This week on the Oakley Podcast, hosts Jeremy Kellett and Megan Cummings welcome back Joe McCullough, one of our Owner/Operators at Oakley Trucking. During the episode, Joe shares his background in construction, his transition to trucking, and his three-year experience with Oakley. The conversation also explores the importance of mentoring younger drivers, the evolving trucking industry, the challenges and responsibilities of being an owner-operator, the value of community support, and more.
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Joe’s Background and Journey to Oakley (1:06)
- Reminders About 2290s for Drivers (4:10)
- Maintenance Week for Joe (5:13)
- From Construction to Driving (7:16)
- Friendships and Support at Oakley (12:31)
- Mentoring New Owner-Operators (17:29)
- Discussion About the Different Divisions at Oakley (18:49)
- Recruiting Others to Oakley and Trucking (20:13)
- Essential Tools and Equipment for Trucking (26:44)
- Passing on Knowledge to Younger Drivers (30:50)
- The Mindset of a Good Owner-Operator (34:19)
- Company Culture and Success (36:11)
- Joe’s Connection with Bruce Mallinson (39:00)
- Future Plans and Retirement (42:22)
- Parting Thoughts (46:37)
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
Joe McCullough 00:13
That was the one thing when I was young, there were 40 or 50 drivers for every seat. If you were going to survive back in the 80s and 90s. And let’s, let’s face it, you had to be the best, are you going to get trampled? If you so much as did one thing wrong, you were fired and it was 29-30 guys behind you taking your job from you. So it really pushed you back then to be better, because if you didn’t, you just generally weren’t working. And what’s changed today is completely opposite. As we know, there’s not enough drivers for all the seats that are available. So it’s our job to try to help these guys and teach them to be really good at what you do.
Jeremy Kellett 00:50
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. Hey everybody, welcome to the Oakley Podcast. I’m Jeremy kellett director recruiting here at Oakley and I’m your host for this podcast. And on today’s episode we are talking with Mr. Joe McCullough. He is an owner operator with Oakley and is actually retiring to the podcast. He was in episode 90. So if you want to learn a little bit more about him, go back to Episode 90 And check out Dr. Joe. He’s going to talk we’re going to discuss some different things with him today. Because, you know, it’s been two and a half years since he’s been here. And you know, we’re going to talk about just what he’s learned since he’s been here we’re going to talk about some of the many owner operators called Joe. He’s very humble, but very knowledgeable. And we’re going to discuss some of that of how he has actually helped a lot of our owner operators out there on the road just by answering questions and, and being a good ear for them. And just a few other things we’re going to discuss. It’s gonna be a great episode. But first I got my co host Megan Coleman sitting in with me and it’s been a little while since we’ve been back together. I’ve been picking up your slack. I don’t even know what this is when we do. Well, I appreciate it. You did a good job. I saw the one you and Dustin did together. We did too with DeMonte Yeah. Oh, yeah. You did one with Tony too. We did too. Yeah. Yeah, they are really good. Big boots to fill. Oh, well. No, but that
Megan Cummings 02:36
we’re getting a lot of phone calls like you guys fire Jeremy lockmaster. Well,
Jeremy Kellett 02:43
Vincent some requests, or whatever.
Megan Cummings 02:47
We gave him a tasteful resignation letter.
Jeremy Kellett 02:50
Yeah. That’s good. I like the form but what they say when the host is not there. He’s on assignment somewhere. Yeah, you know? Yes. Sounds better than Hey, Jeremy is not here. Today. Okay.
Megan Cummings 03:04
We try to make you sound as good as possible. I promise.
Jeremy Kellett 03:07
I appreciate it. Everything’s been going good. We
Megan Cummings 03:09
Everything’s going good business as usual. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 03:12
it is. It is busy around Oakley and we’re all staying pretty busy. It’s a good time of year, summertime hidden. It’s nice job security. I mean it is getting after it.
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Jeremy Kellett 04:09
You know, I really don’t have much of an announcement today. We continue to talk about the 22 nannies owner operators’ responsibility. Be sure and if you have questions, give us a call. But it’s up to you to get the 22 nannies done. You know as far as sharing the podcast, we mean, I just can’t say that every week. I know. But it really does help if you will share these. The shorts that come out that Annabelle puts out you know, every week if you actually share that with a friend, people you talk to that really helps the algorithms I guess to you know, get us more views and get it out there and like we’ve always said, I mean, every truck driver needs to be watching or listening to the Oakley podcast, right? Yeah, and there’s like 3 million truck drivers, so we need them all. small
Megan Cummings 04:58
bits of info ration on there, too, not necessarily something that’s included in the title. But that episode was about the 2290s. You know, just little things like that, that you don’t, you wouldn’t suspect would be in an episode.
Jeremy Kellett 05:11
Joe, how’s it going? Good. Jeremy. Good. You know, last time you were on, but two and a half years ago, you had had you and your dispatcher Joey, say and hear together. And that was a really good episode. By the way, I went back and watched most of it the other day, just to refresh my memory on it and just listen to you back then. Did you just get good information from me? I just liked talking to you. I like listening to you. And I thought we needed to get him on here. Yeah. And of course, you’re telling me this week you’re here for like three days? Yeah. What’s? Why are you here? Three days, Joe.
