Tag: small fleets: Page 3

Voices

POLL: What is the most difficult aspect of growing beyond a single truck as an owner-op?

Small fleet owners and those in the midst of an expansion plan beyond a single truck: Which of these areas — finding dependable drivers, dealing with more maintenance, equipment investment, insurance, administrative burdens and more — has proved the most difficult for you in growing the operation?

January 21, 2019

Overdrive Radio

Growing pains of small trucking: Midnight Xpress on blown motors, hiring mistakes and more

In the half-year since we first talked with Midnight Xpress co-owner Andre Jackson for the Overdrive Radio podcast, small fleet expansion plans continue to be implemented, though they’ve shifted with a breakdown of the first truck Jackson and partners added, among other issues — including hiring mistakes made.

January 18, 2019

Electronic Logging Devices

The not-so-long haul: The operational challenges to owner-ops after the ELD mandate

The relatively sudden impact of the ELD mandate, on top of the growing demands of e-commerce, has narrowed haul lengths and challenged owner-operators to maximize productivity around more picks and drops. The short-haul choice is becoming more attractive even as many owner-ops report taking an income hit.

December 28, 2018

Custom Rigs

The ’61 needlenose and ’74 cabover Petes — and a pair of 389 gliders — of Mel-Rick Inc.

At GBATS, Rick Bestwick and company — owners of the Mel-Rick Inc. 10-truck hopper and step-deck pulling fleet of Sabetha, Kan. — showed two classics and two hardworking gliders. Catch more about them, and the Mel-Rick business incorporated since the early 1980s, in this new video.

December 27, 2018

Business

Simplified tracking for small brokers and owner-ops

Small broker Ana Vetter also runs the one truck in Condor Cargo’s carrier operation, owned by her and her brother Eric Guerra. Using the FreightPrint tracking service, she says, “You’re not really getting into the driver’s business. Once the load is delivered, it ends right there.”

December 10, 2018

Business

For small fleets, tracking can be ELD fringe benefit

“I hate the ELD, I hate that it’s mandated,” says small-fleet owner-operator Rob Hallahan, but I “like the utilities that come with it,” including location tracking and sharing.

December 6, 2018

Channel 19

Hours of service proposal could come by end of March

Signs point to a decision on whether to move forward with hours change from FMCSA sooner than later — by Spring, regulators said during a call with owner-operators put together by Scott Reed and Scott Jordan of the Independent Carrier Group covering hours, the ELD mandate and exemptions, training and enforcement topics.

December 6, 2018

Overdrive Extra

2019’s crystal ball: Hot sectors, interest rates, used truck pricing, small-fleet hiring

A month from now, we’ll be inundated with experts reading the trucking tea leaves for 2019. Rather not wait for their pronouncements? Here’s an early jump on new-year predictions, as well as trends that go beyond 2019.

November 21, 2018

Channel 19

Better ‘pay would solve most’ critical issues: Readers’ priorities show variation from, similarity to recent rankings

While “the economy” does figure as a critical issue year-in year-out in the annual ATRI “critical issues” rankings, issues of adequate driver compensation — and rates for independent truckers — don’t command the same direct attention. All the same, as one reader noted, better “pay would solve most” problems.

November 16, 2018

Overdrive Radio

How a ’96 Classic came to be ‘The Goose,’ and: Hope for small-biz primacy with FMCSA?

So just how did Daniel and Phyllis Snow’s 1996 Freightliner Classic XL come to be called ‘The Goose’? In this Overdrive Radio podcast, the independent owner-operators tell that story. Also: A bit of stumping for the importance of small business in trucking from none other than the top motor carrier safety regulator in the nation,

November 9, 2018

Business

‘Winds of change’ at FMCSA: Administrator Ray Martinez opens NASTC conference with keynote

Leadership at the Department of Transportation on up to the President of the United States, Martinez said, “wants us to work with the regulated community” to boost safety and efficiency. Also: NASTC honors Dan Baker on his 80th birthday, Roar Logistics as Broker of the Year and Women in Trucking’s Ellen Voie for promoting female truckers.

November 2, 2018

Overdrive Radio

The living legacy of the ‘BlackOut’ veterans-tribute Freightliner, and: Small fleet growth elsewhere

A couple weeks out from Veterans Day, this week’s podcast walks through recent additions to the BlackOut 1999 Freightliner veterans-tribute and memorial truck and more Chuck Timbrook following a health scare two years ago. Also: More from owner-op Rob Hallahan’s small fleet growth with other owner-ops.

October 26, 2018