Posts Tagged “feature”
By Bill Martin
Whether it’s hauling produce, or sound equipment for country music stars, Robert Lawson loves the challenge.
Which is more challenging for Robert Lawson, hauling fresh produce or hauling sound gear for country music stars George Jones and John Anderson?
This Meansville, GA boy from the Deep South was attired in his finest New York outfit being a Giants fan and all psyched for Eli Manning and teammates to kick some New England Patriots butt in the Super Bowl only three days away (NY won 21-17). But we got Robert to shift his attention from the big game to tell why he likes to haul produce — and eventually share some interesting tidbits about Jones and Anderson.
Robert has been driving a truck since the late 1980s and currently works for Kennesaw Transportation Inc. of Atlanta. Over the years he’s hauled almost everything one can think of, but really enjoys the challenges associated with hauling fresh fruits and vegetables. In fact, he had just delivered a load of Washington state apples to the Atlanta Farmers Market.
In no particular order, Robert cited several frustrations and challenges if you haul produce, although some are faced by most types of truckers.
*Language barriers. “There used to be signs on the walls that were printed in English and Spanish. Now those signs are in Spanish followed by English.”
*As a produce trucker, Robert said it is frustrating to arrive at a dock to pick up berries and other items and the pallets have already been sealed in modified atmosphere bags. The process is designed to perserve quality and extend the life of the product. The veteran driver prefers not only to be able to do a carton or tray count of the product being loaded, but also to check its quality.
“I can’t see the (bagged) produce when it is being loaded and it (the sealed bag) is not broke open until it arrives at destination,” he surmises.
But overall, Robert wouldn’t trade hauling produce for anything else. “When I haul produce it isn’t like hauling steel. You deliver it (produce) in good shape and you feel like you have done something.”
A primary concern is making sure the produce is stacked correctly on pallets and secured properly to the trailer. Otherwise shifting of the load may occur, resulting in damage to the product, and a possible claim at destination.
One of the biggest problems he faces is making sure you are not “shorted” on a load. “If I arrive at a produce house and I am supposed to pick up 880 cases of lettuce, then I find this guy (warehouseman) and I ask him how much product he’s loading, and I’m told 660 cases. I have got to get that amount changed on the bill of lading. Once you sign a bill of lading, you have got to deliver it from point A to Point B. I’ve actually seen a couple of guys arrested for delivering produce to somewhere besides what is stated on the bill.”
Robert, who drives a 2011 International conventional with a 10-speed tranny and 283-inch wheelbase, pulls a 53-foot long Utility trailer chilled by an Ingersoll Rand reefer unit.
Besides making sure there is a correct count for the load, Robert stresses the importance of maintaining proper temperature in the trailer. Particularily in the south where it is warmer, he says if you leave the rig unattended for a while, make sure the reefer unit doesn’t run out of fuel.
“It’s all on the driver; the proper count; the quality of the produce being loaded; the way it is secured and the way it is delivered,” he says. “You have to pay attention to all of these things.”
Now this is for those curious about his dealings with George Jones and John Anderson. Robert hauled sound equipment for both, but also acted as a body guard for Jones.
Robert described working for Jones as “an experience. I did it because it was challenging. I am not star struck.”
He recalls one time Jones had three concerts at Daytona Beach, FL occurring at the same time as a planned shuttle launch at nearby Cape Canaveral. Two of the shows were for dignitaries attending the launch, and the other performance was for fans. During the intermission of one of the shows, attendees went outside to watch the shuttle launch.
When Robert worked for John Anderson, he said the country star swas very personable. “John would say, ‘when I’m on that stage, I’m a star. But when I walk off that stage, I’m just one of the guys. I’m your friend. If you want to go fishing, we’ll go fishing.'”
Robert comes off as the consummate professional driver in a similar manner of his description of Anderson. “When I go to a produce house, I get to know the people there. It helps to avoid problems,” he concludes.
If you haul produce during the winter months you know it can sometimes be a dicey proposition when it comes to weather adversely affecting perishable items. California reports freeze after freeze this winter, but so far has dodged the proverbial bullet for the most part.
There have been some losses of citrus, but you shouldn’t see that much difference in loading opportunties. Strawberries also have been sparred for the most part. With nearly 70 percent of the citrus remaining to be harvested, there will be ample loading opportunities in the months ahead. A mid January freeze is expected to cut navel orange shipments by about 10 percent, and the much smaller mandrins crop by about 20 percent.
As for strawberries, there will be fewer shipments out of Santa Maria for the next couple of weeks. Strawberries from the Oxnard district and further south in Orange County escapted freeze damage.
