Every day is different at Wants Transport. One day it’s grain, the next could be sugar, but it’s this variety and the freedom of the work that has kept it going, now into its third generation
The family-run transport businesses like Wants, are what I associate the industry with.
The grandma’s and grandpa’s that started from nothing. The early days when they were operating on the smell of an oily rag – occupation titles encompassing everything from driver, mechanic, accounts to logistics manager.
Then, if they’re lucky and make a buck, they pass the baton to the next generation. Luckier again and brave enough to fight the third- generation curse, the next line of the family
steps up to the plate.
It’s an image that Wants Transport owner Matthew Want didn’t see coming. For 30 years, Matt, his older sister Amanda (the second-generation), and his father John, have grown their humble Lismore-based business together. But his son Taylor has never really been interested in joining the family firm.
That was until last November.
Like any child of a transport operator, he’s done stints with the family business before. School holidays in the wash bay and weekends learning to change tyres, but trucks weren’t his thing.
When they’d ask if I wanted to drive, I just told them I wasn’t interested. I never wanted to drive.
“When they’d ask if I wanted to drive, I just told them I wasn’t interested,” Taylor says. “I never wanted to drive.”
Now 32 years of age, Taylor’s finally interested. He’s caught the truckie bug, driving the Lismore-to-Brisbane trip daily.
Was his hesitancy for fear of failure? Or not wanting to fall into the easy option?
A bit of both, I think, plus working in civil construction was worse than washing trucks.
“I was doing civil work, which I didn’t like too much,” he says.
“I’ve also grown up a little bit, and the boys are getting a bit older – I saw it as a bit of a family affair continuing the business on.
Three generations of the Want family are now involved in the Lismore-based transport business
“So, I decided to come back and help out where I can,” he adds. “Obviously by starting at
the bottom of the food chain and hopefully working my way up eventually.”
Taylor has spent his entire life around trucks. He’s had his HR licence for years before
returning to the family business, previously “driving around doing small stuff”. He admits trucks terrify him!
“In actual fact, they bloody scare me,” he laughs. “That’s the whole reason I didn’t want to
drive them.
“You know, big machinery,” he sighs. “But, yeah, eventually I came around.
“Dad kept asking me, when are you going to come drive, when are you going to come drive, and I was out working one day, and I was like, you know what, I’ll be out there next week,” he laughs.
Sounds to me like there’s been a bit of a Mr Miyagi effect on Taylor.
I saw it as a bit of a family affair continuing the business on. So, I decided to come back and help out where I can.
Enjoying it, I ask? “Yeah, I am actually – surprisingly more than I thought I would.”
Another reason he didn’t want to come back was the thought of letting the family down.
“That’s why … you never want to disappoint them, that sort of thing, I reckon,” Taylor confesses.
“These older generation boys are hard workers. Those two boys – especially grandfather – are workhorses. Compared to them, I’m on the lazier side, so coming back and not trying to disappoint them is a huge thing.”
Getting in the swing of things required some time behind the wheel for Taylor. His first trip in the truck was with his uncle, teaching him the ropes in his early 2000’s Volvo truck and dog.
His first month was running up to Riverton, near the Queensland-New South Wales border.
No two days are the same, with the company carting everything from grain to coal and fertiliser
“It was a pretty scary drive the first time, I’d never been up the range in something that big. It was a bit daunting,” he laughs.
Want 2
“I’ve certainly seen a spark come on in him,” Matt says. “He was quite nervous about starting back with us, but once he got his HC licence and completed a few trips, we’ve certainly seen something in him, which is good.”
Funnily, Matt Want’s association with trucks couldn’t be more unlike his son. He lives and breathes them.
His favourite truck was the Ford LTL his dad John had bought decades ago.
“I wish we still had that old girl,” he says.
And every chance he got when he was growing up, he’d go in the truck with his dad.
It was a pretty scary drive the first time, I’d never been up the range in something that big. It was a bit daunting.
“I remember those moments, always. As soon as I could reach the pedals, he’d taught me how to drive the truck,” he says.
“Dad was always the bloke that’d go, yeah, get in and have a go, not, no, you can’t do it. That gave me a love for trucks and the machinery.
“He gave me that work ethic.”
