PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE


Nebraska Trucking Executive Committee CHAIRMAN


Schulz Transportation Services


CHRIS KLOTZ SBT, Inc.


Distribution, Inc. MARY DAVIE


Seward Motor Freight DICK REISER


Flatbed Express ERICH HELGE


Werner Enterprises BOARD OF DIRECTORS


Chief Carriers BOB WINTER


BOB CLARK


Aulick Leasing Corp. ALAN SCHULZ


DANNY TOMKINS


DEAR LOYAL AND (VERY) PATIENT NEBRASKA TRUCKERFANS,


I would like to begin by begging for your forgiveness for the delay in publishing this first edition of 2013. I really appreciated all the phone calls, emails and personal visits I’ve received in support of this tremendous tradition and asset of the Association that we can all be proud of. It is truly a mouthpiece to discuss not only our issues but also on a very personal level a place to announce our successes and sorrows. As much as I am responsible for the delay on this issue, I am also charged with the fiscal soundness of our Association and how we spend your hard earned dues dollars.


Duane Acklie* Don Adams Dean Aden* Steve Aherns


George Akerson*


Clayton Andrews* Crystal Anderson Tim Aschoff Blaine Batten


Dennis Bauder Emil Beyer


David Billings


Joanie Bogers Butch Brown* Kurt Brown Tom Coffey*


Drummond Crews III Eldon Dokter*


Dwight Dunsworth* Dave Erlandson Kurt Everett Ross Faubel Corby Flagle


Hugh Fugleberg* Mike Galvin


Norm Geiken Rick Gomel


Dick Hauptman Mike Herre* Mike Hewitt Al Hill


Al Hingst


Duane Hobscheidt Phillip Holliday Dan Hurt


Vince James


Cory Johnson Kim Johnson Don Kaiser


Larry Kersten *past chairman of the board NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 4, 2013 — www.nebtrucking.com Scott Kiddoo


Gerald Kilthau Tom Koenigs


Jean Kurtenbach* Dennis Leslie Larry Lewis Heidi Loop


Linda McCollum


Michael McKeever Ron Mencl Trey Mytty Scott Olsen


Tonn Ostergard* Dave Parker*


Dean Petersen Dick Pierson* Eric Pierson Tom Pirnie* Gene Quandt


Greg Reitmeier* Cath Reidemann Norm Riffel*


Ron Romans* Scott Romans Bob Sahling* John Sahling Roger Schmidt


Terry Schnauber Jack Shultz


Russ Stough Nick Vuko


Dave Walde C.L. Werner* Jerry Wessel Bert S. Wise Brian Wood Bob Wynne Rallie Zeitner


It is with this in mind that I feel comfortable in sharing that over the years the printing, editing and publishing of the magazine in-house had become very expensive. Our readership, while very loyal and supportive has always been relatively small in its distribution. At the time we discontinued our in-house publishing, a year or so ago - we were only mailing to about 1500 people and mostly in the state of Nebraska. Our ability to sell and price our ads competitively had diminished to the point that we were consistently losing money on each of the 12 months that we put the magazine out. My solution at that point was to find a partner that had the size and quality in their processes to be able to not only sell ads that made a difference for our Allied members’ investment, but also keep the hometown feel of our writing and features each month. Once we found Matthews Publishing Group based in Little Rock and currently producing nine other state trucking associations’ publications I thought we had hit a gold mine. Well, not so quick. After our first year together, they too faced a tough part of the GREAT recession and many of our past loyal advertisers still weren’t in a position to be advertising to an industry that was just slowly climbing back from the largest and longest slowdown since 1929. As a result, it’s been a start and stop kind of year in getting “Te Trucker” back up and into the black, for now.


I am really happy to report that with MPG’s help we are now proudly sending out on a national basis more than 6,000 copies to decision makers in the industry all over the 48 states. We are a very close, yet mobile industry. Truckers from other states travel through Nebraska very regularly and must buy tires, fuel, truck repair and countless other products and services. What better way to buy or for that matter to “sell” to trucking customers in other states that enjoy reading about our issues, successes and sorrows in the Nebraska Trucker magazine?


At the same time, as you will read in Chairman Tompkin’s report this edition that we have been successful in strategically adding more than 300 new members in the past couple of months. We are now very proud that we have once again broken the 900 member mark (909 to be exact) that the last time we broke that mark was back in 2002.


So we have plenty to be thankful for and I hope you will join me by thanking Jennifer Matthews Kidd and her staff from MPG, our loyal readers and very, very importantly — our Allied members who spend their hard-earned advertising dollars in our publication to make sure that Nebraska Trucker is a sustainable fixture for many years to come.


Until next month — your humble president — Larry.


Larry Johnson President


Nebraska Trucking ljohnson@nebtrucking.com 7


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