Joe McCullough 05:47
I call it maintenance week. It’s basically because it’s my anniversary for being at Oakley. Okay, I just kind of kept that that’s when I bought the truck new. I bought a new one. I started here. So basically, I just figured that once a year I do my overhead do my Thermo King do show up all kinds of stuff, because I don’t get down here to let it
Megan Cummings 06:09
go. Yeah. You keep all your maintenance and Little Rock. Yes, it was good.
Joe McCullough 06:13
Not all of it. But I had all built a report here. You know what I mean? With MHC tri state, all the people around here so it’s kinda you just, it’s difficult for you to not build that because it’s not like it used to be even up by me. I mean, everybody that I knew up there is gone. It’s all up there up in Massachusetts, two sets is that so you know, it’s just the days of all the older people being up there that I knew were all gone and it’s hard to find reliable shops out there. Everybody knows that today.
Jeremy Kellett 06:47
But you ban someone around here. Yeah, I
Joe McCullough 06:50
I mean, he treats me great. Alright. And you get to know everybody so I know everybody there I mean Mike Donnelly and Jay. Jamie all patches a good friend of mine the master tech over there and surprisingly that is good. Are they even talk to
Megan Cummings 07:07
you just make friends everywhere you go though, don’t you? Like to remain? Yes. Why eight people?
Jeremy Kellett 07:14
What is your background like?
Joe McCullough 07:16
Well started out in the business back in 84. In the CBS Navy, doing construction and heavy equipment. My original background, my dad was a carpenter. So that’s kind of what ever since I was a little kid. I used to go down here to shop in the basement and just go and play with all the tools and he used to teach me how to use stuff. And I went to high school for carpentry. Voltex.
Jeremy Kellett 07:37
Seeing but through yellow carpentry in your back? Oh
Joe McCullough 07:41
yeah, I mean a lot actually. So if I integrated it with my business when I had my sand and gravel business and my trucks and my equipment that would build the roadways, I would buy lots I made. I started off really small, just hauling for people. But as I built it up, I would buy a lot. My first one was almost where I lived on the end of my street. I bought 10 acres, and just developed three lots out of it. And the machines and the trucks did all the work getting rid of all the trees and all the gravel and bringing in the dirt and septic system and foundation. And then I had the ground to the head of the construction company. So I took off running a little bit there. We did it all and you make more money and you keep it in the house. And I’m kind of a picky guy. So
Megan Cummings 08:23
Is there anything you miss about running your own business like that?
Joe McCullough 08:26
Nothing.
Jeremy Kellett 08:29
Nothing, nothing.
Megan Cummings 08:30
At least you’re honest.
Joe McCullough 08:33
You got too big. And it became a real problem that the family was home every day for about four or five hours. I’m home way more now that I’m over the road for three weeks.
Megan Cummings 08:46
Not funny. It’s funny, just mentally would work but unplug
Joe McCullough 08:50
the WiFi at home for seven to usually about 10 days every month. Nice. It’s just like,
Jeremy Kellett 08:58
What do you do when you’re home? Not
Joe McCullough 09:01
much of anything works in the yard. My wife still works full time.
Jeremy Kellett 09:04
Oh, does she? Yeah, she
Joe McCullough 09:05
works at a hospital. She’s an administrator. Okay. And she ain’t leaving her. She’d been their whole life. She’s good. She’s had 40 years.
Jeremy Kellett 09:12
No kid. What’s her name?
Joe McCullough 09:14
Cheryl with Cheryl. Congratulations.
Jeremy Kellett 09:17
40 years. That’s pretty good.
Joe McCullough 09:19
She wants to get 10 more so oh my god, I got to work at least that you do.
Jeremy Kellett 09:25
You’re not gonna retire and let her keep working.
Joe McCullough 09:27
I said that.
Megan Cummings 09:30
So you got a couple of grandkids too,
Joe McCullough 09:33
don’t you? Sorry. Christy’s 34 Yeah, cuz we use 35. Nick is my middle one. He’s 30. And then my youngest is 25. So yeah, they’re all grown up.
09:47
They are all around that area.
Joe McCullough 09:48
Yeah. Well, my two boys still live with me. We did that podcast two and a half years ago and they still live with me.
Jeremy Kellett 09:56
I’m not touching that. I’m now staying up all night. I
Joe McCullough 09:59
Don’t listen. I know, anyway, from Latin, very successful boys with all kinds of money. And actually the two of them have been talking lately. I mean, they got more money than the wife and I, and we’re doing pretty good. But these boys are just, I think they kind of latched on. I taught them business when they were young about money and stuff like that, and how to use it and what to buy and not to get loans. And they got a ton of money. They thought that they could retire at 40, honestly. So their goal was, let’s just get life squared away. Let’s get the money. Let’s buy a house and triple decker and fix it up and just get going down the road. Yeah, so they’re really, today’s generations a little different
Jeremy Kellett 10:39
today, to say the least. But now one of those two generations are in your room with
Megan Cummings 10:49
you really feel about today’s generation you
Joe McCullough 10:51
don’t feel bad. I actually feel like you’re way more educated to be honest with you. Well, we just went to Bulwark. Do you know, the younger generation is smarter, they pay more attention to stuff. I know my two boys, that’s what they do. I mean, they told me about Dave Ramsey. No, he’s no Dave Ramsey. No. Cuz I follow the exact same philosophy, but I never heard of the guy. And then my kids say you are to listen to Dave Ramsey said What do you mean? And they said he’ll listen to you. Yeah. I said, Well, I guess the both of us kind of have the same philosophy. But we got it the same way. You know, yeah, we both felt really bad. Learn from the way so but that’s how you do it.
