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Trucker News

What’s Ahead for Trucking?

Fuel prices will decline by 10 cents per gallon, for at least part of the year, but they will remain high relative to carrier revenue. As the fuel price — and surcharge — declines, the line haul portion of the rates will increase to compensate, so the total rate paid to the truck should remain stable to 2% higher over the course of the year. (For more details, see my discussion with Peggy Dorf about the economy in 2013.)

Seasonal rates will rise for all trailer types in Q2 on the spot market, to an atypically high peak, but the increases will not be sustained throughout the year. A Q2 spike is normal on the spot market, but this year it should be exaggerated because of demand-related issues: (1) Flatbeds will be in high demand to haul construction materials and equipment to the East Coast for post-Sandy re-building, and to support increased oil drilling in the Upper Midwest and South Central states; (2) There (hopefully) won’t be a repeat of last year’s spring freeze and prolonged summer drought, which depressed reefer freight volume and rates during produce season; and (3) Pressure on capacity for other equipment types will affect vans as well, because carriers with multiple trailer types will accept the high-payng.freight first and leave the van trailers in the yard. Van-only fleets should find themselves in a strong negotiating position, especially for time-sensitive freight.

Capacity should be adequate, with short-term, localized shortages. Class 8 truck sales were robust in 2012, but the net increase in drivers is not keeping pace. As soon as the economy revs up, transportation industry publications and analysts will start fretting about the looming capacity shortage, problems with driver retention, rising freight rates and all the other “risks” of economic growth. I predict that economic growth will be tepid in 2013, at best, so capacity issues will be mostly confined to local and seasonal shortages.

Truck freight tonnage will increase by 2.0%, and spot market freight availability will grow 5.0%. Last year we saw a 3.4% increase in tonnage compared to 2011, according to the ATA For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index (not seasonally adjusted.) That was good, but not as robust as the 5.7% growth of 2011 vs. 2010. Looking ahead to 2013, we may see a flat or negative freight tonnage index in Q1, followed by a strong Q2 and a rebound in the rest of the year. I’m expecting a 2.0% to 2.5% uplift for overall tonnage in 2013. Spot market demand — meaning demand for trucks — rose by 3.1%.in 2012, with 7.5% growth in van and reefer freight availability balanced by a 2.0% drop in loads designated for flatbeds. In 2013, freight availability should rise for all three major trailer types (see discussion of seasonal rates, above.) Net prediction: the spot market in 2013 will look more like 2011, with 5% growth.

Consolidation among freight brokers and 3PLs will affect individuals and companies, but there won’t be a big impact on the overall market in 2013. The $75,000 bond requirement kicks in at mid-year, but enforcement is likely to lag. Some small brokers will not have sufficient financial resources to secure a bond at that new level. The effect of the bond won’t be felt immediately, but we expect to see a trend toward consolidation among intermediaries. Large brokers and 3PLs will buy smaller ones, and some independent brokers will become agents or retire from the business. Trucking companies may forge tighter relationships with brokers, rather than establish a brokerage entitiy with its own authority and bond, that is separate from the trucking company, as required by law.

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Trucker News

Reporting Semi Truck Safety Issues

In 2009, semi trucks were involved in more than 3,000 fatal crashes. Approximately three-quarters of those crashes involved another moving motor vehicle. Despite U.S. Department of Transportation regulations limiting daily and weekly drive-times for long-distance truck drivers and requiring logs documenting daily hours and mileage, many truck drivers are paid by the mile and work close to the maximum conditions permitted. The long days and hard demands of driving and delivering products can interfere with a truck driver’s ability to safely operate the vehicle. Reporting semi truck safety issues can help decrease the number of fatal accidents involving commercial drivers

●Keep a pencil and notepad in a readily available area of your car. Many trucks are labeled with safety reporting bumper stickers that display a toll-free number to call and a vehicle identifier to provide. Having ready access to writing materials allows you to record that information and call when you are in a safe location to do so.

●Write down any identifying information from a truck that is being operated unsafely. Record the fleet-specific phone number and vehicle identifier, if available, the license plate state and number, and any distinguishing marks or logos. Take note of the location, mile marker and time that the incident occurred.

●Pull over at the closest safe location. Call the state patrol office to have an officer check on the driver. Contact the delivery fleet and inform the company of the behavior as well. The state patrol can determine whether the driver has broken any laws and possibly prevent an unsafe driver from causing a collision. Delivery fleets require private motorists to help identify and correct unsafe operators.

