45
I saw where you’d have seen where I had like this was down in Miami I took a load of oak. I don’t remember now what it was. It was lightweight, lightweight down to this little place in Miami. Scott makes the little pads for you to put your air conditioning unit in his backyard. And I get down and he’s got a little script that you got to back down blindside back down beside a canal into his backyard. So I get back down there. And we’re by the look of God, because I mean, I’m telling you this place was tight, you know. And, of course, he wants to talk, you know, and tell me all about a little operation here. You got to listen for a minute, you know, I mean, it’s part of customer relations, you know, and I mean, he gets one load every three or four months. He is not a big customer. But he’s just as important as the rest of them, you know, to me, I mean, so I get back to you. And down there. He wants to call leave. You know, I talked to him for about 20 minutes. He told me Hi, make these little pads. And you know, half an hour later, I get a phone call. And he had called the office and told me I just wanted to let y’all know, I really appreciate the nice equipment to Jolson, you know, yo, Dre, and that driver was dressed nicely. He was professional, you know, and that meant something to me, you know, I mean, that it wasn’t just it let me know somebody was paying attention to the job that we do. You know, it wasn’t just I’m doing it because I won’t be you know, I think it looks cool.
Megan Cummings 36:25
And that’s a testament to what you said earlier about people really do pick up on that they do pick up on nice equipment, how you carry yourself how you present yourself, your attitude, and
Tony Hollingsworth 36:34
this is a dirty job. And it doesn’t matter if your hopper if you’re pneumatic, or if you’re in, it’s a dirty job. I mean, you’re outside in the weather, especially pneumatic Morpho than the other two. If it’s raining, you’re standing in the rain while you’re getting unloaded or you get, you know, end up as you’re gonna have whatever you’re hauling pretty much all over you. I mean, it’s not an easy job to stay clean or keep your drug clean. But it’s worth the extra effort. You know, I mean, I don’t Well, I got in trouble. Jessica got onto me because we had to have a serious conversation on truck washes. She told me I spent entirely too much money in a year on truck tow truck washes a week was entirely to any truck wash.
Megan Cummings 37:19
Isn’t that like a tax write off or something it
Tony Hollingsworth 37:22
is but she said you have to make the money to be able to hand it off. To truck washes a week was entirely too much. She didn’t care if one truck washed a week, just picked the right day. And a dollar a day to get the truck wash keeps McLean’s when I’m coming home. So it’s gonna get dirty the next load it doesn’t matter what your leisure all in roofing granules.
Dustin Eagle 37:44
Right. Well, I appreciate you coming up here and telling your story today.
Tony Hollingsworth 37:48
Listen, you’re
Megan Cummings 37:50
always welcome back. We’d love to have you anytime. Yeah, I
Tony Hollingsworth 37:52
I was thinking about sneaking into that company party. Yeah. Oh, you
Dustin Eagle 37:56
ain’t gotta sleep. Come to the company party. But we’ll settle that right.
Tony Hollingsworth 38:00
Yeah, I might do that. If that’s, you know, that’s one of Jessica’s favorite things about coming to the company party. Like, you know, every year she comes, the wives all seem to get together. And you know, the guys that I run with all, you know, all year long, so to say we all get together, hang out and wives get together and the wives have a better town and drivers. I mean, and then she’s got lifelong friends from drivers that are here. Yeah. I mean, we go to Alabama and hang out with drivers who I’ve met here, you know, go to their house, spend the weekend and try, you know, just I mean, it’s like a family. You know, I mean, I’ve got brothers, you know, but yeah, I mean, the company parties weren’t worth working for him.
Dustin Eagle 38:45
Either formally invited this year. Yeah, I’ll give
Tony Hollingsworth 38:48
you that. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But
Dustin Eagle 38:52
I also appreciate Megan bringing me back to the podcast. I had to catch the regular host on vacation. He doesn’t bite me up here. Normal. It
Megan Cummings 38:59
wasn’t my choice. Jeremy. I was just told the decimal was going to be on.
