Earn $$$$ with those empty seats! Maybe

VANDERHOOF, B.C. — Welshman John Rogers was in this central B.C. town three years ago when he came up with his unique trucking-business idea.

Rogers and a pal had toured Canada for three weeks and had logged more than 11,000 miles by the time they stopped at Vanderhoof to visit a truck driver friend.

The driver took Rogers out for a trip in his rig, and inspiration struck.

“It was a fantastic experience, just fantastic,” Rogers told todaystrucking.com. “I was seeing the country from the cab of his truck and it was like seeing the world but sitting in your front room at the same time.”

That’s when Rogers invented “See It By Truck.” It’s a travel agency designed to match solo travelers with North American owner-operators so the owner-ops can make some money by carrying the sightseers.

It’s sort of like tourists who ship aboard freighters to see the world.

Rogers has already started building his network in the U.S. and hopes to expand into Canada over the next few weeks.

“There is a great opportunity here,” Rogers said. “I think if you were an owner-operator and somebody offered to pay you thirty to thirty-five cents a mile, you’d like the idea.”

Rogers wants to build a North America-wide network so travelers could begin trips anywhere in North America within 48 hours of landing at any major airport. “It’s going to take considerable organizing,” he admitted.

“Of course one major concern is safety; so we ensure that customers provide all the information they need and have all their appropriate travel documents.

“When you’re going to be traveling with somebody for two or three thousand miles, you’ll want to know who you’re with.”

Rogers said the upsides for the owner-operator are numerous, not the least of which is money and company.

Also, he said the Ice Road Truckers TV show has romanticized the industry abroad and he thinks there’s a market for potential drivers willing to pay to see how Canadian drivers work before emigrating here in search of work.

For more information, Rogers can be contacted through the See It By Truck website.


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