Tag Archives: launchwithmark.com

Sunday Rant Follow Up | AARP | #162



The AARP wants Pedestrian Automated Emergency Braking on trucks in the future because of “vulnerable road users”.  What  a load of garbage that is.  This AEB that they already have doesn’t even work half the time.  I think the current system should be banned and I encourage all drivers to disable the system because it is unsafe.    How many old people are being run down by semis?  No one seems to know but I believe it is not very many.  Do we spend billions to keep a few safe?  The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com


If brokers make so much money why don’t people just become a broker? | #161



I hear more griping about how much money brokers make.  If there is so much money to be made, why not just become a broker?  I hear they do nothing and make money.  That sounds like a great way to make money!  So, why don’t more owner operators and small trucking company owners do it?

LaunchWithMark.Com

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com


More about my YouTube Sunday Rant | #159



On my YouTube Sunday rant I talked about a trailer I had to pick up.  I do mostly drop and hook and these are some of the problems you get when doing that.  How drivers can leave a problem like this I have no idea.  Also, I go into another problem the trailer had that I did not talk about.

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com

LaunchwithMark.Com


New hybrid pay system taking over trucking | #158



I am finding a new hybrid pay system in trucking.  This is where we as the driver get a guarantee for up to a certain number of miles and then get mileage past that amount.  What do you think?  I like hourly but this solves many of the same problems.  Drivers have an incentive to work more to get more pay and companies have an incentive to keep you moving.  Not bad and a big improvement over what trucking has been doing for over 30 years.

LaunchWithMark.Com

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com


A few common trucking urban myths debunked | #157



They persist buy they are myths!  Don’t agree?  Show me in the green book!  I go through a few of these myths that I get asked about all the time.  The first one is can you drive barefoot?  Also, I discuss the white sheet myth.  Finally I talk about holding your breath when you pass a cemetery.  Yes!  I reminisce about my mom making me wait one hour after eating before I could get in the water.  Where do we get this stuff?

LaunchWithMark.Com

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com


Trucking is the best anti-poverty program in the country | #156



A call to the Dave Ramsey show prompted this podcast.  With no high school diploma, felonies and never having driven a stick shift car you can become a truck driver and get your family out of poverty.  It doesn’t matter what color you are, if you are a man or a woman, fat or thin, any religion, tattoos or most other things that could impact you getting a job somewhere else.  Even most felonies don’t disqualify you.  If you need money trucking could be the job for you.  You may not want to do it for your entire life but it could save your house from being taken and get you to a better place financially.

LaunchWithMark.Com

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com


Should you buy a Toyota Murai in Ohio? | #155



There is advertised for sale a Toyota Murai in Ohio of all places.  With 36000 miles it is only $11000!  Should you buy it?  We take a detour off the trucking road to discuss this in light of people being taken advantage of in the market for a car or a trucking job.  Everything is not always what it seems and a good deal is sometimes very expensive.

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com

LaunchwithMark.Com


I am totally vindicated about my Smuggler’s Notch theory! | #154



A recent article says yet another driver is stuck in the Notch.  The driver himself says, in another language, that he cannot read the signs and therefore did not heed the signs.  That rhymes!  Everyone in the United States, except tourists, should speak and read ENGLISH.  Period.  Don’t like that?  Tough.  LEARN ENGLISH. Plus, it is REQUIRED for the CDL license that you “know English sufficiently well to converse with an officer.”   Move here, learn ENGLISH.

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com

LaunchwithMark.Com


Get paid like it is 1999 | #153



Trans Am Trucking has an ad running right now that says they pay 31 cents a mile for a new driver!  Wow.  I got paid that in the 90s.  Also, they need a low-paid local driver in Kansas.  I think even the Scarecrow could figure out how bad that pay is without a brain.  It is my considered opinion that they pay is so low the company should be bypassed.  New drivers can do way better.

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.Com

LaunchwithMark.Com


What to do if you are told you can’t have a day off for a funeral | #152



Recently I had to get some time off for a funeral.  Not a fun day but it is something most of have to do at some time.  I was talking to someone who wasn’t coming because their employer would not give them the day off.  What?  This podcast is for employers and employees on what to do in this situation.

Mark@TruckingAnswersNation.com

LaunchwithMark.com