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You express well the love for the road that many truckers and expediters feel. We wish you the best.

Yes, we owner-operators have to make a profit, but notice how the companies mentioned in the article did it: Cost cutting and improved freight selection. They did not have the option to improve freight selection during the Great Recession. They do now as truck capacity tightens. This is the...

I found a way to remove the FedEx logos from our old FedEx jackets and parkas. It is not easy and will require a lot of time and delicate work but it gets the job done. It's the kind of project that can be done while watching football. Saturate a small portion of the logo with a few drops of...

Without exception, every BCO Diane and I have talked to in person and by phone, before and after signing on with Landstar, has been welcoming and helpful. Impressed with that, and following their example, we have tried to be the same toward those who signed on after we did. We still have a great...

"It ain't like it used to be" is a common refrain among expediters who have many years under their belts, regardless of carrier and regardless of any carrier changes. I remember when Diane and I were brand new and how meaningless that statement was when we heard it. Our point of reference was...

Open Forum members are not alone in blasting the TWIC program. A U.S. Senate committee had harsh words for it too. The shot story, at least for now, is that TWIC is a failure. It has made the nation less secure at a cost of billions of dollars to private industry and over $100 each to truckers...

This may be difficult for non-Landstar expediters to believe. It amazed me when I saw it for the first time. When a group of Landstar BCOs (Landstar's name for contractors) gather together in a place where they can talk freely, few if any complaints are voiced against the company. A friend of...

Well said.

Landstar expediters are part of only 250 or so trucks in Landstar's expedite division, Landstar Express America.

I agree with your point about not taking it personally when someone criticizes your carrier of choice. When criticism is directed at your carrier, it is not directed at you, unless you so closely identify yourself with your carrier that it is impossible to distinguish between the two (as in...

Here is a live shot, of sorts, that illustrates the trade-offs and also illustrates how cloudy the reefer/no-reefer question is. It is Monday morning. We are in Tacoma, WA where we delivered freight yesterday. Tacoma is not a good freight area. For purposes of this discussion, set aside how and...

There is a difference in how you and I are using the term "TVAL." By TVAL I mean a very specific service that requires certified equipment on the truck and a huge amount of back-office support that the customers demand and audit. As for the rest of the reefer market, I'm sure opportunities are...

I know nothing about your business plan or goals but will suggest that you narrow your scope. "Everyone" is a broad class of people. Instead of trying to be the company that everyone wants to drive for, be a company that specializes in a particular kind of driver, or in a particular kind of...

I do not know that number. I could go back and run a report to see what it was for our truck but that number would not be meaningful. It would vary greatly among trucks, and even more so in the last year when FedEx began to give preferential treatment to company-owned reefer trailers and...

The review period may continue for a long time. Just when I get to thinking that dropping the reefer would be a good idea, we get a reefer load that changes my mind. That said, it is important to note that our reefer unit was paid for long ago. If you have a paid-for reefer unit and are...

We are all human beings, as as such, all mixed bags.

A nice overview.

A telephone call with another team who will soon move to Landstar and a face-to-face visit with a team who recently moved gave me more food for thought regarding the emotions of a carrier switch. While changing carriers is an emotional event, to one degree or another, depending on the person...

If by satellite tracked you mean having a Qualcomm unit in your truck, the answer is yes. Diane and I signed on with Landstar Express America at the end of June and one of the first things they did was install a Qualcomm unit in our straight truck. Qualcomm units are required in all trucks at...

CVSA has on the its web site a news video about Operation Safe Drvier. I think it is wonderful how CVSA is using its resources to enhance the image of truck drivers in the public mind (NOT).