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Trucker News

How to Become a Trucker Agent

A trucker agent, also referred to as a trucking broker or freight broker, acts as a go-between for companies that need products shipped over the road and independent truck drivers or small trucking companies that can fulfill that need. The trucker agent negotiates a rate that is acceptable to both parties and hammers out other details. In exchange, the agent or broker receives a portion of the established rate, usually taking a cut from what the trucker or trucking company receives.
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&#9658 Gain extensive knowledge of the trucking industry. If you have experience working as a truck driver or dispatcher (driver manager), you will have a leg up. You will need to know Federal Motor Carrier Association rules and regulations, such as the number of hours a driver can run in a day or week, in order to schedule loads.

&#9658 Fill out a Federal Motor Carrier Association application for freight forwarder authority (form OP-1) online or by mail and pay the required fee ($300 per application, as of May 2009). Wait for acceptance, which may take several weeks or a few months.

&#9658 Assign a “Process Agent” who will serve as the representative responsible for being served court papers in the event that legal proceedings are ever brought against you. You are legally required to designate process agents in every state where you have offices or contracts. There are businesses offering nationwide process agent services.

&#9658 Purchase a $10,000 “Broker Surety Bond,” which will pay the parties with whom you work if the contract is not carried out.

&#9658 Find shippers and carriers who want to do business with you by visiting Internet freight boards, reading industry publications and networking.

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Trucker News

Kenworth Truck Specification

Kenworth Truck Company builds premium commercial trucks for sale in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and for export throughout the world. One of the most talked about models for 2011 is the T700. It features the lowest aerodynamic drag of any truck in Kenworth’s history.

Drivetrain
At the core of the 2011 T700 is the highly-efficient, clean-running 12.9-liter 2010 PACCAR MX engine producing 380 to 485 horsepower and up to 1,750 foot-pounds of torque. The PACCAR MX is designed for maximum fuel economy and features lightweight high-strength components.

According to the manufacturer, The PACCAR MX has near-zero emissions due to a combination of exhaust gas recirculation and Selective Catalytic Reduction, effectively meeting the EPA 2010 emission regulations.

A diesel-exhaust fluid tank and the combo diesel particulate filter and SCR chamber are folded into the passenger step. Exhaust is single horizontal. Transmission is Eaton’s automated mechanical two-pedal clutch with a 10-speed UltraShift Plus. The 2011 T700 is driven by Eaton axles — 3.70-to-one Dana Spicer DSP41 on a 40,000-pound Ag400L suspension — borrowed from the Peterbilt line. The truck has a Kenworth air-ride AG130 and Bendix disc-braked Dana Spicer E-13221 steer axle rated for 13,200 pounds — the industry standard.

Styling and Features

The 2011 T700’s hood, fenders, headlamps, windshield, roof, bumper and fairings are integrated into the design, providing the lowest aerodynamic drag of any Kenworth truck, according to the manufacturer. The truck’s bumper and chassis fairings are fashioned from thermal plastic olefin for improved impact resistance. Bumpers and fairings do not need to be painted and are available in painted or non-painted versions. The hood is comprised of three pieces, along with a two-piece aero bumper, all designed to reduce the time and cost of repair. The hood features a ball-and-socket closing system

The grill is made of corrosion-resistant aluminum wire mesh and provides protection for the cooling system components.
Three lengths of chassis fairings are available to meet individual requirements: wheel to wheel, three-quarter to accommodate APU installation or under the cab. The 2011 T700 features halogen projector headlamps. Turn signals are LED, as are the flush-mounted marker lights in the roofline for optimum visibility.

Cab and Sleeper Features and Comfort
The inside of the cab has an 8-foot cathedral ceiling with 30 inches of space between the seats. Features include 60-cubic-feet of storage, a slide-out desk, full-length hanging closet, xenon incandescent lighting, an optional drawer-style refrigerator and TV mount for a 16-inch flat-panel.

The cab features multiplexed instrumentation NavPlus navigation system is optional. Standard cab appointments include vinyl seating, pleated upholstered headliner, upholstered door pads with carpeted kick panels, door courtesy lights, black rubber floor mat, driver and passenger sun-visors, heater, defroster and air-conditioning.

The sleeper shares many of the same flooring and upholstered surfaces as the cab with wall-to-wall carpet, wood-grain accents, a 42-inch by 80-inch lift-able lower bunk, magazine rack on the rear wall above the lower bunk and a standard storage package.

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Profitability in the Trucking Industry

The trucking industry is imperative to the United States shipping supply chain. Projections estimate that by 2014, 14 billion tons of freight will be transported annually by truckers in the United States. As fuel and operational expenses rise, it is important for trucking business owners to plan their daily operations to allow the business to profit and remain viable over the long term. With the assistance of technology and planning, trucking businesses can maximize their profits and continue to move America.

