Buy A New Truck And Beat The Old Timers At Their Own Game

New owner operators can get in and scoop up California freight while the majority of existing owners cling to older equipment.  I have a 2007 Freightliner that is in excellent condition along with many other drivers that are in my same position.  We buy these trucks because we want to use them until the wheels fall off.  We maintain them meticulously and make sure they last a long time.  Ideally, you want to buy a new truck and run it for ten years or more.  At the million mile mark, you consider an in-frame rebuild and try to put another million miles on the truck.  You change out shocks, bearings, and maybe some wiring, but you keep the maintenance up and a good truck owner can keep a new truck running for well into 1.5 million miles with no catastrophic failures.

 

Our truck has 600K miles on it and everything under the hood is original except the head on the engine, the starter, and the A/C compressor.  The engine head could have been saved from being replaced, but that is how it happened.  It was a warranty item so it didn’t cost me anything to replace.  The starter had 600K miles on it and the A/C compressor, well, those go out with constant use, but the first one that was original on the truck reached 421K miles until it failed. 

With the California regulations coming to into full effect in January for everyone who doesn't have a DPF installed on their truck, many operators are forced to buy new equipment.  If you are new to the game, you are at an advantage because you don’t have to salvage an old truck or worry about resale.  You can buy a compliant truck and frequent the ports in California or anywhere in the state for that matter and be compliant.  There are some trade-offs though in that the older trucks don’t use DEF or have to have a DPF cleaned every year.  These trucks with the latest environmental technology have higher upfront costs and higher DPF maintenance costs as well. 

The bottom line is that if you go buy a new truck at least 2010 or later, you can capitalize on the new environment of 2014.

Off The Beaten Path

The turnover rate at the major trucking companies has been holding steady at +/- 100% and with new students making it through pathetic 2-week training schools and hitting the highway with little-to-no real real life experience, we have a lot of people out here doing the obvious when it comes to taking breaks.  And this new 30-minute break (not new to veterans, as we've always been taking 30-minutes, just not logging it!) is causing many people to flock to truck stops that they know and trust.

Flying J, Pilot, Travel Centers Of America, Petro, and Love's are the usual hangouts for most truckers.  And they're packed.  But there are many truck stops and parking lots that allow truckers to stay overnight and for several days if need be, you just have to know where they are.  Since they're not major chains, the new drivers don't know to go there, but these places are all over the country.  

It's interesting to see how an old fuel stop with no recognized brand name will be bought by one of the major truck stops and then fill with drivers working for one of the major trucking companies as if they sprung out of the ground brand new.  Every veteran driver knows of a stop off the beaten path with plenty of parking (or a few spots that are never used), good food, and easy access to major highways.

Perhaps the new guys don't know about the other options because they lack good training.  Perhaps the trainers didn't want to give up their secrets.  I know my own experience with numerous trainers turned out to be a huge disappointment.  I didn't really learn until I got out here on my own. 

Our system is set up to control drivers and keep them under the thumb of a company, not to encourage, train, and help them succeed on their own.  Even the insurance companies require several years of experience before they will let a driver buy a truck and go out on their own.  In order to achieve this level of experience, there's basically one route to take:  go to a trucking school and then drive for a carrier who is self-insured for your first two or three years.  This is the only way to get the experience you need in order to obtain your own insurance.  

It's one way to beat the system.  The large, self-insured carriers like to have a steady flow of cheap new-hires flowing through their doors.  It keeps their turnover rate high so drivers can't plan on working at the carrier until retirement, and it ensures that a driver isn't trained well enough to become empowered to go out on their own.

There is a constant stream of misinformation about how large carriers will prevail and the owner-operators will all suffer and die out.  You hear it on the trucking radio shows, read it in the corporate sponsored trucking magazines, and see it on the fuel islands and docks. Despite this negative false rhetoric, owner-operators make up 80% of the trucking industry.  Company drivers, only 20%.  

And it's these 20% of drivers who clog the truck stops during break times and overnight stops.  If you're one of the mass groups of drivers who've eked their way through a 2-week trucking school to be called a "professional" truck driver, only to be stuck relying on your GPS which will guide you under low bridges and through non-trucking approved routes, and you can only park at the major truck stops because you weren't taught any better, then you owe it to yourself to become educated and stop listening anyone who will tell you that learning about trucking is a waste of time.

Sadly, I don't see this changing anytime soon.  Because it doesn't benefit the powers that be who are disseminating the information.  I don't agree with it, but everything's about money and if it doesn't make someone money, it just isn't worth doing.  Even if it means that lives are lost in the process.  What trucking needs is real training, and for the operators of these large trucks to be considered professionals who have a skill.  But you see, if this happens it will cost the people who rely on trucks billions of dollars.  The major carriers have figured all of this out.  And that's why they don't provide adequate training.

