Tag: Owner-Operators: Page 9

Channel 19

Move some tarps, get some tarps

If the Tarps Plus company has its way, you may well in future take a load of its tarps and get paid in, well, tarps. Check out this story on the San Francisco Chronicle’s website, which quotes Tarps Plus president Michael Stein on the “no-brainer” that is a new program looking to barter company tarps […]

June 4, 2012

Overdrive Extra

Are you a natural gas truck owner-operator?

Overdrive‘s brand-new June issue features our quarterly section devoted to the severe service niche that’s heavy this time around on coverage of natural-gas-powered engine technology, leading with the story of a Chicago ready-mix concrete outfit that’s put down big investments in natural gas Kenworth W900s. Check out the section in the digital magazine via this […]

June 4, 2012

Channel 19

What does your fuel surcharge look like?

A poll that asks for owner-operators’ thoughts on the use of fuel surcharges as a cushioning agent against spikes in fuel prices sparked some discussion on Facebook last week. Owner-operators Linda Caffee, Jeff Clark and others were involved, Clark taking the point of view that fuel surcharges were merely a utility for negotiating long-term rates in contracts […]

June 3, 2012

Channel 19

Channel 19’s Friday trucking news quiz

A brief quiz on the week’s news — play yourself! Post answers in the comments here then go back through the past week’s blog entries to check your results. Get all five without cheating? You might be my best reader. 4: A Channel 19 regular, no doubt. 3: Thanks for reading! 2: Where have you […]

June 1, 2012

Overdrive Extra

One Girl Trucking: ‘More courtesy now’

An encounter with a pair of joy-riding, inconsiderate motorcyclists over Memorial Day turned dramatic when truck driver Bethany, blogging at One Girl Trucking, decided enough was enough and confronted the bikers at a red light. Read her account, a sort of pitch and plea to bikers, motorists and truckers alike for more courtesy and common […]

June 1, 2012

Channel 19

From the shop to the road: One operator’s 359

This 1986 Peterbilt 359 is the result of a three-year project conducted from 2007-10 by owners Wayne and Kelly Ziegenfuss, today leased to Bennett Motor Express and hauling mining equipment to Arizona, coming back with copper, on a step deck from a Hendersonville, N.C., home base. I met the pair at the Southeastern Regional Truck […]

May 31, 2012

Overdrive Extra

New heights for American pride?

Driver David Ray Thornburg took matters into his own hands, reported Steve Stoler of WFAA in Houston, when he saw a barren flagpole at a truck stop in Denton, Texas, on Memorial Day. Thornburg, a military veteran, with video camera running, drove his truck down to a nearby Wal-Mart, got the store to donate a […]

May 30, 2012

Channel 19

Bogan case: More reasons to choose a carrier carefully

The Bogan case may be best viewed in the context of tried-and-true advice: be smart and choosy about who you run for. You never know when you may need the boss to go to bat for you rather than hanging you out to dry by being forced out of business.

May 30, 2012

Overdrive Extra

Truckers’ attorney Paul Taylor, FMCSA rep at social media meeting

The folks with the Truck Driver Social Media Convention are gearing up for their second annual meeting — and have been sharing highlights of the two-day program in process for Oct. 27-28 in Kansas City via the AsktheTrucker.com blog. Among the presenters this year will be Elaine Papp, Division Chief of the FMCSA’s  Office of […]

May 29, 2012

Channel 19

Leaving long-haul: Operators migrate to oil/gas

I talked to a pair of recently former team owner-operators late last week who, like owner-operator Mike Mace, leased to Reed Trucking, have truly rediscovered their old love of trucking — in this case as company drivers in service operations surrounding new natural gas wells enabled by hydraulic fracturing technology. The strong demand for capacity in […]

May 29, 2012

Channel 19

Amid big fleet investments, operators stare down high truck prices

Something is going right for the Jacobson Companies 3PL — Mack Trucks announced yesterday that they took delivery of an order of 259 built-in-the-U.S. Mack Pinnacles, 139 daycabs and 120 sleeper trucks, and they’re hiring dedicated company drivers for runs based out of their Des Moines, Iowa, headquarters. Any owner-operators out their run freight for […]

May 27, 2012

Channel 19

Imagine running for the same fleet for 50 years…

Can you? We’ve heard no shortage of stories of independents who’ve stayed active that long leased to different carriers or on their own, but never with the same company. (If you have, I’m all ears!) I can’t think of a company driver who’s done it, either (though Wisconsin-based Butch Mueller is getting pretty close), and […]

May 25, 2012