Small Business Saturday
Trucking is a huge industry. We have mega carriers. There are midsize carriers. But, most trucking companies are small businesses. Mega carriers partner with one truck trucking companies (owner operators) to serve their customers. Many mega carriers did not start out as mega carriers. They may have even started as a one truck trucking company. Small business is the soul of this huge industry.
Late Thanksgiving night or early Friday morning millions of shoppers will invade large retail stores. It 
seems crazy to me. People will crawl out of bed or not go to bed at all to be in this crush of shoppers in search of a bargain. They may save a few bucks at the big box stores, but they won't get the service of a small retailer. Sound familiar. We are always saying that the small business trucker can be more in tune with their small business customers.
28 years ago I moved to a small town to start a small retail store. It was a small video store and we did
alright, but eventually sold the business and the real estate. Others have not been so lucky. When we moved to town there were 3 grocery stores. There is 1 now. We had 2 car dealers. We are down to one. We had a hardware store. Now, we don't. The folks who ran the bakery forever tried to sell it. Eventually they retired. The bakery stands empty. We had a local hospital. We had our children there. It is gone too.
We had a choice. We chose the big retailers. Now, we don't have a choice. I think of the small places that let us park in their lots. We all know of these little mom and pop places. They may have 6 or 8 truck parking places behind the little breakfast place. Too often I see truckers park there and not buy anything. Some of them just start up and head on down the road-hopefully after a pre trip. Some of them walk across the street to get a cup of coffee. If we don't patronize these places, they will cease to exist.
We are aware of a truck parking shortage. We have all had to travel on to find a spot to park at some point. I believe that when we use a parking spot, that we should support the business that provides that spot. If we don't one of three things will happen. That spot will cease to exist. They may start charging us up front to use it. They could stay in business without our help. Two out of those three choices are bad for us. I don't want to take that chance. My small town has lost the right to choose. I hope that does not happen to my industry.