Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

Okay, it’s Internet radio. I’ve been invited to participate in an Internet Talk show put on by Allen at Truth About Trucking .com. Check out the show page here the date is August 19th. I’ll put out another reminder when the time gets closer.

The topic? Do Truckers have the right to strike? Most everyone here knows my position. I’ll be joined by Allen and a 21 year trucking veteran. Should be interesting.

Convenience on your key chain

Need to know where the Wi-Fi is? Now you can, with this tiny but durable little gadget that fits right on your key chain without bulking it up so much that it won’t fit comfortably in your pocket or purse. Sure, you can boot up your laptop and look for a signal. You can even walk around or drive around with it, but it’s time consuming and tedious. It’s much easier to just use the mobile Wi-Fi locator to hunt for a signal so you’re not using your bulky laptop and running your battery dead just trying to find a place that’s got a signal you can use. The mobile Wi-Fi locator is not only small, lightweight, and convenient but it also comes with an LED light so that you can see not only that you have a signal but how strong that signal is. You’ll know whether your newly found Wi-Fi is usable before you ever take your computer out of its case and push the power button.

Mobile Edge Wifi Locator

It’s great that people are getting motivated to do something about our energy crisis. And yes, it is a crisis, not only because of the high cost, but the security of the country shouldn’t be dependent on foreign governments. The global oil market is not a “market”, it’s a small group of countries that control the supply while everyone’s demand is going up and most of those countries don’t like us and now that China is becoming a huge consumer of their product, they really don’t care if we live or die anymore.

T. Boone Pickens is big into wind and solar energy and natural gas. Not sure where trucking fits into any of those, but he does show that Natural Gas powered cars can and do work and would be a big benefit. But even if every single four-wheeler was running on natural gas or electricity, diesel is still a world wide commodity and is in very big demand everywhere, not just in the US. But it would lower the overall demand for oil which would lower the price of oil which hopefully would also lower the price for diesel. Read the rest of this entry »

After only 493 days, the merger of Sirius and XM, the nations only two satellite radio broadcasting companies, has been approved. Finally. The thing is, during the months that have passed between the merger request and final approval, a lot of things have changed.

The price of fuel has skyrocketed, the economy has slowed, and a lot of drivers, as well as consumers in general, are feeling the need to rid themselves of expenses deemed “non-essential”. Even if the merger is handled properly, and I have no reason to believe that it won’t be, the merged company will still be fighting an uphill battle to reach profitability.

Most of the people I’ve spoken with, that were opposed to the merger, were opposed because they felt a merged company would stop providing “edgy and innovative” programming. I don’t pretend to have any special insight but logic tells me that the opposite will be true. Consumers have a variety of choices and, considering the fact that some of them are free, I don’t really see how a subscription service can survive in the mobile entertainment environment without actively seeking the edge and pursuing innovation.

Time will tell, and I truly believe that consumers will be well served by the merger but I have to admit, there are a lot of questions yet to be answered. While a June 13 letter to the FCC promised “Programming Options” the companies have only offered this proposal as an indication of the actual options to be offered.

Additionally, there are questions regarding radios and related equipment. Within the merger agreement, the companies are required to open the market to manufacturers. This should bring a lot of great products to consumers but, alas, if you want to take advantage of the pick-and-choose programming, you’re old satellite receiver will likely be relegated to the scrap heap.

The merger’s approved; let’s hope that the combined company becomes stable and profitable by providing high quality programming and a wide variety of consumer options.

Today, millions of diesel users were able to enjoy a sigh of relief. According to the Department of Energy, the national average pump price on diesel decreased by 4.6 cents to $4.718 per gallon. This is the most significant drop on diesel fuel in the last six months. The first decline in three weeks, the new national average proceeds last week’s crude oil slide of well over $16 which ranked diesel fuel $1.829 per gallon higher than it was around the same time last year.

Meanwhile, gasoline dropped 4.9 cents to $4.064 per gallon though it remains $1.106 higher than the average last year at this time. Bloomberg reports that the decrease of both fuels are the result of a major drop in oil prices that occurred last week when the price plunged tremendously from a whopping $145.08 to $128.88 per barrel.

The West Coast region leads the nation in regard to these declines with an average drop of 6.4 cents - California was a major contributor with a decline average of 6.2 cents.

It seems as if World Bank isn’t placing 75% of the rise in fuel prices on biofuel. What was reported to be a secret appears to have been a draft, one that doesn’t reflect World Bank’s official position on the matter. While some have speculated that the report was suppressed due to political interests, Donald Mitchell, author of the draft report, states that the report has yet to be released simply because edits needed to be made. Representatives from World Bank contest that Mitchell is still receiving input from his peers and that the paper is in the process of being finalized. Furthermore, Mitchell claims that World Bank is looking to deliver a more polished version of the report which may be released as early as the end of this week.

Despite the confusion, World Bank stands firm on the belief that the increased production of biofuel has increased the need for food crops, which in turn has become the major contributor to steadily increasing food prices. This alone is more than enough to point the finger at biofuel whether the facts are derived from a draft paper or a full report.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of tractor-trailer drivers in the U.S. with valid commercial driver’s licenses. What makes this disturbing is the fact that a large number of them also qualify for federal disability benefits and have been prescribed medications to treat unconscious spells, seizures or heart conditions. Despite warnings from the government and the unsettling combination of injuries and deaths caused by commercial drivers with serious health issues, far too many of them continue to hop behind the wheel and endanger the lives of unsuspecting travelers.

According to a recent review by the Associated Press, truckers have been caught violating U.S. federal medical laws in every state. Violations compiled by the Transportation Department reveal that Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania make up the states where these laws were broken the most frequently.

Sadly enough, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration admits to not completing any of the eight recommendations proposed by U.S. safety regulators in 2001. At this point, it remains unclear whether any of these eight recommendations will be put into effect before the upcoming Presidential Election.

Michelin, one of the largest tire and automotive supply makers, has announced that their products and services can now be purchased in 32 more truck stops. When truckers need work done on their rigs or they need a tire, there are only so many places they can get that done. They come to rely on truck stops because most standard tire stores or mechanics can’t handle a big truck.

At a lot of truck stops though fuel, food and a shower are all a trucker can get – so they’re forced to call roadside assistance. It’s helpful in an emergency but it’s also very costly, and truckers and their companies lose money when problems occur. Michelin is helping truckers avoid this by expanding their services and their products to more places that truckers need them.

Most of the truck stops are thrilled to get Michelin as a partner. They know the reputation that the company has, and having a big business partner helps some of the smaller, independent truck stops get more business and put themselves on the map – that way, everybody wins.

The biggest win comes for the truckers, because they have more options and having more choices helps to keep the market competitive and the prices low.