It's been quite a long time since I've heard from longtime independent owner-operator and independent dispatcher Gary McGaha, of Gary's Fleet Service, based in Phelan, California. More than 10 years ago now, I spoke with McGaha at length about hotshot flatbed work, among his specialties. Back at that time, he says today, "I think we were probably working for 25 to 30 independent owner-operators" for dispatching. "Over the years I’ve reduced that number substantially. I just figured out that we can do a lot better job for the guys that we work for if we keep the numbers of guys we’re helping lower."
That's helped immensely with the kind of pre-planning any independent on the top of his/her game loves to be able to accomplish before setting out from the home base. "I found that we’re able to pre-book reloads for them usually before they roll out under their outbound loads," McGaha said of improvements made to the service over the years, "and it gives me more time explain things about the business to them."
[Related: Hotshot trucking retains its fundamental allure]
Yes, there's a definite mentoring aspect to what the longtime trucking veteran does, in partnership with good freight brokers and some shippers, too, who "continually offer loads for the guys we're trying to help here," he added.
Part of the reason McGaha reached out was to share a securement-related accountability, training, and bedrock safety strategy he's put into practice for around two decades now in partnership with every owner he works for. He gets to the details of that in a well-considered guest column for today on the Channel 19 blog below.
Essentially, though, the business owner and his owner-operator clientele are going the extra mile for extra certainty around open-deck securement.
