In this episode of Trucking Conversations on Trucker Talk Radio, Herlene Ancar, campus director of Sage Trucking Driving School in Columbia, South Carolina, joins Justin for a candid conversation about what it truly takes to develop professional drivers, not just CDL holders. A US Navy veteran with a background in academic leadership and an MBA in healthcare management, Herlene brings a perspective on CDL education that goes far beyond passing a DMV test. She breaks down how Sage approaches its 7-week Class A program, from the first day of class to job placement assistance, and why punctuality, accountability, and communication are built into the curriculum from day one.

Herlene draws a clear line between a driver who holds a CDL and one who is actually a professional. She explains how Sage instills habits like arriving early, making eye contact, and taking ownership of their actions, because those traits define how a driver represents themselves at every dock and shipper interaction throughout their career. She also digs into the gap between carrier recruiters and trainers, the importance of transparency when bringing on new drivers, and why companies that develop talent from within, such as promoting warehouse workers and diesel mechanics into driving roles, see far better retention and loyalty.

The conversation also covers the growing opportunity for 18-to-21-year-old drivers, the untapped potential of veterans transitioning into commercial driving, and why women entering the industry are bringing dedication, professionalism, and energy that is reshaping the workforce. Justin and Herlene discuss the Ready App Passport and the Driver Ready Score as tools that could help new drivers stand out, take ownership of their careers, and earn their seat at the table in an industry that too often leaves drivers out of the main conversation.

Herlene closes with her outlook on the next 5 years of CDL training, expressing excitement about the rise of women in trucking, the 18-to-21 pipeline gaining traction across state associations, and the trajectory of commercial driving becoming one of the top trades in America. For anyone considering trucking as a career, or any carrier wondering how to attract and keep the next generation of drivers, this episode is a must-listen.

Chapters

0:00 undefined

1:55 Meet Herlene Ancar

2:44 From Navy Vet to CDL Education

4:08 CDL Students vs. Traditional College Students

5:16 About Sage Trucking Driving School

6:17 The Student Journey at Sage

7:47 Zero Breeze Ad

8:24 Hardest Part for New Students

9:11 CDL Holder vs. Professional Driver

10:26 Building Professionalism from Day One

14:10 Safety Culture & Pre-Trip Inspection

17:07 What Carriers Expect from Sage Grads

18:05 The Carrier-to-Driver Support Gap

20:28 Building Drivers from Within Companies

22:16 The 18-to-21 Driver Pipeline

24:33 CDL vs. College: The ROI Argument

25:51 Developing Drivers, Not Just Finding Them

26:55 Veterans Behind the Wheel

29:58 A Better Path for Military Veterans

30:53 Refresher Training for All Drivers

32:30 Ready App Passport Deep Dive

36:35 Handle Your Business: The App's Impact

40:57 Drivers Need a Seat at the Table

41:40 Women Growing in Trucking

42:57 Female Drivers Changing the Industry

44:28 Attracting the Next Generation

45:36 Transparency in Recruiting

48:11 The Next 5 Years of CDL Training

49:57 How to Find Herlene & Sage

50:27 Outro & Sponsors

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Herlene Ancar

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/herlene-ancar-62a94146/

Website: https://sageschools.com

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #cdltraining #professionaldriver #cdlschool #truckingeducation #sagetruckingdrivingschool #veteransintucking #womenintucking #truckingworkforce #newtruckdriver #cdllife #behindthewheelhouse #truckingpodcast #truckerpodcast #driverdevelopment #readyapp #truckinglife #keepontruckin

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Rick Mihelic, Director of Emerging Technologies at NACFE (North American Council for Freight Efficiency), joins Jon and Justin for a wide-ranging conversation spanning aerospace engineering, diesel efficiency, autonomous vehicles, and the complicated future of freight technology. Rick brings more than four decades of engineering experience to the table, including 20 years at PACCAR focused on aerodynamics and fuel economy, a decade on aerospace programs at Lockheed covering the Trident missile and the Space Shuttle, and his role as aerodynamics lead on the Peterbilt and Cummins Supertruck program for the Department of Energy.

