Category: Trucker News

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Trucker News

Trucking company owner charged with paying off Texas trooper for inspection stickers

A second man has been charged in connection with an alleged bribery scheme involving state troopers and a Dallas trucking company, according to federal court documents. 16 for allegedly bribing a former Texas Department of Public Safety sergeant, Kevin Gerard Cauley, to sidestep truck inspections, court records show.

Cauley, 51, of Royse City, was a commercial vehicle enforcement officer for DPS who conducted safety inspections of large trucks, court records show. He pleaded guilty to the charge in June, court records show.

Cauley took the money from Cruz, owner of Cruz and Sons Transportation, in exchange for inspection decals he issued for more than three dozen freight trucks, according to court documents.

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Source:https://www.dallasnews.com/

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Owner Operators Trucker News

Let’s Be Thankful for Truck Drivers on Thanksgiving

With so much commotion going on for most people this time of year and as we roll into the holiday season, there’s one thing we’ve got to stop to give thanks for-truck drivers, of course! They spend time away from their families so we can spend time with ours. What many take for granted in many professions is having holidays off work that we can enjoy with our loved ones.

For many drivers, this time of year is the craziest and it’s definitely not a time for getting off work. We aren’t the only ones stuck in bumper-to-bumper lines of traffic stretching down the road on our way to grandmother’s house during holiday travel commutes.

Plus, truck drivers are the ones who deliver that fuel for all those holiday travelers to guzzle up to visit their families with.Truck drivers rarely get those home-cooked meals while on the road. While most of us will be stuffing our pie holes with our family’s favorite recipes, drivers have to resort to whatever they can get their hands on that day. Turkeys don’t just “Fly” to our tables. If you’re eating Thanksgiving dinner, I’m willing to bet most of it has traveled by truck to wind up on your plate. 88% of Americans eat turkeys on Thanksgiving which means a “Mind-gobbling” 50 million turkeys were delivered to markets around the nation to prepare for our epic meal times. Essentially, truck drivers are the whole reason you’re able to celebrate with your family and friends each holiday.

Not only would we be starving without drivers who delivered our turkeys, sides and desserts to our nation’s stores-but our favorite tradition wouldn’t happen either. Without the use of helium tankers to fill the approximately 12,000 cubic feet of helium it requires for just one Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. Other supplies for the parade are also brought by truck. Even if you’re more of a “Cyber Monday” shopper, those goods always still have to be taken from the manufacturer to your house by truck. For all those truck drivers out there reading this, just know that you truly are appreciated.

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Source:https://www.alltruckjobs.com/

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Owner Operators Trucker News

FMCSA: Ag haulers get 90-day delay on ELD use

Truckers hauling livestock and other agriculture products will have 90 extra days to comply with the DOT’s electronic logging device mandate, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced Monday.

FMCSA will soon publish a public notice in the Federal Register announcing the compliance extension, as well as a notice with fresh guidance for livestock haulers relative to both the ELD mandate and hours of service, said Joe Delorenzo, FMCSA’s director of compliance and enforcement, in a media briefing held Monday afternoon.

Delorenzo said the definition of a livestock hauler will lean on a definition established in the 1980s by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which defines livestock as ” cattle, elk, reindeer, bison, horses, deer, sheep, goats, swine, poultry, fish used for food and other animals designated that are part of a foundation herd or offspring. The waiver’s scope will be broader than that and extend to ag haulers who don’t haul livestock.

A coalition of groups representing livestock haulers petitioned the agency in late October to request a compliance extension. 30 request that livestock haulers will not be prepared to meet the Dec. Its concerns stem from “An incompatibility” between federal hours regs and livestock’ operations – a concern noted by Delorenzo in Monday’s briefing.

