Search Engine x What We Spend

0:29This episode is brought to you in part by Robert Half.

0:34This episode of Search Engine is brought to you in part by Rosetta Stone. I'm always threatening to learn a new language. This month, I would like to learn German. I spent some time knowing Germans this summer, and I found them to be very friendly, and I wanted to be able to communicate in their language instead of mine. The easy way to learn German is Rosetta Stone. They've been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years, with 25 different languages to choose from. Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and more. What makes Rosetta Stone work is their immersive method. No clunky English translations, just a natural build from words to phrases to full sentences.

1:09So you can actually start thinking in the language. So don't wait. Unlock your language learning potential now. Search Engine listeners can grab Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50 % off. That's unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit rosettastone.com slash search engine to get started and claim your 50 % off today. Don't miss out. Go to rosettastone.com slash search engine and start learning today.

1:58hearing himself described as one of the greats, is probably immediately squirming in his chair somewhere in the American Midwest. Anyway, the great Jonathan Goldstein is joining us. I will have questions for him. Maybe I'll take some listener questions for him. Lunch is at noon Eastern time. The link to join will arrive in your inbox an hour before at 11 a.m. Eastern time. This event is for paid subscribers only. So if you are an Incognito Mode member, you'll receive the email. If you're not an Incognito Mode member, you can sign up at searchengine.show. And if you have any issues, email me at pjvote85 at gmail.com.

2:36And yes, we will make a recording of the event available for our Incognito Mode members after the fact. Okay, today, Friday, May 30th at noon, please bring your own falafel. Thank you. As for this week, we are sharing an episode of a new podcast made by one of our label mates over at Odyssey. I think just for starters, can you just say your name and what you do? Yeah. My name is Courtney Harrell, and I am a producer, and I host the show What We Spend. Courtney is a veteran podcast producer. She's worked a lot with one of my favorite hosts, Dan Daburski, both on the series Running From Cops and 912.

3:18She is now hosting herself. Her new show is about money. I think about money all the time. I have always thought about money all the time. I would say that I have traditionally been a high anxiety money person where, you know, I started tracking every expense that I made when I was a teenager. And what prompted that? Being afraid I wasn't going to have enough money to do things. Do you recall your teenage expenses? I mean, some of it was just like food. Yeah. But it was like also I took a tap dancing class whenever I was a teenager. I'm not a big dancer, but I remember really tracking how much the tap shoes were going to cost.

3:58And I remember buying songs on iTunes for my iPod. And you would put the 99 cent expenditure in? Yeah. So it would be like chumbawamba, 99 cents. Totally.

4:15Each episode of What We Spend follows one person who talks very openly about the money they make and the money they spend. It's like sneaking into someone else's checking account for a week. You meet a woman in Utah clawing her way out from under student loans. You meet a freelance actor planning for the uncertain period between gigs. It's funny with your show, as I've been listening to it, there's something like literally just hearing someone say, not just what they make, but in detail what they spend in a month. I have this feeling, am I hearing something illicit? it? Oh, the first time I was in an interview and somebody said, I got a check.

4:50And I was like, how much was that check for? And then like shrunk back in my seat because it actually felt like so crazy to be like, no, specifically, like, tell me how much you're talking about for all of these things. What makes money such a funny taboo is like, you know, we have like taboos around our bodies and we have taboos around our language and we have taboos around like all sorts of parts of or the way we think or self-presentation, but money's a funny one because somebody might feel ashamed that they don't make enough. They might feel ashamed that they make too much. And depending on who they're in front of, the same person could have both feelings.

5:26I feel like that's why people don't talk about it. Totally. So this week on Search Engine, we're talking about it. We're sharing an episode of what we spend that I chose to share with you. It's about the financial life of an American trucker, A category of worker we've been thinking about a lot in our office these days. I hope you enjoy it. What other jobs did you work before this one? I did have work for City Bus, and I came back to trucking, I want to say four years ago. And even my son, when he was little, I showed him a truck, and he said, my mama's driving a truck? I'm like, yeah, the bills got to be tight, baby.

6:06I saw it as a way to get my bills paid, and it seemed to have some enjoyment about it, I thought. And it does. We just need better pay.

6:21This is Maxine. She is a 60-year-old long-haul truck driver based in North Carolina. How big is the truck? Oh, this is a 53-foot trailer. Oh, that's really big, right? That's it. Yes. Do people ask you to honk your horn all the time? Sometimes, especially babies, and I don't mind. I've had babies myself. They're all grown and grandbabies. I don't mind. I love everybody's babies. Maxine took time off for a few other jobs, but she's been trucking off and on for different companies since 2004. She's driven routes all over the country. but right now she works what's called a dedicated route, which means she's always delivering home goods for a specific company through the same stretch of the country.

