Man with a plan buys first truck, starts company

By BARB KAMPBELL
The Trucker Staff

11/19/2009

Going from the job of a Chicago police officer to trucking may sound like a strange thing, and even his friends could not believe he was actually going through with it, but Sidney Dozier had a plan.

“I wanted more freedom,” Dozier explained. “I wanted to own something and support my family. I wanted to move to Houston and travel around the country. I wanted to start a trucking company. This is my first one. Then [the economy] slowed up.”

He’s an owner-operator leased to Landstar, a company about which he had a lot of great things to say. Dozier is engaged and has a 23-year-old daughter. When asked about the wedding date, he laughed and said that’s what his fiancé wanted to know. He’s engaged to Anita and she’s also handling his business for him while he drives the truck, a 2002 Kenworth T-2000.

“She helps with the business a lot,” Dozier said. “She books my loads, keeps my paperwork straight and makes sure I eat. [She does] almost everything, especially paperwork. Basically all I have to do is drive. It’s a lot to do if you’re alone. Anita also has a CDL, but isn’t currently driving although we’re working on that. She’s been through driving school.”

Dozier’s been a truck driver for four years and hauls dry freight. He said his favorite place to drive is usually the Midwest because it’s flat and the rates are better up north.

“Basically where they pay me good money, that’s where I go,” he added.

Dozier also attended driving school and then was a company driver for about two years while he learned about buying his own truck and tried to figure out the best way to go about that.

“There are a lot of lease programs, but I just bought mine straight out and then found the best company to lease on to. I found Landstar and I love it. We book our own loads. I can take off when I want to. She’s with me so no big rush to get home except to see our horses.”

Being with someone all the time is a challenge, especially if all the time is really 24/7.

“It was a learning process because that truck is kinda small, but we learned to deal with each other and learned to keep the business going. When she’s in the truck with me I definitely make more money. She cooks. We work out. She books my loads and keeps me loaded. At the end of my week I’ve made about $400 to $500 more than when I’m by myself.”

Dozier and Anita have three horses, one is Arabian and the others are quarter horses. They both do horse training and she likes to barrel race. The couple lives in Houston.

Formerly from Chicago, Dozier worked with police K-9s there for 17 years and was part of the Chicago Police Department working undercover in the projects the last eight years. Before that he worked at federal prisons and was a cop in the Air Force for four years starting in 1984. During his service in the Air Force he learned how to train dogs, which prepared him to do the K-9 work. He also had a dog training school in which he trained dogs and owners on the side.

The Trucker found Dozier to be a very positive and upbeat person and after being a police officer in the projects of Chicago how bad could trucking be?

“There’s a bunch of problems but I just deal,” he said. “Dispatching is bad unless you’re tight with the dispatcher. As soon as I got my own truck my income more than doubled.”

Another issue that came up is one that many in the industry complain about a lot, problems with shippers and receivers.

“They don’t have any responsibility,” Dozier said. “I’ve waited 10 hours before at a dock. How am I supposed to schedule when I don’t know when I’m going to leave? There are just hurdles to deal with. One day I hope to get my own broker’s license.”

Dozier said he really doesn’t like to drive on the East Coast because it’s a lot of work and there’s no place to park since a lot of the rest areas are closed.

“I’m still new to trucking and learning a lot,” he said. “But me being a police officer I try to figure out how [DOT officers] want me to do certain things. They are strict on 11 hours, but if I’m in Louisiana — that’s another bad place — [Interstate] 10 for example and rest stops are closed, what am I supposed to do if you don’t have anyplace for me to park?”

Dozier believes that he doesn’t often get stopped by DOT officers because he’s driving for Landstar.

“The company I’m with is well known with a good safety record and I get a lot of bypasses at weigh stations,” he said. “If you flow with them and show them that all your stuff is together, you’ll get through really swift. Some officers do have a poor attitude. If you stay respectful and cheerful they usually push you on through. You might even change their attitude. I haven’t had a bad experience, but I’ve heard of some.

“You just talk to people like you want them to talk to you. I think the reason I don’t have any DOT problems is because of the company I leased on to.”

That’s probably a good reason, and probably true, but there are some other things about Dozier that help him not get into trouble with DOT.

“I drive slow to conserve fuel so they don’t pull me over,” he said. “They get bored watching me drive 62-63 mph.”

Dozier said fellow officers he left behind call him often to try to talk him into moving back.

“They want me back in the police department,” he said. “I like what I’m doing. I like being a part of something that I can grow as my own. I hope one day to have my own company.”

And while he and Anita are crossing the country, they don’t just work all the time.

“We do a lot of things” he said. “We go dancing. We roller-skate. We play tennis. We go to concerts. We just saw a Jamie Foxx concert in San Antonio. We roller-skate everywhere we go. It’s not just work, work, work to the bone.

“Since we started trucking we both picked up a lot of weight, but we’re exercising and trying to eat healthy and it’s coming down now. I see what truckers mean. It’s easy to pick up a burger or Popeye’s in the truck stop.”

Dozier said he tries to step away from negativity in his life.

“I never really hung out at trucks stops,” he said. “We like rest areas a lot more. Me being an ex cop, [I know] it’s just safer at rest areas. As an outsider coming in, when I told people what I was gonna do they said you want to be a trucker? The image we have as truckers is negative.

“The way we appear to people, speak to people, goes a long way with our image. We need to take care of ourselves more and try to communicate and understand people to do something about our image. They really rolled me over when I said I was leaving the police force to be a trucker.”

Barb Kampbell of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at barbkampbell@thetrucker.com.

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