Calculate the break-even cost for each load that you haul by figuring out the cost of fuel, labor and a portion of your business’s fixed expenses. To establish your fixed expenses, include costs like monthly truck payments, insurance, licenses, taxes and office expenses. Divide this amount by the number of loads you plan to haul each month to determine the amount of fixed expenses to charge with each load.

Provide customers and brokers with a realistic price estimate for each load. Ask as many questions about the load as possible when discussing potential contracts with a customer and use this information to give an estimate that covers your break-even costs as well as your desired percentage of profit. Plan loads so you can profit hauling to and from your destination. Consider the costs associated with returning to your business base with an empty truck if you are not able to arrange a return load, and include these costs in your price.

Maintain regulatory compliance by working with your employees to ensure that log books are properly filled out, trucks are not overloaded and drivers are not working longer than allowed by law. Tracking compliance will not only help keep drivers safe reducing the potential cost of accidents but it will also help your business avoid fines from regulatory agencies.

Use fleet management software. Keep track of your fleet maintenance and work in one location for easy reference, along with reminders to stay on top of regular oil changes, tire rotations and more. By regularly maintaining your fleet, the long-term cost of major repairs will be reduced.

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Newbies Trucker News

Accounting Software for a Small Trucking Business

Generic accounting software is fine for many businesses, but a successful small trucking business requires its software be specific for trucking to meet the intricate needs of the industry. Trucking company software should be able to track revenue and expenses per mile, load, or truck and have the ability to input additional charges such as detention and loading pay easily.

Truckers Helper
The Truckers Helper full version supports up to 10 trucks. The accounting features in the program include one-step data entry and can provide double-entry accounting reports. Mileage tracking allows you to calculate fuel taxes automatically when you enter load and fuel information. You can upgrade to the fleet version when the company outgrows the full version. Truckers Helper is compatible with Windows. As of 2011, the full version costs $359 and routing and GPS capabilities are available. You can lease the software for $55 per month.

Keystone Systems
Keystone Systems integrates billing, dispatch, settlements, and fuel tax reporting, which helps to prevent errors due to data entry. The report writing function allows you to set your own parameters for reports and will pull the information you need from several files to compile the report. The accounting portion of the program will track all of your income and expenses by trip or truck allowing you to see what routes and drivers are cost effective. Keystone builds the package you need for your business and will quote a price after evaluating your needs.

TruckBytes
TruckBytes Provides accounting functions such as tracking income and expenses, creating invoices, and financial reports. The software is available for independent owner/operators and small fleets. The basic software is free as of 2011, but you can add a feature that calculates fuel taxes and payroll for no more than $20 per truck per month.

Truckn Pro 7
Truckn Pro 7 is designed for owner/operators or small fleet companies. The accounting functions include income, expense, revenue and profit and loss reports. The software fills in maintenance reports and tracks driver logs. As of 2011, it’s available for $135, which includes any updates for a year.

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Business Trucker News

Blind Load in Freight

Traditional retailers have used blind shipments for years. The Internet allows savvy retailers and wholesalers to reach more potential buyers and allows stockless storefronts to sell goods without maintaining a warehouse full of costly inventory.

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Blind shipments are defined by the Department of Transportation as shipments processed and delivered to buyers without their knowledge of the shipper’s source. Many online storefronts and large businesses use blind drop shipments to move their products. Drop shipping is defined as delivering goods to a buyer from a third-party source. When that source is not identified the shipment is referred to as a blind shipment or blind drop shipment.

Procedure
Sellers receive orders from buyers, and then contact their suppliers to have the products shipped directly to their customers. The products are packaged with the seller’s mailing address or with no return address at all.

Use in the Transportation Industry
Blind shipments in the trucking industry refer to shipments in which the bill of lading does not contain information about the source of the shipment. The bill of lading either lists the carrier’s business address or the address of the seller.

Advantages
Companies use blind shipments to protect the source of their products. Customers who know the source of the seller’s suppliers could simply buy the products directly from the warehouse. Some warehouses only sell to wholesalers.

Disadvantages
Many customers want to be able to track the shipment of their orders; this can be a problem when using blind shipments. Possible solutions include providing the tracking information or establishing a company policy to not release tracking information to the customer. Providing the tracking information should be reserved for one-time customers since the information will include the name of the supplier.

Rules of Blind Shipments
Blind shipments cannot contain logos, printed material or other identifying information indicating the shipper’s source. The information contained in the shipping documents must be factual in regard to the products shipped.

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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.

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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.