Owner-operator Bryan Smith had just concluded his second-best year on record in terms of net income, hauling leased to Tucker Freight Lines out of Dubuque, Iowa, when he spoke to Overdrive for this story, originally published in early 2022. His best on record?
As he told it from the stage at the Truckload Carriers Association's annual convention in October 2020 in Las Vegas, it was 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic's trucking demand boost lifted revenue to his business, which was paid a percentage of every load. Costs, meanwhile, remained relatively low throughout much of the year, unlike 2021.
This year delivered almost exactly the same amount on the revenue side, he said, yet inflation has been such that net income ended the year a bit below levels hit in 2020 with both "fuel and maintenance costs" considerably higher, he said. With as close a handle on costs as it's possible to have, though, Smith "still did very well," and he got something of an unexpected bonus this year. There's a reason he was on that stage in Las Vegas in October, after all.
Bryan Smith bagged the $25,000 prize that comes with being named the Owner-Operator of the Year in the program led by TCA. The award was a long time in coming -- his presence at the TCA convention as one of three finalists for the award this year marked the fifth time he'd been a contender.
It was no surprise to those who know him best, said Tucker Freight Lines Dubuque Open Deck Manager Bob Schmitt, who ran alongside Smith as an owner-operator himself with the company for 18 years. "He runs a very tight ship," with an almost selfless commitment to getting the job done that pays dividends in his relationship with the fleet. They've been his principal partner through nearly three decades for often oversize loads hauled on low-profile step decks, flatbeds and RGNs.
"He’s the guy that would do anything for you," Schmitt added. "Even now with me being in dispatch, if I ever have a favor to ask of him, he’ll drop his plans and run a load for me."
Owner-operator Smith is pictured here on a piece of equipment he operated extensively while serving in the Marine Corps during the Gulf War era. Taken while stationed in Bahrain, the picture shows a machine known as an RTCH, or Rough Terrain Container Handler.