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Jeremy Kellett 12:19
You know I talked about a while ago in the beginning when a lot of people called you. We’ve had this conversation. Yeah, you get a lot of guys. You have a lot of friends at Oakley, and you’ve been here three years.
Joe McCullough 12:31
It’d be three years of two weeks, you have the end of the month. And you’ve
Jeremy Kellett 12:35
How have you made so many friends? Here at Oakley.
Joe McCullough 12:38
It started with the class really, because we had a great class, we had seven guys. We just really hit it off all of us. Other than one left. They’re all here and we still all communicate. I hear a lot of guys with their classes. Sometimes that doesn’t happen. But I don’t know. It’s a weird mesh. But that is we just all graduate from each other and get along and we stay in contact and I’m really good friends with three of them. I mean, we talk every day so clearly, I don’t know who Shane Robinson will be. Okay. Yeah, he’s the, I’d say the closest to me. Okay, we talk a lot. That’s a surprising occasion for a guy from Boston. Yeah. Both
Megan Cummings 13:22
ends of the spectrum.
Joe McCullough 13:26
Lawrence, C. Milton. We got okay. I’m gonna try to remember all the names. Tim has gone. Now, Brandon, I don’t know about. He went into pneumatic and we never heard another thing from him. So really? I don’t know if he’s still there, huh? We haven’t seen him. He’s the one that
Jeremy Kellett 13:42
not sure. Yeah. I can’t remember who it was three years ago with last name. So they all I get the sense that they all look up to you. ask you for advice, ask you for your trailer tips, maintenance tips, how to fix something. Where am I going? How do I get to this place? What kind of
Joe McCullough 14:02
just have more experience than my friends in that class? They just did different things like Milton came over and pneumatically. I wanted him to go in and we compared him to the first guy I trained. I think it was only five here, maybe I can’t remember but maybe five months or so. And we just kept talking about money. As you know, we all talk about anything but we’re comparing. He saw Wow, you’re doing pretty good and then not and they said well, you know, it depends on what you like, and every division for someone else. You know, you guys know that. And for anybody that doesn’t know that every division is not it’s not just about money, it’s your personality. So he had a more pneumatic personality. You gotta have much more patience. You can really mess that up. So,
Megan Cummings 14:49
You know, speaking of people calling you, I had somebody that was going up to Canada the other day, it was just last week. And he said I can’t get my address to show up the right way. or he was talking about scaling or something like that, or something with this specific load. And he said, there’s somebody that’s already crossed that I can talk to. And I just talked to you the day before. And I was like, it’s funny that you should ask. And I gave him your information. And I was like, Hey, Joe has been here for years. And he’s an old pro at this. And I got off the phone. And I was like, totally been here for three years. And it just feels like you’ve been here forever, in the best way. But yeah, always
Joe McCullough 15:31
look at an old tree stump.
Megan Cummings 15:34
That’s a good thing. It’s so nice to be able to be like, I know exactly who you need to talk to. You know, and you’re very friendly, always willing to help. So I never, ever question though.
Jeremy Kellett 15:45
He gives good advice. I mean, you can trust what he’s saying. Just
Joe McCullough 15:48
try to be honest, I mean, sure, you know, everybody needs to, we all need to help each other. And we talked a little bit about that downstairs. I mean, the world is too full of me, and I gotta get ahead of the next guy. If we are all just for us, guys. I mean, I’m 57. I’m not old. There’s plenty of guys here, way older than me. But if we all just helped each other out once in a while, help these younger guys that too many people complain about the young guys, but maybe if you just speak up and help them, because they’re all most of them are all willing to learn. They just need somebody to teach them. That’s all. So if you just help them and become friends, it will and
Jeremy Kellett 16:25
that’s the main you were talking about our training program here. Training Program, that I use that word very lightly, because it’s not, we’re not very good at it. I mean, we actually, we rely on you as owner operators, to train guys coming in. I mean, we do all we can here. You know, the orientation out here on the yard, but it’s not the real deal for when you start going to work and you start going into these places and trying to load and trying to unload and get your weight, right and all that and take somebody that wants to train you. That’s the first time we need to clarify. And that’s me, Joe, were talking about this earlier, we said look, if you if owner, operator, one of Oakley owner operators, if you don’t want to train somebody, please tell us you don’t want to train somebody, because it makes it you know, let’s get somebody that wants to do it. Because I think there’s some of them out there that, you know, don’t really want to do it. And then there’s some IQ that they want to help people.