Rick walks through the Supertruck program in detail, explaining how a small team of roughly 10 people designed a tractor and trailer as a complete aerodynamic system, achieving 10.7 miles per gallon at a time when the industry average sat around 6. He breaks down how trailer skirts, trailer tails, and gap reduction between tractor and trailer work together, why low rolling resistance tires and a new truck remain the fastest ROI for fleets, and how driver behavior alone can swing fuel economy by as much as 30%. He also explains NACFE's Run on Less program, which has repeatedly documented real-world trucks exceeding 10 miles per gallon under production conditions.

The conversation turns to what Rick calls the messy middle: the crowded, confusing landscape of hydrogen fuel cell, renewable natural gas, battery electric, renewable diesel, and traditional diesel all competing for fleet adoption simultaneously. He makes the case that each powertrain is optimized for a specific duty cycle, that fleets will run mixed fleets for decades, and that battery electric already delivers an effective fuel economy equivalent above 18 miles per gallon for operations under 500 miles per day. He addresses grid infrastructure concerns, autonomous vehicle timelines, the legal and safety learning curve ahead, and why truck drivers and technicians will have jobs for a long time regardless of how quickly AVs scale.

Rick closes with a call for the industry to ditch marketing hype and opinion-based decisions in favor of the data that is already available. All of NACFE's reports are free at nacfe.org, and the next Run on Less event is scheduled for 2027 at runonless.com.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

2:05 ReadyApp: Who's Behind the Wheel

3:44 From Aerospace to Trucking

4:47 Working on the Space Shuttle

7:52 The Supertruck Program Explained

9:33 Are Newer Trucks Better?

12:06 Biggest Advances in Fuel Efficiency

13:27 What Properly Driven Really Means

16:41 Aerodynamics and Truck Design

18:34 Trailer Skirts and Tails

22:41 Rick's Background and Career Path

27:57 What Rick Is Most Proud Of

29:55 How Much Room Is Left for Diesel?

33:31 Autonomous Vehicles: Where Are We?

40:02 The Messy Middle Explained

42:09 Electric Infrastructure Reality Check

46:00 One Thing Rick Would Change

46:38 Where to Find NACFE

47:24 Outro

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Rick Mihelic

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-mihelic-2648a732/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/north-american-council-for-freight-efficiency/

Website: https://nacfe.org

runonless: https://runonless.com

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #behindthewheelhouse #trucking #truckingpodcast #fuelefficiency #aerodynamics #autonomoustrucks #electrictrucks #nacfe #supertruck #truckdriver #freightindustry #truckinglife #dieseltrucks #trucktech #runonless #fleetmanagement #truckingfuture

In this episode of Trucking Conversations on Trucker Talk Radio, Martin Garsee, director of transportation training at Houston Community College and executive director of the National Association of Public Funded Trucking Drive Schools, joins Justin for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually takes to build a high-quality public CDL program and what prospective drivers need to know before they ever climb into a truck.

Martin traces his path from part-time teen driver education at Houston Community College to taking over the truck driving department full-time in the late 1990s, eventually helping shape federal policy as one of 26 members of the Entry Level Driver Training Advisory Committee starting in 2015. He breaks down what separates a legitimate CDL school from a predatory one, including red flags like self-reported curricula, single-axle day cabs used for testing, and programs promising a CDL in 24 hours or less. He also explains why the training provider registry is fundamentally broken due to self-certification, and why this administration's enforcement push, including two rounds of audits, is the most meaningful regulatory action the industry has seen in years.

