Independent owner-operator Cody Blankenship takes issue with prognosticators who proclaim the death of the owner-operator. He’s contemplating adding a second truck to deal with increased demand for his Kenworth/reefer combo.Independents to come out on the winning side?
The title of this featured July 30 op-ed by Colorado Motor Carriers Association President Greg Fulton, “The undeclared war on owner-operators,” Fulton said, came from “a phrase that I heard from a frustrated owner-operator.” While there are many challenges facing all trucking businesses in today’s environment, some operators objected to Fulton’s sentiment.
Waco, Texas-based independent Cody Blankenship said such prognosticators “could not be more wrong. There’s plenty of guys like me thriving and doing it safely.” The frequently invoked “death of the owner-operator” meme he described as little more than “wishful thinking” on the part of the competition.
Blankenship has lately been contemplating adding another truck and driver to deal with increased reefer/hopper bottom demand on his operation. For further reading on big industry problems, visit this page, which includes our August 2012 interactive series of features dedicated to small-biz trucking challenges.
Congress piles on
“We’ve got to stop this bill dead in its tracks,” wrote one commenter on Overdrive’s Facebook page upon news of the so-called “SAFE HAUL” Act, introduced in July in the House of Representatives by Matt Cartwright. The bill, H.R. 2730, would raise minimum carrier insurance requirements from $750,000 to $4,442,000.
“Requiring this much insurance will put uncountable numbers of small carriers out of business,” wrote Daniel Perry, also commenting on Facebook. “The only winners will be the mega-carriers … and the ambulance-chasing so-called lawyers.”
Jake Mizell: Owner-operators won’t last much longer if this keeps up.
The bill had been referred to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with eight Democratic cosponsors. Govtrack.us metrics put it at a very low probability for passage.
Click through the image for the Oregonian’s story on truck stop cuisine in France.Only in Europe?
“If you like good, mostly local, and very affordable food, you’ll be happy at a French truck stop.” –French truck stop owner Daniel Bourscheidt, quoted in this Oregonian story about a road trip across France, and his sentiment likewise applies to fine French wine.
“The days of the truck driver will be over come 2025 [with] robotics to drive the trucks. We will become obsolete. I have been thinking of buying a couple of robotic trucks and letting them make me some money. The one thing I haven’t figured out yet is how the robotics will dislodge themselves from the wires and circuit boards and tie down those flatbed loads.” – Wayne Major, commenting under Kevin Jones’ July story on advances in driving robotics.
