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The answer to your deadhead question will vary from team to team and driver to driver. We stay out more than most. We have one planned trip per year home, for Christmas. If the freight takes us close, we may stay a few days or keep running, depending on how we feel. When the time to go home at...

Phil and Diane Madsen (that's us) became financially well off running someone else's truck. We drove fleet owner trucks for three years before buying a truck of our own. With the exception of a few slow periods that all expediters have from time to time, and two months when we had no fleet...

Maybe something has changed. When Diane and I looked for companies to rent us an air brake equipped straight truck, the easy part was finding the companies. The challenge was finding a company that would rent us a truck when neither of us had a CDL, but only permits. In Minnesota, truck driver...

Rest areas, yes. Wal-Mart, yes. With our straight truck, we tend to go where 24 hour businesses can be found. Restaurant managers will often give permission to park overnight in their lots (but not Steak and Shake, never had much success with them). Grocery store managers are also usually glad...

Since it is not possible to repsond to the "EO Code of Conduct" announcement in the announcement window above, I'm starting a thread here to do so. This is a long-overdue change that will benefit the entire EO community. Thank you to those who put the time, effort and moral courage into...

Your willingness to characterize yourself as an unsuccessful expediter is refreshingly honest. With a bit of time now between you and your departure from expediting, do you have any advice to share with people who are thinking about getting into the industry? To what do you attribute your...

Here is a link to the FedEx Custom Critical Solutions web page. Click on White Glove Services to learn more about this component of the larger company. White Glove trucks and drivers do more than is listed here, but this will give you a start. When available, White Glove trucks and drivers are...

Diane and I avoid truck stop parking whenever we can for a number of reasons. We do take some satisfaction in doing that frees up a parking space for a big rig driver who really needs it. Every night, as the truck stops fill, there is a dance that goes on where big rig drivers orbit around...

Diane and I drive team, so I can't tell you much about solo. I can say that Minneapolis is our home express center and we seldom have trouble getting a load out. We also seldom get a load in. Freight that takes us home is a rare find. That suits us just fine, as we spend most of our time on the...

We bought one (NeatReceipts) last year. It performs as advertised. I especially like its compact size. This scanner takes up very little space in the truck. I don't like the fact that it will not clearly scan very fine print on thermal paper, such that I can fax such print to someone else. These...

Thank you for the explaination, Leo. No harm done.

Wow! Thanks for pointing that out. I did not notice it until you mentioned it, arrbsthw. I did indeed say that we have already hauled these containers...the dry ice variety, not the new compressed air variety. I don't remember deleting that part of my post and suspect someone else did, though, I...

People said I had my head in the sand (and the clouds) when, as someone researching the trucking industry, I described as possible the lifestyle and income we enjoy today. Actually, the income is higher than I believed possible then. People said I had my head in the sand when I said several...

This is an interesting development to be sure, and one that, I must admit, gives me pause. As a Custom Critical contractor with a reefer-equipped truck, and with a good deal of our revenue coming from reefer freight, this is a development that merits some consideration. Worse case, this new...

We avoid most truck stops first because of the risk to the truck. Parking a van in front of a Flying J is one thing. Parking among the big rigs in any truck stop is quite another. Look at the grounds where the trucks go at any truck stop. There is hardly an object standing or sitting that has...

While some recruiters may contact you off your message, some will not because you do not yet have the needed CDL. To get full information from carriers, it is best to keep the ball in your own court and contact your carriers of interest yourself. Don't wait for the industry to come to you. Go to...

We had a somewhat similar episode recently with our ZF Meritor 12 speed transmission. As in your case it was not so much a transmission problem as an electrical one. Driving the truck in snow and slop, we lost the automatic function on the transmission. It kept working fine, but we had to shift...

A number of straight-truck expediters have self-trained to get their CDLs. A class B license with HAZMAT and air brakes endorsement is typical. In our case, with no previous truck driving experience, we studied the CDL manual that was available free from the state and passed the written test...

How about a finger?

That is awesome, JohnO! Great move!