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TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2023.12.02

TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2023.12.02 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending December 2, 2023, written by Vicki Simons.

We welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.

TDMST Weekly Round-Up

1. Regarding brokers, OMFIP, parking, pay, strike, supply chain, and towing:

Brokers

OMFIP

OMFIP stands for:
Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy (or Multimodal Freight Office).

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In my opinion, when some person or entity within federal government is not obtaining the results desired, a classic move is to announce and establish a new agency, bureau, commission, department, office, etc. to deflect the previous failure and provide “stalling time” for generating results.

In a nutshell, because none of the branches of the federal government was ever given the authority in The Constitution of the United States to create this new office, it is unconstitutional.

That being stated — and until Congress has the backbone to discontinue it — I would like to see:

  • how this particular new office is arranged in an organizational chart;
  • what its new responsibilities and limitations will be; and
  • what its deadlines are for generating reports or making recommendations.

I could be wrong, but I speculate that nothing meaningful will come out of this office for at least 6 months.

Parking

Pay

According to the third article in the section just below:

This time of year will also find many truckers expecting additional pay and/or a holiday bonus. However, many also figure such added compensation will not be forthcoming, and may change jobs if it isn’t.

If you are such a trucker, please contact us through the form below and share your thoughts.

We care.

Strike

Finally, we are starting to hear about the cost of the strikes.

I wonder if that includes the cost to truckers and the trucking industry.

Supply chain

Is the “new supply chain council” the same as the OMFIP listed above?

Towing

Watch out for signs regarding truck parking bans.

Also, watch out for what I call “predatory booting,” which can lead to high “ransoms” for illegally parked trucks/tractors.

2. Regarding business, congestion plan, delivery surcharge, ELDs, ELDs in California, insurance, and taxes:

Business

Congestion plan

According to one of the articles listed below:

The congestion pricing plan, which neighboring New Jersey has filed a lawsuit over, will be the first such program in the United States if it is approved by transportation officials early next year.

… the fee for small trucks would be $24 and large trucks would be charged $36.

… New York City is poised to become the first in the U.S.

Revenue from the tolls, projected to be roughly $1 billion annually, would be used to finance borrowing to upgrade the city’s mass transit systems.

Here are some of the most recent articles on this topic:

Delivery surcharge

According to the article linked just below:

FedEx and UPS’ DAS [delivery area surcharge] tables are effectively the same. For example, in 2024 both will levy a $5.85 charge on each eligible residential delivery made by air. In addition, each will impose a $5.70 fee for eligible ground residential deliveries. For deliveries covered by an extended DAS, a $7.70 charge will be applied by both carriers. Each will raise their respective DAS’ in 2024 by between 25 cents to $2.50 per package, depending on the service.

So, be aware of this.

ELDs

I think it is obvious from our previous posts here, here, and here, that we were never in favor of mandatory Electronic Logging Devices (or ELDs) — especially those under a “self-certification” set-up.

The chickens have been coming home to roost and the articles below prove that that is continuing.

ELDs in California

Insurance

Taxes

3. Regarding corridor, roads, weather, and winterization:

Corridor

According to the article in this section:

“This project integrates roadway and technology improvements that provide connected and automated trucks with key information about the road ahead, optimizing their performance and enhancing safety for all Texans,” the news release noted. [“]This project aims to increase safety for all road users, enable more efficient operations and maintenance, improve traffic flow, and accelerate the adoption of connected and automated vehicles.”

Since this is “the nation’s first automated trucking corridor,” I wonder if any other vehicles will be allowed to use the road and what that will mean for other roads.

Roads

Weather

Winterization

4. Regarding batteries, carbon, electric vehicles, emissions, fuel, and oil:

Batteries

Please do not think that this means that the price of batteries will stay lower.

Carbon

Electric vehicles

Before you buy an electric commercial motor vehicle, please do your do diligence.

