Sharing Childhood Memories with Shannon

Recently BICO Transportation took on a two day job that was thirty years in the making.

The 400 mile trip (including what was being hauled, loaded, and unloaded) would take two days to complete, and so Shannon accompanied Josh on this working adventure.

The job went smoothly, and everyone was happy, but the story lies in the magic of memories.

Let’s have Josh (in his own words) tell you what happened…

Here are some pictures from a trip that we did from Rice, WA to Rochester, WA. What was special about this trip for me is that we inadvertently drove by a place called Sun Lakes Resort. The memories started coming back; this place was the place my dad used to take us on vacation 30 years ago. I immediately called and got us a cabin for the night since it was a 2 day trip. As I walked around the resort with my wife looking at these old ragged cabins that look the same as they did 30 years ago, I had a lot of good memories come back to me about our family vacations. It was really a wonderful experience for me.

From BICO to you…

Thank you to everyone who has trusted us to move what’s important and special to you. It’s an honor to play a small role in the memories yet to be created by you and your loved ones.

From our family to yours…God bless!!!

You Filed a Claim and Now What?

We had the privilege to pick the brains of two truck brokers and a dock worker from two of the biggest trucking companies around, and you’re not going to like it.

Because they don’t like you…

They need you, as all companies need customers, but they don’t necessarily like you.

They blame YOU, the customer, for your shipments getting broken.

As one of the gentlemen told us, “If customers really knew how their stuff was handled; they would crate everything, because crating shipments is the only way to guarantee that nothing will get broken”.

At the end of this article BICO will give you their thoughts on this whole thing...

One of the freight brokers shared a story that helps shed light on part of the problem, and he knew it was a problem, and that’s why he shared the information.

There was a large box on a pallet, shipping from the East Coast to the West Coast. It took three trucking companies to get it from “Point A” to “Point B” (a very common scenario).

That also means that the item was handled a lot of times to accomplish the trip across the US (again a very common scenario).

Meaning…

• The box is picked up by a truck at the customer’s location
• Unloaded at the terminal that Truck 1 is housed at, and placed on the dock
• It gets moved around the dock a few times
• The box is loaded onto Truck 1 and driven a thousand miles (give or take)
• Unloaded at the terminal that Truck 2 is housed at, and placed on the dock
• It gets moved around the dock a few times
• The box is loaded onto Truck 2 and driven a thousand miles (give or take)
• Unloaded at the terminal that Truck 3 is housed at, and placed on the dock
• It gets moved around the dock a few times
• The box is loaded onto Truck 3 and driven a thousand miles (give or take)
• Unloaded at the final terminal, and placed on the dock
• It gets moved around the dock a few times
• The box is loaded onto a truck to be dropped off at the customer’s location
• It is unloaded at the customer’s facility

Now that we got that…let’s get back to the story…

The customer received their big box still strapped to the pallet, but they noticed two forklift blade holes through the side of the box. They note it on the Bill of Lading and refuse the shipment.

The freight broker gets a call about the damage, and he starts his investigation into what happened. Two months go by and he determines that it was his company’s fault. So he walks the information across the hall to the claims department. They don’t want him there, and tell him so. The freight broker sends the information through the company’s internal messaging system, and the claims department opens their own investigation. Two months later, the claims department is willing to issue payment. Six weeks later the payment is mailed to the customer.

If you were counting…

It took five and a half months for the customer to get paid for damages caused by the trucking company.

That’s just one story.

As we sat and talked with these three employees...

That scenario is 100% real, but the scary part is that it seems to be a common occurrence (at least within the two big outfits that we were talking with).

BICO’s thoughts…

If your shipping with the big guys (and sometimes you have to), please follow their advice and take whatever means necessary to ensure that your shipment arrives as intended; even if that means spending the time and materials to build a crate.

Better yet…

Ship with BICO Transportation because we don’t treat you as a number; we treat you like family (the ones who like each other). We take care of your cargo, and it always arrives as it should.

STAY TUNED….

Because we’re not done with these guys yet. We have one more article coming out soon that talks about how your shipments are loaded and transported.

