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Is the grass always greener on the other side of the fence? Changing carriers is not for the faint of heart. There are as many reasons as there are truck drivers to leave a carrier. One of the worst reasons to leave a carrier is to follow a friend or someone you trust when they leave one...

We have completed one week and still learning the ropes. Ten years ago we entered the Expedite Industry with stars in our eyes of seeing the country together in our first truck. After orientation and on our third load I was trying to figure out how to file bankruptcy to get rid of our new...

Saturday I went back to the place I delivered the night before to help the customer find the freight. This was a first. The delivery was to the address of a very large manufacturing facility, but the recipient was a subcontractor who was using the dock as a delivery point. The dock had its own...

We took the International in Trucker Buddy seriously and our teacher teaches English in France. Trucker Buddy starting in 1992 and is a pen pal program using the teacher as a conduit. The truck driver can send postcards and emails to the students through the teacher who then uses these as a...

Closing out another month. How do I spend a four day weekend without freight you ask? If I was closer to a home or friend’s place I would have trolled to one of those locations. I usually have good luck along the I-81 corridor in Virginia, so I sat tight. No sense in trolling over a quiet...

Thanks to TA/Petro we are looking forward to a nice Thanksgiving Dinner Buffet at a very reasonable price. Over the past 14 years we have spent a few Thanksgivings at home and others out hauling freight. We have found what works best for us it to work over Thanksgiving and then spend some...

Being a Professional Truck Driver requires a high level of integrity and to strive for excellence every time we turn the ignition key. Bob and I in our younger years raced "Odysseys" on dirt, road course tracks, we both honed our skills at being able to quickly look at a situation and figure...

A quick endorsement for home repairs. The family has found a good source for replacement parts to fix their old appliances. Repairclinic.com has easy parts searches for a wide selection of appliances and small engine machines. READ MORE...

Change is good as we move forward in our trucking business. Part 1 USXpress where Bob got out from under the truck, as a diesel mechanic, and behind the wheel... Part 2 Started researching Expediting and decided to become owner operators leased to FedEx Custom Critical... Part 3 It is now...

Motor Carriers who are also Brokers often confuse what their Contingent Liability and Contingent Cargo actually covers. This type of insurance protects the Broker side when brokering a load to another Motor Carrier only. READ MORE...

Motor Carriers who do not fully disclose to the Insurance Company their complete scope of operations regarding all units hauling on their behalf under their MC authority are committing insurance fraud, which is a crime and subject to criminal and civil penalties. READ MORE...

Waiting on parts, slick roads, and baby food. Way back when one of my delivery addresses was on this block in downtown Rogers, Arkansas. Problem was that I was trying to preplan a delivery with a 7000 gallon tanker truck. After a half hour of near panic studying satellite maps trying to figure...

How much fuel do we really want to carry around with us? Our 2015 Cascadia has the customary two fuel tanks with the big difference being one tank on the drivers side is 120-gallons and the tank on the passenger side is 80-gallons. Our former truck had three fuel tanks with one tank dedicated...

Want to see the inside of my EGR cooler? Cooler was replaced and then there was an oil leak—waiting on more parts. This is what an original EGR cooler can look like beyond 600,000 miles. I’ve seen much worse below 200,000 miles. On Friday, I picked up the van and ran around town. After parking...

When a Motor Carrier has inadequate insurance on themselves or their Owner Operators, their insurance costs are lower so their overhead costs are lower. This gives some Motor Carriers the ability to continue to lowball bids on loads. Shippers, 3PLs and Brokers are learning and adapting to...

Awaiting parts and helping with chores. The van is getting to the point that I’m contemplating an engine swap. In the last month, oil consumption has gone from one extra quart between oil changes to a quart every 1000 miles. The van still runs great. The shop is reluctant to touch anything...

We just left the Texas Motor Speedway Freightliner Pit Stop Tour and we had a blast. Thank You to all of you that came out for this event and I am sure all of you enjoyed the free tickets to see the races. There were plenty of parking, showers, and bathroom facilities to make this a fabulous...

Happy Halloween! READ MORE...

Part 5 – Signage, Permits, Fuel/Mileage and Miscellaneous Property Taxes This post of Looking Both Ways should assist in complying with signage requirements, some permitting requirements and most fuel/mileage/property valuation type taxes imposed on trucking companies by the federal and some...

Accepting Certificates of Insurance directly from the Motor Carrier versus the Insurance Agent opens the door to fraudulent Certs that can include nonexistent “Any Auto”, “Hired Auto” or “Blanket Cargo” coverage. READ MORE...