Jason Michels (pronounced like Michaels), CEO of Albertville, Minnesota-headquartered Long Haul Trucking, got his start with the company as an owner-operator in the late 1990s. Today, "I don’t pretend to have any street cred," Michels said. "I was only an owner-operator for five years."
Among those who do have plenty OTR cred is one LHT-leased owner-operator Gary Schloo (pronounced shlow). By the time Michels met Schloo, the pair loading in West Virginia on one among Michels' very first trips for the company, Schloo was well into his third decade OTR. "I followed him back to Minnesota," Michels said, talking along the way. "I probably learned as much on that run as any young owner-operator could ever be fortunate enough to learn."
First and foremost, "When you see all that revenue on your settlement, it's not all yours," Schloo told the young man. "You're going to see some big checks coming your way, and don't go blowing all that money."
Schloo's the kind of owner-operator who can tell you at any time what his overall cost-per-mile is, down to the cent -- likewise what portion of that is tied up in fuel, in tires and brakes and other maintenance, and what that all looked like decades ago, too. He's got day-minder books he's kept through the years archived in his office and shop in Austin, Minnesota, on a two-acre property he purchased early this century three miles from where he grew up.
The shop is shown here, Schloo's Mac flatbed backed up to the door.
"I’ve got a calculator in the truck" at all times, too, Schloo said of his daily cost-evaluation routine trucking in a 2014 Peterbilt 386, bought new as a glider outfitted with a Detroit Series 60 by Fitzgerald Glider Kits. "Right now I do things by the week. I can tell you last week, last month. I can grab one of my day minders and I can tell you what I did 17 years ago for the same month. I’m kind of a nut about that. I guess I’m a numbers guy."
