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Carriers Lifestyle

Safe Christmas Driving

There is no doubt that Christmas is a time of great joy, but it can be a time of great peril as well. With more people on the road than during many other times of the year, it is a prime holiday season for car accidents. In order to make it safely through to New Year’s and prevent roadway injuries, follow a few basic Christmas driving tips.

Leave Early

Avoid getting into an accident related to traffic jams or impatient drivers on the road by leaving plenty of time to get to your destination. Whether it’s a trip to find the perfect tree, a big shopping expedition, or last-minute Christmas errand running, remember that many other people will need to get to the same places you do, and all are in a hurry. Leaving earlier than you need to can be a sound investment in your life and health during the holidays.

Watch Carefully

Many individuals choose Christmas to overindulge in alcohol, or they can be sleep-deprived due to the stress of the season. You’ll need to be especially watchful of other cars’ movements and drive on the defensive more than usual. Likewise, make sure that if you will be drinking alcohol at a party, or think you’ll be especially tired before your drive home, designate someone to transport you.

Decorations

Many people enjoy decorating their cars for the holidays, whether in the form of stickers and appliques, or even life-size antlers and “tails” for their bumpers. If this sounds like your idea of Christmas fun, make sure that any decorations you put on the vehicle do not impede your view of the road. Not only is this illegal, but even a small portion of covered window can substantially reduce your visibility, increasing the likelihood of a serious accident.

Get a Car Checkup

Winter driving is especially hard on your vehicle. It uses more fuel and other chemicals to continue running and keeping occupants warm; plus ice, snow and rock salt can be tough on tires. During all the running around that takes place during the Christmas season, it’s easy to forget errands like oil changes and replacing worn brake pads. But don’t make the mistake of putting these items off — an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to Christmas car safety.

Secure the Tree

If you’ll be taking a Christmas tree home in your car, be sure that it is securely fastened to the roof. Failing to strap it down properly can turn an evergreen into a projectile missile when it comes to the cars behind you.

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Trucker News

Drive more fuel efficiently

The easiest step to driving more fuel efficiently is to make your car as efficient as possible. One simple step that usually only costs about $50 is to replace your crappy paper air filter in the engine’s air intake with a cotton, high flow K&N one. They make one for basically any vehicle and you can get them at most auto parts stores. Typically they let about 50% more air into the engine. Now your air flow and temperature sensor and fuel injection system are supposed to work together to only send in enough fuel for the amount of oxygen in the amount of air passed in through the intake. But it never works quite as perfectly as that sounds and adding 50% more air makes the fuel burn more completely, giving you more energy from each engine cycle. This alone added 1-2 MPG highway in my Mercury Cougar. This is not nearly as effective in all cars as other modifications though.

Another fantastic idea that isn’t terribly expensive is to switch over to full synthetic oil. I personally have done that in 2 vehicles and gotten an extra 1-2 MPG. Of course this particular upgrade usually only really helps vehicles with over 30,000 miles and only if they’re getting under the factory MPG rating. But during the 2nd half of the recommended 1500 miles between oil changes, synthetic oil hasn’t burned off nearly as much as conventional so it keeps the engine lubricated better which results in less friction and less power lost every time the pistons go up and down. So instead of starting with 28MPG and ending with 25 3000 miles later, you’ll start with 28 and end with 27 MPG because far less oil molecules broke down.

Next, you need to make your vehicle as light as possible. When a 200 pound person is sitting in the passenger seat, you usually lose at least 1 MPG if not 2. So obviously if you ride alone AND lighten your car by 200 pounds, you’ll gain about the same amount. Unfortunately, that’s hard to do. Some drastic steps include replacing your hood with a fiberglass or carbon fiber one that weighs a lot less and taking out the passenger seat completely. If it’s not a powered seat, usually you just take off the 4 bolts and pull it out. Seats usually weigh at least 50 pounds so if you drive to work every day without someone sitting in the passenger seat, you should probably remove it. My favorite suggestion is to take out the scissors jack and spare tire in your trunk. That’s about 40 pounds you don’t need. Of course you’ll probably want to put a can of flat tire fixer in its place. Any useless junk you have in your trunk or back seat needs to go too. I know some people who had 50 pounds of clothes and shoes and bags and electronics and stuff in their trunk. It’s time to clean it out! This probably isn’t legal and definitely isn’t safe but you can cut off the steel frame that makes up the actual structural part of your bumper to lose like a hundred pounds. In the winter you can disconnect and remove your air conditioning compressor which also weighs a lot but that can throw some check engine light codes.

Next is the electrical system. Your alternator creates electricity to power everything in your car and it’s connected to the belt on the engine that drives everything else. So when it senses that more electricity is needed, it effectively adds more resistance to the engine which requires you to use more gas to maintain the same speed. Try holding your foot perfectly still on the gas pedal on the highway with cruise off. Then turn on the rear defrosters. You’ll slow down about 2-3 MPH. So to cut down on electrical usage, don’t turn on anything electrical in your car unless you really need it. People that drive with their headlights on at noon are idiots and it’s killing their gas mileage.

