PIB TIP: LIMIT IDLE TIME. Alternatives to idling,

Sep 13, 2010

PIB TIP: LIMIT IDLE TIME. Alternatives to idling, which can cost $120 per week if your truck idles eight hours daily, include use of an extra blanket in cold weather and window screens on warm days. For about $80 you can buy a remote starter with a temperature sensor that starts the truck at a specified temperature. The Partners in Business program is produced by Overdrive and the consultants at ATBS, the nation’s largest owner-operator business services firm, and is sponsored by Schneider National Inc. and Freightliner Trucks.

Partners in Business tip: Work to improve your credit

December 2, 2020

“Wreck on the Mountain Road” is about the death of a trucker on Bent Mountain, just southwest of Roanoke, Virginia.

Fatal wreck remembered in first recorded trucking song

No. 1 in Overdrive Radio's new 'Songs of the Highway' podcast series looks at a 1928 song believed to be the first recorded trucking tune.

The trucker cap in teacher Amy Watson’s selfie from the day she was tested for COVID-19 later inspired her choice of “long-haulers” to describe COVID survivors with persistent symptoms. “My school’s mascot is a squirrel,” she said, which she finds appropriate, given that her pre-school students, with their short bursts of activity, are “very squirrel-like.”

Trucking’s bit part in the 'COVID long-haulers’ name

Small-fleet owner Jesse McGinness was going for originality with the look of this 2021 Peterbilt 389, spec'ing the black Alcoa rims from the factory. After his maiden voyage in a Class 8 tractor years ago, in a Peterbilt 379, he fell in love with the classic square-hood series. He plans to modify the stacks, the grille and more to all-black finish -- committing sacrilege, says the operator who took him on that first 379 run. McGinness'll maintain plenty in chrome/stainless accents, not to worry. The flattop with lift-axle is powered by the X15 Cummins at 605 hp, with an 18-speed transmission. 'I wanted this truck to be a truck that I thought was cool,' McGinness said, in addition to doing the tough over-dimensional/heavy hauling he'll require of it.

'WTF' stresses service for long-term success

The glider market grew from a few hundred sales a year in 2010 to upwards of 10,000 as recently as 2017. Gliders sported pre-emissions-regs engines -- no exhaust gas recirculation or selective catalytic reduction components and, thus, no need for DEF. With simpler technology and refurbished engines, the products were much cheaper than new trucks with new engines, making them attractive buys for small-business truckers.

Glider kit market hits fatal nosedive with latest emissions regs

After weakened demand in 2020, diesel prices jump back to pre-pandemic levels

Beware: Human smugglers luring truckers along the border

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The Business Manual for Owner-Operators

Overdrive editors and ATBS present the industry’s best manual for prospective and committed owner-operators. You’ll find exceptional depth on many issues in the 2021 edition of Partners in Business.

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