The Bad Roman Project

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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: 

YouTube

TikTok

Facebook

Website

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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

  • Mark Levison – The Box

  • 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

  • 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


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