Dustin Eagle 39:04
I snuck in here. But
Megan Cummings 39:05
we wanted to accommodate Tony and you want Dustin on here right? Well, yeah,
Tony Hollingsworth 39:10
I mean, he’s the first person no matter Oakley. Yeah.
Megan Cummings 39:13
Look at all the people you’ve met sent to? Yeah. to that. Well, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Yeah, we’ve loved having you like
Dustin Eagle 39:21
us. It’s been an asset. I wish you the best man. Good luck to everything and told you I wasn’t gonna get emotional care, but I’m gonna shake your hand on the camera. Oh, yeah. Tell you.
Tony Hollingsworth 39:33
Thank you, sir. Yeah, for sure. Welcome back anytime I might use something called aggravate. Yeah, come on. Come on. And a side note, if you have to, if you go to Canada a lot, and Meghan is the one that you’re going to have to deal with to go to Canada
Megan Cummings 39:50
have to deal with. Yeah. How about have the pleasure of speaking with she’s
Tony Hollingsworth 39:53
the one that you had the pleasure of calling on the weekend? Yeah. And she quits whatever she’s doing When playing with cat, or taking a nap,
40:02
I gotta stop talking. I gotta stop talking about the cat. But I’ve
Tony Hollingsworth 40:08
I have been in Canada most of my trucking career, and I gotta say, this is the easiest. Without a doubt, I get a lot of candidate hair. Cut
Dustin Eagle 40:17
the tape. She’s getting too big. Yeah. Keep going.
Megan Cummings 40:20
As you were saying, I was getting well, you guys, I know I say this a lot. And it’s helped
Tony Hollingsworth 40:28
a lot. Oh, absolutely. When I started, I went to the gym and tweeted out. Yeah,
Megan Cummings 40:32
I say this all the time. But you guys really, you make it easy on me. I mean, we’re, it’s a dream team. But we both help each other out. And all the people that I talked to on a regular basis are pretty, pretty stellar. You guys are rock stars. We’re probably
Tony Hollingsworth 40:46
done with the whole interview. But I got tickled because I had to pull my logbook, my paper logbook, out, and come up here. And when I opened it, a card fell out of it. And it was the card to the broker that we used to use to go into Canada, but I had to call on him. Oh, really? Yeah. That’s how old that card was. When I opened my logbook, that card fell out. I’m like, man, it’s been like 20 years or so. Take a trip down memory lane. Yeah, one of the brokers at the port event or the border.
Megan Cummings 41:20
Oh, thank God. It’s not like that anymore. Yeah,
Tony Hollingsworth 41:22
yeah. No, it’s so much easier.
Megan Cummings 41:26
All right, Tony, do you have any last words? Any last bits of wisdom to leave us with?
Tony Hollingsworth 41:31
Yes. Wish everybody luck. Oh,
Megan Cummings 41:34
we’re praying for you. And we want to hear from you. And I actually wasn’t joking about the party in October. I really do hope I see you
Tony Hollingsworth 41:42
there. Yeah, we’ll see if we can make it alright.
Megan Cummings 41:45
Guys are always welcome to come up and visit if you’re ever in Arkansas, and you need a reason to come aggravate a couple people feel free. I’ve got a long list of people that you can start and there won’t
Tony Hollingsworth 41:56
be any repercussions now if you don’t want
Megan Cummings 41:57
absolutely yeah.
Dustin Eagle 42:00
Tell Miss Jessica we’re gonna miss her too. Oh,
Tony Hollingsworth 42:02
she got tickled that I’m even doing this. Yeah. It’s
Megan Cummings 42:06
nice way to go out with a bang. Yeah, you can cross. Well, thank you lovely gentlemen. Thank you, Dustin. You’re welcome to join me. We’re going to send it off to next week with another episode. Hopefully Jeremy will be back next week. We’re not sure. I don’t know if he’s escaped to the Cayman Islands or where he’s at but I will see you next week on the next episode of the Oakley trucking podcast. Thanks for joining us. Subscribe, Like tick tock Annabelle does a great job. Thanks for joining us.
Jeremy Kellett 42:39
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Oakley podcast: trucking, business, and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show on 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, theoakleypodcast.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.