Owner-operator: opportunities abound in U.S. for those willing to work

Hasan Ali grew up in Somalia and loves the United States.

By JERRY BREEDEN
The Trucker Staff

8/14/2008

There are more opportunities for success in America than anywhere else in the world for anyone willing to work, according to Hasan Ali.

Granted, he hasn’t lived or worked every place on the face of the globe, but Ali did grow up in Somalia where merely living is said to be a day-to-day struggle.

So, how did Ali end up here?

“I came to this country because of the civil war and strife that was going on my country,” he said in an interview with The Trucker during a layover in Central Arkansas.

“This is a great country,” Ali observed. “The opportunities here are endless, if you’re willing to work.”

Ali came to the U.S. about nine years ago. He was working in the warehouses in the Dallas area, which is where he lives, when he first became interested in truck driving as a profession.

“I was going nowhere in the warehouses,” he said. “Warehouse work is boring, so I got started talking to some of the drivers that would come in and it sounded like a good job, a challenging one,” he said.

“I would ask them about the pay, the time spent away from home and about driving the open road for a living,” Ali added. “It sounded pretty good to me, so I completed my training at a Commercial Driver’s License school, got my CDL, more training at the first company I worked for and the rest is history.”

That was about seven years ago and today he is an owner-operator. Ali, who was closing in on making the final payment on his rig at the time of the interview, is leased to the Dart Transit Co.

“I drive a dedicated run and travel mostly to the Southeast part of the U.S., which I really like,” he said. “It’s beautiful country and I’ve gotten to see just about all of it. With Dart, I haul mostly paper products, but we haul general freight, too.

“The pay with Dart is good and I get home about every other day or so,” he said. “It works out very nicely for me.”

Ali said that the current cost for fuel is probably the biggest obstacle he or any other owner-operator has to overcome nowdays. “But,” he added, “I think if you really watch yourself and run your truck likes its your own company, things will work out eventually. It will take a while, I’m sure, but I believe things will even out for those of us who stick it out.

 “Having my own company will take a while, I’m sure,” he said. “But that’s what I plan to do someday.”