Jay Hosty was 19 years old and had little to no previous experience with trucking when he bought his first truck and became an owner-operator.
A native of Chalmette, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans, Hosty’s first experience with a truck was when he was 16 and jumped aboard a rig for a couple blocks after asking a driver for a ride. During the short run, the driver told Hosty he was taking his load to Nashville, and was getting paid to do it.
Hosty was pretty much sold at that point.
About a year later, he came across something that would mold how he would operate throughout his career. He picked up a copy of Chilton Publishing’s Owner-Operator magazine and read an article about cost per mile.
Jay and his wife, Katt, are shown here with his first truck -- a 1971 single-axle, gas-burning International, which he bought a month before they got married in 1981.
"The truck cost more than the house I was living in. My dad thought I was crazy.” --Jay Hosty on his first brand-new purchase in the late 1980s which, no matter what his dad thought, he made work well enough even pulling containers at the time
Hosty added that he was “born with the gift of being frugal,” so saving money has always been a strong suit. He’s been able to thrive during 41-plus years of ownership, which included losing his home and his truck in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. His success led to Hosty being named the Overdrive Trucker of the Month for April.