Southern California – citrus, strawberries grossing about $6000 to New York City.
PS – Yesterday (Feb. 2) I visited with a company driver in Atlanta who had just delivered a load of Washington state apples to the farmers market for $6250 going to the truck.
Even when the recent deadline for a Teamsters strike at the Hunts Point Terminal Wholesale passed and the local’s workers kept right on working, I wasn’t a bit surprised. Not only has there not been a work stoppage over the past 25 years, I’m familiar enough with the wholesalers, and particularly their leaders, to know if it’s at all possible, a strike would be avoided. It was. A new contract was reached.
Nothing is more critical to the tenants on Hunts Point than to keep those 53-foot reefer units rolling into the terminal.
No trucks, means the wholesalers lose customers (retail supermarkets, foodservice, etc.) who decades ago decided to buy directly from produce shippers whenever they could. These customers, as is the case with terminal markets across the United States, often buy 70, 80, 90 percent of their fresh fruits and vegetables direct – primarily because they see cutting out the middlemen as saving money. Of course, wholesalers make good arguments such as a produce market offers wide selections of product, ranges in quality, color, taste, size and even price advantages.
My first visit to Hunts Point was about 25 years ago and I estimate I’ve been back there 50 times since. During this period I always made it a point to visit with as many truckers as possible who were delivering fresh produce on the South Bronx market. I also got to know many of the Hunts Point wholesalers on a first name basis.
Through the years Hunts Point developed a horrible reputation in the trucking industry. Complaints ranged form kicked loads, phoney claims to get reductions in freight rates, to delays in unloading, many times as an excuse for wholesalers to take advantage of free refrigerated warehousing at the expense of the driver. Then there were issues ranging from lack of restroom facilities to restaurant accomodations.
Over the years in my talks with drivers and wholesalers, many of these issues have been addressed. Now when talking with truckers about Hunts Points, there stil complaints, but I also hear a lot more good things than I used to. Driver shortages, refusals to return to deliver to wholesalers who “dump” on you, tend to change things. If these issues do not improve, then trucker is at fault for returning to take another “beating.”
When you get down to it, Hunts Point in some ways is no different than other wholesale terminal markets. Some companies are simply better than others whether talking about their dealings with transportation, or dealing with their suppliers and customers.
One consistency I’ve noticed over the years, is the people who are leaders on Hunts Point such as Matthew D’Arrigo (D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of New York) and Myra Gordon, both of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative Market, are first class individuals. I could also say the same about a number of other people at Hunts Point.
When you have people of intergrity in leadership positions, I knew if there was any way a union conflict could be resolved, it would be accomplished. It’s also another reason why some truckers have fewers complaints about Hunts Point.
A large crop of pears should translate into good loading opportunties in the months ahead, especially since there’s also a big apple crop as well.
Pears (and apples) are coming out of Washington state – Yakima and Wanetchee vallies. The quality of the pears are reported good, but my only concern is shippers have had trouble selling the crop, in part because of the holidays where Christmas favorites such as citrus seem to be preferred. While this may change with the New Year, Washington pear shippers will to start having to move the crop one way or the other. If it gets serious enough some consignment shipments are possible. In other words rolling product on a truck to a destination while still looking for a buyer. That’s not good for the shipper, whose likely going to take a price beating. It could be just as bad for a trucker hauling it. Imagine you’re told you’re taking the load to Philly, but on the way you’re asked to devert to another city after a buyer is finally found. This could possibily add hundreds of miles to your haul. Then comes the question of getting paid fairly for those additonal miles. Even worse, what if you’ve committed to picking up another load in the original city to which you were destined?
I’m not saying this will happen, but just be aware. Plus, if you’re combining pears with something such as apples (which are in hot demand), it should reduce these chances of something going wrong.
Two Texas produce firms have recently filed for Chapter 11 bankrupty and if they stay in business with this protection from creditors, produce haulers should be extra cautious doing business with them.
The produce companies in San Antonio, TX are in question are Delta Produce LP and Superior Tomato and Avocado. The firms, which are believed to be related, are facing compliants from the Perishable Agriculture Commodities (PACA). As of December 29th around $600,000 in PACA claims have been filed by other produce firms, which are owed monies.
Delta has filed a $100 million lawsuit against H.E. Butt Co. seeking damages against the retail chain alleging coercion by a buyer, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of Texas. H.E. Butt has denied the claims stating Delta failed to keep up with a changing marketplace.
The PACA comes under the umbrella of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and requires U.S. produce companies buying or selling fresh produce in commercial quanities to be licensed by USDA. This helps to provide protection to the produce industry when dealings between produce companies cannot be resolved between themselves.