The conversation covers the challenge of attracting younger drivers, the debate around 18-to-21-year-old interstate driving restrictions, and practical advice for young people who want to enter the industry before they are old enough to go over the road. Martin also shares how the National Association of Public Funded Trucking Drive Schools has built direct access to FMCSA leadership and state legislatures, including helping bring third-party CDL testing to Texas. The episode closes with a discussion on driver verification technology, the Ready App digital passport, and how autonomous trucking will reshape the role of the professional driver over the next decade without eliminating the need for one.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:05 Ready App & Show Sponsor

1:46 Martin's Welcome

2:03 Getting Into the Industry

2:47 Martin's Origin Story

6:52 Zero Breeze Ad & Driver Respect

8:34 What Sets HCC's CDL Program Apart

12:30 Enrollment to Graduation Walkthrough

13:45 Student Volume & Red Flags in CDL Schools

23:16 FMCSA Funding & Security Gaps

27:11 Attracting Younger Drivers

31:37 Advice for 18-Year-Olds & Military CDLs

33:39 Pathways Before Going Over the Road

37:20 Loyalty, Leasing, and Getting Authority Too Soon

39:31 About the National Association (NAPFTDS)

47:08 The Training Provider Registry Is Broken

51:44 Political Transitions & Regulatory Urgency

53:03 Texas Trucking Association Relationship

55:52 Driver Verification & Ready App

1:01:31 Future of Driver Education & Autonomous Trucks

1:04:00 Closing Thoughts & How to Connect

1:06:15 Outro & Sponsors

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Martin Garsee

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-garsee-78436a69/

website_hcc: https://www.hcc.edu

website_napftds: https://napftds.org

About Trucker Talk Radio:

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #truckingpodcast #cdltraining #cdlschool #truckdriver #trucking #drivereducation #workforcedevelopment #fmcsa #entryleveldrivertraining #eldt #truckinglife #behindthewheelhouse #houstoncommunitycollege #napftds #publiceducation #drivershortage #cdllife

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Jim Mullen, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, joins Justin Holden for the debut of Trucking Conversations, a new series dedicated to the people, policies, and ideas shaping the future of transportation. Jim brings one of the most layered resumes in the industry, spanning more than a decade at Warner Enterprise in legal affairs, safety, and government relations, followed by roles as Chief Counsel and then Acting Administrator of the FMCSA, and now leading TCA, which represents carriers operating more than 220,000 trucks and generating over $40 billion in annual revenue.

Jim and Justin dig into the stark resource gap at the FMCSA, where roughly 1,120 employees are responsible for overseeing more than 7,000 regulated entities each, compared to one FAA employee for every 37 or 38 regulated aviation entities. Jim explains the TCA-led modernization effort urging Congress to properly fund and right-size the agency, with support from ATA, NMFTA, state associations, and safety groups. He also walks through his experience managing the agency during COVID, including the rapid regulatory adjustments required when CDL schools, DMVs, and rest stops shut down, and the career staff who shifted into overdrive to keep the supply chain moving.

The conversation covers freight fraud in detail, including how sophisticated bad actors buy legitimate DOT numbers, build shipper trust across multiple loads, and then vanish with high-value freight before starting the cycle again. Jim makes the case for pending federal legislation that would create a cross-agency clearinghouse for cargo crime, arguing that until fraudsters face real jail time, the ROI on fraud stays too attractive. He also praises tools like Ready App's Driver Verify platform as an essential layer of identity verification that he expects to become industry standard.

Jim and Justin close on autonomous trucking and driver recruitment. Jim is direct: no truck driver working today will lose their job to autonomy in his lifetime, and he expects fewer than 10,000 driverless trucks on the road in the next decade. On recruitment, he highlights Pell Grant access for CDL training and the ongoing 18-to-20-year-old interstate pilot program as meaningful steps, while acknowledging that the industry's image problem and the autonomy hype both make it harder to attract younger drivers to a career that Jim sees as one of the most essential in the American economy.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:05 Welcome & New Show Launch

3:17 Jim Mullen's Background

6:05 Sponsor: Zero Breeze

7:09 COVID & Trucking's Public Image

8:37 What Changed Jim's View of Trucking

15:24 FMCSA: Resources & Modernization

20:45 Leading FMCSA During COVID

24:56 What TCA Does & Its Mission

27:34 Truck Parking Crisis

33:34 Freight Fraud: How Bad Is It?