Until then…

Think BICO Transportation for shipping the stuff that you care about. 

Call us today at (360)269-5322

Driving, Kids, and Father’s Day

Last weekend was Father’s Day…

The only day of the year that dads can’t do anything wrong and they get 100% of all of their family’s attention too (hint hint).

As we have always said…

BICO is truly a family business, and so it’s only fair that we talk about the kids and how they help the business.

They don’t do a lot, but that’s what we want. We want them to focus on school and just being kids. They do help with little, but important things (like the upkeep of the trucks and trailers), and they are almost always willing to do anything asked of them (they may need a nudge now and then).

They are really great kids (all joking aside).

Our oldest is in taking driver’s ed., and let me tell you why that’s important.

But first…

Let me tell you about this trucking outfit. You’ve all seen their trucks out and about all over the country.

Their name rhymes with…

We’re not going to tell you that. We’re not here to start a Twitter war. Gossiping is for little girls, old women, talk shows, and the Kardashians…we are none of those.

I have personally seen and talked to three drivers…3 DRIVERS…from this national trucking company who cannot back up a trailer. These three men drive semis for a living.

They pull up to the side of the building, and wait for another semi to come in. They ask that driver to back their trailer up to the loading dock.

The funniest part is the drivers that they are asking are from other companies.

NOT JOKING AT ALL!!!!

And it not just people who literally get paid to back up (it is part of their job).

I was at the dump a while back and I watched this guy just sit there in an open area until a bunch of people were done. He was unable to back up without jackknifing his trailer, and so he needed space to try and maneuver. He got it in there, and it only took him 25 minutes and what seemed like a million attempts.

Is that our society?

Back to our son…

He’s the only kid in his class that can back a trailer around a corner. He has (and will have) more driving skills and abilities than at least three big rig truck drivers (and we don’t feel sorry for them either).  

And I’m not making light of this …

Our boy, when he’s old enough, will be employable to drive for anyone (if that’s what he chooses to do) because he has the skills to do it. Hopefully he stays with BICO, and one day takes the reigns away from the old man.

BICO Transportation is family strong, and we are happy that we are raising our children in a way that allows them to do anything that they choose to do, and be anyone who they want to be.  

Our children are the future (all of our children), and so shouldn’t they have the skills to prepare them for that future?

We are amazed at what our son has already accomplished in his life, and his future is really bright.

We are equally amazed at what our daughter is capable of doing, and what she will bring to this world.

We are blessed!!!

So keep an eye out, because you might just see one or both of the kids out helping dad this summer.

BICO Transportation

360-269-5322

bicotransportation@yahoo.com

Another day at the office…

Some may say that closed in quarters and tight spaces that involve going around corners backwards; with houses and buildings, trees, poles, fences, and other such items on both sides would make other drivers go home and call their mamas.

Not BICO Transportation…

Josh looks at it and says, “Piece of cake…crumb cake”.

In fact…

They could have parked about six more cars in the space just to challenge Josh’s skills (we’re joking…please don’t try it just to see if Josh can do it).

For all of your hauling needs…big and small…

BICO Transportation

360-269-5322

bicotransportation@yahoo.com

Hauling on the Weekend…Sort Of

We work a lot, but we still try to spend as much time as we can as a family; weekends are an important part of that bonding experience.

A couple of weekends ago…

Memorial Day weekend was crazier and busier than normal, and in all reality this story has nothing to do with hauling freight, but it’s too good not to share.

Picture this…

• The Fendell family (aka BICO Transportation)
• Memorial Day weekend
• Campground
• Lots of people
• 4-wheelers
• Drunk people

Now…

Whatever story that you have concocted in your head, toss it out and pull up a chair because this is a good one.

As you may know, Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer, and is also known as the first camping weekend of the year. Throughout the entire country, people pack up and go camping. Every campsite is booked and filled, and mostly everyone is having a good time.

The Fendell’s were at a campground just like that.

The camping area was buzzing with lots of people setting up tents and RV’s, playing games, telling stories, laughing, eating, and drinking.

The weekend had just started, and at 1:00pm the smell of food in the air was still deliciously strong. This was about the time that the Fendell’s were approached to solve a problem.

The issue?

There was a drunk guy passed out in the woods.

Josh automatically switched from “campground Josh” to “BICOTransportation Josh” to figure out how he was going to transport the drunk guy from “point A” to “point B”. The guy wasn’t waking up, and Josh wasn’t about to carry him (even though Josh may or may not have suggested that Shannon carry the guy).

Josh has a 4-wheeler with a dump bed…problem solved…

• A little drive into the woods
• Place the passed out person in the bed of the 4-wheeler
• A little drive out of the woods and to the guy’s campsite
• Grab the guy’s sleeping bag and roll it out
• Dump drunken guy onto the sleeping bag, where he sleeps peacefully

Josh is a hero, and once again BICO Transportation has proven that it can solve any hauling issues.

But what happened after that?

Nothing…the Fendell family went back to what they were doing before they had to rescue a drunk guy from himself.

OR…

Maybe…just maybe…

Josh named his 4-wheeler “Silver”, and went back to the house and cut a mask out of one of Shannon’s dresses, and started calling himself the “Modern Lone Ranger”.

Except…

Forget that you read that part, because if you see the masked man riding his trusty machine down a mountain side with survivors on the back of it…you’re not supposed to know that it’s really Josh Fendell under the mask.

So act surprised and always ask…

“Who was that masked man?”

In reality…

Call BICO Transportation for all of your hauling and transportation needs.

(360)269-5322

Large Companies Cannot Compete

Yes…

You heard us right…

Large freight companies cannot compete with little bitty BICO Transportation.

Why?

Because we have them beat in every possible way…every way that matters to you.

The problem is that they’re big and we’re still small, and so their names get thrown out there more. The big named haulers spend more on advertising and marketing in one month then we make in a year.

And we’re ok with that for now, because we’re taking customers away from them one at a time…day after day.

Some of the biggest customer complaints against other shipping outfits are:

• Time
• Cost
• Damaged product
• Damage to my facility
• Lost product
• Bad attitude
• Bad reputation

BICO Transportation beats ALL of the big named competition in ALL of those categories because we care. 

• You are more than a customer number. 
• You are more than an address. 
• You are more than a measurement.  
• You are more than a weight.

You are a person who is in need of a solution!!!!

BICO Transportation is that solution.

(It started to sound like one of those TV diet plans for a moment…believe us…we care about hauling freight…not about losing weight…unless it’s for the truck scales)

We are not the biggest, BUT we are the best. We challenge any freight company to beat us in customer service and overall value.

We take our jobs seriously because it’s personal to us. BICOTransportation is a family business, and it will always be a family business. Every one of our customers becomes a member of the BICO family, and we take care of our family.

The choice is yours…

Keep using the big hauling companies and continue being disappointed.

OR…

Use BICO Transportation and become the happiest that you’ve ever been (with all of your shipping happiness…all other happiness is out of our control).

BICO Transportation

An old-school handshake type of transportation company

Call us today…

360-269-5322

Or email us at…

bicotransportation@yahoo.com

Freight Carrier…I-5 Corridor and Beyond

BICO Transportation says YES when other haulers say no!!

Customers choose us 5:1 over other local transportation companies because we offer better service, better prices, and better overall value.

What can we haul?

We used to say that we specialized in:

-Flatbed Hotshot Loads (up to 17,000 lbs.)
-Flatbed LTL 
-RV/Auto 
-Sheds (storage sheds, portable buildings)
-Oversize Loads

BUT…

We have gone so far beyond that by truly taking it to the next level.

Like what?

Cargo containers, hay, small buildings, small airplanes, helicopters, tow trucks, military vehicles, sculptures, farm equipment, construction equipment, RVs, cars, building materials, complete kitchens, company trucks…plus all of the stuff from above (flatbed hotshot loads, flatbed LTL, sheds, and oversized loads).

Inquire about the normal or the unique…

If you need something moved…

BICO Transportation will gladly do it, and for a better overall value.

BICO Transportation

Call us today…

360-269-5322

BICO Transportation

Call us today…

360-269-5322