Idaho Trucking Association - Allen Hodges

Lindsey Trent, President of the Next Generation in Trucking Association, introduces her guest Allen Hodges, the President of the Idaho Trucking Association. They discuss how not every student is cut out for college and the opportunities available in the trucking industry. Allen shares his experience in the industry and running a trade association. He talks about purchasing a simulator to engage high school students and promote careers in trucking. They discuss funding for the simulator through grants and their plans to visit schools across Idaho. The simulator has been well-received by students, with some females performing exceptionally well.

Summary:
Allen discusses their program that uses a truck driving simulator to educate students about the industry.  He mentions a new 3D video about trucks that will be released as part of their grant.
The video showcases different types of trucks and drivers talking about their experiences.
The program aims to generate interest in trucking careers among students by dispelling misconceptions, such as being away from family all the time.
He mentions Middleton High School's CDL program and the high number of students interested in taking the class.  Allen also talks about their involvement with FFA conventions, where they showcase the simulator to approximately 1000 kids over several days.  Trucking is highlighted as a career option for young people who want to stay in rural communities or avoid college debt.
Different job opportunities within trucking are mentioned, including local delivery and cement truck driving.  He emphasizes that there is a shortage not only of drivers but also technicians and office staff in the industry.

The outlook for trucking in Idaho appears promising, with many job openings available.
There is discussion about opening high school programs focused on professional driving careers using simulators like theirs.  Working with students is fun and they are eager to interact. The simulator helps them understand the job and safety aspects of being in a truck. Engaging students is important because it helps change their outlook on careers. Employers need to engage students instead of just posting job ads. Partnership with associations like Allen's helps raise awareness about trucking as a positive career choice for the future workforce. The industry needs to work on changing the stigma around truck driving and treating everyone fairly. Without enough drivers, there will be trouble since a large percentage of goods are transported by trucks. Educating students about the importance of truck drivers is crucial.

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Transcript

A few of them said, we're tired of pushing the college narrative. Please come. And I think some of these educators now are, you know, seeing that not every student is cut out for college. And there's great opportunity out there now for somebody out of high school that wants to work hard, drive safe, they can make a lot of money and not have any college debt. 



Hey, this is Lindsey Trent, president of the next generation in trucking association. And this is our brand new podcast that we're starting for 2023. I have my first guest on the show, and I'm really excited to talk to Alan Hodges. He is the president of the Idaho trucking association. Hi, Alan, and welcome to the show. 



Hello, Lindsey. Thanks for inviting us. 



Yeah. So I would love to hear about who you are, how you got into trucking and what brought you to Idaho and running the Idaho trucking association. 



I have been around trucking since the age of 16. Back in Washington state, when I was in high school, every day after school, I'd go wash log trucks and lumber trucks for a private sawmill. And from there, I ended up starting a truck washing business. And then I got into an excavating business, which also required my own dump trucks. And I moved my business 13 years ago to Idaho because it was more freer state, less regulation. 



Idaho. Right. Everybody's moving to Idaho. 



Yeah. We've had a big population boom in the last 24 months. When I moved, there wasn't a lot. There was some, but not as many as there are now. And then I was involved in a bad car wreck in last week of 2017, and I had to do a career change, and Idaho trucking association was hiring, and I applied for it. And after that, I was hired and four months later promoted a president, CEO. 



Wow. That's awesome. What is it like running a trade association? 



It is different than being self employed. So when you have your own business and there's something that needs to be addressed, you address it. Right. Then if you make a bad decision on your own, you change course right away so it doesn't get worse. In the nonprofit world, it requires patience. You have to work with your executive board, you have to work with your board. Some things you just can't achieve as quick as in private industry. But it's real interesting in this job. Even some of the executive board members call it, I'm a jack of all trades. I have to wear many hats. So I'll lobby. I'll be at a high school with the truck simulator. I'll go meet members. I'll go recruit new members. I've done it all, from running a. 



Trucking company to now running an association. What do you miss about running a trucking company? 



The more flexibility when I was self employed. 



Yeah. And what was the hardest thing about running your own company? 



The hardest thing was, well, when I was in the excavation business, the Great Recession came, and I was fortunate to have all my equipment paid for. But there was competitors that had bills, and they lowered their rates to where you'd get a flat tire on the job. You were underwater. So I parked all of my stuff back then for good. That'd probably be the hardest thing, is competing against people that I understand. Everybody's got to make money, but you got to be smart about it. It's just like in Trucking. Some people get in Trucking and give away their work just to get the yeah. 