7:09We talked on the phone before she headed out from North Carolina for her next drive to South Carolina and then on to Louisiana. Maxine is one of about three and a half million truckers in the U.S. who literally make the rest of our lives possible. She is an indispensable part of American life. And like a lot of truckers, she is not making enough to get by. Maxine works hard. Week after week, she barely buys anything. And still, she can't always pay her bills. And she is not alone. This week, we're going to follow Maxine through a week of her life on the road and hear the benefits and the price of life as a trucker.

7:55I'm Courtney Harrell, and this is what we spend.

8:05The first thing to know about trucking is that the pay is confusing. You can get paid by the day, by the hour, or by the mile. Yeah, the companies can choose to pay you in that way. I'm paying now by the mile. By the mile, okay. Companies typically choose how to pay based on the kind of route someone is driving. So hourly pay is more likely for local routes with frequent stops in a smaller area. But most long-haul truckers like Maxine are paid by the mile, not hours worked. How much you earn per mile is a calculation of a bunch of factors. What you're carrying, how far you're driving, who you're driving for, and how many years you've been doing this.

8:47But no matter your rate, you only earn that if you're moving, on the road with a truck full of goods. How much money do you make? Okay, so my taxes this year, I think it was$44 ,000. Okay. And it fell from grace. I was making like$1 ,600 a week. I saw my way of being able to get a home and a little bit of land and place to park the truck trailer. But it went from that to my checks could be$380,$480 in one week,$500 in one week. What happened? That's what I want to know. They say it's the rates and then the loads. Rates and loads. Basically, Maxine told me that these days there's less merchandise for her to carry and she's getting paid less to carry it.

9:49That is not just a Maxine problem. The freight market has been in a recession the last few years, because when manufacturing, construction, and retail markets slow down, there's just less goods to carry, fewer loads. And that means there's less work available, which leads to lower rates. And, you know, drivers get together and talk. If you can imagine, we're in the yard, and we're walking outside talking to each other about loads. It's like, hey, what's going on with you? What's going on with you? We're all saying, you know, the low issue. And this young man that used to work at Walmart, he was like, I might have to go back to Walmart because there's no lows.

10:33I got bills, transport, blah, blah, blah, he was saying. And I prayed about it. I said, Lord, I don't know what type of mountains I got to climb and what's going to be thrown at me. But I can't keep going from job to job to job. They all seem to have problems with loads. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average trucker takes home about$57 ,000 a year, about$10 ,000 more than Maxine made last year. But remember, they're paid by the mile. So sometimes drivers like Maxine end up on the road for so long waiting for loads to come through that if they were paid hourly, they'd be making less than minimum wage.

11:13I've had paychecks where it was zero, where I owed the company. Oh, wow. Yeah, I got two paychecks in a row like that. Wait, what do you owe the company for? It's because I borrowed$500 advance from the next paycheck so I could make rent. Then say my next pay was only$480. Then I owe the company the rest of that advance, and then it'll go into the next week as well. and if say that week was the week that the truck set up and between setting up and not having a load until the following week then I won't have a paycheck that week either. What do you do when you don't have a paycheck come through or when you get a paycheck that's like I owe money?

12:00Let me tell you I came back to where I was living and sat down with the manager. I never left them alone the manager of the apartment complex. I always showed up when I told him I was going to show up if I had money or not. And I signed a promissory note to pay within six months, period. And he told me, he said, Maxine, we know, I believe you'll pay. You've always told us what was up and was here. And if I had nothing left, I made sure he got paid and my other bills got paid. My finance company, my credit card. I didn't ditch out on nobody. Maxine owes money to a finance company because she took out what's called a debt consolidation loan to reduce a bunch of her debt to one payment with a lower interest rate.

12:47So now the game play is I pay off the credit card in a finance company. $296 with the finance company up the street. I think I got$1 ,800 left on theirs. And then I have another finance company that I pay$450 to a month, and there's$17 ,000. Is that debt from regular living expenses, or is there a larger expense that is just from bills? That's regular. That's from me not making the money that I need. Maxine really doesn't have that many regular expenses. Her health insurance comes out of her Then she spends about$120 a month on utilities,$80 a month on her phone,$645 a month on her car and insurance, and about$80 a month on gas.