39:08 Driver Identity & Ready App

41:28 Jail Time & the CORCA Bill

43:36 AI & Autonomous Trucking

49:53 Driver Recruitment & Retention

55:09 One Recommendation for Congress

1:00:12 Closing Thoughts & Safety

1:02:31 Where to Find TCA

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Jim Mullen

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-mullen-9478155b/

Website: https://truckload.org/

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #trucking #truckingpodcast #truckdriver #fmcsa #truckloadcarriersassociation #freightfraud #truckparking #autonomoustrucking #cdldriver #truckingsafety #supplychainpolicy #driverrecruitment #behindthewheelhouse #jimmullen #truckingadvocacy #freighttransportation #truckinglife

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Matthew Kane, founder and CEO of Riteload, joins Jon and Justin for a candid conversation about one of the oldest problems in the freight industry: the broken relationship between shippers, brokers, and carriers. Before entering trucking, Matthew built a multi-state publishing company to over 13 million subscribers and sold it to a national newspaper publisher. He also owns a construction company he has operated for more than 40 years. What pulled him into freight was a veterans event in Washington, DC, where he spent hours talking to truck drivers and heard firsthand about the financial abuse baked into the brokerage model. That conversation sent him on a 9.5-month road trip across 44 states, talking to tens of thousands of drivers and walking into warehouses unannounced, gathering research that would eventually become Riteload.

Riteload is a direct-connect marketplace that allows shippers and carriers to find each other, negotiate rates, and contract without a broker in the middle. Matthew explains the platform's flat-fee structure: $50 for loads under $1,500 and $100 for anything above, with no monthly fees and no percentage cut. He describes the extensive driver vetting system built into the platform, including a mobile app that ties a specific driver's identity to a specific phone and sends load-specific verification codes at pickup and delivery. He notes that the FMCSA reviewed the model and confirmed in writing that Riteload is not operating as a broker, a distinction that took years of pushback from the industry to establish.

The conversation digs into the recent Supreme Court ruling that exposes freight brokers to liability for carrier accidents, a decision Matthew disagrees with on legal grounds even as he acknowledges it will shake up an industry he has been trying to reform for over a decade. He and Jon discuss how the ruling changes the calculus for shippers, who may now face the same liability exposure that brokers do, and how Riteload is rebuilding its platform around a workaround for exactly that scenario. Matthew expects the revamped app and marketplace to return to market by the end of October or early November.

The episode also covers autonomous trucks, insurance costs threatening small carriers, and whether eliminating bad brokers would actually put more money in drivers' pockets. Matthew argues that opening the freight market directly to shippers, where 250,000 potential customers replace a concentrated pool of brokers, would give carriers significantly more negotiating leverage and ultimately increase take-home pay. He closes with a direct message to drivers: the men and women keeping America's supply chain moving deserve $140,000 to $160,000 a year as a starting baseline, and someone has to keep fighting until that becomes the norm.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:22 Matthew's Background in Publishing

3:33 The Former Trucker Talk Radio

7:57 Zero Breeze Ad

8:28 What Is Riteload?

9:34 9.5 Months on the Road

12:07 What Shippers and Carriers Were Saying

18:25 Building the Riteload Platform

19:55 The Supreme Court Broker Ruling

22:38 Accountability for Carriers and Drivers

24:44 Driver Vetting and the Mobile App

30:30 App Revamp and Timeline

34:51 What's Coming for the Industry

35:13 Autonomous Trucks

38:24 Insurance as an Industry Killer

42:37 Uber and Autonomous Contradictions

47:28 Will Drivers Actually Make More Without Brokers?

