When Mick Bodman bought his first truck in 2001, the plan was simple.
Tired of “working for the man”, he thought ‘bugger it, I’ll do something on my own’.
“I thought it’d be stress free – drive around, pick stuff up, drop stuff off, how easy,” laughs Mick down the phone to Big Rigs during a rare break at the bustling Bodman Transport HQ in South Albury, NSW.
Twenty-five years on, the hands-on boss at the regional express powerhouse is still doing exactly that – just on a much bigger scale than Mick, now 51, ever imagined when he rolled out with a single rigid and a desire to simplify life.
Today, you’d be hard pressed to drive through any part of North-East Victoria, Southern NSW, ACT, or indeed large swathes of metro Melbourne, without spotting Bodman Transport’s distinctive black, red and grey livery.
Bodmans now boasts 24 trucks and eight vans, and a staff of 36 in all, most of whom are based at the main Albury hub, with four at the Griffith depot and a further three in Wagga Wagga.
“It’s been a hell of a journey – I started this to make life easy and simplify my life,” laughs Mick as he reflects on the 25th anniversary milestone.
“Looking at where I am now, for that goal, I went the wrong way. But it’s been a good run; working with people I like.
“The staff has been awesome – they are like our friends.”
In those early years, Mick was mainly subbing for Cement Australia carting all its bagged cement products, helping out on the second hydro system at the Dartmouth Dam, along with any smaller contracts he could pick up.
At the time, wife Kelly was working in the kitchen at the Bandiana army base, but before long she’d had enough of that role too.
“I said I’ll buy her a van so she could do all the ‘smalls’.
“So, she was doing all that while I was running around in the truck.”
The big turning point for Bodmans came when Mick was doing a pick-up job for a local depot on the day the manager got sacked.
“The owners came out and said, ‘Who are you?’…. well, you’re now the new manager’ of their Albury depot.
“They ended up getting taken over [around 2006] and that’s when we got introduced to Bluestar [long-standing blue-chip client Bluestar Global Logistics].”
As volumes grew, Mick expanded with a Volvo for Wagga Wagga and a UD which did the Canberra run every morning.
The UD, affectionately dubbed ‘Knackers’ by one of its drivers because “it’s just got balls” is still going strong today with over a million kilometres on the clock.
“It’s been through the wars; it’s hit trees and I rolled it a couple of years back [a long story involving a priest stopped in the middle of the road], but it keeps bouncing back for more punishment.”
It’s been mainly slow and steady fleet growth since then.
Because of the Bluestar work and strong regional network, Bodmans was soon approached by other national carriers, such as VicTas, now known as VT Freight Express, TFM Express and Freight Specialists.
Mick, who won’t ask any of his staff to do anything he won’t regularly pitch in and do himself, also thrives on the adrenalin-fuelled, orderly “chaos” of the express sector.
Eighty hours a week is standard. The doors might shut late in the arvo, but then the night shift is up and running again by 10pm.
Mick’s phone is ringing day and night too – 15 phone calls between knocking off and starting up again is just an average day.
“You’re thinking on your feet, thinking on the fly – if it’s not flat out and everything is running smoothly, you’re not happy. You’re bored.”
Having the whole family working shoulder-to-shoulder is another big factor in the secret to Bodmans’ success.
Kelly takes charge of the admin side of things, alongside their son Shane, who also runs the night shift, leaving Mick to be hands-on wherever he’s needed. Eldest son Jason helms operations, customer service and whatever else is thrown at him, all expertly assisted by Mick’s brother Dennis across operations and accounts.
“We always get along and for a long time even all lived together in the same house,” said Mick of working with family. “Come Friday, it was always, what pub are we going to?”
Jason, who started out washing trucks in the Bodman yard at just 14, is a chip off the old block when it comes to rolling up his sleeves and doing what it takes to get the freight delivered on time.
“We always say yes, and don’t expect our employees to do anything we wouldn’t,” said Jason, now 32, when asked what makes Bodmans the first call for those wanting fast and reliable express in their region.
“Every new run that we’ve started, either Mick or I have done that for the first couple of weeks, or a month, so when we go to tell a driver this is what you’ve got to do, we actually know what we’re talking about.
“There’s nothing worse than a boss telling you how to do your job and they don’t know how to do it.”
Preventative maintenance is another non-negotiable in the Bodmans’ yard.
“The freight’s got to get through, but now we have spare trucks and if we do have a problem, it’s just a matter of launching another truck and bailing it out,” added Mick.
Warehousing is still a component of the Bodmans’ operation. The company has one 1400 square metre shed for storage and racking and another around 1000 square metres, both in Albury.
But that side of the business is not as big as it once was, especially during the manic days of Covid when consumer demand went through the roof, said Mick.
Although rigids were initially the backbone of the business when it focused solely on local work, since the first semi arrived in 2014 to do the Wagga run, there’s been a notable lift in the number of prime movers in the yard.
Today, there are 11 in all: two Macks and nine Volvos, the most recent being an FH 16 from CMV Truck & Bus Albury/Wodonga just before Christmas.
Bodman Transport’s relationship with CMV Truck & Bus goes back to 2007 when Mick was looking for their first larger new rigid truck. They now run 11 Volvos, two Macks and 11 UDs, all sourced from the dealership.
“We came up with a solution for them – a Volvo FM Rigid which has now travelled over 1.8 million kilometres,” explains Andrew Thompson, CMV Truck & Bus Albury/Wodonga Key Account Manager.
“Going from one truck originally, we’ve been able to work with Bodmans for many years. When they thought they wanted to see if prime movers would work for their business, we were able to introduce some used trucks that they purchased.
“Volvo, UD and Mack Trucks work really well for Bodmans as they’re extremely versatile.”
For Mick it also comes down to the customer service and relationship that has been built up with CMV Truck & Bus over the years.
“CMV Truck & Bus was pretty much the only company in the area that took us seriously,” Mick said.
“They actually looked after us with the first truck we were looking at buying, and through that experience, we’ve been there since.
“I think it’s been 25 trucks over the years and what I value most about my relationship with Andrew now is honesty. If something goes wrong, he’s there.”
As for a special celebration for the big 25th milestone, Mick said don’t hold your breath waiting for the party invite.
The fact they’re still in business, working with passionate, loyal staff, while doing what they love is all that really matters.
“As Kel said, we’ve never tried to get big. We just find that we sort of get forced into it with customers saying they’re having trouble,” explained Mick.
“The last one was starting Albury to Echuca. Everyone was whinging that there’s no good service down there along the river – and now there is.”