tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.comments2024-03-05T12:21:40.044-06:00Daniel S Bridger's Trucking BlogDanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comBlogger399125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-76549466286450499912024-03-05T12:21:40.044-06:002024-03-05T12:21:40.044-06:00Thanks for your comment! Everyone has a right to t...Thanks for your comment! Everyone has a right to their own opinion. Whatever works for you.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-8230419568150747072024-03-02T07:06:01.124-06:002024-03-02T07:06:01.124-06:00Say what you will but although I don't have vi...Say what you will but although I don't have video proof ( dash cams hadn't been developed in the early 1990's to the point they are now) I do recall numerous times both night & daytime intances that made a believer out of me. I used to race motorcycles every weekend during the spring & summer months, I had a 1991 Chevy S-10 pickup at the time & used to stay at various places in the nor-cal area, the house I stayed at more than any was in the heart of Gold Country, Georgetown, CA. & the drive was nothing but switch backs weather coming from Auburn, or up from Placerville, I always saw deer & every time they would be standing next to the road, in the shrubs usually, never in my path not even once! I was driving to Quincy, CA. one morning in May, heading n/b on hwy 88 & as I entered a left hand sweeper with one lane of traffic in both directions, I noticed all of the s/b traffic at a standstill and it took me just a second to see what was holding them back. It was a doe in the middle of the road frantically running in circles near the canyon entrance, I saw her trying to climb the sloped walls of the canyon on both sides, shed wandered into the canyon about 200 ft. back but the taper of the redevelopment in the canyon was done with stone, even and smooth for at least 10 feet up both sides so she couldn't gain enough traction to get past the smooth part, that was until I came out of the curve & was heading right in the direction of the oncoming traffic, then out of nowhere, the deer jumped way up the side and enough to get her footing as she ran all the way up the rest of the canyon in no time! There were more than ten or twelve cars stopped so shed been in the entrance to the canyon for a more than a minute or two at least, I credit that to the Sav- Life whistles too. Another time I was coming from Mountain Home AFB after working up there & headed back down to Nevada along a small creek when I spotted some cattle crossing the road just ahead of me but they were around a tight corner and there were a bunch more that hadn't got to the pavement yet, the group stopped entering the road just as got near the turn where I could see the four or five running up the trail on the opposite side of the road in a cloud of dust. Something told the rest of the group to stop for a minute and the rest to run, the hill was short but a little steep, so they'd have been running anyway probably, but the rest of the herd were prompted to stop in their tracks and I didn't see a crossing guard anywhere, again, I chalked it up to Sav- A-Life deer whistle's. I had two on my truck and I have a later model S-10 that's lowered in the front & when I got it, the first thing I did to it was to put the same brand whistles on the front of it because the last place I want to see a deer, is in my lap! I have many, many other instances where I either witnessed animal's of all kinds, running away or stopped on the side of the road, sometimes just getting a glimpse of their eyes as they watched me pass by, I didn't mention this, but a lot of if not closer to all of those times, I was going at a higher than the posted speed limit too, that's just what we did on the way to & from the races, usually running late for whatever reasons. I like the idea of the single unit but don't know the history of them, I can say that a friend told me that if all the CHP cars in California have them, then there must be something to them! I'm sticking with my personal opinion and instances I witnessed for myself & don't care what the surveys came up with, I put more years & windshield time into my unofficial survey than any other studies I've read about, that's all the proof I need, you can believe it or not, another guy I know told me he had bought a inexpensive pair & a few months later told me that he & his girlfriend hit a deer on interstate 80, I said to him that i thought he had deer whistle's and he said yes, i asked where they were mounted? He said on the kitchen counter at home!😃✌️🏁charles lanenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-40709310192223564142024-01-29T18:10:47.853-06:002024-01-29T18:10:47.853-06:00Thanks for your input! In response to us being min...Thanks for your input! In response to us being minors when we got our stations I don't believe it's true. Under Wisconsin law, you are an adult at 18 years of age, even though the feds force the states to prohibit alcohol until 21. I had just turned 19 years old when I got my station in 1971. I don't know kind of bullshit lease agreement you had with Clark with "lease margin" and "minimum draw"? They had absolutely no right under my lease to tell me what to charge for gasoline, cigarettes or anything else. I bought gasoline by the truckload and had 10 days to remit payment. It was up to me what I charged at the pump, with the exception of government price controls for a limited time. My original lease did require me to be open 24/7 365 days per year though. They relinquished on that with the Arab oil crisis. Clark got away with a lot of illegal crap back in those days. I remember the two Milwaukee area maintenace men being pulled off their schedule to go out and paint at Emory T. Clark's residence. Wish we could have nailed them for a lot more in the lawsuit!Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-13047414107222545812023-09-26T21:46:51.895-05:002023-09-26T21:46:51.895-05:00Nice article.Nice article.Salman Chaudryhttps://pearlassistance.co.uk/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-57337491766032970602023-09-15T12:29:22.309-05:002023-09-15T12:29:22.309-05:00The bread now being used is Sciortino's. Buy...The bread now being used is Sciortino's. Buy Foley insulted the mother of Peter at some point so even if Will wanted to do another sandwich thing he'd have to find a different bread maker and Will has burned so many bridges. At this point it seems the William Foley saga will end with his obituary.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-29452157873383593132023-09-13T17:40:16.840-05:002023-09-13T17:40:16.840-05:00Thank you Dan for your story. I enjoyed every bit...Thank you Dan for your story. I enjoyed every bit of it.<br /><br />I was unaware other minors (under Wisconsin law) became independent businessmen for Clark before reaching age 21. I was age 20 on 15jul1971 when I became dealer #2607.<br /> <br />Green Bay's Clark Oil & Refining district 14 included Ralph Brensike's station at 134 N Richmond St in Appleton where as Ralph's night shift employee I was recruited by territory manager Lloyd Freckmann and his boss John R Beebe.<br /><br />The year before, Ralph's station had undergone the disruption of installing a second underground tank for "Low-Lead" dispensers (gas pumps) because Emory T Clark's previous business plan was to only sell Premium gasoline. Don't remember what the explaination for only one grade of gas but as result, Ralph just had the one underground tank til 1970. We did serve a lot of 60's muscle car customers.<br /><br />I do recall being told Emory began in Real Estate which led to his ownership of a gas station. Unable to profit by its sale, he elected to operate it and became an accidental Oil industry success, eventually the 23rd largest refiner.<br /><br />I was offered a very recently built station #1525 which alreay had both of the 6800 gallon tanks.<br /><br />Lots of memories about giving out Clark candy bars for Halloween, filling our pocket window washing bottles from metal 2 gallon alcohol cans all winter long, the Orange belt with leather over the buckle so we wouldn't<br />scratch customer cars as we leaned over to clean ALL the windows.<br /><br />A comment on another poster's mention of a beard. Clark management was very prickley about grooming when I was there. There was evan an official day when we could finally roll up sleeves and omit the black necktie. No short sleeves allowed and an unspoken understanding no female employees.<br /><br />My lease margin was 5.5 cents on 1971-72 era gas prices hovering between 27.9 and 36.9 cents per gallon. A barrel of crude (44 gallons) was $11 so Clark's raw material cost of 25 cents left little for them. Clark provided me a minimum draw of $600 monthly because their first <br />3 dealers for the site sold just 18000 gallons per month ($990 monthly).<br />So just $390 for employees to cover a 24 X 7 hour business meant I would be working 7 days per week for both years I was a leasee.<br /><br />Using what Ralph taught me about customer service, we grew the site to 28000 gallon monthly sales. I left only because Clark shifted the electric bill to my side of the ledger. I understood their wish to make up for the earlier station operator failures but realized I wasn't really an independent businessman after all.<br /><br />I'd love to hear from other Clark Oil alumni readers of your great story any comment on Nixon's 15AUG1971 Executive Order 11615. That "surprise announcement" on TV is the easy part for folks of a certain age to remember. We were at 27.9/gal "gas war" price that day and it was a delight to think we'd stay at that price for the next SIX MONTHS.<br />But I was wrong.<br /><br />I had forgotten that less than one month before August 15th, Clark had us set the pumps to 44.9/gallon just for two days. It was so strange an event (recorded history max price was 37.9) that Lloyd and John Beebe promised to find out why "corporate" had dictated a price that doomed us with customers. My daily sales went from 900 daily gallons to 90 gallons. $5 profit per day would not support my 24 X 7 payroll.<br /><br />Turns out E.O 11615 had a loophole.<br /><br />Nixon's "price control" (which was a success) had a thirty-day window in how it was worded, so Clark Oil was 10 cents inside the new law when a couple weeks later told to set the pumps to 34.9. I was actually reported to the I.R.S by an irate customer who, like me, thought the nation's price freeze law applied to everyone and I couldn't go above 27.9<br /><br />I didn't go to prison because powerful people do look out for each other but my momentary role encourged a weather eye for anomaly that serves me still today.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-50422182139897761932023-09-05T09:35:55.214-05:002023-09-05T09:35:55.214-05:00Thanks for the comment! As I mentioned in the post...Thanks for the comment! As I mentioned in the post, I have no regrets about my past experience with Clark Oil. With the exception of one executive (who was truly an a-hole), I made a decent living for over 10 years, developed life-long friends and gain valuable business experience which benefited me greatly in my career. No regrets, there were some very good years in the 1970's. Clark did have a good program for it's dealers and I was proud to be one of them. They did overstep their authority however and paid the price for it.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-80324752354141608442023-08-27T20:53:08.177-05:002023-08-27T20:53:08.177-05:00Great story and I appreciate all the effort you pu...Great story and I appreciate all the effort you put into it! It's a shame because Clark had a really good thing going in the 70's, but I suspect Clark was aware of the consolidation and monopolization that was to come to the oil industry in the 80's and beyond. Nevertheless, your story was great reading, and it made me long for the past.