{"id":1011,"date":"2020-08-20T16:17:25","date_gmt":"2020-08-20T16:17:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=1011"},"modified":"2020-08-20T16:25:04","modified_gmt":"2020-08-20T16:25:04","slug":"red-letter-day-for-young-trucker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/resources\/2020\/08\/20\/red-letter-day-for-young-trucker\/1011\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Letter Day for Young Trucker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iowa driver celebrates career milestone of buying his first brand-new truck<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Al Muskewitz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Ryan Smith was 16 he remembers vividly telling his father, a lifelong trucker, he was not going to spend his life driving a truck \u2013 and the way it shook the family tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward a couple years and he remembers when and where he was when he climbed into his own big rig for the first time, and the reaction that got, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s five years later and Smith, now 23, just drove off the lot at Grask Peterbilt in Davenport, Iowa, after buying his first brand-new truck, a 2021 Peterbilt 389, to keep his personal trucking operation \u2013 and the family legacy \u2013 going strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI remember standing on the stairs and I was talking about college and I told dad I was never going to drive a semi ever in my life,\u201d Smith said during a recent visit to the dealership for a once-over. \u201cI actually think I broke his heart a little bit when I said it. My grandpa was a truck driver. My dad is a truck driver. So, I\u2019m a third-generation driver. I thought I was just going to break the trend and it turned out it\u2019s what I\u2019m supposed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when he came of age that\u2019s exactly where he was. The day he turned 18, he got his CDL. In December 2018, he had enough of working for somebody else, sold his sizeable herd of cattle, dusted off one of the family\u2019s old DOT numbers and climbed into his own truck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He followed the wheat run from Texas to North Dakota for a while and then hauled heavy equipment and cattle feed. He continues to haul livestock because he likes working with farm animals and meeting farmers across the country while the other four trucks in their North English, Iowa, company run dry and refrigerated freight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that work led up to a couple weeks ago when, at the spur of the moment, he walked into the dealership and bought a brand new truck for the first time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Peterbilt sales specialist Melissa Ramsey made the whole process \u201cquick and easy.\u201d It is a sweet ride, with a purple paint scheme that drew his eye, a 565 Cummins engine with boss power and a cool sound system to play his oldies, country and Dave Ramsey. He made a short cattle run on his maiden trip and already has more than 7,000 on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really enjoying it,\u201d he said. \u201cI was driving through West Virginia and the mountains yesterday. I had the windows down, the radio cranked and I was loving every bit of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Iowa driver Ryan Smith (R) recreated this early 1980s picture of his grandfather with his dog and his truck after recently purchasing his first brand new truck.<\/strong> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Even though he runs under the authority of the family\u2019s operation, Smith has always considered himself an owner-operator and understands all the challenges and benefits that come with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea of setting your own schedule, determining the freight you haul and being your own boss certainly has its appeal. He never had trouble finding someone to give him a chance to pull their livestock trailer, but when he was younger it was a struggle to get insurance. And, of course, it\u2019s his responsibility to handle any maintenance issues with the truck. Within four months of getting his first truck he was down 42 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are ups and downs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith is starting to see more people in his peer group coming into the trucking business, and there are initiatives underway nationwide aimed at attracting younger people to an industry where the average CMV driver is closer to retirement age than college graduation. A further indication that the future of the industry is bright, two more young drivers are following Smith\u2019s lead and have trips scheduled to the Davenport dealership to purchase their first brand-new trucks next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see that generation come in more regularly now,\u201d Ramsey said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably within the last year they\u2019re starting to do that and I think that\u2019s great. The new generation of trucking is happening. I think we\u2019re on the forefront. We need the next generation to come into this because without these boys it\u2019s not going to keep on going. We\u2019re not going to live forever. We need them to step up and they\u2019re hard working. I\u2019m glad to see them doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brenda Neville, president and CEO of the Iowa Motor Truck Association, also is encouraged by the interest shown by the next generation and applauds the initiative of young drivers like Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA vast majority of today\u2019s nationally recognized and respected companies got their start the same way \u2013 one ambitious individual getting a truck, investing a lot of time, energy and hard work and most importantly making a valuable difference,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery person is impacted by the trucking industry so the demand for the services that are offered by the trucking industry is always going to be significant, which also makes it a very good business opportunity. I also think we are going to see more and more examples like this one as the next generation of business leaders see and appreciate the opportunities that exist in the trucking industry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at\u00a0<\/em>musky@wrightmediacorp.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find owner operator jobs here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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