His first memory of a truck was a trip in what turned out to be their first truck.
“I can still remember dad and I were laying on the road, feeling the warmth of the road waiting for the truck to come,” Matt explains.
“We were looking at buying a UD off a bloke down the road, and he was driving to Allora or something to get a load of bagged corn, with just a flat top.
For three decades John Want, son Matt, and daughter Amanda have grown the family business
“So, we decided to go along with him – me, dad, and the old fella. We were laying down on the road at like four o’clock in the morning, waiting for him to arrive.”
These are precious memories and experiences that Matt hopes can be passed on to Taylor. But what can Taylor expect?
“There are a lot of frustrating times, but they’re far outweighed by the satisfaction of getting the job done,” he says.
“I get a lot of satisfaction from getting the job done and the relationships I’ve got with our customers and our workers.”
Matt’s decision to join the family business certainly didn’t stew for years like Taylor’s.
The story, according to family patriarch, John, goes like this.
Dad was always the bloke that’d go, yeah, get in and have a go, not, no, you can’t do it. That gave me a love for trucks and the machinery.
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The throwaway line of “I’m too old for this” was all it took to get John Want to buy his first truck.
It was the old bloke mentioned above who used to bring grain into Lismore with his old UD truck, who said it.
“So, I bought it off him for 16 thousand dollars,” he says. “And that was the start of Wants Transport.”
A farmer at the time, John put a “young fella” on the job of driving the UD.
“We’d go out to Narrabri and back, bringing bags of cottonseed meal to Norco’s produce store.
“And then, that wasn’t good enough, so I went and bought a 3070 International, with the Cummins 903 engine, brand-new, for 32 thousand dollars.
Wants Transport’s brand-new Freightliner Cascadia is the first truck Ozzie has driven from new
“How the hell am I gonna pay for this? It went seven hours quicker to Narrabri and back than the UD, though,” he adds.
The Want family moved to the Lismore area in 1972, to a property just down the hill from his current home and depot.
Now in his early 80s, John doesn’t spend much time behind the wheel, unless it’s his old Massey Ferguson tractor.
But those early days were forging for the family.
“It was all flat tops back then,” he says.
“Flat tops with tarps around the side and top. We used to do farm deliveries. Yep. Pig farmers and dairy farmers. And I’ve still got a grain auger down in the shed from back in those days.”
So, I bought it off him for 16 thousand dollars. And that was the start of Wants Transport.
John took a break from transport and returned to farming in 1986. But the pull to the highway was too great, kick-starting Wants Transport again in 1993, this time with his son Matt.
“Matt was working for another transport company and then he came home one afternoon and I said, ‘I think it’s about time we went into business together’,” he says.
“We bought one truck, and International Transtar, and we started the business again, mum, dad and I,” Matt adds.
When asked how it went, bringing his son onboard, quick as a wink, the 83-year-old replied “He went alright, but he wanted my job.”
“I went to America on a Sterling truck tour, and when I came back I knew he kicked me out.
“Oh, well he has improved it a bit, I guess,” he says.
Ozzie is among Wants’ longest-serving employees and loves the family touch that goes with the job
Want, Ozzie
Then you’ve got the loyal drivers. Every family transport business has one or two. They’re an extension of the family.
And Ozzie is one of Want’s longest-serving subjects – over 10 years – and it’s that family touch that comes with the job that he enjoys.
“I got my licence when I was 16 and two months,” he laughs.
“Because back then all you did was go to the cop shop and they’d give you your licence.
“So, I’ve been around, and family business is just a bit more personal,” Ozzie says.
“You know, they give a shit about their drivers – oh, and being your own boss basically.”
There are a lot of frustrating times, but they’re far outweighed by the satisfaction of getting the job done.
As confirmed by Matt, Ozzie is his own boss.
Mix that empowerment with the variety, then you’ve got the ideal job, says Ozzie.
“Nothing’s regular – I deliver anything from grain and coal to fertiliser and stuff like that,” he says.
So, what does this variety of work look like?
Well, the trip we followed with Ozzie included piggeries and fertiliser and 700 kilometres in his brand-new Freightliner Cascadia.
The first truck he’s ever driven from new – a gift from the three Want boys I guess … for being a part of the family.
