77. Lessons from the Trucking Industry with Chris Polk
About this Episode
In this episode Craig welcomes back Chris Polk, “professional hornet’s nest kicker”, podcaster, content creator, trainer and truck owner-operator at Blue Ribbon Logistics. Chris regales Craig with stories about everything from how he found success in the trucking world, to history lessons, and about how government and citizens wreaked havoc with supply chains during covid times. Additionally, Chris tells how collusion between big corporations and government have led to over-regulation, driving shipping costs up and resulting in tough times for every-day truckers. That said Chris pulls no punches while discussing the things that truckers have done to make their own situations worse.
Chris gives his best advice on how to become rich, with principles that will work whether you are interested in joining the trucking industry or not. The great news is that you have something unique to offer the world. If you combine that something with some good maths (get yourself a BS Eliminator 9000, otherwise known as a calculator), hard work and a customer centric focus you too will become wealthy. It will not be easy, but if you build your life in such a way that you give value to others by helping them to get what they want, money will naturally flow your way.
Find Blue Ribbon Logistics:
Episode Timestamps:
1:04 - Who is Chris Polk?
Enjoys stirring
A trucker for 25 years
Owner-operator of trucking business
Podcast host at Blue Ribbon Logistics
Training truck drivers to be owner-operators
Content creator on YouTube
4:56 – Blue Ribbon Logistics
Met Larry Long and went to work for him
Began having Larry on his podcast
The podcast brought them dedicated truckers
Created a program to train them how to earn as a trucker
Business only works when it's competitive and customer focussed
You can have anything you want if you help enough other people get what they want
Never thought he’d have to teach all sorts of people maths and map reading
Calculator is the BS Eliminator 9000
Craig would make a terrible truck driver
He’d be too busy napping on the side of the road
Driving a truck and a car are two different things
21:45 - Broken supply chains and broke truckers
Products were manufactured just in time to get them onto the trailer or the assembly line
It used to be a finely tuned machine
2020 broke it with toilet paper
Cascade effect means trucking has been in a state of crisis since March 2020
Peoples spending drove demand
People brought trucks for work
Truck prices went up
Market demand is going back down
Those who bought overpriced trucks will go broke
Truckers blame fuel costs and the government
27:09 – Lesson in supply line history
Separation of church and state is a distraction
The danger lies in the collusion of corporations and state
When the market was deregulated in 1980 it made shipping more efficient
Allowing for more competition by individuals
Explosion of economic activity
These days there are so many middle-men that it has driven the cost of shipping up
Blockchain might make it more efficient again
Any time there’s a bottleneck, you can generally find a bureaucrat standing in the middle of it
There are a million single truck owner-operators
That’s a third of the trucks on the road
They haul the majority of life’s necessities
Big businesses can’t keep up so they are lobbying for regulations that will wipe out the owner-operators in costs
Truck makers make more money as more legislation is added
Little guys can’t afford new trucks
The state does the bidding of 15% of the trucking industry
33:15 – The biggest scam in trucking history
The biggest scam in trucking history on YouTube
No license points for warnings until 2008
Chris got 30 points from one inspection
No actual violations
At his latest inspection, he fixed a light
Another 18 points even though the light worked
Fines came next
Even though there were no violations
38:28 – The cheap driver shortage
Subsidies from the state for hiring drivers
There is a shortage of cheap drivers
The largest expense at big corporations is wages for the drivers
But they haul easy bulk stuff for cheap
People like Chris are paid more for specialized freight
You can’t idiot-proof a truck
A bad driver is going to have problems
43:50 – The price of eggs and corruption
Eggs are expensive
Is this because the state interfered with supply chains?
It costs Blue Ribbon about $200,000 per year to run a truck
There are 3 million trucks on the road
Reducing the cost of fuel won’t help that
There’s inflation
There’s manipulation
Corrupt money
Corrupt processes
Shipping container costs quadrupled
47:15 – How to become wealthy
Turn the television off
Don’t make decisions based on fear
You can control your own life and make better decisions
Boom and Bust is the pattern of economics
Build your life in a way that you create value for others
Once you get that right the wealth comes
That doesn’t make it easy
Find a niche
It will be uncomfortable
Be unaffected by BS crisis
55:44 – Fauci
Would be happy to see him handcuffed
He’ll end up in the evil hall of fame alongside Hitler one day
One day in heaven we may want forgiveness for him when he has to explain himself to Jesus