Small-fleet owner Jesse McGinness is nothing if not resolute in the conviction that if you strive to solve the customer's problem, big or small, achievement of your goals will follow.
I spoke to Olympia, Washington-based McGinness yesterday after seeing the picture above posted to the 11-truck Watch This Freight fleet founder's Facebook page for the company. It was accompanied by a rumination on the steps that got him to where he was -- that is, purchasing his first Class 8 after several years running hotshot rigs with Landoll-type tilt trailers. The new rig is spec'd for heavy haul. Along with it he picked up the extendable RGN for fulfilling a bid he'd won for a series of loads six months out, from a longtime customer of his hotshots.
McGinness has been trucking for four years after a time in the Army, then mechanicking, managing a fleet shop, and buying and selling cars. The change came after he realized he was making more money transporting cars than selling them. Through his first years running hotshots, the 28-year-old said, he kept hearing a singular message from his customers: "If you get a semi, you could do this." When the RGN project reared its head, with six months to get ready for it, he jumped. "It's not heavy haul," but rather "long loads appropriate for an extendable trailer. 125 feet long."
Preparedness outside of the one job was a prerequisite, too, of course. Before he spec'd the tractor and lowboy, "I started calling some of my other customers," he said, including "equipment and rental company customers. They said, 'Yeah, we could use one of those.''"
He borrowed to finance the investment -- a sizable one for him, considering all prior purchases were Class 3 units with smaller trailers, though the company has moved loads up to 80-foot total length.
Among WTF's more interesting hauls is this load of 80-foot bridges intended as walkways to floating docks, evidence of McGinness's commitment to doing for the customer that which might seem impossible at first glance. 80-foot loads on a hotshot? No problem -- they're not near as heavy as they might look --
