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
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

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