Overdrive Extra

6 tasks to assess 2020 and set biz priorities for 2021

Did your owner-operator business hit its goals for 2020? What can you do to adjust for 2021? Check out these 6 steps for assessing your business on Overdrive.

December 3, 2020

car hauler-2020-12-03-13-31

Owner-operators dish to the motoring public on parking, ELDs, appreciation, sharing the road ...

A recent episode of a local radio program delivered a dose of reality to the motoring public, digging into a variety of topics near and dear to owner-operators: parking/time stresses and the ELD mandate, unrealistic brokered rates and much more.

March 20, 2023

Ekulona (left) with Davis in-cab -- read the story the host wrote after the experience via this link.

'Estimated opening time is unknown': Winter from hell on I-80 in Wyoming

"Long Haul Paul" Marhoefer's report from his own marooning two weeks back with road closures in frigid Wyoming, culminating a rash of closures this winter season and a threefold increase in related crash fatalities.

March 13, 2023

Wyoming I 80 Pileup White Out 63d8264c8b69e

'It came with work': CAP Trucking's flagship 2003 Peterbilt 379

A visit with 2022 Small Fleet Champ and CAP owner Chris Porricelli yields the story of this '03 classic, bought with the "truck, trailer, bulkhead and pallet jack and with the southbound load" out of Pennsylvania as part of the deal in 2017.

March 1, 2023

Chris Porricellie's 2003 Peterbilt 379

How to avoid application errors when applying for your USDOT/MC numbers

All too often, application errors lead to extra start-up costs, delays and lost income. Longtime owner-operator and insurance agent W. Joel Baker here shares some of the more common filing errors he sees and issues associated with them.

February 28, 2023

instructions for form op-1

'We don't give directions' -- how GPS is changing our social selves

Long Haul Paul's talk with a blue-haired receiver with a hipster affect takes a surprising turn. Have GPS and other trucking tech "permanently altered our sense of social obligation toward one another?" he asks. Or just turned necessity into opportunity.

February 21, 2023

Denise Marhoefer with Provolone cheese

We are not alone in the struggle against depression and other serious mental health risks

A recent OTR suicide prompted Clifford Petersen to remind anyone needing help that he's been there himself, and is available for a conversation, for support. Read his moving story here, and access resources. "You are not alone," as he emphasizes.

February 13, 2023

Loaded flatbed on highway

Is ATA starting to understand small trucking businesses?

In the first meeting of the new Congress' House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, ATA President and CEO Chris Spear spoke to the reps about issues trucking faces. Interestingly, perhaps oddly, he sounded at least at times like an owner-op.

February 2, 2023

ATA President and CEO Chris Spear

‘Common sense, you’ve got it for a reason’ -- Use your CB already, owner-ops say

And if you don’t run with a CB, get one. Too many seem to think that the CB is little more than a “movie prop from a silly movie from the 1970s,” as Kenneth Williams put it, echoing the sentiment of a bevy of truckers after a deadly highway pileup.

January 24, 2017

More freight fraud inbound? Pessimistic rates outlook sets the stage

The double brokers and ID thieves are most definitely back from the holiday vacation. Meanwhile, latest Bloomberg | Truckstop.com survey shows owners' increasingly pessimistic outlook for freight rates' immediate future, though some optimism remains.

February 1, 2023

Trucks exiting scale back onto highway

The most under-appreciated insurance coverage in all of trucking

After the death of an owner's spouse and passenger, it's clear that if you don’t have this coverage, or if you choose to purchase only the minimum, you could be making one of your worst business and insurance coverage decisions.

January 30, 2023

Semi-truck crash with police cars on a highway

Owner-op finds Chicago container hauling, long-term, more lucrative than OTR

Marine vet and owner-operator Carlos Alizondo hauled in military support-operations in Iraq, but also has war stories about container hauling in his hometown of Chicago. "These guys don't know how good they have it today," he said of current conditions.

January 23, 2023

Carlos Alizondo's 1998 Peterbilt 379 daycab

Drummer for iconic rock band with Overdrive ties dies

Robbie Bachman, one of the founding members of the iconic Canadian rock band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, passed away Jan. 12. The last part of the band's name came from an encounter with this publication at a Windsor stop, detailed in August 1975.

January 23, 2023

Bachman-Turner Overdrive August 1975 feature in Overdrive

New year, new you

Have you given up on your New Year's Resolutions yet? If so, you're not alone. Clifford Petersen here offers strategies toward more effective goal-setting and achievement. "The reward is a new you, at a new level, in this new year."

January 16, 2023

Flatbed On Highway California Pacheco Pass

Wide loads to a narrow niche: Houseboat hauler and expert diesel mechanic Greg Parks

The story of how a personal need in 2010 brought the longtime diesel shop owner to the ultra-specialized business of houseboat hauling, which is a significant though still part-time portion of his week-in, week-out work out of Camden, Arkansas.

January 10, 2023

Greg Parks' Western Star pulling a houseboat

A purposeful life beyond the truck: Owner-operators Jay and Katt Hosty

The long-term return on a person’s honest investment in volunteering far outweighs what may appear at first a week of lost income opportunity. Meet an example of purpose beyond the truck in owner-operator Jay Hosty and his wife, Katt.

January 9, 2023

Jay Hosty and his 2005 Western Star

Faces of the Road: Longtime Wreaths Across America transportation director Don Queeney

Don Queeney "exudes mission," according to Long Haul Paul in this profile about his long tenure directing transportation annually for Wreaths Across America. The Hampton Roads Moving and Storage cofounder reflects on that mission here.

January 3, 2023

Then there was this photo in late 2005 that basically broke the Internet.

Runaway duals incoming! ... and a Christmas Eve miracle, or: 'Hi, I'm Phil'

Long Haul Paul Marhoefer recounts the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a runaway set of duals that hit him head-on in Western Nebraska on Christmas Eve, where a miracle of kindness and generosity awaited from enforcement, fellow truckers and citizens.

January 2, 2023

A separated tandem pair of wheels speeds toward impact with Long Haul Paul's truck

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250' tall, 190' long and 150' wide. These on-shore furnaces are 'some of the biggest things to be moved this far' on land, said Mammoet's team lead on this five-mile move from the coast inland to a pastics facility in Texas.

The heaviest of hauls: Peek into 2022's biggest, baddest jobs by specialized carriers

How's 250' tall, 190' long and 150' wide sound? That's just one of the four complex moves highlighted recently as part of the Specialized Carriers & Rigging Association's annual Hauling Jobs of the Year program. 2023 winners will be announced next month.

Youtube

Oversize hauler's shower solution for small sleepers | More 'Winter from hell' on I-80

truck inspector, driver exiting cab

Proposed CSA-scores change a mixed bag, particularly for hours of service category

old blue rotted kenworth

Trucking's 'bloodbath,' a year later: How some owner-ops hold the line

Engineered for superior calls in high-noise environments.

Engineered for superior calls in high-noise environments.

Oversize hauler's shower solution for small sleepers | More 'Winter from hell' on I-80

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