Tag: business: Page 12

Overdrive Radio

Profit — what this trucking thing is all about: A new, simple freight-bid calculator app

In the latest Overdrive Radio podcast, small fleet owner Scott Jordan intros the ICG ProfitCalc app for Android/iOS, a freight bidding app that allows users to input their own annual cost projections as a benchmark for load-by-load rate calculations, per-mile and per-hour, to ensure a chosen profit margin.

January 25, 2018

Business

Mid-January freight slowdown materializes in vans, reefers, though rates remain elevated

Normal seasonal declines in load posting activity have been occurring at a much slower pace than the pace of marked increases “after the ELD mandate went into effect,” says DAT’s Matt Sullivan. “Prices are still very elevated in many parts of the country.”

January 25, 2018

Business

Trucker Tools’ predictive load feature integrates with TMS

Driver smartphone app Trucker Tools, which also provides load tracking and freight-matching features, integrated its Smart Capacity freight-match tool with the MercuryGate Transportation Management Software system, a cloud-based TMS.

January 22, 2018

Business

Conditions ripe for driver pay hikes as tight market, tax cuts could force carriers’ hand

The corporate tax cut in the tax reform package delivers “real money,” in the words of one FTR analyst, “so it’s a real opportunity” for driver pay growth. “I’d expect drivers will say … ‘OK, corporate America, this is what you asked for. Now it’s time to give back.'”

January 18, 2018

Overdrive Radio

‘Should have planned better’ only goes so far when road realities are at play

As so many owner-operators have noted in past, “planning better” will only get you so far when it comes to ELDs, a 14-hour rule with rigid ends and little opportunity to extend it or stop it for mid-period rest. Owner-operator Mark Kirbyson, in this latest edition of Overdrive Radio, concurs wholeheartedly.

January 16, 2018

Business

The coming of blockchain

Carriers, manufacturers and other trucking players are flocking to an emerging ‘distributed ledger’ approach to online business. Here’s how it could affect owner-operators.

January 5, 2018

Channel 19

Business outlook trending pessimistic in the new year for owner-operators

And … a few late Christmas wishes from a variety of owner-operators on Overdrive’s Facebook page, with their rigs dressed up for the holiday last week. . .

December 31, 2017

Business

Spot market update: Closer-to-normal trends on offer in the last week, though the ELD mandate could change that

Dry van volumes were pretty similar last week to the week before. Rates started to settle down a little after peaks post-Thanksgiving, and the surge in volumes that sent prices skyward on the West Coast is mostly in the rearview – all normal stuff for this time of year. Then the ELD mandate happened. …

December 20, 2017

Overdrive Radio

Brave new trucking world: Talking ELD angst, adjustment with Gary Buchs; plus Wes Memphis’ latest

Owner-operator Gary Buchs: Trucking “didn’t die” on December 18. “It just changed, and with every change there’s opportunity.” This Overdrive Radio edition runs through what the Landstar-leased owner-operator feels could be effective owner-operator strategy in the weeks and months ahead.

December 19, 2017

Business

Head-first into the ‘exodus’ he goes …

“Bill Weaver has decided, on pretty much the eve of the ELD mandate going into effect, to make the transition from company driver to owner-operator for the first time in his more than 20-year trucking career.”

December 13, 2017

Overdrive Radio

Carriers’ ‘magic eraser’ role in compounding uncompensated-detention issue: Rico Muhammad on the e-log shift

As a trade-off for the ultimate hassle of mandated e-logs, in this Overdrive Radio podcast Muhammad’s hopeful owner-operators can both individually and collectively use the change as a cudgel to their advantage when dealing with brokers, shippers, receivers … anyone who would insist on wasting drivers’ time.

November 14, 2017

Channel 19

New app puts load tracking in the hands of independents

FreightPrint is out with a smartphone app and tracking service that harnesses the GPS and cellular communication capabilities of smartphones in order to put tracking tools and service into the hands of independents and small fleets.

November 13, 2017