Another item that takes power from the engine’s main belt is the air conditioning. It is not always more efficient to just open the front windows. That will create a huge amount of drag or wind resistance that will slow your car down. For the average car, if you’re going under 45 MPH, opening the windows will result in the best gas mileage. At over 45 MPH, opening the windows will get you worse gas mileage than running the AC. Also, turning your car on regular AC instead of max AC is far less efficient in many cars. In most Ford cars at least, max AC simply means it will run the compressor a little more and recycle the air in your car and feed it back into the AC system instead of trying to cool down outside air. If your car is like that, always use max AC except when your car has been sitting outside in the sun and it’s like 140 inside your car and 80 outside. Then use regular AC until it cools down and switch to max later.

Next make sure your tires are all the same pressure and all the proper pressure. Don’t look on the side of the tire for the recommended PSI because that’s the maximum recommended pressure, not the pressure your specific car should be driving at. Look up your car’s recommended pressure online, in the owner’s manual, or on the sticker on the skinny, inside edge of the door or the door well. Then add two PSI to it because those ratings are optimized for ride comfort, not gas mileage. Then use an accurate gauge to fill them all up equally. It’s worth the 3 dollars to get a decent pressure gauge. Driving under inflated tires can drop your gas mileage by 2 or more MPG. It also wears out your tires at least 10x faster on turns.

Speaking of tires, if you’re about to buy some new ones try to find out what the rolling friction rating is on them. That’s the amount of energy lost to friction simply by moving. If you’re on a flat surface and go 25 MPH then put the car in nuetral and glide, low rolling friction tires will get you a lot farther before you stop. This results in better gas mileage in real driving situations.

Now it’s time to learn how to drive more efficiently. When it’s safe and proper to do so, glide as far as you can with your foot off the gas pedal and off the brake before stopping. Like on the highway offramp for example, instead of staying on the gas half way down then braking, glide down without any gas and brake slowly. Every time you press the brakes, you throw away the energy it took to get going as fast as you were and it drops your gas mileage. So if you glide down the offramp, you’re using as much energy as you can from when you got on the highway in the first place. Also if you see a light five hundred feet ahead of you turn red, immediately take your foot off the gas and glide up to it slowly so you don’t waste gas to get there faster when you’re only going to sit idle anyway.

Some other good driving techniques are to avoid running your engine if you’re not moving. Don’t warm your engine up in winter for 3 minutes before getting in it, because your gas mileage while not moving is 0 MPG. You’re basically just burning off gasoline. And don’t start your car then buckle up then put your bags in the back then put on your makeup then unwrap your sandwich and start eating it. Only start your car when you’re actually ready to drive. You should start it then a second or two later, be shifting into drive or reverse and going somewhere. Doing so will save more gas than you might think. Also, don’t rev your engine too high to get going from a stop. Keep it under 2000 RPM whenever possible. Also, fill up your tank around when it’s a bit under 1/8 full. Any less gas and your fuel pump may not deliver enough fuel to run efficiently. And if you’re one of those crazy people that always fills up at half, you’re carrying around an extra bunch of pounds of fuel all the time which is pointless.

One final driving tip is drafting. Get as close to tall, wide vehicles on the highway as possible without being unsafe. Since your braking distance is at least 4x shorter than a semi, if they slam on their brakes, you’re not going to hit them as long as you react fast enough. Once you feel your car shake slightly back and forth, you know you’re close enough. That’s the wind swirling around in vortexes along the back side of the vehicle you’re behind. It’s an extremely low pressure area with very little wind resistance. According to my real world tests, I went from 30MPG to 37MPG by drafting behind a semi.

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Trucker News

How to Find Drop Ship Suppliers

Once you decide what is the product and services you want to sell, you may want to set up your own website or make your own digital catalog, this will be more effective and more economical than print your own catalog, some suppliers have their own catalog for you to put your business card on it, some of them just have one for you to buy from it, but a real drop shipper will never sell to the public also to find the right drop ship supplier you may want to decide if an inventory is needed to make some test of the products, a kit of samples will be great for example a candle kit or a mother’s day kit

Look under drop shipper online at yahoo, look also at http://rightnowloads.com/ and some important associations online were tons of suppliers, distributors and manufacturers get together to make business, they post pictures of the products and sometimes send you a sample for you to try it before buy to find them look under general merchandise association for example.

Make sure you make an small investment in the products, small quantities to verify the quality, delivery time and all the process that take since you place the order until you get the order to make sure you are in the right path, also make sure the availability of the products if they have enough for you to promote.

Make sure the kind of product you like is profitable by sell the samples you order to see the response of the customer or potential customer, to find a drop ship supplier is not difficult will be very helpful if you look under an special category of products, for example home decor, or art or pets supplies.

Categories
Newbies

Tax Deductions for Meals for Truck Drivers

Truck drivers may qualify for tax deductions for meals under the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) rules governing travel away from home. To be eligible, it must be necessary for the driver to stop for “substantial sleep or rest” while traveling away from home. The meals also cannot be deducted if they are overly expensive or extravagant or if the meal costs have been reimbursed by the company. There are two basic methods for taking tax deductions: actual cost and standard meal allowance. Truck drivers qualify for special consideration within these deductions.