Until they do, truck stops will be full of trucks, accidents will continue to occur, and the HOS will be designed and crafted by the corporations and the government, instead of the drivers. 

It takes years of trial and error, common sense, and the ability to maneuver a 40-ton vehicle around this nation's dilapidated infrastructure and among the growing population of our nation, to successfully operate a semi truck.  

And training from a 2-week school trucking school just isn't enough to achieve it.

CSA 2010

Compliance, Safety, and Accountability

It doesn't work.  End of post.

Seriously though, CSA is possible today because of the advent of the internet, computers, and modern technology.  This is why it is new, untested, and unproven.  CSA has hit us truckers square in the face and lately it has been shown to actually hurt the safest carriers in the industry by classifying them as unsafe.

It's the government's attempt to regulate driver's behavior.  In other words, it's like a computer telling you how to act more human.  Legally. 

The CSA was designed to:

1. Enable companies to hire safer drivers.
2. Enable drivers to work for safer carriers.
3. Enable law enforcement to target unsafe drivers and carriers more easily.
4. Create a higher demand for safe drivers.

The CSA program is for any carrier with a USDOT number.  That's pretty much everybody in any form of trucking.  I could write an entire website devoted to the CSA, but that has already been done.

The bottom line is that your equipment must be in good working order, logbook must be accurate, freight must be properly secured, and you must be fully capable of operating the vehicle both mentally and physically.

At first glance the DOT looks for:
A.  Truck and trailer
    1. License plates
    2. Inspection stickers
    3. Cleanliness of the vehicle (Dashboard free of clutter and truck recently washed)
    4. Overall condition of the vehicle such as missing mudflaps, damaged tires, and
        faulty lights (A nice paint job can really help you here)
B.  Condition of the load
    1.  How the load is situated on the trailer (positioned correctly and legally)
    2.  The condition of the securement devices (undamaged straps,chains, and binders)
    3.  The correct number and type of securement devices
    4.  The weight of the entire truck and trailer
    5.  The weight of each axle
C.    The condition of the driver
    1.  Driver's ability to answer all questions about your load, equipment, and operation accurately
    2.  Driver's environment (clean cab free of garbage)
    3.  Driver's appearance (clearly awake and alert, clean and decently dressed)

If the operator does all of this, drives a nice looking truck that's in compliance, and knows what the heck they're talking about in regards to the rules, regulations, and load information, then they'll do well during an inspection. 

Reading this from the perspective of someone who is not in the industry, or as a newcomer, you might be discouraged from embarking on a career in trucking as it would appear that the DOT is being a little too hard on truckers.  Worst case scenario, you should be prepared to lose everything at the whim of a DOT officer at a roadside checkpoint because they have the power to ban you from trucking with a series of failed inspections.

This is a boon for large trucking companies and the FMCSA as it legally removes all power from the trucker and puts it in the hands of the government.  No longer can a truck driver keep working in the business legally after they operate unsafely.  No one wants unsafe operators.  I know I don't want them.  Unfortunately though, with each law that's put in place, qualified operators are singled out and penalized unjustly.  This is the ultimate drawback of government oversight. 

The main problem in the industry is still not being addressed:  It's a general defunding of the working class.  In the trucking industry though, it means the roads are less safe, the drivers aren't as professional as they could be, the equipment is in worse shape, and the general environment is catering to the large trucking companies over the start-ups (destruction of the small business trucking companies).

An example of a large trucking company which owns no equipment, yet operates as a middleman between truckers and customers is CH Robinson.  CH Robinson nets billions of dollars as a middleman.  This is a company that takes money from the customer, decides how much money the trucker will do the load for, then sells it the trucker.  The customer and the trucker both lose money in this transaction.

This matters to CSA why?

Simply put, the time has come for customers and truckers to communicate directly with each other and completely cut out all brokers/middlemen.  Sorry brokers, it's nothing personal.  The technology that's available now eradicates their business model.   Every truck today has a laptop in it and every driver has access to load boards.  Given the reality that customers and truckers will become more tech savvy, trucking companies and brokers are worried that the small business trucker will gain the upper hand.  This is a direct threat to the major trucking companies. 

CSA 2010 was created to help EOBR's become a reality.  EOBR's will allow every single truck to be tracked by Qualcomm, Peoplenet, Skybitz, and ultimately the government, which acts in concert with the major corporations who fund the lobbyists to push their agenda.  At its core, it's the oldest game in the book:  Wipe out the competition.