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-68942393205087825332023-07-24T08:12:45.257-05:002023-07-24T08:12:45.257-05:00I have a big Harley Breakout now but 30 some years...I have a big Harley Breakout now but 30 some years ago I bought my first bike, an '83 Honda V45. Absolutely loved that bike. If I run into a V65 or V45, I'd have to buy it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-11901369684277922992023-03-28T12:05:58.115-05:002023-03-28T12:05:58.115-05:00Email address is dbridgerhot@gmail.comEmail address is dbridgerhot@gmail.comDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-78012021724016780782023-03-27T19:21:24.507-05:002023-03-27T19:21:24.507-05:00How do I contact the author of this blog?How do I contact the author of this blog?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-85854280564099189202023-01-17T10:08:08.618-06:002023-01-17T10:08:08.618-06:00Thanks for the comment!Thanks for the comment!Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-37018900609635274372023-01-17T10:04:29.793-06:002023-01-17T10:04:29.793-06:00Thanks for your comment, but do you have a reason ...Thanks for your comment, but do you have a reason for the distrust? Those assertions are from Nichelle Nichols own book. You can choose to disbelieve her, but that's your opinion. I have not found any information to disprove her. If you think Capone and his brother were not paying massive bribes to public officials to keep their stills and l drinking spots operating, there is plenty of proof otherwise.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-56126975743319293672023-01-05T08:53:07.122-06:002023-01-05T08:53:07.122-06:00I had a 1961 Valiant. It was Burgundy in colour an...I had a 1961 Valiant. It was Burgundy in colour and had the good old slant 6 engine in it. I drove it whenever my 69 Datsun had recurring headgasketitus.<br /><br />I miss that car and would give my eye teeth (if I still had them! LOL) to have it againLoishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04389485449182611198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-76685216050410496822023-01-02T12:35:09.256-06:002023-01-02T12:35:09.256-06:00I find this whole story hard to believe I find this whole story hard to believe Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-24860220606754344402022-08-29T08:15:16.194-05:002022-08-29T08:15:16.194-05:00Nice blog and great story and life lesson. Thanks ...Nice blog and great story and life lesson. Thanks for sharing it. BarefootLilyLadyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12928329119579957110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-11706288854841075862021-11-10T09:29:18.362-06:002021-11-10T09:29:18.362-06:00Great reading your blogGreat reading your blogKarlahttps://www.karlagarrison.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-38690286641438983032021-09-26T09:08:39.422-05:002021-09-26T09:08:39.422-05:00Thank you! My email is dbridgerhot@gmail.comThank you! My email is dbridgerhot@gmail.comDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-7636729349065334162021-09-26T08:11:38.247-05:002021-09-26T08:11:38.247-05:00I posted about my experiences with Frank La Galbo ...I posted about my experiences with Frank La Galbo on your blog. I am trying to find picture of Franks dog and my brother at Fra ks house for you. How can i get in touch with you?Pattyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07186777780810059527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-40260907128211380602021-06-04T14:57:26.709-05:002021-06-04T14:57:26.709-05:00Thanks for the comment, cousin Steve, LOL. I had a...Thanks for the comment, cousin Steve, LOL. I had an idea it might be you but wasn't certain!Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13030368303892949012noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-22442805573875833162021-06-04T14:27:22.861-05:002021-06-04T14:27:22.861-05:00Danny,
I commented "anonymously" above t...Danny,<br />I commented "anonymously" above to see if you or Russ could figure out who I was. I got my experience working at Clark from helping you and Russ on your shifts! Lots of late night shenanigans on Hopkins especially since I grew up in the area and my high school Custer was right down the road. It was an awesome time and at times it "was" our social circle and hang. I can still see and hear that Red 63 SS Impala with the glass packs on board! Sounded awesome @ 2am (3rd shift).<br />I can't remember the name of the guy who owned the Clark on 60th and Fon Du Lac.. I want to say Bob or Bruce. I can see his face..black shiney thin hair combed back and black trimmed short beard. I had a blast at Clark and I too made life long friends in doing so.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02103345998629073609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-7230585493752913782021-04-29T05:28:24.800-05:002021-04-29T05:28:24.800-05:00Thanks for letting us know the benefits of 3pl pro...Thanks for letting us know the benefits of 3pl providers and how to chose them.. Keep it upForm 2290https://www.simpletrucktax.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-51440393480896455382020-10-24T11:09:06.629-05:002020-10-24T11:09:06.629-05:00good infogood infoAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14934414402244902302noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-87441482133918183462020-10-17T17:36:03.171-05:002020-10-17T17:36:03.171-05:00My brother was driving for Swift for almost 5 year...My brother was driving for Swift for almost 5 years when he injured his neck . After going to to the emergency room and filing for workers comp we learned that Swift workers comp is a joke . They treat you horribly , wont return calls and jusy plain ignore you . We have never recieved a call from Swift checking on his condition either. While diagnosing the neck injury they found cancer on his bladder . He is now destitute and relying on family for all his needs . SWIFT YOU A HEARTLESS !!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803446628888811539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3685058230551016214.post-47529143464264795412020-10-14T17:38:30.859-05:002020-10-14T17:38:30.859-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Greg Prosmushkinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06469085569109130005noreply@blogger.com