13:40The biggest expense weighing her down is her rent, which is$1 ,400 a month for her one bedroom in North Carolina. But after all that, she often has to put her groceries on her credit card. I spend quite a bit because of toiletries. You have to have a makeshift bathroom. And see, the thing is with truck drivers, a lot of times we don't have a bathroom. Or if they have one, they won't let us use it. And we can't stop the restaurant. What do you do? You got to make it. Some people buy buckets and make good poetry. I see. You know, and it goes into the garbage bags and then tie it up and get it in the garbage can.

14:22And now if something happens, like a disaster, like it accidentally spills over the whole floor, now you got to clean that whole floor up. Oh, God. So I buy a lot of paper towels, garbage bags and things like that, cleaner and things like that. Yeah. Like I'm looking at right now, I got, last night I went and got paper towels. And I went to Dollar General and I shopped Dollar General quite a bit. $15 each. One, two, three, four, five, seven. Eight rolls. Oh, wow. I got it on each side, the big, giant rolls, okay? Now, I'll go through a whole pack of that in about five days. Whoa. See, those are things that people don't know.

15:06That's a lot of expense, and you've got to have that each week, and you're going to run out. Yeah. You try to run out on payday. Supplies like Maxine's paper towels aren't typically covered by trucking companies. Some companies do offer per diems to help with those kinds of travel costs, but there's no law requiring it, so more than half of trucking companies just don't. Despite that, despite the low pay and the loads and the makeshift bathroom, Maxine loves driving her truck. How did you get into it initially? I kind of, well, after life hit me, I looked at, you know, you have the B and the C plan.

15:52Yeah. Because originally as a child, you know, it was medical, the medical field and nursing. I kind of clicked with that, you know. And I had the issues that was horrible throughout my youth. And I went through a lot of abusive stuff. I'm sorry. Oh, yeah. He was a monster. but uh when i got into my adult life and i started looking at you know other plans and my father always said you know you're really good with uh driving and my mother said that too i would help with the church members especially elderly church members and get them the church i'll give you an example when i started driving buses i had one of the most toughest instructors to check me.

16:48And when he told me, he said, Maxine, you're putting me to sleep. I was like, dang, I got it. You are tough. If I could put your butt to sleep, amen. Yeah, I mean, that is impressive. Wow. So when I got my chance to learn how to drive the trailers, I did. So you had your parents saying you were a good driver. But what else was it about trucking that made you be like, oh, as soon as I get the chance to do that, that's what I'm going to do? Just driving makes me calm. Driving calms me down. I feel safe when I'm driving.

17:34And that's probably from my background, my childhood and teenagehood and stuff. It's just like being in a space where I feel comfortable. And it worked out. Maxine went to trucking school in Kansas, where she learned a bunch of driving techniques that would help once she was out there on her own. Like how to turn no matter how long the wheels span. How to keep control through high-grade hills. How to see the road in front of a long-nosed truck. And she learned a healthy respect for the massive machines. Learned to stay vigilant all the time. And she loved it. What is the best part of the job? Knowing that you're doing something meaningful, the importance of getting the goods there, and, you know, just feeling like that you're doing something good that needs to happen.

18:30You're getting stuff to people that they need. Right. And getting into the little towns that need things and it's hard for them to get. because, you know, having empty shelves is not a happy town. Yeah. I think a lot of us associate driving on, like, big, long, open roads the way that you do with freedom. Does it feel that way to you? You feel that. You do? Yeah, you definitely feel that. You feel that mostly when you first start driving. When you're new to it, that's your first feel like, wow, the freedom of doing this and I'm on a meaningful job. And it can be healing. The road can be actually healing.

19:20Whatever you've been through in your life or still going through, everything is fresh and new and it feels so good. and you are meeting people and the food on the road. Truckers know, seem to know the best places to eat. And you, you know, you can feel that freedom. After the break, we'll dive in to Maxine's week.

19:58This episode of Search Engine is brought to you in part by Mint Mobile. You know what's not on my summer bucket list? Paying a sky-high wireless bill. If you, like me, do not want to fork over way too much money every month for the same service that you're already getting, you can pay way less thanks to Mint Mobile. And right now, you can get three months of unlimited premium wireless for just$15 a month. Switching could not be easier. You can keep your phone, your number, all your contacts, No contracts, no hidden fees, and no surprise overjips. The best part, you'll save enough money each month, but toward actual fun stuff.

