How to Overcome Challenges in the Trucking Industry, an Interview with Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking

During our interview, Mike shared his insights on the current challenges that the trucking industry is facing. It was clear that he is a true professional who is passionate about his work and dedicated to finding solutions to these challenges.

As a trucking professional myself, I know how important it is to have leaders like Mike in our industry. His experience and expertise are invaluable, and I have no doubt that he will continue to make a positive impact on the industry as a whole.

If you're looking to connect with a knowledgeable and friendly trucking professional, I highly recommend reaching out to Mike. His LinkedIn profile is a great place to start, and I'm sure he would be happy to chat with you about all things trucking.

Mike's Contact Info:
Jkctrucking.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-kucharski-86745a115/

John Farquhar
Summit Risk Solutions: summitrisksolutions.ca
1 226 802-2762
John@summitrisksolutions.ca


Chris Harris
Safety Dawg Inc: safetydawg.com
Chris@SafetyDawg.com
1 905 973 7056



Keeping it Safety Dawg Simple!
#trucksafety #truckinsurance #truckpodcast

Do you need a "Truck Driver Safety Policy?" Get it today! https://safetydawg.com/policy

Transcript

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of the Trucking Risk and Insurance podcast with your host Chris Harris and myself, John Fark. Today we've got Mike from J K C Trucking based outta Chicago, Illinois. Uh, they're a, uh, specialized transport company, uh, transporting refrigerated goods, perishable goods, and whatnot. So let's see what Mike's got to tell us and what's going on in the industry down in his neck of.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 0:28

Mike, welcome how you doing in Chicago?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 0:32

John and Chris, thank you for having me on your show. I'm doing great here in Chicago. How you guys doing?

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 0:37

Well, it's flipping, snowing again. Here. We in southern Ontario, we, we, yeah,

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 0:42

it's, it's blowing and snowing outside like crazy right now. So yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm looking for green grass to get my motorcycle out. I bet. Enough.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 0:50

I'm ready for spring also. Yep.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 0:53

Yep. No doubt. I want to go hit that stupid white ball, you know? Damn.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 0:59

Little golf. Little golf, little golf. That'll help.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 1:02

Yep. Well, do we still call it golf? I thought it was a four, another four letter word that we can't say. Yes.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 1:07

Yeah, something else, but we'll deal with that later.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 1:11

Hey Mike, welcome to the show. Can you start us off first by telling us a little bit about you and JKC?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 1:19

Yeah, so JKC, we specialize in, uh, frozen, refrigerated ltl. My father started the company, so my father and I run the company. Uh, we specialize going with LTL product from the Midwest to the entire West Coast and back, uh, running to Florida Flores for an hour. We're, we're running only truckloads, but we're gonna be opening a LTL doc. Uh, yeah. And so, That's kind of where we are, a private owned carrier. All company drivers, all company trucks. Uh, we are the biggest refrigerated carrier out of Chicago and the second biggest LTL frozen, refrigerated carrier in, in the us.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 2:02

Wow. How, how big

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 2:03

a fleet are you? You know what, A little bit over 200 trucks, but at pre covid we were approaching 300. Wow.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 2:12

Okay. Is that awesome? Sorry. Pre covid you.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 2:15

Yes. Well, when, when the times were still good. Yeah. When, uh, before the world shut down and when, when, when crazy. Were only supposed to be shut down for two weeks, but you know, it, it was only two and a half years. Who's counting?

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 2:27

Yes. Yeah, it was close. I mean, uh, there was a two in it.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 2:32

Mm-hmm. Yeah,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 2:35

that's right. I know. I mean, I don't know if this is our last pandemic. I would like to think so, but I kinda doubt it. Uh, hopefully we've all learned a lot about how to handle it and hopefully in the future, if it ever comes back, they treat truck drivers with a little more respect than what they did, especially at the beginning of that nonsense. Guys, couldn.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 3:02

