Overdrive Radio

This week's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast features a talk with small fleet owner Dave Marti of Forrest, Ill. He's got six power units, including his own, leased to Transport Services of Sullivan, Ill., hauling fuel in the region around his home base, delivering in liquid-bulk hazmat tanks to fueling stations that see an uptick in volume this time of year. His is one of not many trucking niches that actually see a boost in business this time of year, though as you’ll hear, costs are higher for his business just as they are for many in this frigid season. Balancing the tradeoffs is one of the many calculations the owner’s learned to make over his years in business. His move toward trucking following 20 years off and on driving and in maintenance, as you’ll hear him describe shortly, and growth in the business has come with the dependable partner in Transport Services he made about five years after he got his start as an owner-operator with that a 2007 Pete leased to another outfit. His story I imagine might help show the way for any of you thinking of expansion in the years ahead, and ring familiar to those who've done just that with success today.

Also in the podcast: If you missed prior coverage of Chicago-area-based owner-operator Robert Budzik and his 2002 Kenworth T2000, our brief talk with the operator about his young business' recent history -- on the opposite end of the spectrum of a fashion in life and business from where Marti is today -- rounds out the podcast.

This week's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast features a talk with small fleet owner Dave Marti of Forrest, Ill. He's got six power units, including his own, leased to Transport Services of Sullivan, Ill., hauling fuel in the region around his home base, delivering in liquid-bulk hazmat tanks to fueling stations that see an uptick in volume this time of year. His is one of not many trucking niches that actually see a boost in business this time of year, though as you’ll hear, costs are higher for his business just as they are for many in this frigid season. Balancing the tradeoffs is one of the many calculations the owner’s learned to make over his years in business. His move toward trucking following 20 years off and on driving and in maintenance, as you’ll hear him describe shortly, and growth in the business has come with the dependable partner in Transport Services he made about five years after he got his start as an owner-operator with that a 2007 Pete leased to another outfit. His story I imagine might help show the way for any of you thinking of expansion in the years ahead, and ring familiar to those who've done just that with success today.

Also in the podcast: If you missed prior coverage of Chicago-area-based owner-operator Robert Budzik and his 2002 Kenworth T2000, our brief talk with the operator about his young business' recent history -- on the opposite end of the spectrum of a fashion in life and business from where Marti is today -- rounds out the podcast.

Today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast features a long talk on subject matter in the headline, and more, with owner-operator Steve Bixler of Valley View, Pa., the relatively recently former OOIDA board member and hauler of sand to natural gas drilling and fracking operations in his region. He resigned from OOIDA board in 2017 amid business issues at that time, and today, he’s working with an intrastate log and wood-chips hauling operation that uses its company trucks in Pennnsylvania. Independent owner-operator Bixler’s interstate authority, then, affords him plenty opportunity contracting with the operation for runs to a facility in New York State. Bixler has long been a strong advocate for the notion of a panel of experienced drivers to serve as a regulations-review board of sorts, his thoughts about which lead the podcast. One principal subjects of the podcast: preparation for the worst – whatever series of events you can imagine that threaten your continued operation. Bixler himself was in the middle of paying off a couple bank loans when his daily-driver 1996 Kenworth went down last year, needing an engine rebuild or replacement that was going to take some time to complete, if he could muster up the money to do it. He knew it was coming time for the engine work, and even with the aggressive moves on the bank loans limiting his ready cash flow, he had a contingency plan in place that he moved on. That contingency plan involved his trusty 1989-model Freightliner cabover, the Lady in Red.

Today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast features a long talk on subject matter in the headline, and more, with owner-operator Steve Bixler of Valley View, Pa., the relatively recently former OOIDA board member and hauler of sand to natural gas drilling and fracking operations in his region. He resigned from OOIDA board in 2017 amid business issues at that time, and today, he’s working with an intrastate log and wood-chips hauling operation that uses its company trucks in Pennnsylvania. Independent owner-operator Bixler’s interstate authority, then, affords him plenty opportunity contracting with the operation for runs to a facility in New York State. Bixler has long been a strong advocate for the notion of a panel of experienced drivers to serve as a regulations-review board of sorts, his thoughts about which lead the podcast. One principal subjects of the podcast: preparation for the worst – whatever series of events you can imagine that threaten your continued operation. Bixler himself was in the middle of paying off a couple bank loans when his daily-driver 1996 Kenworth went down last year, needing an engine rebuild or replacement that was going to take some time to complete, if he could muster up the money to do it. He knew it was coming time for the engine work, and even with the aggressive moves on the bank loans limiting his ready cash flow, he had a contingency plan in place that he moved on. That contingency plan involved his trusty 1989-model Freightliner cabover, the Lady in Red.