Trucking is not afforded these same protections and often have no recourse when monies are owed, except through the courts. This can be costly, not to mention the inconvenience of fighting a company for money who may be located in a different state thousands of miles away. Also, PACA protected produce companies get their monies first, if any is left in a bankruptcy.
Bill Martin of haulproduce.com for decades has been calling for trucker protections under the PACA.
Consumers in general are eating more healthy foods, including fresh fruits and vegetable. This is a factor in the USA restaurant industry looking forward to a good year in 2013.
Restaurant industry sales are predicted to topexceed $660 billion in 2013. This would be a 3.8 percent increase from 2012, says the annual Restaurant Industry Forecast from the Washington, D.C.-based National Restaurant Association.
This would mark the fourth consecutive year of industry sales increases.
The study sees Americans eating more healthfully when they eat out in 2013.
Over 70 percent of people polled claim they are attempting to eat better at restaurants compared to two years ago. About three-quarters of consumers state healthful menu options are an important factor when choosing a restaurant.
Restaurants are making changes to meet the demand for more healthy meals. Around 86 percent of those polled stated eating establishment are offering a wider variety now than two years ago.
2013 is expected to be the 14th straight year in which restaurant industry employment outpaces overall USA employment, the forecast reads.
Restaurants are forecast to employ 13.1 million people in 2013, making the industry the nation’s second-largest private-sector employer.
In 2012, restaurants added jobs at a rate of three percent more than double the overall USA employment rate of 1.4 percent. In 2013, restaurants expected to add jobs at a 2.4 percent rate, .9 percent more than the expected overall rate.
20 Gallons of Home Brew, Just May Not Be Enough!
By Larry Oscar
“Boy this has been a rough winter. I’m depressed and just can’t get motivated” quipped a friend of mine recently. “I just don’t know what to do when I’m all cooped up inside.”
I hear this all the time from people who just don’t plan ahead. It’s not like they don’t know when the cold weather is going to hit. I got news for them, it happens every year! Duh! Good planning for winter projects and indoor events can make the difference between being bored and making the cold winter months something tolerable. There is more to life than just sitting around reading Playboy magazines….. so I’m told.
I keep a list of indoor and outdoor projects. If I do the indoor projects when I can’t be out on the lake, then I will have more time to spend on the water when the weather is good. So far I haven’t ran out of indoor projects, and even though the winter has been a long one, It has been rewarding knowing that I have caught up on things.
And I’ve got 20 gallons of home brew to show for my efforts.
And how can anybody be depressed this year? Thanks to all of the clowns in our society you surely can’t avoid a smile. Didn’t people take note of the Donald and Rosie feud a while back? Here are two real bozos that you can smile about. And how about our Congress? I can’t help but laugh at them. What’s with the first 100 hours thing? I didn’t see any life changing legislation pass across anyone’s desk – and virtually nothing has been done since. So far all I’ve seen is bickering What’s is non binding legislation anyway? Don’t they have anything better to do with our money than sit around and argue over legislation that adds no value to our lives. Don’t these people work for us? What would your boss do if you spent your time working on something that didn’t produce anything of any value?
I think we should outsource Congress. We could march on Washington and fire them all. Wouldn’t you like to walk right into a session, march up to the podium, grab the microphone and announce… “Hey guys, just to let you know. You’re all fired! We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, have decided to outsource your jobs to India. Don’t let your gavel hit you in the #@$#$ on the way out!” Sounds pretty good to me. Will Rogers just gets smarter every day.
I just can’t get depressed when I see some weird haired nut place led alien bird flipping signs all over Boston and cause panic in the streets. Will somebody tell that idiot that making a “hair statement” went out in the 60s? To top it all off, it was Turner Broadcasting that hired him. Do you think maybe there is a link to Jane Fonda here?
And now we watch as one of our astronauts drives from Texas to Florida wearing a diaper, wig, and trench coat so she can pepper spray her rival for the affections of another astronaut. He must be some hunk! I can’t wait until the next shuttle launch. They will have to modify their count down procedure to include ” fuel…go, telemetry…go, diapers…go, pepper spray…go, trench coats…go, wigs…go, ok all systems go and ready for launch”.
Now this is the sort of material comedy writers can only dream of, and it’s reality folks. No Seinfeld episode or Super Bowl commercial ever had better material.
Ahhh…Life in the US is good. You just can’t get better comedy than our real life in the good old USA. Even if you go to Venezuela and watch Hugo Chavez, he’s just a one-man-show when compared to us. I’m not sure that 20 gallons of home brew will last very long. I think I’ll make another 20. Laughing so hard this winter has made my mouth dry.