20:32Trips, concert tickets, you name it, instead of wasting it on your phone bill. This year, skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer and your three-month unlimited wireless plan for just$15 a month at mintmobile.com slash search engine. That's mintmobile.com slash search engine. Upfront payment of$45 required, equivalent to$15 a month. limited time new customer offer for first three months only speeds may slow above 35 gigs on the unlimited plan taxes and fees extra cment mobile for details this episode of search engine is brought to you in part by linkedin as a small business owner you don't have the luxury of clocking out early your business is on your mind 24 7 when you clock out linkedin clocks in linkedin LinkedIn makes it easy to post your job for free, share it with your network, and get qualified candidates that you can manage all in one place.

21:26I have actually tried posting a job to LinkedIn jobs. It is exactly as easy as they advertise. LinkedIn's new feature can actually help you write job descriptions and then quickly get your job in front of the right people with deep candidate insights. Either post your job for free or pay to promote. Promoted jobs get three times more qualified applicants. At the end of the day, the most important thing to your small business is the quality of candidates. And with LinkedIn, you can feel confident that you're getting the best. Based on LinkedIn data, 72 % of small businesses using LinkedIn say that LinkedIn helps them find high quality candidates.

21:59Find out why more than two and a half million small businesses use LinkedIn for hiring today. Find your next great hire on LinkedIn. Post your job for free at linkedin.com slash pjsearch. That's linkedin.com slash pjsearch to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply.

22:18This episode of Search Engine is brought to you in part by Dell. Introducing the new Dell PC powered by the Intel Core Ultra Processor. It's not just an AI computer. It's a computer built for AI. That means it's built to help do your busy work for you. So you can fast forward through editing images, designing presentations, generating code, debugging code, running lots of apps without lag, creating live translations and captions, summarizing meeting notes, extending battery life, enhancing security, finding that file you were looking for, managing your schedule, meeting your deadlines, responding to Jim's long-term work.

22:46emails. Leaving all the time in the world for more you time and for the things you actually want to do. No events, Jim. Get a new Dell PC at dell.com slash AI dash PC. How those ahead, stay ahead.

23:06Audio diary day one. I'm recording in Polk, Florida in a company tractor trailer at a rest stop. today I started my morning out as usual you start your pre-trips starting inside the truck and then outside the truck checking everything out thoroughly after things are clear and you can get on the road you start your travel and it was a really good morning for travel very nice very nice drive I kept driving to around 10 took a quick break in the Florida Welcome Trucks rest stop off of 75 South, which was a very, very, very nice looking rest stop. Very clean looking. I got to talk to a few people as I went about my business.

23:56So I didn't hang around long, had to get back and do a 30 minute break and got back on 75 South. And, you know, cars are going to cut through traffic and cut the trucks off. That's pretty normal. The better thing is not to cut them off and not to get in front of them. Some cars will speed as if they're going to keep their speed and get in front of the truck. And then all of a sudden slow completely down to almost a stop. And they love to do this going downhill. You're carrying maybe 44 ,000 pounds more, 43 ,000 pounds more. The last thing you need is a car almost coming to a stop in front of you.

24:41Trucks are pretty strong, but they're not perfect and they can't stop on a dime. So you do the best you can with what you got to work with. Anyway, I got the load where it needed to go. I detached from my load. Then I found my empty trailer to attach to and went out to find a parking spot, which is not always easy. But I felt very blessed to find one at a rest stop. and that has been my day. I'm still in Florida, and I'll be moving out in the morning. Maxine had already bought the food she needed the day before, so her total for day one was$0. This is Audio Diary 2. After I got up, I usually kind of check out the scenery, what's going on, what movement.

25:39Can I move the truck? Is there someone that's going to be blocking me? Then from there, we have what's called the EOD in the truck. This is a tablet and it's a computer tablet. So all of our messages and work information comes through that. And what we do during the day, if we stop all of our movements and information goes on that. So we can correspond with our company and they can correspond back with us. When you get your GPS set, everything checked out, and you're personally ready to go. I did all of that this morning and headed toward 4 East. My goal was to get to Jacksonville area so I can keep moving toward Alabama.

26:37I got to a stop, truck stop. This is a little different. This is called a gas and go. It's where I perched tonight. The gas and go is like a mini grocery store. They have everything from frozen meats, which I did need for my little freezer in my truck. So I grabbed up just a few cold items for that freezer. Some turkey sausages, some corn. I think I got sweet peas, which I love sweet peas, especially with my rice. And throw those items in the fridge. And I tried their potatoes. They got a little deli in there. They make the best wedge potatoes. also I saw a little brownie and I almost didn't allow myself to have it but I did and I'm glad I did that was a very very good brownie so I spent tonight$42.06 which is crazy but I now have food in the freezer that'll last me a month