In this week's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, following last week's talk with Load One's John Elliott about significant challenges in the cargo-van-powered segment of the expedited trucking niche, owner-operator Darren Ayres details his own place within it hauling in a Mercedes Sprinter Van. He and his co-owner-op wife, Trish, run leased to Landstar and with (as suggested by the podcast's title) a sizable sleeper area as an on-the-road living quarters in the mostly military-freight-specific operation. Working with Fastlane Products of Oak Ridge, Tenn., after they took delivery of the base van, the pair planned the sleeper with double bunks along the driver side, leaving extra space for more amenities, including a sink and storage spaces, that Darren details in the podcast. The sleeper addition and overall upfit with auxiliary roof air, an inverter and more in 2017 came at an additional roughly $20K investment over the sticker (around $45K) on the diesel-powered Sprinter. The approximately 8 feet of cargo space the sleeper takes up leaves enough for two pallets in the cargo area, plenty for often very small loads the pair hauls to military installations.

In this week's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast, following last week's talk with Load One's John Elliott about significant challenges in the cargo-van-powered segment of the expedited trucking niche, owner-operator Darren Ayres details his own place within it hauling in a Mercedes Sprinter Van. He and his co-owner-op wife, Trish, run leased to Landstar and with (as suggested by the podcast's title) a sizable sleeper area as an on-the-road living quarters in the mostly military-freight-specific operation. Working with Fastlane Products of Oak Ridge, Tenn., after they took delivery of the base van, the pair planned the sleeper with double bunks along the driver side, leaving extra space for more amenities, including a sink and storage spaces, that Darren details in the podcast. The sleeper addition and overall upfit with auxiliary roof air, an inverter and more in 2017 came at an additional roughly $20K investment over the sticker (around $45K) on the diesel-powered Sprinter. The approximately 8 feet of cargo space the sleeper takes up leaves enough for two pallets in the cargo area, plenty for often very small loads the pair hauls to military installations.

In this edition of Overdrive Radio find Max Heine's talk with owner-operator John Strong, recently off the road, about his involvement in the 1970s and beyond in advocacy efforts with Overdrive founder Mike Parkhurst, memories of the Mass 10 truck stop, and much more. Todd Dills' talk with Load One head John Elliott continues here, too, about the cargo van niche, which would seem to check the boxes as a solution to a lot of the headaches -- hours of service, scales, parking -- Class 8 tractor-trailer owner-ops deal with, as long as they’re not hauling a placardable hazmat load, in which case cargo vans are regulated more or less just like bigger trucks. And that’s not to mention lower cost barriers to entry into the market as well, with much lower new-vehicle purchase prices. At once, though, challenges abound, and Elliott describes the multitude of those in detail from his perspective. Find a previous podcast with Elliott via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/a-closer-look-at-the-freight-demand-and-planning-app-for-owner-ops-with-load-one/

In this edition of Overdrive Radio find Max Heine's talk with owner-operator John Strong, recently off the road, about his involvement in the 1970s and beyond in advocacy efforts with Overdrive founder Mike Parkhurst, memories of the Mass 10 truck stop, and much more. Todd Dills' talk with Load One head John Elliott continues here, too, about the cargo van niche, which would seem to check the boxes as a solution to a lot of the headaches -- hours of service, scales, parking -- Class 8 tractor-trailer owner-ops deal with, as long as they’re not hauling a placardable hazmat load, in which case cargo vans are regulated more or less just like bigger trucks. And that’s not to mention lower cost barriers to entry into the market as well, with much lower new-vehicle purchase prices. At once, though, challenges abound, and Elliott describes the multitude of those in detail from his perspective. Find a previous podcast with Elliott via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/a-closer-look-at-the-freight-demand-and-planning-app-for-owner-ops-with-load-one/

In this edition of Overdrive Radio find Max Heine's talk with owner-operator John Strong, recently off the road, about his involvement in the 1970s and beyond in advocacy efforts with Overdrive founder Mike Parkhurst, memories of the Mass 10 truck stop, and much more. Todd Dills' talk with Load One head John Elliott continues here, too, about the cargo van niche, which would seem to check the boxes as a solution to a lot of the headaches -- hours of service, scales, parking -- Class 8 tractor-trailer owner-ops deal with, as long as they’re not hauling a placardable hazmat load, in which case cargo vans are regulated more or less just like bigger trucks. And that’s not to mention lower cost barriers to entry into the market as well, with much lower new-vehicle purchase prices. At once, though, challenges abound, and Elliott describes the multitude of those in detail from his perspective. Find a previous podcast with Elliott via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/a-closer-look-at-the-freight-demand-and-planning-app-for-owner-ops-with-load-one/

