Blue Ribbon Podcast

Every five years, I have to complete the ritual of buying back my rights to travel and enterprise from the Department of Motor Vehicles. In the two decades since I got my CDL, the process has become more burdensome and annoying. This is episode is about my latest experience with the Den of Iniquity, better known as the DMV.

Being an owner operator comes with a lot of freedom. That freedom comes with a lot of responsibility. We have many choices to make, and those decisions need to made with an attitude of service, respect, and courtesy. This episode is about making wise choices and knowing when to not say “No.”

In this episode I have a chat with Jessica Hillyer of The Patricia Margaret Company. She has just gone out on her own and started her own brokerage. It was a fun conversation. We talked about communication and the attitude we need to have to keep a good and strong relationship between shippers, brokers, and carriers.

For decades, carriers and truck drivers what done what is right instead of what is legal. By that I mean that we have not followed the letter of the law when it came to getting goods delivered. Everyone cheated on their logs. EVERYONE! Now that the Electronic Log Mandate is in effect, we are forced to do what is "legal" instead of what it right, because "legal" and "moral" are rarely the same thing. In this episode, I talk about how this change has affected our ability to deliver goods on time and the changes it has made to the market.

In this episode I want to tell you about some lessons I've learned over the last ten months.Also, I have a correction to make about my comments on the ELD mandate.

On this episode, I was joined by Pete Emahiser, Owner and Operator of Tadmore Transportation in Toledo, Ohio. Tadmore is #980 on this years INC 5000.  He is a member of BiTA, The Blockchain in Trucking Alliance, and a Charter Member of TransRisk. Tadmore is in the TOP 5% of Brokers rated by Credit Worthiness and the highest Rated Broker in at least 100 miles as per DAT Reviews. Pete is also a Moderator for the Rate Per Mile Masters Facebook Group, the largest Professional Trucking Group on Facebook.

We talk about what the blockchain is and how it can change how we do business in the trucking industry and the world. It was a really fun and interesting conversation, and I learned a lot.

JANUARY 14, 2018

In this episode I get us ready for 2018. There are a lot of exciting things happening in the economy and especially as it pertains to trucking.

I came across a piece of garbage propaganda piece published recently in USA Today. It gives us the tales of woe of Port Truckers in LA and the lease agreements they are "forced" to operate under. But who is to blame? The drivers? The companies? I think someone is being left out of the equation. 

The article from USA Today can be found here.

The Supreme Court announced that they will not hear OOIDA's appeal to the ELD Mandate. This shouldn't be a surprise. The Federal Government ruled in favor of the Federal Government. You shouldn't be shocked that this has happened, yet many seem unable to grasp the concept that the Federal Government doesn't care about you. Let's talk about the real issue here, and it ISN'T the ELD.

This is the story of my short time driving for Swift Transportation.