All rest areas in the state of Pennsylvania are currently closed although that could change. This flies in the face of what government officials have said about drivers and how they are thanking us for restocking the shelves. No matter what else is happening, drivers need rest to drive safely to our next destination. Closing rest areas to all vehicles is knee-jerk reaction that will do nothing to help the roads remain safe. Now that some drivers are driving (legally) in excess of the HOS requirements, safe parking is even more necessary than it ever was. A better solution is to close the rest areas off to non-commercial traffic and allow only commercial vehicles. This would also free up extra parking in what once the car parking area. Close the building if people are afraid to come in and clean it but leave the parking open. Have the state police monitor the parking to ensure no non-commercial vehicles enter. To deprive drivers of safe parking to rest is a slap in the face to those they are praising for helping maintain the supply chain.
See you on the road!
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Today the FMCSA suspended the HOS part 390-399 until at least April 12. I will let you know if they extend it. If you haul some items you are exempt from the HOS regulations but you must still log your time and make a notation on your log about the temporary exemption. Also, once you deliver that load you then are required to take a 10 hour break before starting your next load. Trucking companies may try to take advantage of truck drivers and have them drive farther than they should. You are still responsible to get adequate rest and drive safely. Haz mat rules are not suspended meaning you still need the endorsement on your license and will still have to placard properly. Also, size and weights are not suspended so don't try to stuff 100000 pounds in your wagon. Be sure to get rest but it certainly is an opportunity to make some extra money. This will make rates on the spot market take a dive as suspending the FMCSA HOS rules increases truck capacity. Owner Operators will not be happy with this in the long run, that is for sure. Have you seen any difference in your loads? What is your company saying about the suspension of the HOS through April 12? Let me know right HERE!
See you on the road! Desperation, even if it is not real but just perceived, can have people doing crazy things. It may lead people to break in to trailers to steal the contents. This could be done by the desperate or by thieves of general opportunity. Although these break-ins generally happen while the truck and trailer are unoccupied, it does not have to be. Lock your load and park against a wall or pole if possible. Put two trailer back to back. Organized rings of thieves target trucks leaving from where toilet paper is picked up. I never in my life believed that toilet paper would become so valuable. Any kind of hand sanitizer is also at risk. Just be more careful than you normally are and this will blow over.
These times should be a good lesson to people to have some supplies at their homes. Don't run down to nothing because you never know if you will be able to get new items if there is a supply disruption. You should at all times be able to stay home for 30 days without opening your door. That is my opinion and it is what I live by. If you are very sick you should, of course, not drive but that is easier said than done. Most drivers do not get any sick days plus you can't just take off 2 weeks in some city 1000 miles from your house. Be safe out there and I will see you on the road! Jim Mullen, acting director of the FMCSA, announced today at the TCA conference in Florida that the final rule in the HOS debate has been sent to the Office of Management and Budget for review. This is the last step before the rule makes it to the books. Mind you, he would NOT say what the final rules were or if they were even close to what has been proposed. I considered doing a video on this but I will wait until we actually know what the rule is going to be. There is no timeline for the OMB to take the next step. It could be next week or next year. Once they approve the rule I believe it is then set to publish and we will find out exactly what it will be. The FMCSA has said the best rule is where no one is completely happy, whatever that means. I can't even guess on what is in store and the FMCSA is not talking. As soon as the new rule is published I will let everyone know what we will have to deal with.
Don't let someone run a red light and accuse you of being in the wrong. Your license is your paycheck. Protect it with a good dash cam like THIS one. I use it and I think you should, too. If a picture tells 1000 words imaging what a video can say. See you on the road! In a recent article in The Trucker, they are talking about the proposed law basically making AB5 a nationwide law. The bill has passed the house and is awaiting action in the Senate. OK, there is a line where they suggest AB5 "severely restricts self employment". That is not true at all. You can be self employed all day. People are confusing self employment with driving someone else's truck and they don't withhold any taxes. That is not being self employed. Self employed people buy their own truck, put their company name on it and haul freight that way. See the difference? When you do work for someone else, you are an employee. When you drive someone else's truck and they dispatch you and pay the fuel, you are an employee. Self employed people are just that, self employed. They don't work for someone else, employees do that. The trucking industry has for too long tolerated these employee misclassifications as the right thing to do. Some drivers like it but in fact they are not being classified properly. If you want to be self employed, start your own business. That is what self employed people do. They don't work for someone else. You can't drive someone else's truck and say with a straight face that you are somehow a self employed independent contractor.
See you on the road! Black Horse Carriers for those that don't know is a large logistics provider in the United States. They have terminals and operations all around the country. A terminal in Pewaukee, WI is closing. In fact, they gave the drivers 3 days notice. Isn't that wonderful? Of course, there is the WARN Act but apparently if a company says it is because of "unforeseen business issues" they don't need to give proper notice as required by law. There are approximately 61 drivers at that location.