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Trucker News

Heavy Traffic expected for Thanksgiving

Expect traffic to be heavier than normal for starting Wednesday as a record-number of Americans travel for Thanksgiving. AAA projects 50.9 million Americans will travel 50 miles or more away from home this Thanksgiving, a 3.3 percent increase over last year. Some 89 percent of all travelers – 45.5 million – are planning a Thanksgiving road trip, an increase of 3.2 percent over last year. AAA and INRIX, a transportation analytics company, predict travel times in the most congested cities in the U.S.

Based on historical and recent travel trends, INRIX and AAA predict drivers will experience the greatest amount of congestion during the early evening – as early as Tuesday of Thanksgiving week – as commuters mix with holiday travelers. The Thanksgiving holiday travel period is defined as Wednesday, Nov. “A strong economy and labor market are generating rising incomes and higher consumer confidence, fueling a strong year for the travel industry, which will continue into the holiday season,” said Bill Sutherland, AAA senior vice president, Travel, and Publishing.

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Trucker News

An Ex-trucker has some questions about the Tesla Semi

We don’t know what the production truck will achieve when it hits the road, but the Semi has a lot going for it. The Semi seems most impressive to those who don’t know what it’s like to be a truck driver. First, let’s clear up what this truck is for, as it was presented. This truck suits line-haul – routes that run between a company’s terminals, like from one regional Wal-Mart distribution center to another.When Musk made the case for a 20-percent savings over a diesel truck, he based the numbers on a 100-mile trip – fifty miles out, fifty miles back.

This first version of the Semi will not replace the dozens of thousands of trucks on huge regional or coast-to-coast runs, clocking 2,000 to 5,000 miles per week. I already get “a commanding view of the road” in a traditional truck because I sit six feet above traffic. What I need is a commanding view of my own truck, which the central seating position compromises. I can’t see around trucks in front of me without pulling halfway into another lane.

The silver, condo-sleeper truck at the presentation only had cameras mounted at the rear of the tractor. The black, mid-roof truck supplemented physical mirrors on lengthy stalks on both sides of the cab. Most new trucks come with mirrors mounted on the front fenders that provide views of the front corners – my Kenworth had seven mirrors in total, I’ve seen plenty of trucks with more. You’d be amazed at the number of tiny concrete and reinforced steel impediments lurking at truck stops and customer terminals. Doing an 11-hour stint in a dark cockpit in the glow of large digital screens only works in anime and “Battlestar Galactica.” I had one computer in both trucks I drove, and unless I was using it, I turned the screen off. The trucks I drove had one necessary third-party device in the cab, a Qualcomm computer to communicate with HQ, and I put a portable GPS unit on the windshield.

The truck cabin photo Musk used during the presentation had a Qualcomm-type unit, plus a traditional GPS, plus an iPad with a GPS display, plus another small display I couldn’t identify. I’ve been in plenty of truck stops and walked by a ton of trucks, and only the most frightened novice or the most chronically indecisive driver would mount that much junk. Truckers don’t “Sit there” while filling up at a truck stop. Truckers clean all the windows, mirrors, and headlights, check the tires and axle seals, make sure every tractor and trailer light works, and look for damage. This walkaround can take longer than the actual fill-up, and it must be done no matter what energy powers the truck.

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Freight Brokers Owner Operators Trucker News

Thousands of brokers lose Authority

The number of brokers registered with FMCSA may be dropping — coming on the heels of the enforcement date of the increase in the minimum surety bond required for brokers to carry — but some of the numbers being tossed out don’t represent what’s actually happening, said Chris Burroughs, who’s with the government affairs staff of the Transportation Intermediaries Association, a broker trade group.

Rather than a non-compliance issue, Burroughs said, the number of brokers losing their authority (more than 7,500 by noon Dec. 10) is also dropping because the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration database was out of date, he said. “We feel like there were a lot of people out there who had active authority but weren’t actively doing business and hadn’t been for some time,” he said. “The database had a lot of scrubbing to do.”

A,TI along with the American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, supported the increase, which was included in the MAP-21 highway funding act passed last year.

