Overdrive Online

DECEMBER 25, 2023

Long Haul Paul tells the tale of charitable truck shows that took place in 2023. Those we have information for raised more than $2.2 million, and were often started by individual truckers turning tragedy into hope

Trucking 115

Trucking 115

Overdrive Online

MARCH 8, 2024

Kenworth's 100th anniversary wrapped up in January, but highlights keep rolling in, from a spectacularly huge truck show in New Zealand that finally got off the ground in early February to another close look at an old favorite, still a phase.

Trucking 88

Trucking 88

Overdrive Online

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

For Long Haul Paul, it's impossible to get through to brokers in the daytime, then the 3 a.m. calls start. LHP takes the temp around broker "check calls," sometimes made in spite of increasingly ubiquitous tracking technology in use.

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121

Overdrive Online

DECEMBER 5, 2023

But the price drop wasn't all there was to it when Matthew Mickenberg carefullly weighed added costs and other potential savings, reversing his early-year decision to hang on to his five-year-old Kenworth T680.

Trucking 114

Trucking 114

Overdrive Online

JANUARY 30, 2024

FMCSA's under-21 interstate trucker apprenticeship program is off to a sputtering start, yet for Will Dodson, among the first drivers to graduate to unsupervised OTR work in the program, it's the hopeful start of a long trucking career.

Meeting 94

Meeting Trucking 94

Overdrive Online

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

New Brunswick, Canada-headquartered Paul Leger speaks fluent trucker. On the road to his ministry around the Irving Big Stop in Salisbury, he ran U.S. lanes out of Toronto, then no-logbook Maritimes multi-stops before a spiritual transformation.

Maritime 106

Maritime 106

Overdrive Online

OCTOBER 12, 2023

So asks Long Haul Paul with this tale of bad blood after an old friend's two-week notice resulted in 14 days of bad loads, and a couple of crashes, to boot. Three experienced owners weigh in with their own considered answers.

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112

Overdrive Online

OCTOBER 24, 2023

It's the novel creation of Chace Barber and the team at Canada-headquartered Edison Motors, and the first new build for the company after several retrofit diesel-electric designs, and recently shown at an Ontario truck and car show.

Meeting 108

Meeting Trucking 108

Overdrive Online

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

That's but one viewpoint delivered by readers following Long Haul Paul's "Weigh In" tale earlier in the week detailing instances of over-eager brokers' sleep-disturbing check-ins in the wee hours. Here, LHP weighs next steps, rounding up commentary.

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102

Overdrive Online

OCTOBER 2, 2023

For more than a decade running, Overdrive sister company RigDig BI has been the go-to source for used-truck buyers in need of a gut check on any vehicle's title, total loss and inspection history. Now, it's part of OverdriveOnline.com.

Trucking 110

Trucking Sourcing 110

Overdrive Online

DECEMBER 8, 2023

A whopping 1,700-plus authority revocations in one day last month, outside FMCSA's usual revocation cadence, turned heads around Thanksgiving. FMCSA removed several blanket BOC3 companies from its system, putting trucker clients in shutdown risk.

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97

Overdrive Online

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

Insurance agent W. Joel Baker emphasizes that you might be very surprised to find what is not in fact covered, and what is required of you to avoid a claim being denied or your insurance being canceled.

Trucking 115

Trucking 115

Overdrive Online

NOVEMBER 22, 2023

If you're enjoying a little downtime over-the-road or at home, know that we're thankful for all of you here at Overdrive. Enjoy this run back through some of the Reader Rigs entries who've helped serve it up in this and Thanksgivings past.

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94

Overdrive Online

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023

From the 10 fleets named semi-finalists, Overdrive will recognize two finalists each in two separate competitive divisions -- companies with 3-10 trucks and those with 11-30 trucks at the end of 2022 -- before naming a winner in each category.

Meeting 100

Meeting Trucking 100

Overdrive Online

JUNE 2, 2023

A recent letter signed by five U.S. Senators and three House reps urges DOT Inspector General to work with the DOJ and the FMCSA to explore a permanent task force dedicated to issues of fraud in brokered and other freight markets.

Freight 106

Freight 106

Overdrive Online

MAY 9, 2023

Truckers came together this past weekend with friends from all walks of life to raise more than $40,000 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer awareness and research at the Large Cars & Guitars truck show in Kodak, Tennessee.

Trucking 109

Trucking 109

Overdrive Online

JANUARY 9, 2023

The long-term return on a person’s honest investment in volunteering far outweighs what may appear at first a week of lost income opportunity. Meet an example of purpose beyond the truck in owner-operator Jay Hosty and his wife, Katt.

Operations 122

Operations Trucking Examples Meeting 122

Overdrive Online

MARCH 13, 2023

"Long Haul Paul" Marhoefer's report from his own marooning two weeks back with road closures in frigid Wyoming, culminating a rash of closures this winter season and a threefold increase in related crash fatalities.

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112

Overdrive Online

JANUARY 5, 2024

Hensley Livestock Dispatch and Consulting owner Andrea Hensley pays tribute to her legendary small fleet owner father in conversation with Long Haul Paul -- and gets a look with all of us at the spectacular restoration of the 359.

