Brake Check

SMARTER TRUCKS, BETTER DRIVERS, OR JUST MORE EXPENSIVE BS Everybody in trucking has a shiny new toy promising to change the industry. Electric trucks. Driver simulators. Alternative fuels. Next-generation technology. And every sales pitch comes with the same promise: “IT PAYS FOR ITSELF.” Cool..... SHOW ME THE DAMN MATH! On this episode of Brake Check, Charles puts trucking's next generation of te...

For years, trucking has been told it has a driver shortage. But what if the bigger problem isn't how many drivers we have? What if we're wasting the ones already here? Research led by Dr. David Correll at MIT FreightLab found long-haul drivers averaged roughly 6.5 hours of actual driving in an available 11-hour driving window. When Correll compared utilization with the industry's then-claim of an...

Trucking bought the AI,  Now SHOW ME THE DAMN MONEY! AI is recruiting drivers. Reading contracts. Building RFQs. Automating workflows. Booking freight. And every trucking-tech company suddenly has “AI” somewhere in the pitch. Cool....RIGHT? DOES ANY OF IT ACTUALLY MAKE THE CARRIER MONEY? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles skips the keynote buzzwords and puts trucking’s AI boom to the tes...

Is trucking finally at the bottom...or are we still digging? Diesel is around $6.53 a gallon. Rates remain under pressure. Capacity keeps leaving. Cash is getting tighter. And trucking has been hearing the same promise for what feels like forever: “THE RECOVERY IS COMING.” Cool....WHEN? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles follows the money with two guests looking at the trucking market from co...

Is trucking finally at the bottom...or are we still digging? Diesel is around $6.53 a gallon. Rates remain under pressure. Capacity keeps leaving. Cash is getting tighter. And trucking has been hearing the same promise for what feels like forever: “THE RECOVERY IS COMING.” Cool....WHEN? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles follows the money with two guests looking at the trucking market from co...

Diesel is above $6 a gallon. But what if the pump isn't the only place your trucking company is getting crushed? One carrier analyzed by Magnus Technologies was reportedly more than $53,000 behind through August because of the timing of its monthly fuel-surcharge resets. Read that again. $53,000. GONE. BECAUSE OF THE MATH. On this episode of Brake Check, Charles  goes after both sides of the...

$7 DIESEL? FMCSA CRACKDOWN. WHAT’S NEXT? This may be one of the biggest Brake Check conversations we've put together. Two problems are hitting American trucking at the same damn time: The cost of running is exploding... The rules for running are getting tighter.... And instead of asking somebody on social media what they THINK about it, we're going straight to the people who actually know. FMCSA A...

In this episode of Brake Check on FreightWaves TV, host Charles Gracey is joined by Lewie Pugh (Executive Vice President of OOIDA) & Dan Lindsey of the Broker Carrier Summit, to tackle the growing issue of "Chameleon Carriers" in the trucking industry. They dive deep into how bad actors exploit systemic loopholes—changing DOT numbers and carrier identities for a nominal fee to dodge regulatory ove...

100% owner-operators. Turnover around 30%. In an industry where some fleets live with turnover north of 90%…HOW? That’s what we came to Mercer Transportation in Louisville, Kentucky to find out. For Day 1 of Truck Driver Appreciation Week, Brake Check is LIVE from Mercer Town ... but we’re not here for another corporate speech about how much drivers are “appreciated.” We want to know what apprecia...

The rate confirmation looks legit. The authority checks out. The email looks right. The money looks good. Then the freight disappears .... or you deliver it and nobody pays you. Freight fraud isn't just getting bigger. It's getting smarter. Stolen identities, fake carriers, double brokering, strategic theft and criminals who increasingly know exactly how to look legitimate long enough to get your...

Trucking is spending a fortune on AI and automation. But what if fleets are automating the WRONG damn thing? AI can quote freight, process tenders, move data, predict maintenance problems and eliminate hours of back-office work. What it CAN'T do is lead your people. On this episode of Brake Check, Charles puts both sides of trucking's technology revolution in the hot seat. Grace Sharkey of Orderfu...

Who the hell gave them a CDL .... and why did it take a family paying the price before Washington started listening? This episode of Brake Check isn't an attack on professional truck drivers. It's an investigation into the systems, safeguards, bad actors and policymakers that are supposed to keep unqualified drivers from ever getting behind the wheel of a commercial truck. Professional truck drive...

