Episode 76 is here and I provide an in detail update on why I am not yet driving. Once again customer service remains a dying characteristic in trucking as the body shop I have been dealing with keeps missing the mark. But with this time down I've doubled down on myself, it has expedited me into working towards pivoting the business to get me weaned off OTR and into a fixed position to lay heavy artillery onto our enemies. A couple headlines crossed my eyes I wanted to share my opinions on and how/why they fire me up and are part of the underlying issues of why we're in this fight. I close it out with the DATA AND SCIENCE on why abolishing the FMCSA is a main priority.

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Jamie Hagen aka MACK LOVIN is the owner/operator of Hell Bent Xpress out of Aberdeen, SD. Humble beginnings growing up on a farm, Jamie would ride along with his dad by the time he was just out of diapers. Fast forward to the 90's and Jamie bought his first truck, where he claims he did everything wrong, and eventually went out of business in 1998. But he didn't just give up, he kept trucking and got back into business in 2010, where he still made mistakes but now a bit older and wiser, when he fell, he made sure to fall forward.

Essentially a brand ambassador for Mack trucks, we go into detail about his admiration for Volvo/Mack's technology and how their manufacturing is what made him profitable. From fuel mileage to customer service, they continue to be his truck of choice despite now only being 2% of the market share of trucks.

Hell Bent Xpress is hiring for their tank and dry van division so go checkthem out at hellbentxpress.com and follow Jamie on twitter @hellbenthagen

Daniel Kao is a Jersey boy who attended NYU. Initially gung ho for finance he read between the lines and maybe saw that this wasn't the way to go and immersed himself into the tech world. Starting with Square who really innovated how small businesses collect payments, he then moved on to work at DoorDash at the ground floor when they had barely 50 employees. In theory DoorDash was his first taste of the logistics world, and that's when Uber Freight came into play. From there he realized that the tech within the logistics industry wasn't carrier focused, and that's why we now have TruckSmarter. An absolutely FREE loadboard for carriers, as well as fuel discounts, and other amenities to help carriers run their business.

Dan loves to personally connect with carriers so feel free to email him at [email protected]

Mark Manera grew up in the St. Louis area. A lover of both fitness and baseball he attended Maryville University of St. Louis where he was educated in physical therapy. Trucking found him the same way it finds many drivers, by accident. Some of his first patients walking through the door were drivers with tenure in the industry and he saw the damage done to one's body after trucking for several decades. He knew they deserved better, and that is why he started Supply Chain fitness. You can find Dr. Manera on all social medias by searching for Supply Chain Fitness, or his name.

LINKS:

supplychainfitness.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/truckingcompanywellnessprogram-truck-driver-trucking-healthandwellness/

Daniel grew up in Indiana and attended Purdue University for Agricultural Econ. While in college he obtained his CDL and his addiction to trucking spawned from there. He has entered and exited the industry, been a company driver as well as operate under his own authority. Primarily a flatbedder, advocacy for trucking fell into Dan's life essentially by accident. Through making friends over the road he wanted to be more involved in making trucking a better career, and a lasting one for the next generation.

He tells an amazing story about his travels to DC, and we really go in on the hardships of being over the road and how mental health for drivers is a very unseen and unspoken about problem.

Join us at CDL Drivers Unlimited at cdldu.com

And find Daniel Koors on facebook, and then follow him on tiktok @short_stack715

Grace Sharkey is a professional in the logistics and transportation industry with experience in journalism, digital content creation and decision-making roles in the third-party logistics space. Prior to joining FreightWaves, Grace led a startup brokerage to more than $80 million in revenue, holding roles of increasing responsibility, including director of sales, vice president of business development and chief strategy officer. She is currently a staff writer, podcast producer and SiriusXM radio host for FreightWaves, a leading provider of news, data and analytics for the logistics industry. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Michigan State University. You can contact her at [email protected] or follow her on twitter/IG @graciemanelafr8

Dave is a veteran trucker in the industry who has a fascinating story. He was raised by the old school union truckers and aspired to have a career like they did. Unfortunately he came in at the end of the Teamsters hayday and saw the folding and consolidation of several carriers. An absolute whirlwind of career that you'll have to listen to yourself to see all the moving parts. But now in the twilight of his career he has sold his truck and will be driving for Walmart's private fleet. And we go into detail in how Walmart is actually setting the example for what carriers should have done post deregulation, or at least should be doing now.

Dave is off social media, so if you see a Walmart truck around Reno, NV just do the old arm pump and hopefully it'll be him to honk back at you

Huge milestone for the show as we have reached 69 episodes! Isn't that NICE?! Former guests Reed, Dom Tullo, and Justin Martin from Freightwaves rejoin the show for an awesome conversation that goes from the ATA's fake driver shortage narrative, to Area 51. If you weren't bullish on freight communities before this episode, you will be after this one.

Blythe Brumleve got her start in freight marketing as an executive assistant working for a large 3PL in North Florida where she would eventually be tasked with handling the company’s digital media strategy. This is where she earned her chops as a marketer forced to do it all with a limited budget around the time when the inbound marketing concept was born. It was this job and a side-hustle blog that earned her eventual roles with a B2B marketing agency, on-air radio talent, and TV talent.

In 2018, she launched Digital Dispatch helping freight companies get online and grow. In addition to being a creative founder in freight, she hosts Cyberly on Freightwaves, is cofounder of Jax Podcasters Unite, and board member of the Transportation Marketing and Sales Association. Check out the Everything is Logistics podcast and follow her on social channels linked below for more freight marketing insight. 

@blythebrum

Reed came on the show several months back to talk about his SaaS product that is Lostfr8. I referred to it almost as a reverse load board, but really it has started to grow as a tool for these links in the supply chain to build relationships. We give the back story on the Please Advise hats, and go into the community we have been bringing together on Discord.

Find Reed on twitter @Reedislost and join us every Tues and Thurs on twitter spaces around 8 central time, give or take.