Megan Cummings 17:25
And when you said that you trained your first you said your firemen. Thank
Joe McCullough 17:29
you. I think it was before the first podcast. You have to ask Milton on that one. I don’t remember. But it was around the six month mark. Wow. Yeah. And it stemmed from there. So Milton came from pneumatic. And then Shane, who’s in kind of the same group because he’s from Louisiana to Milton from New Orleans. She’s from southern Louisiana. Shane started going, might he switch over and Shane and I talking about money and he’s like, Well, maybe I’ll maybe I’ll switch over to and he was in hopper. And it just started stemming and he came over and then we’re talking to Lawrence and Lawrence is like why you guys are going to Endo. Buddy and next thing you know Lawrence just switch it over and it just stems
Jeremy Kellett 18:10
Now we have found the mold. myself up. We have found we’ve all been wondering why are these guys gonna wander into
Joe McCullough 18:22
me? I guess you could talk to the Crisco boys because they’ll give me a high five. Yeah, but, uh, yeah, pneumatic and hopper. I hope I never have to go over to either division because
Jeremy Kellett 18:34
No, once you listen to this podcast, thanks. You’re not gonna like the left. Like we found our man who’s making him get
Joe McCullough 18:40
In all divisions a great everybody has their place. It gives us no matter what fits here. Yeah, what fits that and
Jeremy Kellett 18:48
then personality. And if that’s what fits those guys, that’s where we want them to be. Yeah, that’s the great thing about having three different divisions. You know, you find what you like, find one that suits you. If not, guess what, we got another one. Yep. That’s the
Megan Cummings 19:00
The biggest thing bringing people in talking to him here on the podcast, about hoppers and everybody pneumatics and it seems like when somebody finds a place, you know, ask Are you happy? Do you think you’d ever switch back? It’s like, I’m not happy where I am. They find it and they say no do
Jeremy Kellett 19:19
what kind of truck you operate.
Joe McCullough 19:22
I have the same truck I had when I got here. So it’s just about three years old 2022 Kenworth t 680.
Jeremy Kellett 19:28
Miles got on it.
Joe McCullough 19:31
Or I’d say she’s about 367 What are you guys all Oakley?
Jeremy Kellett 19:36
What he along y’all keep it Are you one of those? Buy a new truck here
Joe McCullough 19:41
if you really thought I was going to buy a new one in four or five years but to be honest with you, Jeremy the prices today? Yeah, it could just make sense to just keep her going. And I only got four
Megan Cummings 19:52
or five years left. Nonsense. I
Joe McCullough 19:55
I think I’m just gonna rent it out. Yeah, well, it’s still not there. And
Megan Cummings 20:00
I’d say at least 1015 One
20:02
thing you never say never exactly,
Megan Cummings 20:05
just leave it.
Joe McCullough 20:06
Oh, I don’t know.
Megan Cummings 20:08
Speaking of friends you’ve recruited I know you’ve recruited at least one
Joe McCullough 20:13
recruited one from the road Prentice. Oh, yeah, so he and that was weird because I like I don’t do videos or anything so my friends told me all those guys that do the podcast I’m friends with all so Tanner and I ran a paperboy. I never met him okay, or robbed either. rupt been doing it forever. Yeah. Tanner and Jimmy so I know them really well. Some people have said to me she does some podcasts, you know and I just don’t keep us too busy. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 20:45
I don’t see how they do that they put a lot into they really
Joe McCullough 20:49
do a lot of time Yeah, I’m sure Annabelle I mean she did easy here with what she had to do was a lot of stuff Luke. And
Jeremy Kellett 20:55
We were actually talking about this morning. Cory . We really need somebody to own the hopper division to do it because Rob he Basquiat did it? Yeah, he doesn’t do much anymore. And we really need somebody in the hopper division. That helps tremendously.
Joe McCullough 21:09
Guys, you just had one last week. Who was that guy you had on his hopper? The young guy? Oh, Domani. Yeah, yeah. It gets someone like that. He’s in
Megan Cummings 21:19
pretty, very well spoken to he’s,
Jeremy Kellett 21:21
We need somebody to start that. But I mean, give him a little incentive. Yeah, make some good money. Well, and that’s what we were talking about. Because these guys are making a lot of recruiting bonuses. They’re making a lot of easy
Joe McCullough 21:31
Jimmy tells me no.
Jeremy Kellett 21:36
You are doing well. Recruiting bonuses. Yeah. But he’s good. That’s because he’s really authentic. Good. Yeah. Yeah, it really is. So
Megan Cummings 21:44
What about Steve? I thought you recruited steamed
Joe McCullough 21:47
note while Steve was recorded by Jimmy. Oh, okay. Good. So long story. Yeah. Basically Steve from New Hampshire. So I kind of wanted to control it. Steve. Just so you know, if you listen to this, I didn’t want him to come on because I had the record as the furthest away and now he has the tickets. Jimmy just said you speak Boston and Steve speaks Boston. That’s what I was gonna say. Like two towns away.