52:14 Riteload's Flat Fee Model

56:45 Platform Status and Revamp

57:55 How to Find Riteload

59:43 Outro and Sponsor Reads

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Matthew Kane

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-kane-bb0584161/

Website: https://riteload.com

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #behindthewheelhouse #truckingpodcast #freighttech #riteload #matthewkane #freightbroker #truckinglife #owneroperator #directshipping #freightmarket #autonomoustrucks #cdldriver #truckingindustry #carriervetting #scotusruling #truckdriver #freightinnovation

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Scott Rea, president of Avatar, joins Justin for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the most persistent challenges in transportation: finding, hiring, retaining, and protecting quality drivers. Scott traces his path from a research project at BW to learning the business alongside a seasoned industry veteran, eventually taking the reins of a full recruiting department at J Rail Transportation in Akron, Ohio at just 26 years old. That hands-on experience became the foundation for Avatar, a company built around the philosophy of doing the customer's job before building software for it.

Scott breaks down Avatar's DriverHub platform and what a true one-stop shop actually looks like for carriers. He walks through the three core buckets of recruiting, compliance, and safety, and explains why integration across systems is not just a convenience but a risk management necessity. From automating medical examiner verification to locking drivers out of dispatch systems when credentials expire, he shows how removing human error from compliance tasks directly protects carriers from the kind of clerical exposure that plaintiff's attorneys, including the Morgan Morgan network, use to pursue nuclear verdicts even when the carrier is not at fault.

The conversation gets into the realities of driver recruiting today, including the problem with multi-carrier advertising platforms, the importance of owning your own recruiting page and brand, and how Avatar tested AI agents to qualify candidates after hours in 2024. Scott also addresses the SCOTUS ruling and what it means practically for carriers who were already running compliant operations, offering a grounded perspective on why good companies have little to fear if their documentation and coaching records are solid.

Scott closes with his outlook on technology and autonomous vehicles, arguing that the standard for self-driving trucks is not perfection but simply being safer than humans, who already have a surprisingly high tolerance for road fatalities. He also reflects on driver quality of life as the real long-term retention lever, and why making trucking an attractive career again is one of the industry's most pressing unsolved problems.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:40 Scott's Background

2:26 Getting Into Trucking

4:58 Ad Break: Zero Breeze

5:58 Why Retention Fails

6:42 Building Avatar

8:56 What Customers Really Want

10:34 DriverHub: One-Stop Shop

13:32 Integration & Human Error

15:08 Recruiting, Compliance & Safety Buckets

18:40 Morgan Morgan & Nuclear Verdicts

20:36 Documentation as a Defense Wall

22:27 Real-World Compliance Failures

23:06 Recruiting Services & the Purple Cow

30:02 Driver Honesty & SAP Program

31:48 Lowest Cost Per Hire Strategy

33:20 Own Your Recruiting Land

36:03 Driver Verification & Digital Docs

39:21 SCOTUS Ruling Impact

42:37 Courts, Compliance & Industry Gaps

45:12 AI & Technology in Recruiting

46:12 Future of AI at Avatar

49:00 Autonomous Trucks & Driver Future

51:21 Making Trucking Attractive Again

54:21 Scott's Pitch & Contact Info

54:59 Outro & Sponsor Messages

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Scott Rea

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottrea/

Website: https://avatarfleet.com

email: [email protected]

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#trucking #truckertalkradio #driverrecruiting #truckingcompliance #cdldriver #fleetmanagement #driverretention #truckingsafety #avatarfleet #driveronboarding #truckingtech #owneroperator #behindthewheelhouse #freightindustry #transportationlaw #truckinglife #driverhub #truckingpodcast

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Thomas Balzer, President and CEO of the Ohio Trucking Association, joins Jon and Justin for a wide-ranging conversation about what it actually takes to lead one of the country's most respected state trucking associations. Thomas traces his path from North Dakota, where he ran the Motor Carrier Association of North Dakota starting in 2006, through a stint driving for a trucking company that earned him his CDL, and into his current role advocating for Ohio carriers at the state and national level. He explains how earning that CDL completely changed his understanding of the industry and gave him the credibility to speak with real authority in front of legislators.