Even more insidious is the way in which this is being justified.  The people who are pushing these laws are using images and stories of people killed in truck accidents to mandate their policies, yet there are no studies to date which show that CSA 2010 or EOBR's do anything to promote safety.  In fact, so far the evidence is to the contrary.  There is a rush to get this done, but rest assured it has nothing to do with safety.  It's all about stopping the small businesses from taking complete control of this industry. 

The mega-carriers and giant corporations have a war chest full of cash to throw at this, thanks to the hard working men and women out here who perform work for them.  I don't see this changing anytime soon, so all that can be done is to stay on top of the changes and understand who the major players are.

Safety Run Amok

The Alliance for Driver Safety and Security is a group of trucking companies that are pooling their money to make EOBR's mandatory.

http://www.eobrforsafety.org/home

The problem is that EOBR's do nothing to promote safety. What they do accomplish is a one stop shop for all truck activity logging and location tracking, plus padding the pockets of these money grubbing freedom stealers. EOBR's do not stop drivers from being harassed by carriers, they are expensive, and require monthly fees which are unreasonable.

In addition to this, there have been no studies by ANYONE to date which prove that these devices do ANYTHING to make drivers safer, yet the EOBR made it into the last Highway Bill after the Alliance for Driver Safety and Security pushed it through with their own lawmakers and millions of bucks. And that my friend, is corruption! It is a glaring example of how money buys laws.

How much money will be generated by these devices? Here is the breakdown:

Cheapest EOBR: $700

Most expensive EOBR: $3000.00

Monthly Fees: $30.00 (and you will be locked in, so if the fees increase, you will have no choice but to pay them)

There are roughly 3 million OTR drivers on the highway. so that would be a cost to the industry as a whole of:
$2,100,000,000 for the cheapest models of EOBR's and $9,000,000,000 for the most expensive models.  Realistically only about ten percent of the industry will need the most expensive model so let’s break that out of each category.

The total estimated cost for the initial addition of EOBR's to all of the OTR fleets is:

$2,790,000,000 (That's 2.79 Billion dollars!)

The fees for these units are: $90,000,000.00/year (90 Million! EACH YEAR!)

This would outfit every Interstate truck with a tracking device which would be linked to a satellite. Through this satellite, the truck's location and activities are recorded in real time. For example, if you were driving down a hill and the truck exceeded the posted speed limit because of gravity, you may receive a speeding ticket in the mail from the local authorities. This same Alliance for Driver Safety and Security is also trying to mandate speed limiters, increase the minimum financial requirements for starting a trucking company, increase the cost of the new trucks by $6,000.00 each, and levy a $30,000.00 fine for any operator that doesn't use the same truck design that these carriers dictate.

You read that right! 

The law makers who are pushing these regulations for this group (According to Arkansas Trucking Report) are:

“...Other than Pryor and his lead co-sponsor, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, both Kidd and Osterberg credited First District Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and Congressman Reid Ribble (R-Wisc.) for keeping the EOBR provision alive in the conference committee after the Senate and House passed their respective versions. Both Crawford and Ribble were appointed by House speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to the conference committee to hammer out differences between the Senate and House.

Then they were named to the truck safety working group to consider both the drug and alcohol clearinghouse and the EOBR rule. The clearinghouse sailed out but the EOBR rule drew some opposition among conferees. Crawford was able to overcome some House Republican resistance by explaining the EOBR provision was not a new mandate, but a means of better enforcing the current mandate…”

We are enjoying our life out here on the open road, but there are unpleasant forces at work trying to take that freedom away in the guise of safety. Make no mistake though, I am for anything that promotes truck safety on the highway.

 As long as that is what it actually does.

EOBR's (Electronic On Board Recorders)

Now we have EOBR's direct from the FMCSA. The idea is a good one, but it will need some serious tweaking. The problem with the current rules and regulations is that they apply to every driver and the problem with that is that every driver runs a different operation. Team operators run differently than solos and regional operations are different than long haul operations. The same rules apply to everyone. Another problem with the EOBR's is that they don't work with trucks. That's right! They don't work. For example:

Lets say that I start my clock for the day and then 5 minutes later, my plans change and I have changed my mind for whatever reason so that I wont be starting my work day for a few hours later. Well now my clock has started and I have 14 hours to complete my work day. The EOBR is recording my time now. This is not going to work as the EOBR will record me as in violation if I restart my clock in 5 hours and then try to drive for 10 hours. They are a great idea for keeping track of the vehicle's movements and what happened after a crash, but to use them to enforce Hours of Service is not practical.