The increase to $75,000, Burroughs said, was something TIA, OOIDA and ATA sat down to work out, finding a compromise that worked for all three groups.

Even though the broker numbers are falling, he said, TIA “absolutely still support(s)” the increase, and the impact to the brokerage industry and the trucking industry will be “minimal, if nothing at all.”

Another broker trade group, the Association of Independent Property Brokers & Agents, is fighting the increase in court, and its president, James Lamb, has said up to 75 percent of current brokers could be forced out of the business by the bond increase. The increase will have a particularly harsh impact on small brokers, Lamb said.

Burroughs said 70 percent of TIA’s membership is made up of brokers with less than $2 million in annual revenue, and the effect on TIA’s membership has been minimal, he said.

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Carriers Trucker News

CSA and improving driver respect are priorities in 2014

During his luncheon address to fleet executives at the 2013 CCJ Fall Symposium in Scottsdale, Ariz., American Trucking Associations chairman and president of Bullog Hiway Express Phil Byrd, Sr., said three key legislative focuses for ATA in 2014 are electronic logging devices, rolling back the changes to hours-of-service rules, improving components of the Compliance Safety Accountability program.

ATA is working with Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Administrator Anne Ferro to work out some of the “fundamental flaws” with the program, including “having no-fault crashes removed from CSA,” said Byrd.

ATA has been a strong supporter in recently introduced H.R. bill 3413 that would revert to hours-of-service rules that existed prior to the current rules that took effect in July. “I would submit that current HOS rules impede the free-flow movement of goods along U.S. highways an exacerbates congestion in metropolitan areas and will make the driver shortage worse,” said Byrd, who added that he anticipates a hearing at the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee in the near future.

Byrd says early statistics show a 3 to 4 percent loss in productivity among large fleets, but says the impact on his own business has been greater.

Highway infrastructure funding is also a priority for ATA, but Byrd said until the stalemate between Republicans and Democrats is broken, nothing is likely to change.

“Highways are literally crumbling beneath our trucks and cars,” said Byrd. “[Congress] knows how to fix the problem, but doesn’t have the will to do it.”

Finally, Byrd said improving driver respect is a cause he plans to champion during his tenure as ATA chairman. “These incredible men and women — US trucking fleet drivers — they brave the dark of night, the ice and snow of the mountain peaks, the heat of the desert, the congestion of America’s highways everyday to deliver America’s goods,” he said. “Everything we need, want and desire comes to you by truck. These brave men and women, these incredible individuals, are disrespected at every turn. When they go to our shippers’ door to pick up, their time is disrespected, they don’t have adequate facilities. Then they get that load secured and get that bill of lading in-hand and go out on the public highway system. And because the motoring public doesn’t understand how we operate as an industry, they are disrespected by the people we share the roads with…when they arrive at our consignees to deliver the goods they receive much of the same disrespect when they loaded the freight. We have to change that. They deserve better. I believe that until we restore the respect that our drivers deserve we can’t expect people to come into our industry to be mistreated and misunderstood.”

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Trucker News

OTR vs Regional vs Local Trucking Jobs

When you decide you want to become a truck driver, it’s important that you weigh all of your options. For instance, did you know that you have a choice between over-the-road (OTR), regional and local trucking jobs. Let’s discuss what each of these terms mean and some of their pros and cons.

Over-the-Road or OTR Trucking Jobs

Over-the-road trucking refers to jobs that take you across state lines and all over the country. If there’s a road, and you can drive on it, these jobs will take you there. The good thing about OTR trucking jobs is that they tend to pay quite a bit more than other types of jobs. However, you aren’t home very much and this can put a strain on you and your family.

Regional Trucking Jobs

Regional trucking jobs will take you across a couple of states, but never from coast to coast. So, if the company you work for is based in California, you may take trips to Nevada and Arizona. These jobs tend to pay less than OTR gigs but you will still be home most evenings and won’t be kept away from your family as much.

