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Are you serious? Have you never declined a load? Of course we should say no to a customer. If the customer is not willing to make it worth a driver's time and miles to haul the customer's freight, why on earth should a driver do it? Long run or short, the principle is the same, is it not...

I expect 2009 to be slower than 2008, but that has nothing to do with the new administration. The financial crisis (mortgage, credit, banking, Wall Street, freight recession, economic recession, global recession ... pick your flavor) developed and became deeply rooted long before the election...

As with all elections, the exit polls that explain who voted for who and why paint a patchwork-quilt picture. In Florida, a majority of voters elected Obama AND banned gay marriage. The same happened in California. Yet in South Dakota, a majority of voters supported John McCain AND blocked an...

Having lived through some racially-charged times and events, I can't help but notice the profound change that is happening not in the White House or Washington but on the streets. Today, millions of black Americans, many hundreds of thousands who embraced the system and voted for the first...

Minnesota is covered. Diane will be landing there shortly. I'll ask her to pick up a card at the airport and send it.

Because it is important to maintain your independent contractor status, most fleet owners are disinclined to impose load acceptance requirements. Some provide load acceptance incentives and most are happy to provide guidance if asked. You might consider increasing your research time frame...

Yesterday at a rest area, I saw a big-rig parked and idling near the sign that said no idling. A state trooper (full grown bear) driving against traffic pulled in front of the truck, which was the only one idling in the lot, and looked it over. He then parked and went in the building. The...

Nobody in the financial press is saying the 2009 economy will be better than 2008 (at least no one I have seen). Since freight levels and prices are affected by general economic conditions, I am wondering what kind of year y'all expect? Some veterans of past hard times report hauling less than...

I know what you mean about the acceptance stats. Last year we were proud as could be about our acceptance percentage. This year it has declined, perhaps because of the new system, perhaps because more bad loads are being offered. But the new system does not change market forces. People who run...

Even with 11 stinker loads in a row (we have never seen anything close to that), I would not worry. If you cannot afford to run them profitably, it is not likely that someone else can. The desperate people who take unprofitable loads will put themselves out of the business. Shippers who try to...

After driving overnight, we delivered this morning in New England, went to sleep and were woken up four times with load offers. Two of the first three paid over $2.00 per mile. The one that did not involved a lot of deadhead but still paid well enough to accept. We turned them down because...

Now there's an idea for the next Expo! An in-truck-cooked brownie contest. Volunteering to be a judge here! :)

Diane and I first learned of the FedEx Custom Critical/TA fuel discount months ago by word of mouth from other contractors. We immediately called our friends to make sure they knew too. Official notification came soon after. The best thing about this discount is it reduces our operating costs...

Remembering the praise SlushBusters received here in the Open Forum last year, we recently ordered a set. They are now at home waiting for us to pick them up. It will be great if they work as well as people say. It solves a very real problem.

It has only happened to us twice that we became too sick to drive. Both times we spent in bed in the truck until it passed. Once was at a truck stop. Once was at an RV park. We were no so sick as to be confined to bed. Had that been the case, a hotel room would have been the solution. Flu...

Just one man's opinion here. Expedited freight transport (definitions of what exactly that is vary) is not more vunerable than general trucking owner-operators. 1. At a time where we have seen carriers of all sizes going out of business at tripple the previous rate, no expedite carrier that I...

The explaination is that Greg is taking a breather and is off the forum for personal reasons. That leaves me wondering if he is still in the business? Is he?

Let's be careful about deciding when the freight speeds up and slows down, and then running the facts through political filters to affix credit and blame for it. For the record, freight is slowing down now. Carriers are going out of business today at three times the previous rate. And worse...

While you are right about Dems and Repubs being equally responsible for the mess we are in, you are not right in presenting the White House as a passive player in legislation. The $700 bailout bill provides an example. This began as a White House initiatiave. It did not begin in Congress. It...

I would not go so far as to say that. With the economy slowing, a bunch of good folks will find themselves out of work. Some will discover and consider the expediting opportunity. If you can adapt to living and working on the road, doing somewhat profitable expediting work may be preferable to...