Go ahead. I agree. I agree. Yeah. No, no, no. It was, it was, it was, it was bad. You know, when the pandemic hit, you know, everybody assumed the truck drivers are the main carriers of, of the Covid virus. And, you know, God forbid somebody, you know, showed up from New York mm-hmm. Or for one of these hotspots, you know, they were, they were treated like a. Very unfairly like a leopard. You know, I hated one of these warehouses. Uh, wouldn't even allow the drivers to bring in their paperwork. You would've to scan it, send it to them, and then you call and they give you a door, and then when everything was over, they'd close your doors and they would email you to sign paperwork. I was like, you know what, that's completely unfair to drivers. I'm like, these people are essential workers feeding you. What are you guys doing to these guys? Yeah. And then Exactly.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 3:47

So, yeah, it was a very challenging time for everybody. So, uh, it's, it's, it's. Made it not that enjoyable during that time period. But so, so with, with that said, what are, what are you seeing today as some of the biggest issues that we're facing now? We're post pandemic. Um, what's, what's, what's affecting you guys the most down in the us?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 4:08

Um, so just the skyrocketing costs of, of, of, of everything, you know, cargo, insurance, you know, liability insurance. Uh, diesel fuel is ridiculously, you know, I was, I, I'm looking, uh, I think, uh, 2022 compared to 2021, we've paid over, you know, 5 million more in diesel costs. It's ridiculous. Whoa. I mean, we're, our margins are, are down. Uh, just, you know, we gotta increase driver pay. Uh, probably something happen in Canada. It we. Then just the cost of goods just went up so much. You know, for the longest time we're wearing, we're waiting for air filters, uh, for the refrigeration units because here in the US we could buy a carrier or Thermo King and, you know, both are domestically made. Uh, but I think. Thermo Kings are made in Puerto Rico, if you consider that the us But all the air filters for, for these refrigeration units, that's, it's the, the unit sits on front of the trailer that cools the, the load. Uh mm-hmm. They're all made in Japan. So when the world is shut down, that, that, that shut down. And then when they started chipping it, it was coming through the parts of Los Angeles, which is a completely, you know what I mean? There was completely gridlock. So it was just took for a long time. We couldn't get water pumps, you know, so it's, it's, it's crazy. We, we produce a lot of things here in the us you know what I mean, food wise and, and, and trucks a lot of things too. But we get a lot of components from, you know, around the world. And, uh, one of the things I hope we learn from this pandemic is that, you know, we can't rely on these goods to come from around the world, especially if there's like a pandemic or a war, whatever, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. We need to find, we need to rely on, on, on. People like yourselves, the US should be buying stuff from Canada, Mexico, not from, you know, around the world. So when the world shuts down that we could, you know, continue doing business.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 6:01

Yeah. Yeah. We got lots of good land opportunities to, to travel back and forth with without having to worry about shipments

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 6:07

overseas.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 6:09

Yeah.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 6:10

I, I, so much of everything I agree with, I, I, I think there should be better cooperation between, um, the two or three countries and even getting into South and Central America. I mean, at least. They're in the same, you can still truck it from Columbia, I think. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Mm-hmm. I don't know how many people would want to, but yeah. That's a long haul. But, uh, yeah. You know, I mean, they must manufacture a lot of things down there as well. And you're right. It, we shut down. How, how is the part situation now, whether it's for reefers, trailers, tractors?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 6:49

Um, it's getting better. Um, it has, you know what I mean? I, I don't think it's like pre covid, uh, back to pre covid. It, it, it's getting better. We're we're able to get stuff. Uh, the biggest issues that we couldn't do through Covid really was a problem is. They stopped truck production. We couldn't buy new trucks. And then the new trucks they were producing were ridiculously overpriced. We couldn't get trailers for a very long time. First time I got trailer, uh, a price for trailers was the end of 2022, and the price was astronomical. It only went up 32%. And I was like, Hey guys. I mean, I would love to buy 'em, but I mean, I cannot afford to, you know, 32%. I understand. Things gone up, you know what I mean? Everybody was around 10, 15, you know, depending, uh, what, what you're buying. I understand we gotta pay more because it, it just costs more. Uh, but 32%, I was like, I can't do that. What am I supposed to do? Call my customers and say, Hey, look, I'm just gonna increase your rates by 32% because the, my trailer's cost gone up. My customers would give me a bunch of colorful words and hang up on me and use somebody else, right?

