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Partners in Business
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Latest Stories: Page 9
Overdrive Extra
UPDATE: Would-be FMCSA registration hackers claim to fight fraud with latest phishing expedition
FMCSA's latest impersonators in the "hacker community" are sending a fake information request claiming to be protecting carriers against fraud. And: How's this for a hotshot? Small fleet owner Rudy Yakym Jr.'s maiden semi-retired voyage in '22 Ram 5500.
July 25, 2024
Overdrive Extra
After engine failure, owner-op John Fuller's lucky lease on his business' life
Fuller's been on a long haul now through trucking, back to "feeling like a rookie again" in a 2025 Freightliner he's lucky to have, as Overdrive Extra contributor Gary Buchs notes. Here, Fuller's outlook for business after a fairytale series of events.
August 6, 2024
Business
How to build business for trucking's down cycles: Live next month
Tackle today's central problem with us in this live online event. Learn how to prep for and profit in times of rising costs and declining revenues by routinely doing the small things, and being smart enough to spot the big ones, necessary to run strong.
July 23, 2024
Regulations
Four-wheeler runs a red light, smashing into trucker. Preventable or not?
Trucker John Doe is in downtown Indianapolis one sunny morning, sitting at a red light. When Doe gets the green to go, he moves forward and, partway through the intersection, hears a sudden BANG! and feels his rig shift toward the rear. ...
July 19, 2024
Overdrive Extra
How New Jersey created chaos with new $1.5M liability insurance requirement
New Jersey has raised minimum commercial auto liability coverage for all who have commercial trucks registered there. Here, owner-op and insurance agent W. Joel Baker outlines significant uncertainty around who the hike applies to.
June 26, 2024
Overdrive Extra
Service, loyalty might mean little to a shipper today, but we can't give up on them entirely
Past Small Fleet Champ Jason Cowan: "If we accept a lower rate on the hopes that we will ask for a higher price next week, we are kicking the can, fooling ourselves we are making progress." Here, a few examples of better ways through the downturn.
June 4, 2024
Overdrive Extra
Fighting 'cheap freight' one load at a time: Get a real read on revenue, costs
Given the speed of spot freight transactions, owners are running with rates in their playbook that are, at best, guesstimates for the cash needed to pay the business's bills and then some. Here, two good questions to answer toward better profits.
May 28, 2024
Partners in Business
What is your time worth? Re-engage with owner-operator business fundamentals to know the answer
"Time is money," as the old saying goes, and as such "time management is money management." Time, not just distance, should be a key factor in your analysis of any load to truly assess profit potential.
May 15, 2024
Overdrive Extra
In a tough trucking-business environment, owner-operators must improve efficiency to compete
How did this writer/truck owner get to 10.5 mpg? It's not just through equipment mods. If you're still running your business the same way you did in the good, booming years, itās high time to change gears.
May 10, 2024
Partners in Business
The problem with 'work-life balance' OTR for small business owners
There are a seemingly infinite number of little things day-to-day that will engender real respect from customers you serve. Solidify your stature, and you'll gain more control over all aspects of your business, including time for those back home.
May 1, 2024
Overdrive Extra
Ditch the dime-a-dozen approach to drivers: Carriers need value-attitude adjustment
After a talk with a rookie truck driver fed up with wasted time, empty miles and so much more, Clifford Petersen got to thinking about "value." Truckers need to make it a bedrock principle that their time is valued. It's costing carriers, drivers dearly.
April 24, 2024
Regulations
Fog-blind trucker hits concrete barrier: Preventable?
2 a.m., and truck driver John Doe was in rain, fog on a tight two-lane highway bounded by concrete barriers. An oncoming truck blinded Doe with high beams, then swerved into his lane. Doe missed the truck, but not the barrier to his right. Preventable?
April 17, 2024
Overdrive Extra
Your customer/broker says you ādonāt need trailer coverage to pull their trailerā -- true or false?
Warning -- just because your customer/broker says you donāt need non-owned trailer or trailer interchange coverage doesnāt mean you will not be liable if the trailer is damaged while in your ācare, custody and control.ā Here's why.
April 11, 2024
Partners in Business
'You're the business owner, so be the boss': Take the lead in profit/loss analysis
The practice can wrest control of the business from market whims, in concert with your biz partners. Yet don't forget that, whether it's a truck shop or the company you're leased to, you're hiring them to work for you -- not the opposite.
April 10, 2024
Business
Fuel payments providers boost theft protections amid card-skimming explosion
It can happen to the best of us, even Overdrive's Trucker of the Year, who on his way toward MATS to accept the award last month had his fuel card skimmed at a truck stop and $1,100 stolen. New controls from card providers could have prevented it.
April 4, 2024
Partners in Business
Stock the pantry against hunger-stricken 'panic mode' in feast-or-famine trucking cycles
It's been a year where fixed costs are up 8%, variable costs down 10%, and freight rates down even more. Without clear insight to truly understand your real costs, a measure of financial prevention of sorts, "you're running in the dark."
April 3, 2024
Partners in Business
How owner-operators still standing have weathered big rates drops through the present
In the annual Overdrive-ATBS Partners in Business co-presentation at MATS, 2023 owner-operator performance metrics showed more miles logged and lower costs. However, those factors couldn't fully overcome the poor rates environment.
March 25, 2024
Partners in Business
Download the Partners in Business presentation -- MATS 2024
ATBS Vice President Mike Hosted and Overdrive contributor Gary Buchs presented these slides at the Mid-America Trucking Show Friday, March 22. Keep tuned for a video of the presentation, likewise a report from the owner-operator business session.
March 23, 2024
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