500 episodes

The Overdrive Radio podcast is produced by Overdrive magazine, the Voice of the American Trucker for 60-plus years. Host Todd Dills -- with a supporting cast among Overdrive editors, contributors and others -- presents owner-operator business leading lights, interviews with extraordinary independent truckers and small fleet owners, and plenty in the way of trucking business and regulatory news and views. Access an archive of all episodes of Overdrive Radio going back more than a decade via this link: http://overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio

Overdrive Radio Overdrive

    • Business

The Overdrive Radio podcast is produced by Overdrive magazine, the Voice of the American Trucker for 60-plus years. Host Todd Dills -- with a supporting cast among Overdrive editors, contributors and others -- presents owner-operator business leading lights, interviews with extraordinary independent truckers and small fleet owners, and plenty in the way of trucking business and regulatory news and views. Access an archive of all episodes of Overdrive Radio going back more than a decade via this link: http://overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio

    Long legacy, good humor of LNL Trucking owner Larry Limp: From a '79 White COE to fleet of 12

    Long legacy, good humor of LNL Trucking owner Larry Limp: From a '79 White COE to fleet of 12

    "As I get older, I like electronic logbooks a lot better than I would have in my 20s. Now that I'm 63, I like that 10 hours off. My work ethic really started to wane when I found out that feed mills are open at noon. You didn't have to be there at 7 o'clock in the morning. You can get there at noon and still unload." --LNL Trucking small fleet owner Larry Limp, reflecting on big changes in trucking over his four-plus decades in the business

    Good humor? Yep, LNL Trucking small fleet owner Larry Limp’s got plenty of that. Overdrive’s 2023 Small Fleet Champ in the 11-30-truck division, LNL’s built a solid direct customer business specializing mostly in animal fats pulled in 6,800- and 7,000-gallon stainless tanks to supply businesses in various production chains -- gear lubes, cutting oils, you name it. Based on Bedford, Indiana, Larry Limp’s sense of humor’s probably served him well in decidedly less humorous endeavors than contemplating his own psychology and the shift to electronic logs in 2017, that’s sure.

    He’s served as Chairman of the Indiana Motor Truck Association, participates annually in the IMTA’s trips to Washington to visit with reps and Senators, and generally keeps his nose to the grindstone building business -- "hanging on" to business might be the better phrase in the current environment -- with a strong do-it-yourself ethic borne of 40-some years trucking. Almost all of that has been as an owner-operator and, now, small fleet owner.

    Ahead of the Mid-America Trucking Shown in Louisville, Overdrive ventured about an hour and a half’s drive north and west of the Kentucky town to Bedford, Indiana, to LNL's shop and world headquarters on a beautiful parcel of land on U.S. 50 east of the center of town.

    Limp, who still runs one of the rigs in the fleet of mostly Peterbilt 579s, was headed back from St. Louis after a delivery Tuesday morning pulled behind the longest-serving Pete in the fleet. It’s not a 579, but rather a 2000 Peterbilt 379 Limp’s partial to for a variety of reasons we’ll hear about in this Overdrive Radio edition.

    He’d picked up Monday evening, hauled out to St. Louis the same night to stage for morning unload.

    We sat down for a talk through the history of that 2000 379 – ELD-exempt, it turns out, though he’s running an e-log in it as in the rest of the fleet. Likewise: His history trucking, marking time by major engine work, by truck model years and big moves, and more besides. Keep tuned for more from Limp in future podcasts, and read more about his business via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/small-fleet-champ/article/15637786/butterfly-xpress-lnl-trucking-overdrives-2023-small-fleet-champs

    • 24 min
    On-highway toward MATS with the 'Sisters of the Road' book tour and its pilot, Debbie Desiderato

    On-highway toward MATS with the 'Sisters of the Road' book tour and its pilot, Debbie Desiderato

    Independent owner-operator Debbie Desiderato, long hauling with her authority as Walkabout Transport, probably needs no introduction to regular Overdrive readers. Her insight around customer relationships and so much more has featured in Overdrive multiple times through the years, and last year she was one of our Truckers of the Month in the Trucker of the Year program: https://www.overdriveonline.com/15541324

    At the top of the podcast, Desiderato describes the seven years that have elapsed since she first met photographer/author Anne-Marie Michel. The owner-operator's one of 40 female truck drivers and owner-operators in America interviewed for the Britain-based Michel’s “Sisters of the Road” book. Long in the making, as owner-operator Desiderato made clear, yet it’s been out a couple of years now, and making something of a splash around the country right now with a photo-exhibit trailer being pulled behind Desiderato’s Western Star. She's run with the exhibit clear across the country from an origin point in San Francisco to start Women’s History Month on the way to the Mid-American Trucking Show, coming up here shortly, March 21-23 in Louisville, Kentucky.

