A Trucker's Tale – Misadventures In Hauling: Coiled Wire Rod Edition

Jun 18, 2026 - 15 days ago

When I previously wrote about the difficulty of properly securing finished lumber, I mentioned that coiled wire rod was just as bad to keep from falling off a flatbed. By Ed Miller

A Trucker's Tale – Misadventures In Hauling: Coiled Wire Rod Edition By Ed Miller

Well, here is the load-from-hell story of James, one of BM’s (Bad Mistake) drivers who had been with the company for several years. James was probably 50 years old. I never saw him in a foul mood, and his infectious grin caused everyone to smile when then spoke with him. He maintained his professional truck driver image as he always looked like he had just showered, shaved, and clean clothes.

BM’s flatbeds were equipped with only nylon straps for securement, since chains were not permitted to be used on the dedicated customer’s outbound products. James had delivered his load of sheetrock to Dallas. We dispatched him on a backhaul load from Houston to Louisiana, and I asked James if he would have a problem hauling coiled wire rod using only nylon straps. He replied that it shouldn’t be a problem, because the load only had 9 rolls of wire and the load did not need to be tarped.

Those drivers who have hauled coiled wire rod know how the damned rolls would lay-down sideways, and poor James learned that, unless you are experienced using nylon straps, they aren’t very effective when trying to secure this product. He had traveled less than 100 miles before several bundles had already fallen over. He eased into a truck stop, where he found a fellow trucker willing to help him. By using the other driver’s chains, they successfully straightened the fallen bundles. Over the next 24 hours, James was forced to stop, find other drivers with chains, and then repeat the same process two more times. Thanks to his determination, he safely delivered the load to New Orleans the next afternoon.

When James turned in his paperwork at our terminal the following morning, I added eight hours of hourly pay to his road pay before I sent it all to the home office. This was the least I could do to thank him for a job well done, and because the time he spent dealing with the wire rod had caused him to lose the pay of hauling another load that week. I was sure this “Attaboy” was the right way for a terminal manager to take care of his driver.

The adages, “Doesn’t fall far from the tree,” or “No good deed goes unpunished,” became quite evident when one of the sons of BM’s owner called me the following week. He said he was looking at the “hours” I had added to James’ pay, and he asked if I had checked James’ logbook to make certain he was due the extra money. My reply was that I had not looked at his logbook, but the fact that James had done such an outstanding job of getting the load there at all, in addition to him not incurring any wrecker fees, I felt that he was due the extra money.

Thirty-five years later, I have a crystal-clear memory of the son’s reply, “Check his logs. If he didn’t include how he spent the extra time on the wire rod, or if he falsified his logs, then screw him, and do not pay him!”

Now, there were several reasons I made damned-sure James got paid for those eight hours. Most importantly, he had earned it. Secondly, and very important, was the fact that I thought that BM’s owner, and both of his sons, were completely out of their minds, and/or crazy as hell.

The old man’s office at corporate headquarters was located beside the fuel lanes, and he had installed a one-way glass, just like a police interrogation room. One afternoon he watched a driver pull into the fuel lane. The driver put both fuel hoses in his tanks, set them on automatic shut off, and then he went around his rig thumping the tires. When the old man saw the driver miss thumping several inside tires, he walked out of his office and fired the driver on the spot. No second chance for this guy. Yep, crazy people do crazy things!

Early one morning, two weeks after I had paid James the extra eight hours, BM’s V-P of operations walked unannounced into our office, along with my Mobile, Alabama-based division manager. While I was talking on a lengthy phone call, I observed the V-P pacing back and forth as he chewed on his pipe. When I finished the call, he sat down opposite me and I said, “Damn, man. What in the world is wrong with you?”

He sighed, and then informed me that, “He had been sent down here to relieve me of duty.” Although I knew exactly why this was happening, I asked anyway. He said the reason for my firing was that I “did not get along well with the management team.

Having to agree with him, I responded, “Well, no shit! I really do not get along well with them.” Just then, the phone rang, so I instinctively reached to answer it. I stopped myself, looked at the V-P and said, “You probably should answer it, since I don’t work here anymore.”

The V-P had flown into Mobile and then had been driven 100 miles to our terminal by my division manager. The V-P stayed at the office while the division manager drove me to my apartment, because BM wouldn’t let me take their company car home with me. Imagine that? And to think that just two weeks prior, this same V-P had suggested that I sell my personal car because I really did not need it since I had a very nice company car. I’m glad as hell I didn’t take his advice.

I had become very good friends with my division manager during my six months with BM, and during our short ride to my apartment, he told me that he had been ordered, three days prior, to travel to our terminal and to fire me himself. This upstanding fellow (in my eyes) told BM, “I did not hire him. He is moving all loads on time and his terminal’s empty miles are lower than any other terminal’s. I think he is doing an excellent job. I will not fire him.”

I am sure no one would be shocked to learn that BM’s management team was not overjoyed by his refusal to follow their order. The company even went as far as stripping him of his division managerial role, and they informed him that now was being demoted to the Mobile terminal manager. It is also not surprising that he quit working for BM a few months later. I’m glad he quit because we got to work together for several more years at another company.

Damn, another of life’s lessons: The grass is not always greener.

Thankfully, there was a happy ending to getting canned by Bad Mistake Trucking, because two days later, I interviewed with, and was offered a job, by a flatbed carrier. After leaving this carrier’s offices, I found a pay phone and called the president of WMTS to inform him that someone would be calling him for a reference. I jokingly requested him to, “Lie to them and tell them something good!”

As luck would have it, he asked that I come to his office in Wilson, NC the next day to patch up differences with the fellow that had caused me to leave in the first place. To shorten this narrative, I went back to work for WMTS and got to move to a brand-new terminal outside of Pittsburgh, where I met, and married, my wife of 45 years. Yep, I was happy to correct a Bad Mistake!

Ed Miller ([email protected]) has more than 40 years of management and ownership experience in the trucking industry. Today, he is a part-time tour bus driver, published author of “A Trucker’s Tale”, and regular contributor to Supply Post. He is a father of three and a grandfather of two, and lives with his wife in Rising Sun, Maryland.