Thomas breaks down the OTA's core mission: advocate, educate, and communicate. He covers the current freight rate environment, crediting the C.H. Robinson Supreme Court ruling and the tightening of CDL supply through English language proficiency enforcement as key drivers of the market shift. He also weighs in on carrier scoring, the shortcomings of CSA data and SAFER, and why tools like Ready App's driver and fleet scoring system are long overdue for an industry that has never had a reliable, real-time picture of who is behind the wheel.

The conversation digs into truck parking, where Thomas shares that Ohio has committed $150 million at the state level, matching what Congress allocated for the entire country. He explains why drivers rank parking above their own pay on industry surveys and makes the case that the nation has a duty to provide safe, adequate rest environments if it expects drivers to perform. He also shares his honest take on autonomous trucks, warning that public acceptance, infrastructure gaps, and real-world driving variables make the driverless utopia far further away than the headlines suggest.

Thomas closes with a look at the OTA's legislative wins, including a seven-step independent contractor classification standard and towing reform that prevents freight from being held hostage over disputed bills. He makes the case for why every carrier and driver in Ohio should be a member of the association, summing it up simply: the best legislation he has ever won is the kind nobody knew was coming, because it never saw the light of day.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:21 Ready App: Who's Behind the Wheel

1:34 Introducing Thomas Balzer

2:20 Path Into Trucking & North Dakota

4:49 Getting His CDL & Why It Changed Everything

6:47 Life at the Trucking Company

10:11 Ohio Trucking Association Overview

13:30 Driver of the Year Program

15:33 Freight Rates & Market Shift

17:30 CSA Scores, SAFER & Carrier Vetting

21:46 Driver Scores & the Ready App Solution

25:09 Autonomous Trucks: Reality vs. Hype

29:37 Driverless Trailers & Drop and Hook

34:01 Truck Parking Crisis in Ohio

39:55 Should Carriers Pay for Parking?

44:04 Protecting the Asset: Maintenance Advice

47:03 Opportunities Exciting Thomas for the Future

49:23 OTA's Biggest Legislative Wins

53:40 How to Find Ohio Trucking Association

54:26 Outro

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Thomas Balzer

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tombalzer/

Website: https://joinota.com

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #behindthewheelhouse #ohiotruckingassociation #thomasbalzer #truckparking #truckingadvocacy #autonomoustrucks #csascore #freightrates #cdldriver #owneroperator #truckinglife #truckingpodcast #carrierscoring #readyapp #truckinglaw #freightindustry #keepontruckin

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Alex Bezzubets, founder and CEO of myMechanic, joins Justin for a candid conversation about one of trucking's most persistent and costly pain points: roadside breakdowns and the chaos that follows. Alex traces his path from career firefighter to real estate investor to accidental shop owner in Dallas, where a single botched road call from an unreliable provider sparked the idea for a technology platform that would change how fleets, call centers, and service providers communicate during a breakdown.

Alex walks through exactly how myMechanic works as a true agnostic marketplace connecting three types of customers: fleets and owner-operators, service call centers, and roadside providers including mobile mechanics, towing companies, and tire dealers. The platform eliminates the cascade of phone calls that defines most breakdown experiences by giving every party real-time tracking, live maps, in-app communication, and photo documentation. Fleets can add interested parties like shippers and brokers to follow a road call live, and service providers get a full operating system to manage technicians, dispatch leads, and build direct relationships with fleet customers, all for $2.50 per event.

The conversation digs into the broader future of fleet maintenance, including the growing complexity of computerized diesel trucks, the certification challenges surrounding electric and autonomous vehicles, and why Alex believes the industry faces a connectivity shortage more than a mechanic shortage. He also shares his vision for a truck-level digital passport, payments solutions for after-hours repairs, and an entrepreneurial investment program that will allow industry veterans to bring their own ideas into the myMechanic ecosystem.