Owner-operator Brian Bucenell's 2002 Peterbilt 379 was among the 100 or so trucks that participated in the "slow roll" event in Indianapolis last week. Bucenell's also helping put on a Virginia "slow roll" event tomorrow, March 2, with a gathering point in Doswell, Va. (The group plans to roll out from the Doswell truck stop on I-95 at 11 a.m.) Slow roll events follow in Ohio on March 8 and in the Carolinas around Charlotte on March 9. Bucenell -- pictured with his daughter, Savannah, and wife, Casey -- is spurred to be involved in protest and advocacy events in part by a desire to leave trucking better than he found it, thinking principally of his nine-year-old son. He speaks to the issues most participants are advocating for -- hours flexibility, parking investment, training for new drivers, and safety broadly speaking -- from his own point of view in this edition of Overdrive Radio.

Owner-operator Brian Bucenell's 2002 Peterbilt 379 was among the 100 or so trucks that participated in the "slow roll" event in Indianapolis last week. Bucenell's also helping put on a Virginia "slow roll" event tomorrow, March 2, with a gathering point in Doswell, Va. (The group plans to roll out from the Doswell truck stop on I-95 at 11 a.m.) Slow roll events follow in Ohio on March 8 and in the Carolinas around Charlotte on March 9. Bucenell -- pictured with his daughter, Savannah, and wife, Casey -- is spurred to be involved in protest and advocacy events in part by a desire to leave trucking better than he found it, thinking principally of his nine-year-old son. He speaks to the issues most participants are advocating for -- hours flexibility, parking investment, training for new drivers, and safety broadly speaking -- from his own point of view in this edition of Overdrive Radio.

And, as the picture shows, more from Long Haul Paul Marhoefer from the stage at the Key Palace Theater in Redkey, Ind., this past Feb. 2. Otherwise, this edition of Overdrive Radio takes aim at combating increasingly proliferating online scams. High degrees of situational awareness are your best tools, says Safr.me consultant and author Robert Siciliano, who speaks here. Some such cases have seen the light of day at OverdriveOnline.com, including the recent dramatic and expensive tale of a Georgia trucker catfished by a fake online romantic relationship and tricked into wiring more than $25 grand to the other party. Fall for such a scam once, too, and you're now on a "sucker list" maintained by what's increasingly resembling something of an online-scam industrial complex. "They will work you to the end of your days," says Siciliano, who has a particular expertise in the online scam arena. He’s the CEO of the non-profit personal security education site, and also a private investigator. He regularly consults with Fortune 500 companies about privacy and security and you might recognize his voice from interviews in major media outlets tapping his expertise in just how people can protect themselves in their online interactions. Overdrive Senior Editor James Jaillet and Contributing Editor Carolyn Mason talked with Siciliano about increasing your own awareness of how these scams play out to most effectively prevent them.

And, as the picture shows, more from Long Haul Paul Marhoefer from the stage at the Key Palace Theater in Redkey, Ind., this past Feb. 2. Otherwise, this edition of Overdrive Radio takes aim at combating increasingly proliferating online scams. High degrees of situational awareness are your best tools, says Safr.me consultant and author Robert Siciliano, who speaks here. Some such cases have seen the light of day at OverdriveOnline.com, including the recent dramatic and expensive tale of a Georgia trucker catfished by a fake online romantic relationship and tricked into wiring more than $25 grand to the other party. Fall for such a scam once, too, and you're now on a "sucker list" maintained by what's increasingly resembling something of an online-scam industrial complex. "They will work you to the end of your days," says Siciliano, who has a particular expertise in the online scam arena. He’s the CEO of the non-profit personal security education site, and also a private investigator. He regularly consults with Fortune 500 companies about privacy and security and you might recognize his voice from interviews in major media outlets tapping his expertise in just how people can protect themselves in their online interactions. Overdrive Senior Editor James Jaillet and Contributing Editor Carolyn Mason talked with Siciliano about increasing your own awareness of how these scams play out to most effectively prevent them.

There are a multiplicity of smartphone apps out there for leased owner-ops from their leasing carriers, but we hadn’t seen anything quite like the "Ultimate Advantage" app from expediter Load One before we first wrote about it this time last year. In the sort of emergency-freight service that is the expedited trucking business, having information about where to be to best set yourself up for the next load is, to say the least, a difficult proposition. Long waits between loads have been common there for years for many owner-ops. The app, as Load One head John Elliott here explains, helps enable decision-making with a few swipes and taps, giving owner-ops clarity into the overall demand picture in any area they’re in – and not just when it comes to Load One freight but competitors’ capacity there as well. The app was named 2018's Innovation of the Year by Overdrive sister magazine CCJ, geared to fleet owners and managers, recently, and it's quickly drawn the accolades of the owner-ops who use it, too.