You have to have competitive bids out there, right? 



Yep. 



So tell me, what are you guys doing in Idaho with the Trucking Association? You guys are doing some pretty innovative things, and one of those things is you purchased a simulator. I think you guys won a grant, if I'm not mistaken. And you guys have been going around to high schools. 



Yeah, I've been with Idaho Trucking Association for a little over three and a half years now. And before COVID hit, I got this request to attend a local trade college to go talk to some high school students about trucking. And I got all my stuff together and some pictures and blah, blah. And I went and talked to this class, and they were not entertained, and they just took the literature, and that was it. And it was interesting. I look back on it, and a few months later, were invited to a one day conference in town through the state FFA, and there was about four to 500 students going to be there. So I thought, well, went, and the first time we did it, I had a table, and we're not rich. 



We got to watch our money and all these other businesses having tables there passing out all this swag. And the students were just sort of like, okay, thank you. We were just passing out literature. So I got together with another company the following year right before COVID hit, and asked if they were willing to loan their simulator. And they had one in a trailer, and they were like, sure. We were told we'd be done by 05:00. We didn't get out of their parking lot till 09:00 p.m. That night because we had so many students coming back and saying, Can I do it again? Can I do it again? And I knew right then that the way to reach out to these students, this current generation, is you really have to interact with them. 



You can't just say, hey, I have a job, or, there's these jobs. They have so many questions, and you have to grab their attention. And so we talked about it as an association, and then COVID hit, and there wasn't much done on it. And then when COVID was fading away, our former chairman, she looked at me in a board meeting, and it wasn't even on the agenda. And she says, Go buy a simulator. So I followed that through, and we purchased a small little Kenworth semi and a trailer and a truck simulator. 



What kind of simulator do you guys have? 



It has all the bells and whistles. It's the L three. Harris okay. 



How did you guys fund the purchase of your simulator? 



Well, I was just told to go get one, and I knew the best way would be to I was already looking into seeing if there were some grants out there, and I've never written a grant. I know a lot of companies hire somebody to do grant writing. We have a good relationship with our governor of Idaho, and our first stop was there and with his staff and said, we'd like to do and because our workforce in Idaho is one board, it's not county by county like in some states. Ours is you're appointed by the governor, and they're statewide. And so then the next step was we did meet with the executive director of workforce and told her what were wanting to do, and they were very supportive right up front. She was already aware of a truck driver shortage for years. 



I wrote a grant, applied for it. It had to go through two different votes. The procedure, which was a little nerve wracking, and coming to find out it was the fastest grant approval in the state of Idaho. 



Wow, your first grant, and you got it immediately. That's impressive. 



The association, we had to do some match funding, so I did a fundraiser. We raised approximately $80,000 was our part of the grant. 



Great. And so you guys got a truck, a trailer, and a driver simulator? 



Yes. I asked the board. I says, we could buy a pickup to pull this trailer, but we're a trucking association. What about buying a small single axle truck? And they're like, yeah, we're a trucking association. Go find a truck. And so bottle of Kenworth single axle and roll up to the school with. 



So now what's the process? I hear you're pretty busy taking it around to schools. In fact, I met a teacher in Idaho actually, I was at a conference, and she said, yeah, we are in line to have the simulator come to our school. And so what's the process, and how booked out are you? 



The process is we set up a separate web page on our website now, and educators or administrators can request it there. And then it comes to us, and then we have some communication back with them. What we expect the minimum age limit, some safety issues because we want the students to have fun. We don't want anybody to have a health issue or whatever because, like, if a student had seizures or something, that wouldn't be good. The simulator. So the schools work with us and help prescreen the students, and then we line up a date and we go out to the school. It's pretty simple. We do have some basic requirements, but one of the things that we had to do, which was interesting, is so we're a trucking association. We had to buy a whiteboard and start a dispatch board. 



So we have all these schools listed throughout different regions of Idaho, and we have them if they finish their paperwork, proposed date, et cetera. And yeah, we have a regular dispatch on so and right now I'm trying to find somebody that likes working with students and has a CDL so they can take it to the schools because we keep getting more and more requests for it. We have right now about 30 schools waiting for it. We're a little slow right now because of over the winter break, and we won't take it to north Idaho right now because of the snow. And, you know, it's an expensive machine. The you know, we do our best, but we're not going to go out and also risk it taken to a high school and something bad happened to we try to do our best. 



