Kids who grew up around trucks loved seeing the shiny chrome stacks billowing smoke, and hearing the roar of the engine, while also in awe of all of the extra lights glowing as they felt the rumble in their chests when the trucks drove past; all wanted a big truck, a truck built by Peter or Ken.
Years later those kids got old enough to actually be a driver of one of those long-nosed, square hooded trucks that pushed air like a brick wall going down the highway. They still revel at the blowing smoke, and they really think that colored smoke matters. The now-grown kids have a whopper of a truck that boasts a lot of chrome, but not a lot else. They install shifters that reach the roof of the cab, visors that block their view, and can be found in most any chrome shop on any given day.
The kids that learned to become truck owners, not just drivers, chose a different path. The kids know they are running a business, and black smoke is not profitable. Pushing a long square hooded brick wall down the road also cuts into profits. Chrome looks nice, but if it doesn’t put extra revenue into the trucker’s business, then it falls into the debit column in the books.
Some kids admired the big, shiny, low MPG trucks as a kid, but they learned about profit and loss, and left childish things behind, and went for efficiency, and good looking aerodynamics. This is something some kids never grew out of, focusing on looking cool instead of running a business. Some kids bought the most efficient truck for their businesses. Their trucks were not built by Ken or Peter, instead, they are built by teams of people at Freightliner and Western Star, focused on building aerodynamic, fuel-efficient machines for business owners.
Those kids are smiling all the way to the bank with their additional profits for being efficient and they look good earning it.
Kids want to be a lot of things when they grow up and many will change what they want to be as they mature, but for kids who grew up around trucks, they want to be truckers. If only some kids would realize they need to leave childish admiration behind and embrace stylish efficiency for their trucking business.
For all the adult kids out there, I thank you for your persistence to drive underperforming equipment, it helps to keep the fuel surcharge rates up for the adults that know the meaning of the word profit.