Megan Cummings 22:13
Yeah, I can’t. I couldn’t if I didn’t have caller ID some days I wouldn’t be able to tell you to avoid it. So
Joe McCullough 22:18
Jimmy went into pneumatic and I mean, ended up and Steve wanted to go on and on pieces of the silk you guys up and we talked for a while and then you gotta go hold? Yeah, here he is. Wow. So yeah, I’ve helped a lot of guys with people who will call me out of the blue from either Jimmy or Tanner. And I’ll help guys out. You know, Laquelle gives us some examples. Sometimes it’s just customers. Sometimes it’s like, I get a lot in the wintertime, you’d be surprised because they know I’m a northern guy. And I’ve been in winter with EndNote my whole life. So they’re all like, what do I do for this? What product is frozen? What about driving? You’d be amazed how many guys have never seen ice in their life? Yeah. Never been in it. I don’t want to be away, do ya? You know. We’ll just use the array and the list is long. And you know, I mean, there’s so many things that, like you say, I think Oakley does a great job in training. I mean, you learn a lot. I mean, for me, I knew I would end up well. Randolph made me train wreck class. Yeah. But he thought I found it interesting. There was a lot of good stuff in there. And still, it’s like anything, if somebody teaches you it doesn’t matter what it is in life. They can teach and show it to you a couple of times and put it in a book. When you gotta do it in real life under pressure. It’s a different story. Yeah. So it’s just focusing
Jeremy Kellett 23:45
Well, and you know, being an owner operator is not easy. I mean, it’s, it’s more than just driving a truck and
Joe McCullough 23:52
you’re your own boss. So if you don’t get up in the morning, you know, your boss can yell at you or your boss can fire you can get written out but if you don’t get up and your family doesn’t eat, and that truck is very expensive to run so you can do really well in places like this. I mean, we do great.
Jeremy Kellett 24:12
You just got to know you just got to know you know maintenance. You don’t have to learn how to fix a few
Joe McCullough 24:20
things. You guys that asked me that and I got two new guys right now that one might be coming on anybody actually be my second one I brought on ran into him on the road just like bronchitis but Craig, I don’t know if you’ve talked to him yet, but he’s been dealing with Dustin so
Jeremy Kellett 24:37
said to Dustin Okay, it’ll be cool. He asked you a lot of those questions already. Yeah,
Joe McCullough 24:42
He’s three and a half years with Maverick and has been an owner. Okay, that gene never drove before man. So
Jeremy Kellett 24:48
What kind of advice would you give me?
Joe McCullough 24:50
Well, he’s scared like a lot of people are. He’s an older guy who was in finance for a long time, a smart man. Yeah, a little scared about just jumping out there and buying it. Drogon What is this? Like? I don’t know anything about anything. I just worked for Maverick and I do my job. I say the same thing. It’s no different. You’re still the captain of the ship. Even if you have a company, are you still driving the truck? Do you just tell people you have to be mechanically inclined? I am because I’ve been doing that my whole life, but you don’t have to be to pay for it, it’s gonna get pricey. I suggest to a lot of people that just start learning a little bit. Is that a requirement? No. But you’re gonna have to pay for it. And everything out there is expensive.
Jeremy Kellett 25:34
It just benefits you, maybe save you some money waiting? Are
Megan Cummings 25:37
those things that you just know that you grew up with? And you’ve been doing it for a long time. But say, this guy that you’re bringing on? Yeah. Is that something that he can just expect to learn along the way, if he’s not mechanically
Joe McCullough 25:53
knows what to do and what a truck driver is supposed to do. He knows how to do a pre-trip, he knows how to be safe. He knows what he’s supposed to check. But if something’s not right, or broken, or something goes wrong, that’s when they end like I don’t know what to do now. You know, my engine light pops on? Well, no. There’s a couple of options depending on your truck. But like me, I have a computer, I can look it up. So I can look up my codes. And it’s not a cheap one. It’s an expensive one, but I have insight in common so I’m able to get in there and really get in digging deep, like the mechanics don’t really know. Yeah, I can figure out what’s going on and usually figure it out myself.
Megan Cummings 26:30
Are there any of those little things like that, like just things that you wouldn’t expect? You’d need just extracurricular items that, you know, aren’t necessarily a part of a regular day’s checklist that you think of really came in handy? What
Jeremy Kellett 26:44
tools you mean? Yeah. Like, what do you have on your trip? Yeah. You know, I don’t want to help you be an owner. I
Joe McCullough 26:53
didn’t my Bobtail way yesterday ain’t gonna tell you what wouldn’t be happy. But I get my 23 turn on. I do a good job at that. I get my 23 Turn on legally. I’m right there. But I get my 23 turn on. I wish I had way more stuff. I mean, my garage. I mean, I have two huge garages at home with my business truck garages. You know, I have so many tools, and I only have one portion. But as most of the guys here that have been here a long time and driving these veterans, you take all the emergency tools, things that I have to have. All we really need is duct tape and
Megan Cummings 27:28
that tape in a dream. That
Jeremy Kellett 27:32
was a dream. We’re all set? Yeah. Well, I have a lot of first time owner operators, you know, they want to know that. What I need to what I think I need, they probably got an idea because a
Joe McCullough 27:45
a lot of tools such as pliers, vise grips, a hammer hammer, very important, you know, water, things like that. basic tools, you don’t have to spend a lot of money and get really good at stuff. I wouldn’t get a computer unless you had the money for it. Because those can be two to five grand and subscriptions. And yeah, you know, but that one toe you get. That can be very expensive. Yeah, you know, I put the five grand so that computer pays for itself the first term so and
Jeremy Kellett 28:11
that’s a computer program you have I guess I
Joe McCullough 28:13
I have an actual laptop and I have common software in it. So because of my motor, I guess. Yeah, it’s in sight. So you aren’t able to look up anything that Cummins can look at. I can look it all up and I have all other programs on the laptop. So I like that index. I have the package for the truck. And they’re all separate. You know?