I was at a high school a few weeks ago, about an hour and a half from our office, and that area gets a little more snow when it snows than we do. And I got it to the school and was able to interact with the students, but it's something that weigh the risk before we go out on the road. 



So I actually was looking I know the Arkansas Trucking Association has a simulator as well that's mobile, and they have a road team that is taking it out. Have you considered starting a road team to take out your simulator and to get a little help with that? 



We've discussed that in our grant. It covers an employee. They were specific that they didn't want the president, CEO out on the road all the time, the state, because I'm supposed to be running the association. Some executive board members, we have discussed that. And the reason we don't go down that route is So, Arkansas. From what I've understood, their road team is one of their members brings their truck also where we bought a truck. And if we had a bunch of drivers in and out of that truck, let's say if somebody scrapes a fender or something mechanical goes wrong, how do you figure out what really happened? When you have musical drivers? 



Yeah. And so when you take your simulator to a school and you interact with students, tell me about the experience. What do the students think of the simulator. 



As of a few weeks ago? Since last March, a little less than a year ago, we have done 1200 students now in Idaho. 



Wow, that's fantastic. 



Ever heard a complaint from a high school student? It's interesting. Some females get all nervous about doing it, and I got to get them calmed down and a lot of times, honestly, the female students score better than their counterparts. They like the scoring part of it. If somebody scores a perfect 100, which is not all the time, we'll put them on our social media, Facebook. The end of the day, we'll take their picture if they want it and post it. 



What's your page on social media? 



It's Idaho Trucking Association. 



Okay, so we need to all follow your association and see these students. 



Yeah, a lot of the students ask questions. We try to give them depending. So when we go to a school, for an example, at a bare minimum, 50 students to maybe 90 students in that day. So we give them approximately a three minute carnival ride. We call it on the simulator, but they'll have questions and stuff. And we usually have volunteers from our membership go with me and know, answer students questions on trucking and stuff like that. And another thing that we have coming out real soon, I'll have to email it to you later today. Part of our grant, we had Idaho Public TV do a truck video for us, and it's in the new format where it's 3D filmed on the YouTube video. Unless you have these special 3D goggles, you can't see it, but you can get a gist of it. 



It shows a bunch of different trucks and our members and their drivers talking about why they got into trucking and why they like it and stuff. And we have anything from a dump truck on there to flatbed to a potato trailer hauling potatoes. But the students will be able to watch the video in 3D motion. 



And so typically, if you have 100 students that come through your simulator, what percentage of those students do you see are interested in maybe becoming a truck driver? 



It piques their curiosity, especially when they find out the kind of wages that are being paid, and also when they find out that when people think about trucking, they think, oh, I have to be away from my family and on the road all the time. And we're stressing to them that's only one segment of trucking take a dump truck driver or a log truck driver or a local delivery truck, they're home every day, and there's jobs available in those careers. So it does pique their interest. Where we unveiled it at Middleton High School, they are real close to being the first high school in the state of Idaho to do a CDL program now. And I've been discussing it with them, and for example, they have 25 students right now that want to take the class. 



They did a survey, and the kids are interested sometimes, though, because Idaho is pretty much a rural state, I'll get some students that have already had seat time on the farm, and they're already like, yeah, we're going to get a CDL when they can. 



Yeah. And tell me because you're active with your state FFA. What do you do with them? 



They have annual convention in April, so we take the simulator down there. There's about thousand kids at their annual convention, and I think it lasts three or four days, something like that. Anyway. So part of the FFA, they got to go around and explore these career opportunities. They have like a checklist this year, I heard each student is going to have an app on their phone and check in that way. So they'll come and participate with the simulator. And it's real interesting, a lot of the teachers that are down there, the FFA teachers, they found out about it, and then they're like, hey, we want you to bring it to our school so you can do just more than the FFA kids. And of course we do that. So it's real interesting. 



In Idaho, I've been to a few schools where K through Twelve is all in the same building. They're so small, so when I roll up, I'll do the whole high school class basically in a few hours. And they're thrilled though, that we came to their little small corner of the world, and then we also go do the big high schools. 



And that's the great thing about trucking, is that it's in big cities, but it's also in rural communities. And so there's so many job opportunities for young people to become a truck driver and for them to stay within their communities with their families if that's what they want. 