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 7:58

Well, and and the other part of that, of course, how many repairs and what maintenance can you do instead of buying that new trailer that costs 32% more? Yeah, you could spend an awful lot of money on maintenance and rebuilding reefers. I mean, I'm not a reefer guy by any means, but I would imagine that money would go a long way.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 8:20

I mean, it just, it depends, you know, sometimes with these units, when they get so tired, they're just, you know what I mean? It just is better off to just, you know, re retire.'em, it just like, oh, old car. You know what I mean? Right. Actually, this thing, I think takes more abuse because it's, you know, nonstop jumping up and down, running through here. We're running through elevation here, through Death Valley, 130 degrees, uh, the desert. It's, it's, it's torture. I mean, some, some days it boggles my mind how some my trucks get, get there and. Mm-hmm.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 8:50

Mm-hmm. Yeah. You got a lot of environments to run through.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 8:55

Yes. Yes. And the elevation is, is, is, is the biggest, biggest issue that you're going through because Yep. I mean, all this equipment's made for, let's say Chicago land level, but as soon as you get mm-hmm. Up in the mountains, everything changes, fuel consumption. Everything. Yeah. Ex.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 9:12

Exactly, exactly. So h how are, how are you finding it, um, with drivers trying to get drivers, like, how's, how's the turnover? We, we, we all hear in the, in the media that it's very high turnover in the US and whatnot. Um, so what, what are you seeing from your

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 9:27

perspective? You know, it is, it is. It is a, a high, high turnover and we were very short on drivers, um, through the pandemic all the way till probably the end of 2022. Um, you mean because of covid happened? We increased our, our, our driver pay twice. Um, But then when fuel was skyrocketing and, and, and the volumes were coming down, especially the end of 2022, because, uh, with inflation now we have something called volume volatility. So good people are going to the store. They can't afford all these goods because they're so expensive. So the American people had to change their diets and positives. The same thing in Canada, all around the world. They had to change their diets, you know what I mean? With everything going up and the price. So, you know, these volumes were not there anymore and it went down. When volumes go down, the price, the price that the shippers pay goes down in also, I mean, especially if we, we haul a lot of produce and, and we're, the produce is mostly off that market rate, so that really, you know, kicks us in the pants. You know, to give you an example, when we shut down for, for, for C O V. Half of our business is retail. Uh, the goes to grocery stores, other half is food service. And you know, when they shut down all the casinos, all the trucks that run in Vegas, yes. All the convention centers and all the hotels, we lost 50% of our business. You know, and, and the real sad part is, the real sad part is all these shippers, uh, well, not all of 'em, but a lot of 'em went to the market and went to the lowest bitter. I remember when. Uh, they were paying almost like nothing. Uh, wow. I was, it was Easter and I, I just, I mean, look what they were paying me and, you know, I have a lot of overhead to you. What mean I have a lot of trucks working for me? So I was like, you know, it's just cheaper to park these trucks and wait for a better date. And that's, that's what we did. Oh, yep. Yeah,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 11:21

that's, that's crazy. I mean, that, and it kind of leads us into a different topic a little bit, but what can carriers do long-term, uh, to build profitable relationships with shippers?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 11:36

Um, with, with shippers, I mean, they, the, the biggest issue I, I'm seeing with, with, with, with carriers are, you know what I mean? They, they come in and they. You know, they, they come up with these low rates and, um, they over promise and underperform and I, I, I mean, one of the rules that we do is, you know what I mean, we, we tell the customer even if it's bad news, you know what I mean? We tell 'em the truth and we try to, you know, explain to 'em, Hey, listen, we need a little bit more. Our fuel's going up. This is going up. Insurance costs are, are crazy. What I mean, just to give you an idea, sure. You guys are an insurance business, right? Uh, so for me to buy a million dollars of, of liability insurance, I have to pay like $1.2 million. For that liability insurance. It's crazy. Uh, yeah. It's, it's bad. It's bad. You know what I mean? These are, I call this the dark times in, in trucking industry, there's a recession right on the verge. You know? I mean, and, and I don't know if you guys remember, but in 2008, you mean when Yes. The mar, when the market crashed, consumption here in the US dropped 30%. It was horrible. Horrible. I.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 12:46

I actually just read an article the other day that, uh, uh, was kind of questioning, are we, we're gonna repeat 2008, you know, housing values have plummeted again and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. So, but yeah. Yeah, I was, I was gonna comment there just to say, you know, yeah, you're, you, you've got shippers that are wanting to give, you want, wanting low rates, but high expectations,

