It’s been an awesome run for the last 8 years but it’s time for a change.

Anne and I have wanted to be home more often. We have six children most of whom live in Chattanooga and six grandchildren that all live in Chattanooga. We are blessed to have had the opportunity via trucking to spend so much time with family.  We have loved being out on the road. Seeing the places we have, visited friends, attending graduations, weddings and birthdays while also taking vacations all over the country without getting on a plane. Driving a truck has enabled us to make every wedding, birth, birthday, party, spring training….and it has been a total blast.

I started working for a friend’s brokerage back in June doing the weekend dispatch and covering emergency loads. The money was good and I would go out solo during the week to supplement our income, pay our fixed truck expenses and keep the truck in good shape. You cannot let a truck sit very long without mechanical deterioration. In September we received a call from some good friends who own a safety and compliance consultation company, ( www.vloctygroup.com ) They had a number of clients that they were offering dispatch services to and dispatch was taking them away from their core business. They asked if Anne would like to take these clients on and start dispatching their drivers. Of all the things we did well in trucking, profitably moving the truck was near the top of the list. Living in a truck and having hauled loads to and from all of the contiguous 48 States we had developed a good understanding of the markets and the seasonality of regional freight.  We understand the Hours of Service regulations and how to run under electronic logs. I started doing research on this business model (since that is who I am) and found some very interesting information. Most dispatch companies had little to no actual trucking experience or had experience but were just completely unprofessional and many are actually based offshore to capitalize on cheap labor costs.  Quite frankly, my favorite kind of competition.   

On October 1st 2018 we started a new adventure and it has succeeded much quicker than we planned.  Anne jumped in with both feet with me acting as backup.  It became clear very quickly that we would no longer need to keep my security blanket…..err….I mean truck.  We put the truck up for sale.  We actually sold it to one of our dispatch clients.  Then we had a meeting with some people who wanted to recommend us to their clients and we started the growth curve.  I called my friend to tell him I would need out of the weekend dispatch gig.  Fortunately he understood and I committed to continuing on with him through Thanksgiving which would allow him to hire and train my replacement. 

I have to say, the first weekend of December was VERY welcome.  That Saturday was my very first day off since mid-July.  

Welcome to Logistics ATB!  Anne picked the name since we live on the Tennessee River and one of our favorite moments driving the truck was as we came “Around The Bend” or “ATB” back into Chattanooga.   Check out our website via that link I just posted.  We think we look pretty cool.