Well, and that's what we try to tell them, too, is we're not bashing college. But it's real interesting. When this simulator debuted and the media got wind of it and the governor helped us debut it, I was getting emails. I got 30 emails the first night when it hit the media later that day from teachers superintendents, like 30 emails up until like 04:00 a.m. That first night. And my executive board was like, telling me, you need to leave your phone in the garage. You're home, you're home. And I'm like, no, I got to respond. Anyway, a few of them said, we're tired of pushing the college narrative, please come. And I think some of these educators now are seeing that not every student is cut out for college. 



And there's great opportunity out there now for somebody out of high school that wants to work hard, drive safe, they can make a lot of money and not have any college debt, or they could go higher on locally and pay for their schooling. It's interesting seeing a lot of four year degree now, and they're back at fast food or whatever afterwards working. And we're trying to explain also to these students that live in the smaller communities, if you want to stay in this community, trucking is a good resource career for you, because if you go get a college degree, usually end up in the big city, you're not going to work from that little town that's 5000 people. 



I do know that this year they had the lowest college enrollment in 50 years. So we really are seeing a trend of young people really questioning the model of going to college, getting all this student loan debt and coming out and not finding a job where they're going to make as much money as they thought they would, or they could make just as much money, if not more. Right. At graduation with trucking, yeah. 



We have members that have been talking to schools and we've been talking to students where we have one member where Trucking is changing so much that they used to have, I think it was they're so big, they're self insured, but they had a minimum age originally of 24. But they're adding to their fleet. And so now they're starting a new program where they're going to hire 18 year olds, and the starting pay for an 18 year old is in the mid 20s. 



Wow. 



And they're going to keep them in their yards for like six months. Twelve months. See how they do. And then if they do fine, then they're going to progress out into the street locally. And then if they want to move up from there and do some long hauling, they're going to make a lot more money. So it's real interesting. We're always told the average age of a new truck driver is 29 and they're on their second career. It's important that I believe we're doing this because they're not being told about this opportunity. They're being told about welding, which we do need. Welders they're being told about being a technician. We do need that also. 



But I don't know about you, I'll be probably tipping my age, but when I was in school, some of the teachers used to say, if you don't do your homework and get crappy grades, you'll just end up being a truck driver. Well, now, a truck driver is not a disgraced career. It's something to be proud of. A lot has changed in the industry in the last 25, 30 years. 



That's right. And there's so many opportunities with different jobs. Like you said, you can be home every night, you can do delivery, you can be home every other day. It's not out for three weeks. Which most people are in the perception that's what you are. If you're a truck driver, you're going to be gone, never seeing your family. And some people want to do that, but there's a lot of other opportunities within that as so yeah, you take. 



LTL like FedEx or XPO or whatever, those guys are home every day, basically, except for a few long haul on know that they're home every day and so are cement truck drivers. And it's whatever a person wants to do. It's real interesting. Then another thing we try to do, and we do it with the state FFA is some of our members will do a what do they call it, where they open up their office and shop their whole business to some local high school students. So not only will they see the aspect of truck driving, but they'll see the dispatching, they'll see the technicians working, they'll see the office staff and how it all works and that there's jobs in all of those areas to support transportation. So we try to do that also because, yeah, there is a driver shortage. 



But you ask anybody, they're short technicians, they're short in the office. It's just been real interesting last few years. 



So typically when you take your simulator to a school, do you stay there the entire day? 



It depends on the size of the school and how many students sign up. So if it's a bigger school and they got a lot of students, yeah, there's been some schools where we're there for two days in a row. But on the flip side, let's say I'm going to one of those schools where K through twelve is all in the same building. We will let them know in advance that we do want to show up to their school, but we ask them to assist us. And we also reach out on our own to neighboring high schools in the area so we can go to one or I mean we'll do a couple of small high schools in one day that aren't far away, like let's say within a 30 minutes commute. Or we've had it. 



Where we'll show up at one high school and they have a good relationship with a neighboring high school and they'll bust some of the students over to us. 



What is the outlook of trucking in Idaho? 



Last year there was approximately 5000 driver seats open from state labor figures. All our members always say drivers, drivers. If you want to be a driver you can find a job real easy. It's sort of funny. I've had a CDL since I was 18. I still have it. I think I'm one of two state executives of trucking associations that have a CDL and I get hit up once in a while from members. Hey, you want to drive for me on the weekends? I'm like what? It's interesting but I focus on this job. But yeah, no, I've even gotten a few offers but I think I'm doing better representing the community than sitting in some seat and driving a truck for somebody because there's a shortage short term or whatever. 