This edition of Overdrive Radio follows up with Andre Jackson, owner-operator with a business partner of the one-year-old Midnight Xpress small fleet, based down in Mississippi (partner in the business, owner-op Donte Ogletree, is based in Atlanta). Regular listeners will remember late last summer when Jackson was the principal guest on the podcast telling the story of his comeback from multiple heart attacks to where he is today, on his own with his authority and a small trucking company that, as he alludes to at the top, was started with a plan for somewhat aggressive, hopefully sustainable growth in the near-term future. In the short time since we talked, a breakdown of the first truck the pair of owner-ops added to the two-truck fleet, a 2007 Volvo 780 with an '06 engine, set them back a good bit. The driver they hired for that truck then, well, Jackson gets to that in the talk that follows, one that lays out plenty of considerations any owner-operator considering expansion beyond a single truck should make.

This edition of Overdrive Radio follows up with Andre Jackson, owner-operator with a business partner of the one-year-old Midnight Xpress small fleet, based down in Mississippi (partner in the business, owner-op Donte Ogletree, is based in Atlanta). Regular listeners will remember late last summer when Jackson was the principal guest on the podcast telling the story of his comeback from multiple heart attacks to where he is today, on his own with his authority and a small trucking company that, as he alludes to at the top, was started with a plan for somewhat aggressive, hopefully sustainable growth in the near-term future. In the short time since we talked, a breakdown of the first truck the pair of owner-ops added to the two-truck fleet, a 2007 Volvo 780 with an '06 engine, set them back a good bit. The driver they hired for that truck then, well, Jackson gets to that in the talk that follows, one that lays out plenty of considerations any owner-operator considering expansion beyond a single truck should make.

A talk here with the owner of and a contractor to Southern California-based Angus Transportation, a now three-truck business owned and operated by Jimmy Nevarez. Leased owner-operator Darril Lightburn is in a percentage-type comensation arrangement there as an independent contractor, and Overdrive spoke with he and Nevarez both given latter’s past experience hauling rail intermodal containers in the region where they're based, attendant to a feature you’ll see in the February issue of Overdrive about the independent contractor classification, challenges to it via West Coast courts and other areas, and its abuse by too many companies around trucking with, often, lease-purchase arrangements that make it impossible to succeed, much less be afforded any truly independent status with negotiating power. Union organizing and attendant litigation in the ports, and some high-profile examples of muckraking-type journalism over the past years, have exposed some of the most egregious examples. At the same time, the traditional percentage-pay method of small fleets with lease agreements with owner-operators survives. Yes, even in California, as Lightburn and Nevarez are evidence of.

A talk here with the owner of and a contractor to Southern California-based Angus Transportation, a now three-truck business owned and operated by Jimmy Nevarez. Leased owner-operator Darril Lightburn is in a percentage-type comensation arrangement there as an independent contractor, and Overdrive spoke with he and Nevarez both given latter’s past experience hauling rail intermodal containers in the region where they're based, attendant to a feature you’ll see in the February issue of Overdrive about the independent contractor classification, challenges to it via West Coast courts and other areas, and its abuse by too many companies around trucking with, often, lease-purchase arrangements that make it impossible to succeed, much less be afforded any truly independent status with negotiating power. Union organizing and attendant litigation in the ports, and some high-profile examples of muckraking-type journalism over the past years, have exposed some of the most egregious examples. At the same time, the traditional percentage-pay method of small fleets with lease agreements with owner-operators survives. Yes, even in California, as Lightburn and Nevarez are evidence of.

Take a look back on 2018 and, viewed through the lenses of time and the myriad of conversations and voices heard on the Overdrive Radio podcast, 2018 might well be dubbed the year of ticky-tack and more serious issues related to the implementation of, what else, the electronic logging device mandate. Owner-operators’ adjustments in light of that rule, which started being enforced in a significant way on April 1 of 2018, ride over almost the entirety of the top 10 most-listened to episodes here, including some mailbag rounds of callers’ messages on related issues that very nearly made the top 10 themselves. Excerpts here from all 10, in bottom to top order. Also a repeated theme: Focus shifting to or continuing on for many independents in the audience to the occasionally fraught, and often challenging, relationship with freight partner brokers. A big part of that is contractual games brokers have played for years, occupying No. 3 and No. 2 slots.

Take a look back on 2018 and, viewed through the lenses of time and the myriad of conversations and voices heard on the Overdrive Radio podcast, 2018 might well be dubbed the year of ticky-tack and more serious issues related to the implementation of, what else, the electronic logging device mandate. Owner-operators’ adjustments in light of that rule, which started being enforced in a significant way on April 1 of 2018, ride over almost the entirety of the top 10 most-listened to episodes here, including some mailbag rounds of callers’ messages on related issues that very nearly made the top 10 themselves. Excerpts here from all 10, in bottom to top order. Also a repeated theme: Focus shifting to or continuing on for many independents in the audience to the occasionally fraught, and often challenging, relationship with freight partner brokers. A big part of that is contractual games brokers have played for years, occupying No. 3 and No. 2 slots.