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 13:06

unfortunately. So, you know. Well, yeah, and, and, and one of the things, I mean, that we've, we've done, you have to build a relationship with, with, with the. You know what I mean? It's like, how's this, you've been the shippers that dropped me during covid. You know what I mean? Uh, I wasn't. Running back to, to, to, to, to help them. I mean, I, I really, you know, rely on the, the customers that said, Hey, listen, you need help. I'll, I'll help you. Yeah. And, uh, I mean, it was, we lost a handful, but, you know what I mean, being in business, it's, it's, it's a relationship. And, and you gotta, you know, how's this, it's not, not great days every day, but I mean, just, you know, continue going on. And how about this? You help them, they help you, and that's how, that's how you make some money.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 13:51

I think everybody, I, I don't know about you, Mike. I, you know, you're talking to two Canadians today, but I've become a lot more, um, aware of what I'm buying and where it came from, you know? Mm-hmm. So I try to buy Canadian first. If I can't buy Canadian now, I'm going to the us. I'm trying to buy us as my next choice before I go overseas, because I'd rather. North America here working? Yes. Yes. Um, unfortunately, uh, then maybe, uh, somebody from overseas at a different country.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 14:27

I agree. And I mm-hmm. I, I have the same philosophy. I will pay more, more for a domestic product than something, you know what I mean? Agreed from overseas, because you mean houses that is cheaper. It's, you know what I mean? Houses, you pay what you get for, that's, that's what, that's my motto. So houses, it's cheaper. It's cheaper for a reason. Yeah. Yeah,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 14:45

exactly. Exactly.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 14:48

How, how are you, um, how are you finding, trying to. New business, you know, uh, new business partners and whatnot, like, and, and, and what would you say to somebody else that's maybe in the transportation industry that they could do different? Uh, you know, because again, we want to try and make it a good industry. We don't want everybody fighting it with each other. I always like to say, you can't have it all anyway, so why don't we work together to make it good and profitable for. So, so what is it you guys are doing differently or, or working at to try and attract new business partners?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 15:19

Well, uh, so what we do is we were always looking for, for. You know, long term partners, you know what I mean? We're, we're, we're working directly with the, with the, with the shippers and the, and the manufacturers. Uh, we try to stay away from brokers. We do use some brokers, but how about this? We're doing all the heavy lifting. Uh, my father always told me when, uh, he was teaching me sales, he goes, it's our job to take all the freight away from the brokers because we do it anyways. Mm-hmm. So, uh, yeah. That's, that's one of the things you have to do is, is, is, is build a relationship. When, when Covid happened, we, we had no work. And then when they started re, you know, opening back up, it was a rollercoaster. Soon as you see a uptake uptake, it went down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down. You know what I mean? We were, we, we couldn't handle the capacity. We were saying no to certain lanes because we didn't have the drivers. Uh, and then, you know, Uh, now is the first time that, you know, I mean, the, the volumes are, are dropping. You know, thankfully we're in the LTL business because the LTLs always usually steady. Uh, the first carriers that get really hit during bad times are, you know, I mean the, the dry carriers and the truckload carriers. So there's some pushing, but it, it's starting to effect. And then what we're doing to do new doing business, I mean, we've been, we do ltl, um, to the whole West Coast and. Um, we are trying to get, start doing LTL to the Southeast. Uh, what we've seen is a big shift of people in America, you know what I mean? Uh, California was a very heavy, heavy state. Make a lot of people moved to Arizona, Texas. My, my, my loads have, you know, jumped like 25% to Texas, Arizona, and Florida, and Yeah. Yeah. So the masses of populations have, have, have moved out of these, these, these states. It, there's been a big shift that I've seen. It means some people have moved back, but it's, it's, it's, it's holding, you know, there's a lot more people in Texas. Yeah. Arizona and Florida. You know, the, I guess the whole East Coast at one point, moved to Florida. That's, that's the word I was gonna say. I

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 17:23

wonder if it's them old guys like us, uh, Chris, you know, we're going to those warmer climates and uh, get away from this bloody snow.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 17:32

Hey Johnny, if I could afford to buy foreign health insurance, I'd be in this states, but, uh, being a Canadian, that damn health insurance down there is a little cuz I never paid into the American system. Mike, of course, they have to charge foreign. What it really costs and Exactly. It's expensive. Yep.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 17:56

It's,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 17:57

oh, it's, oh God. So how has the LTL business changed, uh, post covid? I'm thinking prior to Covid, how I picture LTL is the driver getting in the back of the trailer and doing a lot of the offload. Uh, whether it's skids and stuff themselves, is that still happening or are they, I don't wanna say barred, but discouraged from going on the loading docks now?