Fuel additives. Miracle MPG claims. Injector cleaners. Cheap replacement parts. And, of course, Washington taking its cut before you burn a single gallon. So on this episode of Brake Check, we're asking one question:WHO THE HELL IS EATING YOUR GALLON? First, Jessica Crabtree, Director of Technical Services at Power Service Products, brings the chemistry. We're separating legitimate diesel fuel sci...

Trucking says young people don't want to drive trucks. BULLSH*T. They're showing up. The real question is why we keep losing them.... With driver turnover still hammering parts of the industry, trucking keeps searching for the next generation while arguing about recruiting, CDL training, driver pay and a supposed lack of young people willing to work. What if the pipeline isn't actually the biggest...

Why would a truck driver spend thousands of dollars .... and an entire weekend ..... making a WORKING truck look better than some people's houses? Because this isn't really about chrome. And it damn sure isn't vanity. On this episode of Brake Check, Charles  sits down with Evan Steger of Evan's Detailing & Polishing / Time2Shine and David Lowry of Bennett Motor Express to uncover what truck p...

Truck driver turnover can exceed 90% at major fleets....and trucking still keeps asking what's wrong with the DRIVER. Maybe we're asking the wrong damn question. What if trucking's driver retention problem isn't really a recruiting problem? What if it's a LEADERSHIP problem? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles sits down with fleet owner Pam Polyak and Dr. Vernard "Doctor V" Jenkins, VP of Oper...

Cargo theft is changing fast .... and freight fraud is getting EXPENSIVE. Cargo theft incidents dropped 26% in Q2 2026, yet reported losses surged to $304.6 MILLION. Fewer thefts. More than double the money stolen. So HOW are freight thieves doing it  and who pays when they succeed? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles Gracey sits down with Jared Flinn, founder of BulkLoads.com, and freigh...

Trucking says it NEEDS truckers. So why can't drivers find a safe place to park, why does Washington keep piling on rules, and why does the industry keep screaming “driver shortage” while struggling to keep the drivers it already has? On this episode of Brake Check, Charles Gracey asks the uncomfortable question: Does trucking actually hate truckers? OOIDA's Collin Long joins us from the Washingto...

Trucking says it has a DRIVER SHORTAGE. So why are some  carriers still burning through drivers at 90%+ turnover? Maybe trucking doesn't have a recruiting problem. Maybe it has a job worth keeping problem. On this episode of Brake Check, Charles Gracey digs into why professional drivers leave and why the industry's answer always seems to be recruiting MORE people instead of fixing what sends...

On this Brake Check Vacation Special, host Charles Gracey runs back two of the most critical regulatory, legal, and safety compliance conversations facing the trucking industry today. First, Brandon Wiseman and Rob Carpenter from Trucksafe join the show to break down what FMCSA’s new MODUS registration system actually means for carriers and brokers. They dive into the legal fallout of recent Supre...

Welcome back to Brake Check! In this episode, Charles sits down with industry leaders to cut through the fluff, break down current market trends, and deliver real trucking talk. Michael Kroul (CEO of KTI) discusses navigating spot rates, building long-term carrier relationships, and the role of legal risk management and AI in modern freight brokerage. Tyler Johnston (GM of Operations at Mercer Tra...

Can trucking survive if diesel hits $6 a gallon? And if it does...will AI be the difference between staying profitable and shutting the doors? On this episode of Brake Check, we tackle two of the biggest forces reshaping trucking today. Senior Market Analyst Phil Flynn of The PRICE Futures Group breaks down where diesel prices are really headed, what could send fuel above $6 per gallon, how geopol...

The trucking industry just entered a new era...and "we didn't know" may no longer be enough. After the Montgomery v. Caribe decision, brokers are facing unprecedented scrutiny over how they select motor carriers. Then came another massive Texas verdict involving Home Depot and C.H. Robinson, raising new questions about broker liability, negligent selection, and whether every catastrophic truck cra...

The trucking crackdown is here. The question is...will your company survive it? FMCSA has rewritten the playbook. CSA has undergone its biggest overhaul in years. English proficiency enforcement is back in force. DataQs are more important than ever. And freight fraud has exploded into one of the biggest threats facing carriers today. One bad inspection. One stolen identity. One double-brokered loa...

Rates are finally climbing... so why are trucking companies still struggling to make money? ATRI just revealed the highest operating cost in trucking history: $2.336 per mile. Diesel is pushing $5 a gallon AND SOME ARE WORRIED MAY HIT $6. Insurance keeps climbing. Maintenance isn't getting cheaper. So where is the money actually going? In this episode of Brake Check, we expose the hidden costs dra...