Local Trucking Jobs

Local trucking jobs usually only have you running about the state, but often even more localized than that. You will definitely be home every evening but you sacrifice the earnings potential that a regional or OTR job would give you.

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Trucker News

How to Get Grant Money for Truck Drivers

When applying for available grants, you must be creative with your application and make your idea stand out amongst the others. Open grants change often so make sure to check back once in a while to ensure you don’t miss an opportunity.

Go to the U.S. government grant website, Grants.gov. Search for the type of grant you are looking for. Open grants are constantly changing. If you cannot find a grant to fit your needs, check back in a few weeks. If you are unclear on how to use the search function, the government website has created a tutorial for you. Use the advanced search function. This will allow you to limit your search to agricultural and transportation grants that are available.

Read the specific criteria to apply for the grant chosen. Some grants require you to either complete certain criteria or be involved in the industry. Make sure you are qualified to apply for this grant. Don’t apply for grants you are not eligible for. They will overlook your application and move on to someone who is qualified.

Register on the site. You must register to complete grant applications.Download a grant application package. After clicking on the “Apply for Grants” link, you can download this package.

Complete the grant application package. You cannot submit your application until every field on the form is completed. Use your creativity to make your application stand out. If you have questions about filling out this application, the grant website has a helpful FAQ section.

Save and submit your package. After you complete all your information in the package, clicking “Save and Submit” will automatically upload your application to the website.

Write down your tracking number. This number will be displayed after your application has successfully been submitted to the website. This will be used to track the progress of your application.

Check the status of your application. You can go back to the grant website and enter your tracking number to view the status of your completed application.

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Freight Loads Trucker News

What Can an OTR Driver Deduct on Taxes?

Over-the-road (OTR) truck drivers can take advantage of numerous deductions related to their job. Employees can deduct ordinary and necessary job expenses when filling out income tax returns, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These deductions include anything that has to do with your business of being an OTR employee that is a common and acceptable expense for your trade. If your company reimburses any expense, you cannot claim it on your taxes.

Office Expenses
Your truck is your office if you are an OTR driver. Typical office supplies deductions include pens, paper clips, folders and envelopes. Also deduct any fees for making copies of your paperwork and postage if you must mail your paperwork to your employer. If you subscribe to any trucking magazines, you can deduct the subscription fees. Deduct business-related cell phone expenses and any long-distance charges from a landline from your taxes. You can also deduct any business-related Internet access charges, including air cards and charges from a truck stop Internet kiosk.

Truck Expenses
Even if your company owns your truck, you can deduct any expenses that you have because of it this includes your citizens band radio, stereo and speakers and if you have them your television and refrigerator. Your truck cleaning supplies are deductible as well as cab curtains and mattresses for your sleeper rig. If you purchase chrome items to place on your company truck, you can deduct the cost from your taxes. Tarps, straps and load locks are also deductible unless you receive reimbursement.

Personal Expenses
Uniforms, special footwear such as steel toed boots and laundry cleaning expenses are deductible. Deduct commercial driver’s license renewal fees and doctor’s fees for your Department of Transportation medical physical. You can deduct the fees for showers and motels while on the road. Prescription glasses are deductible, as is the cost of any nonprescription sunglasses. As of 2012, OTR drivers can claim a $59 per day per diem for any full days they are on the road. You must count the days you leave and the days you return as partial days and prorate your per diem. Retain your logbooks with your tax records for proof of your per diem deduction.

Considerations
Keep all of your receipts for items you buy for your job, truck or self to substantiate your deduction claims in the event of an audit. You must retain records for a minimum of three years, and in certain circumstances, indefinitely. Keep copies of your W-2 forms until you begin receiving Social Security in case the IRS incorrectly documents your wages. The IRS does not specify how you must keep your records, but it recommends that you sort them by year in a manner that will make retrieval of certain records simple.