Trucking Answers

It is in the news. Should President Biden step down? Is it time to allow someone new to come in? Food for thought.

I see many drivers posting how great driving for Walmart is. Is it? Is it the only way to make six figures? If you have a family, should you be gone? We explore.

An accident where a driver is killed is headed to court and I agree.  Please do not park in an unsafe manner no matter what the circumstances.  If you are not parking in a legal spot leave your parking lights on.  That could have saved this person.  Safety first no matter the company rule. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com

Sunset Logistics abruptly shut down and left drivers around the country without a working fuel card.  While I understand these things can happen, they knew full well what was going on.  The same week they had no money for payroll they had four new hires getting started.  This to me shows a lack of integrity that is so prevalent in the country today. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com

Let’s go in the way back machine and see how I got my start in trucking.  I started just after deregulation and I will tell you it was a great move for me because I was working at Arby’s at the time and had really no future that I could see there.  I wanted to get on the open road and see the sights!  I did and now I go home everyday in a local job and love it.  Put on your parachute p...

In a twist away from trucking I want to talk about third parties stealing votes from major party candidates.  Is this true?  Many of you may not know that I ran for office as a Libertarian candidate here in Indiana many years ago.  Did I steal votes?  No.  People chose to vote for me.  Same as in the presidential elections.  People choose who they want to vote for.  You need to earn every vote.  A...

Freightwaves recently came out with an excellent article about the trucker shortage and the fact that there isn’t one.  The whole thing is made up and I agree.  Of course, the American Trucking Association had to pipe in with their take on the shortage.  The ATA is not right on this and I explain why using this and the fake teacher shortage that has been written about lately.  As long as com...

It turns out the confidence in the military is at a low and no one can figure out why that might be.  Do you have any ideas?  It hasn’t been this low since 1997.  Who was President then?  The highest was in 2018.  I wonder who the President was at that time.  We talk about it. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com

A Deaf driver applied to Werner after completing Roadmaster truck driving school.  Did you know Werner Enterprises owns Roadmaster?  Anyway, he got an exemption and passed his DOT physical, passed truck school and applied to Werner.  Werner said no thank you to him and he wasn’t having any of it.  I totally agree.  It would appear to me, who is not a lawyer, that the only reason Werner did n...

In another follow up to my YouTube video, I discuss detention time including what it is and what it isn’t.  Who should be responsible for detention time and who pays?  Why don’t drivers get more pay for this waiting time?  We will find out. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com LaunchwithMark. Com

In a small survey, over 70% of drivers said the closure of Yellow had a negative effect on their mental health.  We need to get tougher as a society for sure.  I didn’t give it a second thought.  I go through how to prepare for the closure of your own company and not to be scared.  Be prepared. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com

Joe Madison does a show on XM and has a podcast.  He has been a broadcaster for many years and I seldom agree with even one word of what he has to say.  Today is no different.  He had people calling in telling how much taxpayer money they were wrongly getting to pay their student loans off.  Wonderful.  This is the end of society when people can vote themselves the largess of others. Mark@Trucking...

The AARP wants Pedestrian Automated Emergency Braking on trucks in the future because of “vulnerable road users”.  What  a load of garbage that is.  This AEB that they already have doesn’t even work half the time.  I think the current system should be banned and I encourage all drivers to disable the system because it is unsafe.    How many old people are being run down by semis?...

I hear more griping about how much money brokers make.  If there is so much money to be made, why not just become a broker?  I hear they do nothing and make money.  That sounds like a great way to make money!  So, why don’t more owner operators and small trucking company owners do it? LaunchWithMark. Com Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com

Are you watching Survive the Raft?  It is on Discovery.  I discuss the show and how it does actually mirror society today. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com

On my YouTube Sunday rant I talked about a trailer I had to pick up.  I do mostly drop and hook and these are some of the problems you get when doing that.  How drivers can leave a problem like this I have no idea.  Also, I go into another problem the trailer had that I did not talk about. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com LaunchwithMark. Com

I am finding a new hybrid pay system in trucking.  This is where we as the driver get a guarantee for up to a certain number of miles and then get mileage past that amount.  What do you think?  I like hourly but this solves many of the same problems.  Drivers have an incentive to work more to get more pay and companies have an incentive to keep you moving.  Not bad and a big improvement over what...

They persist buy they are myths!  Don’t agree?  Show me in the green book!  I go through a few of these myths that I get asked about all the time.  The first one is can you drive barefoot?  Also, I discuss the white sheet myth.  Finally I talk about holding your breath when you pass a cemetery.  Yes!  I reminisce about my mom making me wait one hour after eating before I could get in the wat...

A call to the Dave Ramsey show prompted this podcast.  With no high school diploma, felonies and never having driven a stick shift car you can become a truck driver and get your family out of poverty.  It doesn’t matter what color you are, if you are a man or a woman, fat or thin, any religion, tattoos or most other things that could impact you getting a job somewhere else.  Even most feloni...

There is advertised for sale a Toyota Murai in Ohio of all places.  With 36000 miles it is only $11000!  Should you buy it?  We take a detour off the trucking road to discuss this in light of people being taken advantage of in the market for a car or a trucking job.  Everything is not always what it seems and a good deal is sometimes very expensive. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation. Com LaunchwithMark....

A recent article says yet another driver is stuck in the Notch.  The driver himself says, in another language, that he cannot read the signs and therefore did not heed the signs.  That rhymes!  Everyone in the United States, except tourists, should speak and read ENGLISH.  Period.  Don’t like that?  Tough.  LEARN ENGLISH. Plus, it is REQUIRED for the CDL license that you “know English...

Trans Am Trucking has an ad running right now that says they pay 31 cents a mile for a new driver!  Wow.  I got paid that in the 90s.  Also, they need a low-paid local driver in Kansas.  I think even the Scarecrow could figure out how bad that pay is without a brain.  It is my considered opinion that they pay is so low the company should be bypassed.  New drivers can do way better. Mark@TruckingAn...

Recently I had to get some time off for a funeral.  Not a fun day but it is something most of have to do at some time.  I was talking to someone who wasn’t coming because their employer would not give them the day off.  What?  This podcast is for employers and employees on what to do in this situation. Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.com LaunchwithMark.com

Millis Transfer, Heartland Express and CFI want an exemption from the government for the entry level driver training program.  Currently trainers must have at least 2 years of experience in the industry and these 3 genius companies want that to be only 1 year.  The industry is not improved by having less experienced people training other people.  If anything the requirement should be increased to...

In what will be no surprise to anyone, Kodiak Industries has gotten exempted from roadside inspections and weigh stations in a pilot program.  So, it can bypass and you can’t.  All they have to do is certify that the truck is inspected and for the next 24 hours they are exempt.  Isn’t that nice?  Why can’t we do that?  I could inspect my truck and certify it safe.  We can’t...