Jeremy Kellett 28:33
I’m starting to see why all these people call you.
Megan Cummings 28:35
Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to have that computer on Edie. I do. My engine light just came on. Can
Joe McCullough 28:42
you take a look at the cars? I can’t. Now there is a tool for that for cars. trucks don’t criss cross and carbon Stoke, you
Jeremy Kellett 28:51
know, with all these owner operators calling you do you do a little bit of retention?
Joe McCullough 28:58
Yeah, yeah, I’ve had a few people give me some representative jumpship Give me some examples. I won’t give you names. Don’t give me nine will give me a few guys to call up and be very upset with either dispatching or they felt that they weren’t making enough money or whatever the case might be. And I might sound like a nice guy. And I think I can help anybody, but people usually thank me afterwards, but they’re not so helpful in the beginning because once I kind of poke into them and figure out what they’re doing wrong. A lot of times I have to tone the look in the mirror.
Jeremy Kellett 29:31
How do they take that?
Joe McCullough 29:33
Usually when I build it up well enough, they’re prepared for it because I tell them how I am. You know, yeah, I’m a straight shooter. I’m not gonna lie to you, you’re gonna get honesty and you might not like it. Are you prepared for that? And I usually ask them that question. I’m not cold hearted. I mean, I’m tough old school. I really am but I was brought up that way. Can I tell you the old timers? Why do I give back because 100? It’s an old time that was given back to me when I was a kid. It was guys that used to beat me upside the head and give me a hard time when I was a young kid. I used to think they were picking on you, but man, they taught me everything I know. I didn’t learn it on my own. I learned it from them. So it’s our
Jeremy Kellett 30:15
job to win. Do you realize it?
Joe McCullough 30:19
Pretty early in life, because I worked for hold.
Jeremy Kellett 30:23
And then just finally clicked with her. I was going through
Joe McCullough 30:26
abuse because I was in the military. And I just, I just typed it up and big. But I see my dad what he’s telling me all the time, just get through those old timers or you got to learn something from all of it in amazing how they teach how they taught back then.
Jeremy Kellett 30:40
I mean, hard. Yeah. Yeah,
Joe McCullough 30:43
they weren’t messing around.
Megan Cummings 30:44
Yeah, speaking of that, we’re seeing a lot of the old timers kind of move out. What do you think about turning? What do you think the future looks like with the younger drivers? We’ve got a lot of
Joe McCullough 30:56
I hope these guys will be just like us, and they’ll probably be better for it. Because it’s our job to pass it on. Yeah. Anybody that believes and I mean this, that they shouldn’t, they’re afraid they’re going to. That was the one thing when I was young, that a lot of old timers. Well, we talked about this before, but there were 40 or 50 drivers for every seat. If you were going to survive back in the 80s and 90s. Man, let’s let’s face it, you had to be the best, are you going to get trampled? If you did so much wrong? You were fired, and there were 2930 guys behind you taking your job from you. So it really pushed you back then to be better? Because if you didn’t, you just simply weren’t working, you know. And what’s changed today is completely opposite. As we know, there’s not enough drivers for all the seats that are available. So it’s our job to try to help these guys and teach them to be really good at what you do. But what
Jeremy Kellett 31:56
if they don’t want to be helped you run into any of those?
Joe McCullough 31:59
I do? Well, I can’t say I’ve ever had anybody that I really
Jeremy Kellett 32:03
don’t. Yeah, I really don’t think there’s. I mean, I don’t get that a lot here at Oakley. Yeah, I don’t get that feeling either from the guys coming through when tation most of them you know what they feel like they act like they wouldn’t usually
Joe McCullough 32:15
starving for information, you get a phone call. Now when you gave me that, when Craig called me the other day, actually Steve was sorry. I’m thinking of Craig as the other guys coming on. But Steve called me from Canada and I helped him get into Canada and get up to that place and it just stemmed off from there. We’ve been talking every day. I mean, I just don’t need help and this and that. And they realized if you’ll listen, guys, if you’ll just help everybody. The old timers didn’t want to learn because they were afraid they were going to lose their job. The young guys we’re going to take it from nobody’s taking the job. Help them if we’re going to be old in the wheelchair, and they’re going to decide whether they push us down the stairs. Yes, it’s a Christian thing to do. Just
Jeremy Kellett 33:09
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. What’s probably some of the biggest challenges an owner operator faces now? And I know back then they were different but now mainly just I
Joe McCullough 34:19
I think it’s just the cost. You know, we don’t make the money we made way back. We make really good money and there’s no reason for anybody. I’ve told everyone that’s come over here that asked me those questions like, How high do I have to work to make it? I said you just gotta get up in the morning and work. Who you feel Oakley is not just nothing special to him and you’ll get paid. You’ll make the money. Just get up and go to work. A little self discipline.
Megan Cummings 34:45
Yeah, that’s all that goes back to having your own company. You know, being an owner operator.