Fifty Percent Limit

The first method for claiming a tax deduction is by calculating the actual cost of meals. Typically, people may only deduct up to 50 percent of their unreimbursed cost for meals. If a company does not reimburse for meals at all, that would be 50 percent of the total cost. Otherwise, an employee can only claim a deduction for half of the amount paid personally. Any meals that are covered by a company are not eligible for tax deductions.

Standard Meal Allowance Rules
The second method for taking a tax deduction is through the use of the Standard Meal Allowance. Under this method, a driver has an average set amount for daily meals and incidental expenses. Instead of charting actual costs, a driver keeps a record of dates, places, and times of travel and can deduct a set amount based on the length and destination of the business trip. However, a driver can only take a meal allowance for unreimbursed meals. If a company pays for the meals, a driver is not allowed to take the standard meal allowance deduction on her taxes.

Standard Meal Allowance Rates
Truck drivers and other transportation employees have their own rates for reimbursement under the IRS code, and they are higher than those for other employees. In 2009, drivers are able to claim a standard meal allowance of $52 for each day of travel within the continental United States ($58 outside) from January 1 through September 30. The rate rises to $59 a day ($65 outside of the continental United States) from October 1 through December 31. These rates are re-evaluated yearly. To claim the deduction, a truck driver subtracts eligible allowances from his taxable income at the end of the year.

Beginning and End of Trip
For the first and last day of a trip, a truck driver must pro-rate her allowance using one of two methods. The first method allows an employee to claim 75 percent of the standard meal allowance. The second is to use any method that is consistent and reasonable under standard business rules. A driver cannot claim beginning and end-of-trip meal costs as a tax deduction if they are reimbursed by her company.

Categories
Trucker News

Gift Ideas for a Semi Driver

Semi drivers often live out of their truck for days and weeks at a time away from the comforts of home. Choosing a gift for a semi driver can be a difficult task as they are not home very much to enjoy things that other people do. An ideal gift would be one that they can utilize on the road or that accents their truck and interior.

Truck Accessories
Semi drivers like to accessorize and decorate their rig to differentiate it from the many others on the road. There are a variety of options that would make a good gift, including custom mud flaps, stickers, chrome accessories, custom license plates and bumper stickers. Local truck stops, big-box stores and auto parts stores carry auto and truck accessories.

Truck Comforts
Truck drivers sit for long periods of time in their truck, so being comfortable is important. A seat cushion, seat cover, back-massaging backrest and lumbar pillow all make welcome gifts for truckers. They will give the truckers more comfort while sitting or driving on the job.

Literature
Truck drivers spend countless hours in their truck waiting to be unloaded or loaded, or at truck stops due to being limited to only so many driving hours per day. Literature, such as books and magazines, makes an ideal gift that will allow them some entertainment during these down times. Determine the semi driver’s interests and purchase a book or set of books that fit into his interests. A magazine subscription offers fresh reading material on a regular basis that can be read at home or on the road.

Gift Cards
Truckers spend a great deal of time in gas stations and truck stops to refuel, shower, use the restroom or just to stretch their legs a bit. Purchase a gift card to a truck stop that they frequent, or to a nationwide chain that they can find on their travels. This will allow the semi driver to freely choose his own gifts including food, accessories, entertainment or use of the establishment’s showers.

Snack Basket
Having to drive for long periods of time means truck drivers rarely have time to eat actual meals throughout the day. Create a gift basket for a driver out of snack items that can be easily eaten while driving down the road. Snack crackers, chips, dried fruits, nuts and trail mix jerky come in small packages that will each make a handheld snack and that can easily fit into a gift basket.

Categories
Trucker News

Trucking Dispatcher

Truck drivers drop off goods at all times of the year. Whether the temperature gets hot or stays cold for a number of months, truck drivers must deliver products on time or run the risk of losing their jobs. However, with the assistance of a trucking dispatcher who knows how to help his drivers stay on schedule, the job of a truck driver gets a bit less difficult.

Get the schooling you need to become a trucking dispatcher. According to O*net online, those who hope to hold this position need to at least have their high school diploma. The bulk of the knowledge you gain to be a trucking dispatcher comes when you mirror the good habits of successful truck dispatchers who have years of experience in the industry.

Write down the things you see good truck dispatchers do while on the job. Though it takes time to learn how to become a good dispatcher, focus on the main duties of your job and tackle them one area at a time. You need to learn how to schedule the drop-offs of various products such as packages, animals and furniture to companies and homes, and send people out to fix items like freezers, washers and dryers. You may also have to let your truckers know about alternate routes to take depending on the amount of traffic in a given area. Among the tools that make the life of a dispatcher easier, are GPS (Global Positioning System) devices and database programs to keep everything organized and on schedule.

React well to pressure. If you want to be a trucking dispatcher, you need to learn how to perform well under pressure. For instance, if a truck driver that you guide needs to get to a certain location by 6 p.m. to make a delivery, focus on getting him there in the quickest manner possible. Give him the directions he needs, help him to avoid routes with too much traffic and stay in constant communication with him on your two-way radio while you speak in a calm, collected manner.