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 18:28

Well, they always say, well, through covid, the, the drivers were not allowed on a dock, and now they're starting to let 'em back in. And they always say that it is always an option for the driver to unload. But, uh, a lot of places we deliver, we, they'll, they'll, they don't want the drivers like a Costco that will not let the driver on the dock, um, but they will unload the product, you know? Uh, but they're kind of picky, you know, if there's a pallet line or a broken pallet, they'll like reject a whole load or reject the whole pallet. I'm like, come on guys, man. Like, take. Take the stop, so I'll have to go back and fix it. But, uh, what we have here in the us, I don't know if you guys have it in Canada, but we have these. Things called lumps. Uh, and, and it's a third party, you know what I mean? Like,

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 19:09

quite well,

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 19:11

I, I, I was, I, I'm only upset that I didn't think of it first, but Yeah. Uh, it's, it's, it's a, it's a third party, uh, company that comes in on, on a dock and, you know, I mean, like, let's say they'll go to a, a big food distributor and Yep. You know, they unload the product and. They say they unload the product, but at the same time, they're like segregating the pallet. They're moving on different pallets and they're doing their ties and highs. Uh, and then when that's all done, uh, the receiver comes and signs the paperwork and, and drags it into, into the, the, the warehouse. Uh, so yeah, so a lot of drivers are not doing this. Uh, there's. Couple places that we deliver that they will request to bring the product to the back of the trailer because for liability reasons, they don't wanna step on the trailer and, and there's, you know what I mean? Those places that we go to, we provide electric hatch. So they just, you know, bring to the back of the trailer, here's your stuff, grab it. But yeah, it's, it's, it's changed a lot. You know, back when my father started, you know, the, the wherever you got to shipper or receiver, they were happy to see you there. You're late. Big deal. I mean, thank you for bringing my product. And now it's a big, they've made it the business with this lumping. If you're so much late, you have to reschedule. Um, and if you reschedule, they charge you a rescheduling fee or you're late, they charge you a late fee. And, and both coincidentally are the same price. Oh my. You know, I'm like, come on. So it's when we really use situations, we're like, listen, uh, we tell the customers, listen, we have the guaranteed shipment, but you just chose the regular shipment. We're, we're, we're, we're doing our best because how's this, the longer we hold on a product, the more costless. Yeah, I mean, so we're trying to unload this product to, to these, to these shepherds, but these warehouses not making it easy because they'll have these weird hours that they only receive from like midnight to four in the morning. And, uh, sometimes we're zigzagging all over cities trying to deal with this product because those are the appointments we got.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 21:10

Well, and I was gonna say, you run into, they want to charge you for being late or, or issues, uh, on timeliness, yet when they hold you up for a couple hours, I'm sure they're really not interested in paying

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 21:21

your demer charges. No, I, I agree. And it, it's, it's, it's not fair. So some places, I mean, we'll only let you be half hour late. I mean, some places have extended to hour and a half. Um, we also have a warehouse here. We'll, we'll, we'll do it for a couple hours, you know what I mean? Even call us and say, Hey, listen, I'm running late. We understand. Uh, but some, some places just turned into, into a, a business, you know, pay me. Mm-hmm. Pay me and. Pay me and go away. So now we're, so it's, it's great because we're paying sometimes for unloading and then we're paying for Yeah. But they allow you half hour to be late. Right. That's your side rule. But they have two hours to unload the truck before detection times kicks in. Yeah. I'm like, that doesn't work. That's not fair. No, exactly.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 22:09

Exactly. How are you finding detention time? Are you able to get it at the moment? Yes.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 22:16