Alex and Justin also connect the dots between roadside technology, driver safety, and the rising urgency of driver verification, touching on myMechanic's potential integration with platforms like Ready App to give both drivers and service providers greater identity confidence on the road.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

3:03 Alex's Background and Origin Story

4:26 From Firefighter to Fleet Tech Founder

9:58 Zero Breeze Ad

10:10 Why Real-Time Tracking Changes Everything

12:05 How myMechanic Works: Full Platform Walkthrough

15:59 Serving Small Fleets and Owner-Operators

17:51 The Flywheel Effect and Partnership with Love's

20:33 Connectivity Shortage vs. Mechanic Shortage

22:14 The Real Cost of Truck Downtime

23:54 Proving Breakdowns to Brokers and Customers

24:39 Interested Parties Feature

26:50 Pricing, Growth, and Fleet Councils

29:47 Pulling Over on the Highway for Driver Research

30:32 Future Vision: Payments, Insurance, and Investing

33:23 The Future of Fleet Maintenance and EV Trucks

38:52 Autonomous Trucks and Technician Certification

40:48 Old School Mechanics vs. Tech-Savvy Technicians

43:50 Driver Verification and the Truck Passport Concept

47:43 How to Connect with myMechanic

49:07 Outro

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Alex Bezzubets

email: [email protected]

Website: https://trymymechanic.com

LinkedIn (Personal): https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-bezzubets-408533158

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mymechanicinc/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/mymechanic_inc/

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #behindthewheelhouse #truckingpodcast #roadsideassistance #fleetmanagement #mymechanic #truckingtech #truckdowntime #owneroperator #trucking #truckdriver #freighttech #truckingindustry #dieselmechanic #fleetmaintenance #truckinglife #transportationtechnology #alexbezzubets

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Rob Carpenter, compliance executive, partner at Truck Safe Consulting, and author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to Trucking, joins Jon and Justin for one of the most wide-ranging conversations the show has ever had. Rob draws on over 45 years of lived experience, from driving seafood runs up the East Coast on loose-leaf logs and zero sleep, to building fleet safety programs for carriers running more than 1,000 power units. He traces the arc from the wild-west era of trucking under the ICC to today's over-saturated, fraud-riddled market, and makes the case that you cannot fix where this industry is going without understanding exactly how it got here.

The conversation digs deep into hours-of-service regulations, the ELD mandate, and whether any happy medium is actually possible given how dramatically the driver pool has changed. Rob argues that while he personally ran on four or five hours of sleep for decades, the new persona of driver entering the market makes regulation necessary in a way it simply was not before. He also walks through the fraud epidemic head-on, including a harrowing expert witness case involving a quadruple-brokered load, a Russian CDL, and a father killed when a truck stopped dead in the center lane with flashlights as taillights. His takeaway is clear: too many hands in a transaction destroys information integrity and opens the door to bad actors at every level.

Rob also breaks down the compliance versus risk distinction that brokers and shippers consistently get wrong, explains why capital requirements destroy new owner-operators before they ever get traction, and walks through the investigation system he built that the FMCSA, FBI, and OIG now use daily to close federal fraud cases. He and Jon get into the driver data problem at the heart of the industry, why CSA scores reflect drivers who are long gone, and how platforms like Ready App are building the kind of portable, driver-owned verification record that could actually change the equation.

The episode closes with something rare: a genuinely personal moment. Rob shares that at 45, he is the oldest surviving member of his family, having lost his brother, sister, and both parents to overdoses and drug-related deaths. He got emancipated at 15 and built everything from scratch. The Hitchhiker's Guide to Trucking, 760 pages of history, investigation, and hard-won perspective, is the culmination of that entire journey.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

0:05 Who Is Rob Carpenter?

3:18 From the Farm to the Cab

5:38 Ad: Zero Breeze

6:11 The ELD Mandate and Loose-Leaf Logs

9:56 Running on No Sleep: The Old Way

10:37 Hours of Service: Is There a Happy Medium?

16:58 Why Rob Wrote the Book

19:46 The ICC Era and Barriers to Entry

22:10 Hot Markets and Cutting Corners

24:11 Capital Requirements New Owners Miss

28:02 Fraud: How Did We Get Here?