This is a good lesson for anyone. No matter where you work, your job is not secure. A job is not security. Always, always keep your record clean and get your endorsements. If a situation like this were to come up at your company you would be ready to move on. Have an idea of where you would go if you had to leave or the place closes. In Indiana, every resident can upload and store a copy of their resume to the Department of Workforce Development free of charge. See if that is available in your state. You can then send it immediately if you needed to do so. I also recommend people sign up to drive for Uber. The sign up process is easy. In Indiana you need a 15 year old car/minivan/truck or newer, insurance and it needs to be in good condition with no dents or stickers. There is no minimum requirement on taking passengers so get signed up and you could just turn it on in the parking lot and continue to make money while you look for another job. Depending on what you were doing you may find it pays as much or more than you were making. Another YouTuber did a test with Lyft. He ran just like he had a log for 3 days. He only drove 11 hours and even took a 30 minute break. Funny. What is funnier is that he took home over $660 in 3 days. That is roughly the equivalent of $300/day gross or about $75000 a year driving a truck. No matter what, don't think it can't happen to you. See you on the road! Maybe you have never been there or maybe you have been a dozen times. Either way, you only have a few days to get free tickets to the show this year. After February 25, they won't be free. They will be $10. That's right. Why pay when you can go for free? It is simply the best show in trucking shows. Food, concerts, trucking companies galore, products, antique trucks and a truck show. All that and more! Will I see you at the Mid-America Truck Show? I hope so! Click the pic to get your tickets! I'll be walking around the show on Friday so please come up and say hello. I don't know what you all look like!
See you on the road! There is going to be a major closure on I-70 from Feb 21-24 2020 and long delays are expected. Drivers should be aware of this and plan ahead. Always check your route before you leave and have a traffic app running the entire time you are driving even if you run the same route over and over. This closure is for I-70 in the Kansas City area and details can be found HERE. Officials are telling drivers to take I-470 as a detour but several ramps are also closing. If you are headed through the area please look at the article for a map of the closure and details of the detour so you are not stuck in long backups. If you have a delivery in the area call ahead and ask your customer what they recommend to get in and out. That ELD clock always runs no matter the road construction. Don't let this delay you and run out your clock.
Use a good dash cam to make sure you can prove what happened when something does happen. Check out this good dash cam HERE. See you on the road! Today there are two articles posted about trucking. One cites the "Trucking Bloodbath" because 132 drivers are being laid off and the other is about how "hiring is up" in the trucking industry. Well, which is it? The thing is, it is whatever the trucking publication will get more eyes to view it. The real truth is that there are well over 300,000,000 people just in the United States and they all need to buy things, to eat and to travel. Good drivers are always in need in the industry. Sure, 132 drivers got laid off. That does not exactly constitute a bloodbath in an industry of over 1,000,000 drivers. Keep a clean driving record, get your endorsements and learn as many different trailers as you can so you are ready to change what you are doing if you need to do so.
While it is true that trucking is low pay for the hours you put in and it is basically a thankless job, it is none the less a job and a steady paycheck. Even if the company you work for closes suddenly, another truck driving job is right around the corner for those with a good record and experience. It can give you a check for your life. Mostly there is no barrier to those that get older unlike some careers. Heck, there are people that write to me in their 60s just getting into trucking. "Trucking Bloodbath" is just hype to get ad money. Nothing more. The dash cam you don't have can't protect your license and show the police exactly who went through that red light. Get one HERE and protect your career. See you on the road! Celadon has filed suit against a vehicle recovery company for holding its equipment hostage! Can you imagine that? Some company taking advantage of this situation? I am shocked. Anyway, the company, Triangle Recovery Services, was running ads and offering a cash reward for the location of abandoned Celadon equipment. Celadon says they were representing themselves as a legitimate way for people to turn in equipment when in fact they were just gathering equipment to hold and demand a recovery fee from Celadon. They are accused of doing what drivers were saying they were going to do which is hold on to the truck and demand that Celadon pay storage. The problem is, it doesn't work that way. You, and this place, have no agreement with Celadon to have them pay you storage. You can't make up some fee after the fact. This place is going to have to give up the equipment they have stored to the bankruptcy court and get nothing for it. You can't just do that and think it is ok. It isn't. If your company closes and you are on the road you must give them their equipment back. You don't get to park it in your yard and demand a storage fee. Not going to happen.
Do you have a dash cam yet? Why not? Your truck and your cars should have one. With so many scams and bad drivers you need to protect yourself. I use THIS one and I recommend it. See you on the road! |
AuthorHi! Welcome. I'm Mark and I've been a professional truck driver for over 33 years, the last 19 years at the same company. It is time that drivers got paid for every minute that we work and we are treated like the licensed professionals we are. Archives
February 2022
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