Well, you've had 1200 students go through your driver simulator, and hopefully the idea of what we want to create is creating these high school programs where they can study what it's like to be a professional driver. And then they can go and work for the company that you mentioned that is open to hiring 18 year olds and get into our industry before going into any other industries. So that's what we're all about is marketing to these young people these great careers. 



Yeah. No, I mean, the sky's the limit. I believe in transportation, and it leads to so many other things if you want to go chase something down. It's like you asked me earlier, I started being around trucks at the age of 16. I'm not going to say if I learned how to drive them at the age of 16, but it was different back in those days. But it led to me being self employed, even though trucks were still involved in my self employment. And I've had past managerial jobs. And once in a while, if there was an issue, they knew I had a CDL, and I jump in one of their trucks and pick up the slack. I mean, it opens all sorts of doors. You can start out in trucking and go wherever you want. 



It's not a dead end job, in my opinion. 



Oh, so many opportunities. So what would you say if there's a state association out there? What would you say the first step for them to be if they wanted to maybe get a driver simulator? 



Oh, it's already happening. One of my neighbors, as soon as it hit the media and national news and stuff, what were board, some of their board was calling us, how'd you do it? How'd you do? And so there's some friendly pressure now on some of my counterparts in the Pacific Northwest to look into getting one. I just say, stick with it. It's not an easy process. And I know some states workforce are harder than others, but there's grants out there, and you just got to convince these people on their workforce boards that this is really a necessity and it needs to be done, because we've already noticed the huge impacts, even from teachers and principals. It's unique. So I'll go to a school, for example, and the principal, they're putting us on their social media that day. 



They're in the trailer taking pictures, offering to go get me lunch. Some of them do and stuff. And I find it ironic because when I was in high school, some of my high school teachers would be like, if they knew what I was doing today, they'd be like, no way a principal buying you lunch. But it's really fun working with them, and they're eager to interact with the students. Everybody has a good time, and that's what it should be about. I mean, we're learning that if you reach out to them and show them what the job is like and the other interesting part of the simulator is they walk away with the safety aspect of it too. They learn what it's like to be in a truck. 



So the next time they're driving down the rural highway in Idaho or our freeway, maybe they'll consider giving that truck a little more space and not cut it off. 



And tell us what you think about the students. What is the outlook of this generation? 



A lot of people label them as not go getters and stuff, but I'm finding out interacting with them. Like I said earlier, if you bring something to them and get their attention and engage them, they start asking questions. Where if you just go to a class and hand them paperwork, they're not going to ask any questions, they're just going to yawn. And I've experienced it. It's really interesting. It's like a mini five minute relationship with each student where their mind's thinking and stuff, and we hear a lot of times, too, we've never thought about these careers. Nobody's told us that they exist. And so that I say there's hope for this generation. It's just employers need to learn. Throwing up the help wanted sign or putting an ad on Facebook isn't working with this generation. You really have to engage them. 



And if you don't go out and engage them, they're not going to be at your doorstep. That's my opinion. And I found out Better Business Bureau wanted to interview me a while back because I was saying that and they believed in the same thing, that things are changing. You have to engage these students. If you need some technicians, you need to go show these students what being a technician is like. Not just saying help wanted. 



You're right. And it's all about engagement and reaching the next generation. And that's what we're all about. And we love partnering with state associations like you, Alan, that are really forward thinking and working on raising up that next generation and that workforce for our future, for the future of trucking. Because we know these students have a choice. They can go into welding, they can go into woodworking. But we want them to explore trucking as a positive career choice, and they need to know about it so they can choose it. And that's what we're here for. We want to thank you for being on the show, and if you have any last comments or statements, we'll be happy to let you go away with a closing thought. 



My closing thought is we've got a lot of hard work ahead of us, the industry does. There's still that stigma about truck driving. And I think if we work on that stigma, we're going to see a lot more people follow into those jobs. And at the same time, everybody needs to be treated fairly out there. And when it comes to the transportation industry, and I think in the future, we can achieve these goals of filling up those empty jobs. If not, we're in trouble. Because as we all know, we'll take Idaho, for example, 72% of our goods are brought by truck. So if we don't have those drivers, and that's something we explain to these students. You order from Amazon. 



It took a truck, probably multiple trucks. And thanks for educating and being out there and appreciate you being on the show. We're excited to hear more about what. You guys are doing and all the exciting things that you're doing by reaching all those students. So thanks for all you do. 



Well, thank you for having us again. Appreciate it's. Sam.