Joe McCullough 34:50
What I was telling you that’s probably the hardest challenge because some people think that I will tell you I’ve heard this when we were talking about talking people off the bridge and one of them that I had a real problem with was gonna quit. He’s still doing well. By the way, he was basically wanting to blame everything on the company, my dispatcher, their demands, my miles. And I started writing things down. I actually had to pull over, I was talking over my headset and had to pull over, I got a rest area and I started to write it down. And I kept asking him the same questions and he’s telling me all this stuff. And I sit down, you won’t go over this list. You just gave me a list. What do you mean? And I started telling him. So you look in the mirror. And this is all you? Why does your dispatcher treat you like he does, because you treat him like a piece of dirt. You think he’s here to work for you. And it’ll work for you. He’s gonna make a living for his family just like he atoned for you, those people put too much into a company or anything else, you can’t expect anything, just look within you, what you portray is what you get. I’m pretty damn successful. And the reason why is because I’m not special, I am nobody special.
Jeremy Kellett 36:05
I just care and try to do it but you treat other people by treating them. That goes a long way, which is obvious. And if everybody
Joe McCullough 36:12
i just did the same, we got so many good guys here. But every once in a while there’s those people that are maybe just going down the wrong road, they went for a bad company. And I mean, you know, some guys have to go work for three or four fleets. And they’ve given abuse to the end of the earth. And they come here and they think it’s just an even though I’m an owner operator, I’m just gonna get abused again, and
Jeremy Kellett 36:33
I think it’s going to happen and I tell them wipe your slate clean stato was to your starting clean at Oakley, everything in your, your past from other jobs, it’s done you wrong. Once you’ve gotten your, don’t bring that over here. Do not bring that over here because we’re starting clean. And, and it helps I really think it does. Because I mean it and they think about it and go Yeah, you know, all right, we don’t need to bring the baggage with us, you know, and have a bad deal, this company is gonna be the same as the rest of the companies I’ve been with. And that’s not the case. And to some people, it takes a little longer to convince them than others. But, you know, I always tell them that The quicker you buy into the program, the quicker you’re gonna be successful here.
Joe McCullough 37:20
Yeah, I’m just being brought up in the military. I can refer to this when I tell people, especially younger people, when they talk about I’ll tell people say I have a tattoo or merch but it’s the same as we want to handle a shirt. That’s good. I know how to use it. I’ve only been most of my life in business for myself, and I still am. I wear the shirt because I’m proud of who I work with. And they treat me really well. I don’t have to kiss their butt. I go out every day and I work hard. Hard. I find somebody that can work harder than me. I’d like to see it. No, I’m not saying that. I’m better than anyone. I’m just saying that I put everything on myself. And I blame myself. If I have a bad week it is because I was my dispatcher. Have we had a little bit of a rough time in the last year? Of course we have. So does everybody in the whole country. There’s nothing we can do. But what we can do is Oakley will keep you running and they’ll give us the miles and it’s not what we were a guys but we’ll get back to that. And we just plug along and we’re doing fine. We’re not losing money. We’re making money. We’re blessed
Jeremy Kellett 38:26
to be at a great company. We are and have a company and customers and I just personally don’t
Joe McCullough 38:31
I think you’re gonna find something better. My whole life is this great.
Jeremy Kellett 38:34
And I’m gonna tell you those dispatchers out there, those operation managers and you don’t mind working now. They
Joe McCullough 38:40
weren’t hard workers. My dispatcher Garrett works. He’s a quiet kid out there. He’s a hard worker. He didn’t believe it at home. It’s work though. Mail they do if he’ll never leave one of us. And
Jeremy Kellett 38:54
So how did you get off the wall? How did you get to know Bruce Mallinson? You know? Oh, yeah. Power we talked to Yeah.
Joe McCullough 39:06
When I was really young, I think I had just gotten out of boot camp, literally in the CVS and got into trucking because that’s what I was an EO equipment operator, which is trucking and equipment. So one of the old timers handed me a magazine and Bruce was in it. And I read the article. I kind of got hooked and then I got a subscription to the magazine and I just got hooked to reading him every month and I’m like, This guy is knowledgeable and I grew up as a young kid like everybody has different hobbies. Mine was Terran motors apart and trying to figure things out I’m just I don’t know like it whatever you want to call it a motor Jones idea. I’m no expert, but I just love messing with stuff. And Bruce was fascinated regularly, his knowledge is your passion. Oh, yeah. Soon as he opens 75
Jeremy Kellett 39:58
have adults married, oozes, and bruises?
Joe McCullough 40:02
He’s still like a kid. He water skis. Yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 40:08
So it’s very easy to call him one day just out of the blue. You just
Joe McCullough 40:12
Well, I used to read the articles and I never did anything. I just thought he was some big movie star. You know what? I didn’t like anything and read the articles for years. And then when radio started developing in the trucking industry, and he got onto roadog, Dave Nemo, and all this started popping up and I started listening to him then. And then one day I just said, I gotta call this guy. And I’m thinking like he wouldn’t even take my call. I call the office and they Kathy, who she’s the secretary, and then even now and Kathy’s I caught the up hold on a minute, I get to write to Bruce only. Really? That was it. His way from I said, Halifax, he’s where that I said train wreck close to Cape Cod. Oh, that he went off, you know? I think we talked for like, two hours the first time. It just was two people that are passionate about jerks. Yeah. Boy, he is for sure. Yeah, lives and breathes trucks.