    Preview MATS happenings, and access coverage in the aftermath, via this collection: https://www.overdriveonline.com/t/4372607

    Overdrive Radio spoke with Debbie about the experience thus far on the tour, which to date has offered up no shortage of opportunity to school the uninitiated on the ins and outs, the struggles and triumphs, of truck drivers of all stripes. Plenty share-the-road talk, too.

    "The blind spots," Desiderato offered. "and how I've got a hood on this truck. They can see now if they're by my passenger steer tire how I couldn't see them if they're driving a small car. They got a big education."

    She was referring mostly to 100s of international and otherwise trucking-uninitiated attendees of FotoFest in Houston, where her Western Star was parked up with the exhibit trailer for plenty public interaction through Wednesday, March 13, this week. She's due to arrive in Louisville March 18 for MATS, with stops along the way in Arkansas at Uber Freight headquarters and Saturday, March 16, at the Idella Hansen Petro in Little Rock. All in all, she notes, the tour and her inclusion in the "Sisters of the Road" book has been an opportunity to sit right at the intersection between the business and work of trucking, and the wider U.S. and world cultures.

    Read more about "Sisters of the Road" via Long Haul Paul's 2022 review of the book: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-extra/article/15296897/iconographic-fiercely-resilient-portraits-sisters-of-the-road

    Also in the podcast: Owner-operators Lee and Lisa Schmitt detail recent similar share-the-road opportunities the pair of founding members of CDL Drivers Unlimited got with the entire Mudflap app staff. Revisit recent talks with the Schmitts about CDLDU's Driver Advocacy Network at this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio/podcast/15665521/truckers-new-chance-at-affordable-health-insurance

    • 26 min
    How owner-operator Doug Viaille persevered through 30-plus years trucking: 'Expensive wisdom'

    How owner-operator Doug Viaille persevered through 30-plus years trucking: 'Expensive wisdom'

    In this edition of Overdrive Radio highlighting February Trucker of the Month Doug Viaille, listeners get a clear sense for the understated, homespun sense of humor of the owner-operator today hauling as Goat’s Transport. Viaille’s been in business for himself as an owner-operator for most of his 30-plus years in trucking thus far, and was nominated for the Trucker of the Year award by a fellow owner who calls him "Mr. Overdrive," in fact, after we called on Viaille’s experience in years past in a couple of different features.

    Owner-operator Viaille’s seen success particularly these last years leased to Oakley Trucking -- that’d be the Bruce Oakley bulk hauler based in Arkansas, where Viaille pulls a company hopper on a back-and-forth dedicated run loaded with industrial product for healthy profits.

    He's banked plenty in the way of wisdom, too, enough to recognize his own shortcomings and lean into the areas where he’s top-notch, as was illustrated to an extent in the feature about him published last week: https://www.overdriveonline.com/trucker-of-the-year/article/15665049/trucker-of-the-month-banks-expensive-wisdom-profits-in-bulk

    It can be "expensive wisdom," as he notes, learning from mistakes made, yet it's a hallmark of the best among owner-operators. Doug’s bounced back and learned plenty from more than a few, yet always with that dry sense of humor at the ready. Join us for this run through Viaille’s history going back to his pre-CDL Texas commercial license test in the late 1970s/early 1980s behind the wheel of a one-ton Chevrolet.

    And: here’s welcome to a new sponsor for our Trucker of the Year award for 2024. It’s Commercial Vehicle Group, well-known amongst owner-operators for the Bostrom Seating brand, among many others. Contenders this year are in the running for a variety of prizes, including one of those seats to go to the winner. Put your own owner-operator business in the running via this link: https://overdriveonline.com/toptrucker

    • 24 min
    A shot at health insurance, and the new Driver Advocacy Network, with CDLDU grassroots group

    A shot at health insurance, and the new Driver Advocacy Network, with CDLDU grassroots group

    Indiana-headquartered owner-operator, and father of five, Dan Koors invokes a big number at the top of the podcast this week -- 27%, the approximate percentage of drivers running without health insurance. That's inclusive of company drivers, many with ready access to carrier benefits packages. Among owner-operators, the percentage is certainly higher than 27%. Overdrive’s most recent estimate with polling of the owner-operator audience this past month put the number at 40%.

    While that’s not the absolute highest percentage we’ve ever seen, it’s a good measure above the rough third that was once a reliable poll result for the question of whether an owner was running with health insurance a decade ago: https://www.overdriveonline.com/business/article/14885028/tough-health-care-choices

    This week on Overdrive Radio, we dive into a new resource for health insurance that is something of a new variation on an old theme. Like groups such as the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the National Association of Independent Truckers, both of whom have health-insurance resources for members of varying types, the young CDL Drivers Unlimited group has dipped its toe, or sunk a whole foot into, the area with a new partnership with the Benefits Management Team, or BMT. They’re a health insurance consultant and broker who can work with a potential insured in any state and with knowledge of what’s available in the health insurance exchanges under the Affordable Care Act, how available premium subsidies work for individuals, and much more.

