Introducing Freight Chronicles with Tom Stawinski

Tom Stawinski isn’t your average freight guy. At 17, he became the youngest hire at Coyote Logistics, grinding it out during the brutal 2013-14 Polar Vortex—moving freight when the rail network froze up. That’s where his freight journey began, and he’s been building on it ever since.

Today, Tom is launching his own podcast—Freight Chronicles with Tom Stawinski—airing every Thursday under the FreightCaviar banner.

The show dives into raw truths, hard-earned lessons, and real stories from the legends who keep America moving. Expect deep conversations about business, culture, and the freight grind—without the fluff.

A Hustler Since High School

Tom’s journey is anything but ordinary. As a teen in suburban Chicago, he was already building businesses—from a clothing line to a sweat-proof bandana using Halo’s patented tech. But freight was always pulling him in.

He jumped into logistics right after high school, joining Coyote Logistics during the infamous 2013-14 Polar Vortex, where he and his team found themselves scrambling to cover the hottest, most time-critical freight during a full-blown rail freeze.

“It was a wild intro into the industry,” Tom recalls. “And I loved it.”

From Broker to Fleet Owner

After UPS acquired Coyote, Tom’s entrepreneurial itch came back. At just 21, he co-founded Percy Transportation, a Chicago-based trucking company that scaled from 4 to 35 owner-operators.

Having switched from Freight Brokerage to Trucking, Tom could relate very well with the challenges that carrier sales reps experienced. Armed with empathy, the small reefer carrier quickly grew having no shortages of great freight and great drivers.

Tom even worked with a Dungeons and Dragons map-maker to create a Game of Thrones style map/post that his top brokers could pin to their monitors, quickly identifying the lanes and loads his trucking company was looking for.

His dad was a trucker, but this was a company Tom built from scratch, using old-school driver referrals from Polish and Russian communities and even creating lane maps to recruit drivers on LinkedIn.

“I was drowning in paperwork, midnight strategy calls, truck breakdowns… the full freight operator experience,” Tom says.

What started as a scrappy fleet, serving produce lanes and recruiting drivers through word-of-mouth, is still in operation today, years later (MC699147). A testament to the solid foundation Tom helped build on: transparency, fast payments, and doing the right thing.

Exit & New Venture

By 23, a bit battle-hardened and wiser, Tom exited the business and took off to travel the world. From teaching English abroad to running an online electronics store, he finally landed in Poland in 2019 and started the next chapter of his journey.

This time, he launched Whitestone Talent Solutions, a firm that helps freight businesses in the U.S. build systems, leaders, and amazing teams of people that better support their day-to-day operations from Poland.

“I realized the world had become global and that I could help great businesses in the U.S. team up with hard-working, english speakers in Poland.”

Joining Up with FreightCaviar

It was around this time that he met Paul Jaroslawski, FreightCaviar's Founder, and the two instantly clicked over their Polish-Chicago roots, brokerage battle scars, sauna-cold plunges (before they were cool), history, and a shared love for entrepreneurial puzzles.

Tom had been teaming up with Paul to co-host FreightCaviar Podcast episodes, and the energy he brought to the conversations led to him testing out hosting on his own.

Podcast Era

Fast forward to today—Tom is back in the freight spotlight with a brand-new video series: Freight Chronicles with Tom Stawinski, airing every Thursday.

"Freight Chronicles is a place for raw truths, hard-earned lessons, and inspiring stories from the legends who keep America moving."

Expect deep conversations about business, courage, focus, culture, magic, and the freight grind, with a healthy mix of wisdom, weirdness, and truth.

Tom’s mission is to deliver knowledge, entertainment, and the kind of real-world advice he wishes he had at 20.

We're pumped to have Tom on the team.

The first episode, dropping today, features Brent Orsuga. Here's what Tom had to say about this special guest:

"My conversation with Brent Orsuga has helped me realize that there’s only one corner of the universe that we can be certain of improving.. & that’s our own self. This wild world will always be busy somewhere!"

📩 Got a Guest Idea?

Tom wants your input. Have someone we should interview? A topic you're curious about? Drop us a DM or comment on LinkedIn—we’re all ears.

Let’s go.