People, no, people are paying It, it's like this, it's either either paid detention time and you have to reimburse me for it because it's coming outta my pocket. So I'm, now, I'm working as almost like a bank. Uh, you're gonna, you gotta pay me for detention time or, or we're not gonna go there. And there's even warehouses that, you know, through covid. We had a blacklist because it was ridiculous. We have one pallet to unload and we're sitting there 12 hours to deliver or. Vice versa. Pick up, you know, two pallets for 12 hours. I'm like, listen, my driver's paid by the hour, and he could stay there time, but even he's upset saying, listen, come on man, this is, this is crazy.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 22:52

Well, even, I mean, you own the company so you, you understand when I say you, you bought a tractor, you bought a trailer, you put fuel in it. Mm-hmm. And your purpose of buying it was to get a return on your investment and when it's sitting there in a bloody parking lot for 12 hours. There is no return on your investment and you can't go on being in business with a negative return on investment. Yep.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 23:23

Yep, yep, yep. Hey, time is money in trucking business. And that's a very, that's a fact. You know what I mean? The more you sit around you, I mean, you wish you could move around faster to save money because you know the guy's idling there, uh, the truck's not making money. My biggest. You know, uh, issue with this is when the guy's sitting there, he is still on duty. You know what I mean? The guy can't even go into office duty. Well, you could go in, uh, uh, off duty, not driving, but his hours are his, his clock is running. Yep. You know what I mean? Uh, lot of these drivers. I've done this myself. You know what I mean? I, I take a little nap, I relax. Yeah. I mean, have some lunch. You know what I mean? So you that time should be truly like, off duty. But I mean, and I, I hear the, the regs in Canada are even 10 times worse than, than here in the us. Uh, and it, it's, it doesn't work. It it like, how's this, that, that, that's not fair. You know what I mean? The guy mm-hmm. Is, you know, Watching the, the clock go by waiting, praying for the shaf to unload him so he can get to this next place, or, you know, get to a truck, stop and get some food, whatever. What

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 24:31

it just, it just builds up anxiety, stress, and, and for a driver that's paid by the mile, the next thing you know, I'm mashing the gas, trying to get where I gotta go next, you know? Yeah. Now you're putting yourself in, in, in, in, uh, risky situation. You know, you're jeopardizing your motoring skills and what you're doing with the public. You know, it, it's just unneeded. Um, you know, if, if everybody would work together, you know,

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 24:56

I agree. And I've been saying, you know, since the pandemic, the, these shippers need to be more elastic, you know, uh, with these, these receiving hours, uh, it's if, if they want to, you know, take in more product. But a lot of the issues that we, we, we find out is that you mean a lot of these warehouses, just like every other business across the spectrum, they didn't have the employees to do it. You know, uh, my favorite is, It happened multiple times. We would have an appointment scheduled. My driver would get there, hand in his paperwork, and they'd hand it right back to him and be like, Hey, uh, I know you had an appointment, but we're not receiving today and we've traveled 1800 miles away. So it's not like we could just, you know, bring it right back to our, to our terminal and put it in storage. Yeah,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 25:40

exactly. And if this is a perishable product, the life of the product's diminishing as it sits on your trailer. Correct. Like, I mean, if it's frozen, you're paying the extra cost of keeping it frozen, but if it's perishable, it's dying.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 25:58

Yeah. If it's produce, it's perishable. Even if it's cheese product. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean? And then when you take the product, these receivers, they need so much shelf life for to take it because I get product reject all the time. They say, look, it doesn't have enough shelf life. We're not taking this product. Um, because it has to, you know, stay on the shelf so long bef so the conservers could, you know, buy it and. Yep.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 26:19

Yep. Yeah. Jeez, that's not always an insurable loss either. No, no, exactly. Mike, as we head towards the end of this, what else should we know about either you personally, Mike or j kc, for instance, are you guys hiring at the moment? If I was in the Chicago area,