31:34 How to Vet a Carrier

32:35 Driver Verification and Ready App

38:43 Should Drivers Need Retesting?

39:23 The Case for an Open-Deck Endorsement

40:41 Saving American Trucking

43:14 Rob's Biggest Accomplishment

47:13 Outro and Sponsors

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Rob Carpenter

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-carpenter-cds-cdme-74500977/

X: https://x.com/RobCarpenter

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@talkingwreckless

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalkradio #behindthewheelhouse #truckingpodcast #robcarpenter #trucksafeconsulting #driververfication #freightfraud #dotcompliance #truckinghistory #eldmandate #doublebrokering #cargotheft #owneroperator #truckinglife #readyapp #freightwaves #hitchhikersguidetotucking #truckdriver

In this episode of Behind the Wheelhouse on Trucker Talk Radio, Robert Skarzynski, founder and CEO of Standard Rail Corporation based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, joins Jon and Justin to pull back the curtain on one of freight's most opaque and underdigitized sectors. Robert traces his path to founding Standard Rail back to 2017, when he was literally driving around the countryside searching for sidings because there was no platform, no directory, and no visibility into where railcar storage and transloading facilities actually existed. That experience became the foundation for Sightings, a B2B marketplace for rail that Standard Rail launched six months ago to connect shippers with certified rail facilities covering storage, transloading, real estate, and railcar services.

Robert breaks down how the private railcar market shifted the burden of maintenance, storage, and compliance from the railroads onto shippers, and why that shift created a massive gap that no technology company had bothered to fill. He explains the difference between bulk rail freight and intermodal, why unit train shipping dominates the Class I railroads' priorities, and where manifest shippers are quietly losing ground to trucking. He also walks through the cold, hard cash flow realities of getting started in rail, including why most trucking companies that approach Class I railroads get ignored, and what homework they need to do first.

The conversation also covers how rail and trucking are not competitors but partners, with trucking owning first-mile and last-mile delivery while rail handles the long haul on bulk commodities like grain, scrap steel, chemicals, and energy products. Robert shares why transloading is a growing opportunity for trucking companies looking to expand their business model, and how the Sightings platform is designed to make that entry point accessible without requiring a $100 million facility buildout. He also addresses freight fraud in rail versus trucking, the impact of Canadian winters on Class I operations, and why AI will improve rail workflows long before it transforms the industry the way it has others.

Chapters

0:00 Intro

1:41 Robert's Background

2:18 Spotting the Rail Visibility Gap

3:47 How the Sightings Platform Works

5:03 Rail vs. Trucking: Competitors or Partners?

7:35 Is Rail the Enemy for Truckers?

9:45 Transit Times and Railcar Logistics

11:09 AI's Role in Rail's Future

13:35 Freight Fraud in Rail vs. Trucking

15:41 Standard Rail's US Expansion

16:45 Canadian Rail Players

16:56 Winter's Impact on Rail Operations

18:36 How to Get Started in Rail

20:40 Why the Platform Is Called Sightings

22:50 Rail's Transparency Problem

24:33 Where to Find Robert and Standard Rail

Follow Us!

X: https://x.com/trucktalkradio

IG: https://instagram.com/truckertalkradio

TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@truckertalkradio

Follow Robert Skarzynski

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertskarzynski/

Website: https://standardrail.com

Powered by Ready App

The driver-verification platform protecting brokers, carriers, and shippers from identity fraud, onboarding risks, and unsafe hires.

Learn more at: https://ready-app.com

Support GreyCross.org

A 501(c)(3) supporting families affected by roadway tragedies across America.

Donate at: https://greycross.org

#truckertalradio #truckertalkradio #behindthewheelhouse #raillogistics #freighttechnology #intermodal #supplychain #railfreight #transloading #truckingpodcast #truckinglife #freightindustry #standardrailcorporation #sightingsplatform #bulkfreight #owneroperator #truckdriver #freightmarketplace