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76

Overdrive Online

JULY 6, 2023

Truck driving isn't an easy career path for anyone, much less someone with a spouse and children at home. Here, a special thanks to all the trucker dads (and moms) out there, especially my own. Today, he hangs up the keys on a 40-year trucking career.

Trucking 97

Trucking 97

Overdrive Online

AUGUST 8, 2023

Contributor Matthew Patrick, with a small fleet/broker in the Northeast, outlines a particularly efficient flavor of double brokering he's found that often goes undetected, sinking rates for real carriers involved in these schemes, reducing profits.

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How To Efficiency 92

Overdrive Online

MAY 22, 2023

"Fighting that mess at the truck stop" was a principal concern driving the investment in the Large Car Campgrounds initiative, says Bennett Motor Express CEO David Lowry. Now, three dedicated campgrounds for Bennett-leased owners set the stage for more.

Trucking 102

Trucking 102

Overdrive Online

JUNE 20, 2023

Negative press when it comes to economic conditions can easily overwhelm and discourage hope for success, sapping owner-operators' energy away from critical tasks. Here's a bevy of savings, income opportunities you may be missing in the process.

Cost Reduction 95

Cost Reduction SAP Trucking Operations 95

Overdrive Online

AUGUST 24, 2022

We all gawked earlier this year at fuel-pump pictures shared to social media that showed high costs to fill our tractors’ big tanks. Yet continuing shock over gross cost begs bigger questions for owners about what really matters: profit.

Trucking 119

Trucking 119

Overdrive Online

MARCH 1, 2023

A visit with 2022 Small Fleet Champ and CAP owner Chris Porricelli yields the story of this '03 classic, bought with the "truck, trailer, bulkhead and pallet jack and with the southbound load" out of Pennsylvania as part of the deal in 2017.

Trucking 100

Trucking 100

Overdrive Online

JANUARY 23, 2023

Marine vet and owner-operator Carlos Alizondo hauled in military support-operations in Iraq, but also has war stories about container hauling in his hometown of Chicago. These guys don't know how good they have it today," he said of current conditions.

Military 101

Military Operations 101

Overdrive Online

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

Long Haul Paul's talk with a blue-haired receiver with a hipster affect takes a surprising turn. Have GPS and other trucking tech "permanently altered our sense of social obligation toward one another?" Or just turned necessity into opportunity.

Trucking 98

Trucking 98

Overdrive Online

MARCH 1, 2023

A visit with 2022 Small Fleet Champ and CAP owner Chris Porricelli yields the story of this '03 classic, bought with the "truck, trailer, bulkhead and pallet jack and with the southbound load" out of Pennsylvania as part of the deal in 2017.

Trucking 96

Trucking 96

Overdrive Online

AUGUST 16, 2023

And charge customers for it. Truckers report little improvement in detention times since the ELD mandate. Yet time, of course, is money. The more owner-operators use their own numbers to engage customers on costs and lost opportunity the better.

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Operations How To Course 78

Overdrive Online

DECEMBER 27, 2022

In particular, keep a sharp eye out for any broker or customer’s requirement to provide “additional insured” coverage and/or a “waiver of subrogation” -- both could have big insurance implications in the event of an incident.

Events 100

Events 100

Overdrive Online

JULY 6, 2022

Clifford Petersen argues that lawmakers/regulators should set aside legislative and regulatory projects pushed by those with little to no familiarity with OTR realities, in favor of a push for real progress on parking, highway infrastructure needs.

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112

Overdrive Online

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Australian truckers are a world apart from U.S. counterparts (they do haul on the left side of the road, after all), yet this conversation with father and son trucking vets Kevin and Mitch Forbes shows plenty in common, including regs, training issues.

Training 99

Training Trucking 99

Overdrive Online

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Broker/carrier owner Jon Asiala shares lessons learned after falling prey to crooks with a double-brokered load that, ultimately, found its way back to him when the final carrier didn't get paid. More carriers/brokers would do well to heed his message.

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101

Overdrive Online

AUGUST 17, 2022

Steve Kron is a miles-per-gallon pioneer. He’s not running a newer truck, and has added little in the way of electronics-enabled technology. He’s just an owner-operator with a distinct ability to look outside the box for effective tactics to boost mpg.

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Trucking Operations 106

Overdrive Online

JUNE 20, 2022

Joel Baker answers the question in the title, one he's been getting increasingly from struggling small fleet owners. The answer? Part of it is to avoid the self-inflicted wounds common to trucking business owners who've grown too quickly.

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Trucking How To 110

Overdrive Online

JULY 15, 2022

Colorado trucking association's Greg Fulton calls for an end to tow company abuse of "the privilege of being on a state’s safety rotation" -- trucking companies, he says, "should not be at the mercy of unscrupulous towing operators'" excessive fees.

Trucking 106

Trucking Operations 106

Overdrive Online

AUGUST 2, 2022

An emissions check at a New Jersey scale house sparked this look at implications for the rest of the country into the future from Gary Buchs. It’s not a far stretch to think trucking may begin seeing additional random testing" in years to come.

Trucking 102

Trucking 102