I conduct ongoing research into the expediting and trucking industries using a variety of resources including:
1. Trade publications including Land Line magazine, The Trucker newspaper, Overdrive magazine, and virtually every free publication you see on the stands at truck stops.
2. Annual reports of about a dozen selected transportation companies (available free online).
3. Business publications like the Wall Street Journal and the Economist magazine.
4. The trucking channel on satellite radio.
5. Various internet forums.
6. Conversations with other truckers as we meet them on the road
7. Conversations with vendors as we meet them.
8. Conversations with industry writers who I meet through a professional industry writer's organization.
9. Conversations with people I meet at OOIDA when I visit with them in their office (as any OOIDA member can).
10. Attending seminars put on by industry experts and later conversing with them. For example, American Truck Business Services, a company that specializes in doing taxes for owner operators. These folks are recognized industry wide as truck business experts and are often quoted in industry publications.
11. Conversations with anyone and everyone I can visit with at my carrier; a contracter coordinator, a dispatcher with a few minutes on his or her hands and is in a talkative mood, recruiters, and a variety of other staff members with various responsibilities.
12. Our carrier's newsletter.
13. Books about industry topics such as "The Flying J Story" by Howard M. Carlisle, "For the Long Haul" by Don and Debbe Morrow, the "Rand McNally Motor Carrier's Road Atlas" (front portion contains a wealth of industry info), my state's CDL manual (surprising what you find in there the second and third time through), and the free handbooks given to us by our carrier ("Emergency Response Guidebook," "Hazardous Materials Compliance Pocketbook" and
"Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations Pocketbook."
14. Landmark industry studies conducted by universities and research organizations.
15. Various regulatory web sites like FMCSA's and those of selected states (like California when tire chain laws come into question).
16. Product catalogs, New Haven Moving Equipment's catalog being one of the most informative. (Available free. Order online
www.newhaven-usa.com)
17. And of course, EO. Not just the open forum, but especially everything Jeff Jensen writes.
I don't read every word in every publication, and don't want to suggest for one minute that such reading gives me a great deal of industry knowledge. On the contrary, these resources remind me how little I know about the industry I seek to know more about. I hope that after a few more years of such ongoing research, I'll be more conversant in more industry matters.
Closer to home and more-related to our business, I read books and articles about business planning. I also read the VIN-specific shop service manual and parts manual for our new truck (which I ordered with the truck; cost a couple-hundred dollars). This is the same manual the mechanics have and use at the dealership. Those publications will help me understand, maintain and repair our truck better than I otherwise could.
On our "to-buy" list is the (way too expensive) book published by the Technology Maintenance Council. But we'll buy it anyway because I do not like being without it.
With that said, Diane and I still believe learning Spanish is one of the best things we can do for ourselves as truckers. It is high on our personal-development priority list.
