Voices

Overdrive Extra

Processing an insurrection, with the Colonel

Long Haul Paul on the U.S. Capitol riot, and the messy questions it raises ... "How much time do we devote to the fussy comradeships of peripheral people we encounter online? And how much time does that rob from those we care about the most? ..."

January 19, 2021

Truck On Side Of Road Mechanical Breakdown

Overdrive Radio

Beware: Human smugglers luring truckers along the border

In this week's Overdrive Radio podcast, Chief Matthew Hudak of the Laredo section of the U.S. Border Patrol emphasizes how professional drivers can help combat a sharp uptick in human smuggling/trafficking via tractor-trailers.

January 15, 2021

X-ray imaging caught this reefer filled with 150 people bound for the U.S. interior from the border zone near Laredo as the new year turned just a couple weeks ago. It's part of an uptick of such busts U.S. Border Patrol is asking the trucking community for information about. Find contact information for the Laredo sector office of the border patrol via this link.

Overdrive Extra

Building personal payroll -- a step toward tax savings, better finances

More deliberate financial choices engendered by creating a personal payroll can act as subtle self-nudges that lead owners to managing money better overall, controlling discretionary personal spending and placing roadblocks in the way of unwise habits.

January 13, 2021

Dealing with personal pay has always been something of an elephant in the room for small business owners, who find ways to avoid dealing with it. How often have you had an experienced owner who tells you to pay yourself first? Too often, we don’t listen, rationalizing that hard driving and more miles, maybe the higher gross posted each week in our settlements, will make up income shortages that may occur.

SBA auditing truckers' insurance in wake of pandemic disaster loans: Two owners' stories

If you're one of the untold number of owner-operators who took an SBA disaster loan in the spring of 2020, last month you may well have been contacted to verify insurance -- how two operators dealt with it (one smoothly, one not so much).

January 12, 2021

Lance Buttermore's 2015 Kenworth T680 and leased step deck

Overdrive Radio

Trucking with authority and other reasons ‘Why we drive’ — OTR rewind No. 2

In this Overdrive Radio podcast, an update on the last couple of years' push toward one featured trucker's new authority as an owner-operator, and much more.

January 7, 2021

Meet Kenyette Godhigh-Bell, shown here behind the wheel of her 2017 Freightliner Cascadia — you heard that right — Godhigh-Bell is a company driver no more.

Overdrive Extra

As some of its operators called it quits, 9-truck Hettinger persevered through 2020’s bad rates and new regs

Poor rates, health concerns and the new Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse drove away Hettinger's operators in 2020, but the fleet pushed through.

January 7, 2021

Mary Bohl, front, with two Hettinger dispatchers in front of the companys sign in Missouri.

From expected Biden DOT, owner-operators look for parking, highways, FLSA reforms

This trio of items adds to those familiar yet newly prominent in Overdrive's reader polling on priorities for an expected new DOT Secretary under Biden.

January 6, 2021

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Overdrive Extra

Cost increases are coming — your rates need to reflect that sooner than later

Take advice from a veteran owner-operator and begin adjusting your own cost basis and rates now, rather than waiting until increases have long taken place.

December 21, 2020

Owner-operator Robert Boyle and his 2007 Peterbilt 387

Overdrive Radio

Back to the ‘Biggest Tailgate in Trucking’ — and Germann Soeth’s 1976 KW K100

The coproduction of Overdrive and Radiotopia brought the reality of working haulers to all audiences. Plus: Germann Soeth's restored 1976 Kenworth K100.

December 23, 2020

Also in the podcast: A taste of an interview I did with owner-operator Germann Soeth out of Frederick, Maryland, with mostly dump work and principally in a 1998 Kenworth W900 that was featured in past at OverdriveOnline.com When we caught back up with owner-operator Soeth in October, though, he was showing a 1976 vintage Kenworth cabover. He was, interestingly enough, getting ready to put it into service hauling loads after a long retirement, given a significant breakdown with his 1990s conventional. Find out how he took the rig from scrap yard to working order over the course of a few years here.

POLL: Do you plan to get vaccinated against COVID-19 when available to professional truckers?

How would you rate the likelihood you’ll be in line for the Pfizer/Moderna vaccines approved for emergency use against COVID-19 when they become available to drivers? Weigh in via this poll.

December 22, 2020

Wild myths around coronavirus prevention and treatment are making the rounds on social media. Don’t fall prey to those or some of the COVID-19 scams popping up.

Overdrive Radio

Log annotations to avoid hours of service violations — and more from FMCSA Q&A

Listen to Overdrive Radio to learn more about log annotations to avoid hours of service violations and other topics covered by the FMCSA's recent G&A here.

December 18, 2020

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POLL: What should be the next DOT secretary’s No. 1 priority for 2021?

Truck parking? Regs efforts around broker oversight? FMCSA's driver advisory panel? More hours flexibility? ... What's your advice for an incoming DOT chief?

December 18, 2020

Former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg will reportedly be nominated to lead the DOT under the Biden Administration.

COVID-19 relief bill: Majority of owner-operators favor direct payment, small-biz assistance

Most owner-operators anchored behind support for working people as their top priorities for any eventual COVID relief/stimulus legislation out of Congress.

December 15, 2020

Overdrive Radio

OTR soundtrack custom-built for 2020: Paul Marhoefer’s ‘Songs from a truck’

The trucker-songwriter's record explores the emotion of personal history, striking a chord with anyone managing the risks of the road with a family back home.

December 11, 2020

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POLL: What aspect of a COVID relief bill should be most prioritized by Congress?

Direct cash payments to taxpayers or further federal unemployment? Support for health networks and first responders to assistance to small businesses? What’s your take on the biggest priority for a COVID relief bill out of Congress?

December 10, 2020

Overdrive Radio

Time to account for independent dispatch services in regulation?

TIA wants limits on independent dispatchers to work for just one carrier, and if more, registration as a broker. Here, owner-ops weigh in via Overdrive Radio.

December 4, 2020

Owner-operator Bent’s 2015 Peterbilt

POLL: Is it time for a national review panel of industry/enforcement to decide DataQs appeals?

In carriers’ violation/crash-info challenges through the federal DataQs system that are appealed, it’s often the case that the original jurisdiction/personnel that issued the violation or handled the crash is the final arbiter. Should a new system be devised for appeals?

December 2, 2020

Preps for Roadcheck by Overdrive readers include a variety of equipment inspections and third-party checks, plus just “business as usual” for the largest share — the nearly as large number of recent poll respondents who noted they scheduled vacation highlights how many view the cat-and-mouse approach to roadside inspections, as little more than a nuisance. | Photo by Tom Quimby

POLL: Is electronic mobile signature capture part of your protocol with receivers?

With the COVID-19 pandemic, signature-capture technologies on documents sent between devices have made their way more extensively into the operator-receiver interaction to limit personal contact. Do you have such a system in place yourself, whether a fleet’s system or your own?

November 29, 2020

Buchs checks in on the load board during the two-hour unload at the tail end of the run. He was planning then not the next load, which he’s pick up early the next morning, but looking farther down the line to the one after that.

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Analysts optimistic on trucking after chaotic year

2020’s strong second half and prospects for continued high freight demand bode well into 2022, FTR says. However, several factors will affect the timing and intensity of further recovery.

“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

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

Beware: Human smugglers luring truckers along the border

More episodes »

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.

Partners in Business Issue Cover