Emissions

Fuel

Oil

5. Regarding economy, fraud and bribes, predictions, and theft:

Economy

Fraud and bribes

Predictions

Theft

We encourage you to do everything reasonable to protect yourself, your tractor, your trailer, and the cargo within from theft.

6. Regarding fifth wheel, routing, and technology:

Fifth wheel

I find that the timing of this release — along with the article above about the “connected” road in Texas — is very interesting.

Routing

Please keep your eyes open for — and abide by — truck route signs and signs banning large trucks.

We recommend that all professional truck drivers in the USA have a truckers atlas.

Technology

7. Regarding crashes, death, drugs, fatalities, and smuggling:

Crashes

Please look through these articles to see if there is anything you can learn to help you prevent being involved in a similar crash.

Death

We express our deep sympathy — and offer our condolences — to the family of this trucker.

Drugs

Never, ever haul illegal drugs, no matter how big of an incentive you’ve been offered!

Fatalities

We express our deep sympathy — and offer our condolences — to the families of those whose loved ones died in these crashes.

Can you learn anything from the articles below that would help prevent being involved in a fatal large truck crash?

Smuggling

Never, ever haul human beings as if they were cargo or cattle!

Those humans made in the image of God need to be treated with respect and dignity.

8. Regarding benefits, employment, recruiting, and shortage:

Benefits

Some trucking companies are offering better or different kinds of employee benefits to help distinguish themselves from their competitors.

Employment

I find it interesting that the loss of employment described in all 3 articles in this section have to do with electric vehicles.

Although the title of the third article does not specifically say so, a quote from the article reads:

Next year will be difficult for VW because of intense pressure in several markets and below-expectation orders for its electric vehicles, brand chief Thomas Schäfer said Nov. 27.

Recruiting

Shortage

OOIDA has said over and over again that it is not a shortage of people in the USA who have commercial drivers licenses but a problem having to do with retention of those people in trucking jobs.

The problems have been identified on a regular basis by groups and organizations like ATRI.

9. Regarding recalls, regulations, safety, and scam:

Recalls

If you have a tractor or trailer under a recall, please have it attended to at the earliest possible time.

Regulations

Safety

Scam

I find the timing of the article in this section — about scams — interesting since our hometown newspaper just published this article:

BBB CONSUMER TIPS: Beware of these common holiday scams.

Please be on your guard.

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Do your due diligence.

10. Regarding chains, inspections, legal, low clearance, operations, and stuck:

Chains

Please review all applicable chain laws based on where you travel in your truck.

Inspections

If you keep yourself and your rig in perpetual readiness for an inspection, you’ll never be caught off-guard.

Legal

Low clearance

The first article in the section just below states:

The incident happened on November 16th in Princeton, Illinois. Since then, investigation has revealed that the 64-year-old female truck driver from Alabama missed her turn and was directed to use the bridge by her GPS.

First, if “her GPS” directed her over the bridge:

  • how did she miss the turn in the first place; and
  • did her trucking company make sure that she had a commercial motor vehicle-specific GPS unit in her truck?

In my opinion, if the trucker’s company did not verify that she had a CMV-specific GPS unit in her truck, they were at least partially — if not fully — to blame for this crash.

To help prevent things like this in the future, please see these articles on our site:

Now, for the articles this week on this topic:

Operations

According to the second article in the section just below:

  • “December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month”; and
  • fleet managers can help protect drivers from impaired motorists through
    • “Defensive driving techniques for your drivers”;
    • “Ways for drivers to maintain wellness behind the wheel”; and
    • “Share techniques and best practices widely in your organization”

Now for this week’s articles:

Stuck

I have purposely separated these articles from the “crashes” section above:

11. Regarding time, training, truckers, trucking industry, and union:

Time

Training

Truckers

Congratulations to this determined woman!

Trucking industry

Union

12. Regarding awards, gifts, and skills:

Awards

Gifts

Another kind of gift that may be appropriate can be learned about here:

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Skills

We commend truckers who show skill on the road every day and are impressed with those who are able to prevent problems in trying circumstances.

My husband Mike and I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.






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