Megan Cummings 41:04
You talk about just thinking he was a movie star. It’s even kind of like that in person. And then you just talk to him. And he’s just so down to Arthur’s to raise your eyes light up whenever he
Joe McCullough 41:15
shows a week and then nationally, you know, he still does his articles in the magazines. I don’t know if anybody even read them. I
Jeremy Kellett 41:23
I still love them. Yeah, he’s got a great product tell you from what it
Joe McCullough 41:26
seems like? Yes, he does. He’s got some great products.
Jeremy Kellett 41:30
Said I thought that was interesting. Yeah. Yeah.
Joe McCullough 41:32
Bruce. And we’ve talked many times and I haven’t talked to him in a while. It’s been a while. Well,
Jeremy Kellett 41:37
He recognized your name because I asked him.
Joe McCullough 41:41
Yeah. So because he just relates me to Cape Cod. He had a like I said first half hour of our conversation was nothing about okay, it was all about what he did deprecate the beach in the ski, that’s where I’m in and all that so
Megan Cummings 41:54
Having a nickname from Bruce is a pretty big deal. I’d say the
Joe McCullough 41:58
name everybody and it’s usually a region and that’s something or something really memorable. I just say that’s a SaaS. How do geniuses do it right? They just they find that one thing that I see this guy and something clicked and
Jeremy Kellett 42:13
make up their own night. Yeah. Wrapping it up. What’s the future look like? For a job?
Joe McCullough 42:22
I mean, we’re gonna retire and think about it a lot. No, I don’t you know, we’re gonna retire the wife and I just ask if she can put in 10 more years.
Megan Cummings 42:35
So we’ve got at least 10 more years with us what you’re telling us, okay,
Joe McCullough 42:38
it’s all going to be on the road, but of course it goes well. I love working here. I mean, it’s gonna be hard to leave but I’ll be here at least fun. I’ll be here. I already set a date to 2030 Tybee January 1 . It’s good to have a day probably wrong because I never say no to anything. You’re probably all let’s have a podcast when I say I’m gonna be here for another 10 years that’s why you’d never say no I have no we enjoy our time together my wife
Jeremy Kellett 43:12
and I and future projects the house and he
Joe McCullough 43:16
may just keep her maintained a lumber yard work I got a big year not
Jeremy Kellett 43:20
moving not buying a new house not like
Megan Cummings 43:23
you’re gonna escape. Not
Joe McCullough 43:25
The traveling house is too big. I’m sure you’re running on that now. Yeah, yeah, the house is too big for them. If the boys ever go they will go in but yeah, it’s too big. downsize a little bit. So it’s too big for that but, it’s gonna be hard. My wife is a little different. I’m a roamer and a truck driver. She’s a homeboy. She loves her house. So,
Megan Cummings 43:53
I’m gonna take a lot of adjusting. How many years have you been on the road? Just total?
Joe McCullough 43:57
Total? Well, three at Oakley and probably about three and a half when in the 80s, late 80s, early 90s. Okay, six and a half. Okay, rest of it’s all been my business.
Megan Cummings 44:07
Okay. You’ll still find you’ll have all that free time. You can travel. Well, that’s
Joe McCullough 44:15
what I mean. Yeah, there’s still plenty. That’s why I say never. I mean, I love working here and going anywhere. But
Jeremy Kellett 44:22
We love having work. Yeah. It’s really good to talk to you. It’s good to catch up with you. It’s good to hear. I mean, some of the things that you’ve talked about today, I don’t think anybody’s really touched on some stuff, you know, whether it’s mentoring a lot of other drivers here or some of the questions that they’re having. I mean, it just really opened my eyes to understand the camaraderie that happens out there as truck drivers, you know, as owner operators at Oakley and how much you guys care about each other? And you just have to find that, you know, I always tell people in orientation If you don’t have someone supporting you, then you call me. I won’t support you. I want you to be successful here. And if you get around a bunch of naysayers that are negative, get out of there. Get out of there and call me and I’ll be glad to hit on that. It’s
Joe McCullough 45:15
not trucking. That’s life. Yeah. That’s around yourself with negative people, because that’s what you’re going to turn into the positive turn into people that want to help you and be friends with you to lift you up. And I do have to say one thing, though, from my friends in North Carolina, they call me The Godfather. Okay. Whatever, let’s just be funny. But they know that my area is north of Mason Dixon. So you guys just got to stay out of there and hit back down to where you had to get
Jeremy Kellett 45:47
this? Oh, no, we might start out with Yeah. First, we played. Oh, my. Well, great stuff. Joe, appreciate you coming up here and taking the time to visit with me, Megan. And it’s really thanks for having me. Always good to catch up with you. Always good. So, Megan, thanks. Appreciate your input. And
Megan Cummings 46:10
I heard Joe McCall. And I said I’m in Eazy.
Jeremy Kellett 46:15
E one. Oh, yeah. All right. Well, thanks, everybody for listening to the Oakley podcast. We appreciate everybody listening to this, watching us on YouTube, or sharing the stuff with everybody appreciate all your input. Let us know what you want to hear, some content that you think would be good to put out there and anything to help you be successful as an owner operator, we’d be glad to appreciate it and we’ll talk to you next week. 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.