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 26:41

Yes, sir. We're always looking for, for good drivers. Um, we're, we're hiring drivers with experience, you know what I mean? Lately we've been hiring, trying to hire like a lot of women to bring a lot of women into our trucking industry because some of my best drivers are, are, are women drivers cause. Of safety and they're less aggressive than, than than men. Uh, we've also, I've also been part of something called travel drivers that, uh, me and two other people started that we, uh, are taking, uh, native Americans from North Dakota paying for their training and then training them up to, to be truck drivers and yeah. And, uh, pretty soon we're gonna be, Third, third driver. It just, it just started. So, but yeah, we're trying to get anybody and everybody into the seats because, you know, in, in the near future, I, I, I'm sure you guys have the same problem in Canada, a lot of people didn't notice that. You know, the, the, the truck drivers that are driving these trucks, they're older, you know? Mm-hmm. It's like, oh, very much so. Yes. Yep. 30% is like over 45 and I think, uh, 15% is over 55. So when these people retire, I mean, I know there's new blood coming in, but there's gonna be like a big gap. So we need to, we need to, we need to do some things and, and, and there population's only growing every year, so Yes.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 27:57

Yes. You said you're hiring truck drivers. How about some of the other positions, um, such as mechanics, logistics, dispatch.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 28:07

I'm always looking for dis mechanics, dispatch, road service, you know what I mean? If you wanna, uh, any, any, anything to do with, with trucks, reefer, technicians. I'm always looking for, for good people.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 28:18

Yep. How, how are you finding that task, you know, in comparison with how hard it is to find good drivers? How are you finding it, trying to find other people for other positions

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 28:28

within your. It's, it's hard. You, I mean, because anybody that has any experience wants a lot of money usually over what the market price is. And, uh, because of everything that's been so bad, we've been, all the trucking companies has not only been fighting for the same drivers, we're fighting for the same employees. And, and the mechanics. Mechanics is also, you know what I mean, uh, source that you don't have. So what we've been. Is, is, you know, hiring young guys from, for dispatch and we've been training them, you know what I mean? To, to learn the skill. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and also with mechanics, but you know what I mean? The problem is that when you train these people, sometimes they feel that they know more than you and then they move, move on, uh, before we even finish the training. But, uh, yeah, 1, 1 1 day at a time. One day at a time. Yes.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 29:14

Yes. I can imagine. I can imagine. I'll tell

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 29:17

you, I tell. I tell everybody, you know, the grass isn't greener on the other side. The grass is greener where you water, right? Yes,

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 29:24

exactly. Yeah. And I'll tell you one thing that, um, I don't know if you've ever heard of Kelly Anderson. He's out of the Midwest, down in the States. He's a, a recruiting specialist. He's got a lot of knowledge, and I haven't seen Kelly in a number of years. But one of the things that he used to do is he used to send a letter out to a good driver. They're a company and he tried to time the letter so that it arrived at that driver's house, about two paychecks into the new career. And he said basically that they've left now and they realize that it's not greener on the other side. And so they get this letter saying, Hey, come on.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 30:11

That's a, that's a great idea. You know what I mean? And then, and yeah, I've had drivers, you know, circulate back, go around and they come back. Mm-hmm. And it's, it's like, well, how's this, what, what, what happened? You know what I mean? I'm supposed to be better over there, some, somewhere stubborn than just, you know, deal with what I have to do.

John Farquhar, Summit Risk Solutions: 30:29

I remember hearing of one company that would actually send flowers. Uh, so if the driver was male, um, they would send, uh, their wife or spouse or girlfriend flowers on their birthday or anniversary, particularly when the driver was away. Um, and just to kind of show that they appreciate the support they're getting from there. But, but it, it, it turned around and helped them in their, in their retention program because the wives and the girlfriends would support the driver to say, oh, you're not leaving there. No, no, no. Those guys appreciate you. You know, I get flowers, they get, we get safety bonuses. No, you're not leaving there. You're gonna stay right where you are cuz they appreciate us. So those, those little things that maybe didn't go to the driver but went to their spouse really helped pay off because now you got a cheer.

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 31:13

That's a great idea. I might use that. That's a, that's, go for it.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 31:19

Hey Mike from J KC Trucking in Chicago. Thanks so much for being on the show. Thank you for having

Mike Kucharski, JKC Trucking: 31:26

for support.

Chris Harris, Safety Dawg: 31:29

Hey, that's it for this week. Thanks, Mike from J K C Trucking out of Chicago for coming on the show this week. Appreciate you and your time very much, John Farquhar, and I would like to say thanks. If you're getting value, please click like and subscribe. And as always, leave us a comment and if you wanna reach out to Mike, I've put his contact info in the show notes down below. Once again, thanks. This has been the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast.