Pub2 2021 Issue1

14 Kentucky Trucker MEMBER FOCUS — GETTING TO KNOW PERMIT AMERICA P ermit America’s primary service is to provide Overdimension/Overweight (OD/OW) permits to the Specialized Carrier industry. Permit America also provides Annual, Temporary Trip (IRP) and Fuel (IFTA) permits to any carrier not appropriately credentialed. Permit America has purchasing authority for all 48-contiguous United States, most Canadian provinces and dozens of local (city or county) DOT agencies. They serve a wide variety of customers, including major trucking companies with regional terminals and hundreds of power units and trailers, to individual owners and operators with one truck or trailer. Permit America tries to custom build permit solutions for their customers and has a very savvy information technology team that can provide innovative approaches to operational efficiency. These include a one-button solution that captures load data directly from their customers’ networks, a web-based portal and email submittals. Of course, they still take many orders by telephone and fax. Legal dimensions for most truck routes in Kentucky are: • Length = varies (53’ trailer) • Width = 8’6” • Height = 13’6” • Weight = 80,000 pounds Permit America obtains routine OD/OW permits for any carrier exceeding these legal limits. They also obtain SuperLoad permits for many of their customers that can exceed 150’ long, 14’ wide, 16’ high and over 250,000 pounds. Jim and Mary Simpson founded Permit America in February 2002. Their core values are “honesty” and “treating everyone the way we would like to be treated.” The core values are the only things in their employee handbook that are repeated twice, and you can ask anyone in the company, and you’ll get the same answer. Their highest objective is “delivering premier service to their customers.” Jim and Mary met at the 2001 Specialized Carrier & Rigging (SC&RA) symposium held that year in Memphis, Tennessee. Mary was attending the symposium representing another permit service located in Columbus, Ohio. Jim was at the symposium representing the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), Bridge Maintenance Division, where his primary duty was to perform bridge analysis for SuperLoads traveling through Kentucky. Mary’s hometown was in Youngstown, Ohio, where she had attended Youngstown State University. Jim’s home was Frankfort, Kentucky, and he had a very busy life; working full time at the KYTC, being a single parent to his 10-year-old son, and trying to complete his Civil Engineering degree at the U.K. Plenty of time to start a new business, right? After several unsuccessful attempts, Jim finally convinced Mary to drive down from Columbus, Ohio, for their first date in Frankfort. They soon decided that they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, and Jim officially proposed in the Fall of 2001. For many of the reasons stated above, Jim