It's a Team's Life

The Right Decision?

The Right Decision?

Truck drivers make decisions all day, every day. Owner operators have even more decisions to make as compared to drivers employed by a trucking company. Some of the decisions that all drivers make are which routes to take to avoid construction, accidents or weather. Owner operators also need to decide which loads to take, when to do maintenance on the truck or even when to go home.

We had similar decisions to make a few weeks ago. We made a delivery that put us nearly equal distances between home and our home away from home. We had the choice to go home to Wisconsin. We knew the weather was very cold and more snow was predicted while we were there. Also, it was Thanksgiving week and our family would have been very happy to spend the holiday with us. Should we go home or try to work over the Thanksgiving holiday? On the flip side, we had the opportunity to spend the holiday at our home away from home in much warmer weather. We both wanted to go to the warmer weather. Our decision process was like a seesaw. We were going home. Then we were going south. Life told us which direction to go.

While we were under our load the truck’s check engine light came on. Now, I don’t know about you, but whenever that happens my first instinct is panic. A check engine light can mean that maybe one of the computers is not communicating with some of the other computers. This might only require an update or it might require replacing worn out parts. We have a shop that we like to go to. We were hundreds of miles away. We found a shop near our home away from home that could have been a good option. The problem was that we had never been to that shop. Should we take the chance of going to an unfamiliar shop versus going to a trusted shop? Decision number one.

Next, I noticed that the majority of the loads that we would consider taking were coming out of the midwest. I saw this as a sign that we should go home. Neither one of us wanted to go to the “frozen tundra.” The seesaw decision process continued. Decision number two.

In most cases, our decisions revolve around how much our business can make as well as how much money our business can save. While more than anything we wanted to go south, we made the decision to go to our preferred shop to have the truck worked on. By making this decision it put us closer to home and closer to the work. It also brought us the added bonus of being home with family for Thanksgiving. We did make it to warmer weather eventually; however, another holiday is right around the corner and more decisions will need to be made.

Here’s to millions of safe, profitable and RIGHT DECISIONS miles.

Kelly Plumb