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Back to the original post, another item that comes to mind is fleet owners that pay for fuel. I would think they are feeling pressure like never before. On one hand, the driver has no financial incentive to minimize incidental deadhead trips. Driving say fifty miles to a truck stop to get a...

We average 9-10 mpg depending on speed, wind and terrain. The truck weighs 34,000 lbs. empty. We are not disappointed in the mpg numbers as we had no predefined expectations when we built the truck, though 7 mpg would have been a disappointment. In calculating its fuel surcharge, FedEx Custom...

As if $4.00/gallon for diesel fuel was not bad enough, $5.00/gallon is now being charged in some areas. Fuel surcharges trend upward as a result, but not on the personal deadhead miles expediters do. At the moment, we are 900 miles from home. At 9 mpg for a straight truck, that is 100...

Every carrier has its top producers, long-term contractors and happy people. So too with flashes in the pan, long-term complainers that don't do well but don't leave either, and wash outs. At least important as the question, "How contractor-friendly is the carrier?" is the question, "How...

We have delivered to a movie production facility in New York City and a large movie studio in Los Angeles. The New York delivery was frozen pizza dough to be used in making a TV ad for a major food company. The other was a nearly-finished movie that had post-production work done on it in New...

Two bars and a pizza joint sounds like reason enough for me. :p

Good words. Keep us posted.

Most recent run: Deadhead from a town in Maine, west on U.S. 2 to a town in Vermont to pick up. Drive loaded to a town in Upstate New York to deliver. (A delightful New England summer drive, I might add.) Miles on offer: 405 Miles on FedEx-recommended route as calculated by Delorme: 395...

If you are willing to establish yourself as a carrier, this may be an option to consider: GPSNet Technologies I was skeptical when I first learned of this approach a few years ago. But they have a success story to tell. In articles he has written and interviews he has done, company honcho Stu...

That is a great site, Crazynuff. Thank you for alerting us to it. By choice, we don't have a TV in our truck, but with online TV expanding like it is, it seems more and more that if you have a laptop, you have a TV too.

Users of Sprint and Verizon air cards regularly report high satisfaction with the services. At the moment, we are online with an air card, and also backed up to a loading dock, waiting for the shipper to arrive. We are at least 10 miles from any WI-FI access point that might be around and at...

Thank you, aarbsthw. It was an anti-climatic event. While it is nice to own the truck outright and have no truck payments to make, we feel no less focused than before. The plan is to run this truck for ten years. With two years behind us and eight to go, and adjusting for inflation, we...

TeamCaffee has it right. If the load pays enough money, accept it. Otherwise, don't. With or without reefer relocation pay, reroute pay, fuel surcharge, labor pay, deadhead pay, liftgate pay and any other pay, it has never mattered to us what they call it. All that matters is how much the...

While expediting is a tiny slice of the transportation industry, there are numerous styles of expediting that people do. Diane and I have zero interest in running under our own authority. That is not to take anything away from those that do. It is just that we value our free time. The people...

Save space. Type on light. Do we really need laptops any more? I-Tech's Virtual Keyboard - A laser projected full-sized virtual QWERTY keyboard Video: YouTube - laser keyboard

If your fleet owner is maintaining the truck and you have had no problems, that is worth a LOT and I would not be thinking about jumping ship just yet. Availability is a legitimate concern that I would guess other drivers share. Having someone on 24/7 for emergencies is a good thing. Having...

While FedEx Kinko's stores work, and are especially convenient after normal business hours, we prefer to have our mail FedEx'ed to FedEx Global Express Centers or World Express Centers (mark the air bill "Hold For Pickup"). Truck parking is almost always available there, as FedEx trucks load out...

Diane and I have been hauling White Glove freight with straight trucks, both reefer and dry box, for nearly five years. In that time, I have come to believe two things about WG straight trucks and the work. The first is that WG straight trucks and the people who drive them comprise a...

This may or may not be helpful. On our truck, if we tail load 1,000 lbs of freight, it takes about 500 lbs off the front axle. If you look at the photo, you will see the drive axles are more forward than you see on some trucks. You are already doing it. Keep paying attention to the scales and...

Actually, they say the divisions cooperate with each other to meet customer needs.