    The company does quite a lot to really vet health-care bills, too, to be an advocate for patients through its MediShield service, examining itemized invoices for unnecessary charges in further efforts to save on costs. And it’s the long rising cost of health care, of course, that is a primary reason for the increasing numbers of those opting out of the health insurance system entirely, and a critical reason among small-business owner-operators.

    Yet owner-operator Dan Koors is not one of them. He views the necessity of insurance as a business decision, ultimately, and crucial to protect the business from catastrophe.

    So with a family of seven, including himself, to insure, how’s he done it? In this edition of Overdrive Radio we’ll hear that story, and another one. How the BMT company’s knowledge of the insurance markets and the Affordable Care Act exchanges, and how they work in tandem with available subsidies, led Koors to a strange realization. He’s now paying a little more in taxes than he might otherwise as a result, but he’s netting nearly $7,000 with a dramatic reduction in insurance premiums.

    CDL Drivers Unlimited is making other strides, too, with what they’re calling the Driver Advocacy Network, aimed to, as Koors sees it, boost the efforts of men and women behind the wheel to make headway influencing local, state and national policy and law to the benefit of truckers.

    We’ll also hear from CDL Drivers Unlimited founding members Lee and Lisa Schmitt, headquartered in Wisconsin, on that score, and the group's plans for MATS.

    Other health-related resources from past coverage:
    **Biz risk of failing health: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-extra/article/15302424/owneroperators-who-recognize-the-risk-of-failing-health
    **Medicare: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-extra/article/15302142/nows-the-time-to-understand-medicare-if-getting-close-to-65
    **Owner-op health-insurance gain in COVID-relief law: https://www.overdriveonline.com/life/article/15064881/health-insurance-savings-via-aca-exchanges-expanded
    **Health-share plans: https://www.overdriveonline.com/life/article/14972980/healthshare-plans-offer-insurance-alternative-for-ownerops

    As mentioned in the podcast, Rudy Yakym Jr.'s reckoning with time pressures post-ELD mandate: https://www.overdriveonline.com/electronic-logging-devices/article/14895603/operational-challenges-to-ownero

    • 30 min
    (Don't) inspect me! With Roadcheck on the horizon, ways to avoid trouble at the scale house

    (Don't) inspect me! With Roadcheck on the horizon, ways to avoid trouble at the scale house

    "So we're going down the road, we've got a mudflap missing, and we've got an ABS lamp on the trailer lit up. What does that mean?"

    This edition of Overdrive Radio starts with that question, leading to just a small bit of the wisdom of the many years of experience of former truck operator and longtime compliance consultant Jeff Davis. With his Fleet Safety Services business, operating out of a home base in Ohio, Davis has been a regular presenter at the National Association of Small Trucking Companies' annual conference now for years. At the NASTC show this past November he addressed a packed house of owner-operators and other small fleet owners on the topic of practical steps to take to avoid inspections.

    The answer to his question, as duly, immediately noted by one of the owners in attendance: "Inspect me."

    Regular listeners will recall those trailer malfunction indicators were a focus of the Roadcheck 2023 inspection blitz, and leading into the event Overdrive found that warning-light systems on trailers accounted for well more than half of all air-brake-related ABS violations: https://www.overdriveonline.com/csas-data-trail/article/15447541/toughest-states-for-securement-violations-get-roadcheck-ready

    There’s a reason for that, as Davis noted. When something’s awry, that light comes on, giving an easy visual cue for an officer to inspect. And if you’re inspected, well, there’s a likelihood of violations, and issues then can compound for you or your small fleet. The downstream ramifications of any individual inspection were well evident in Warren McCurdy’s story from a couple weeks back here on the podcast: https://www.overdriveonline.com/overdrive-radio/podcast/15663474/truck-inspections-safety-scores-should-be-preventive-not-punitive

    Any adverse roadside inspection will negatively impact all manner of things as it flows through the federal CSA Safety Measurement System and into the federal compliance review program and owner-operators and small fleets’ insurance rates, prospects for business and more.

    Davis further emphasizes all kinds of ways you can minimize the likelihood of getting sideways with auditors and roadside officers, without just bypassing the scale houses altogether.

    More on getting Roadcheck-ready (the annual inspection blitz is upcoming in mid-May), and generally ready for any inspection that might come your way:
    **Roadcheck 2024: https://www.overdriveonline.com/regulations/article/15664708/roadcheck-2024-inspectors-guidance-on-drugs-and-alcohol
    **Roadcheck 2023 -- how to avoid/ace inspections: https://www.overdriveonline.com/regulations/article/15383460/how-ownerops-can-avoid-or-ace-inspections-at-roadcheck
    **Overdrive long-running CSA's Data Trail series: https://overdriveonline.com/csas-data-trail

    • 29 min
    Peterbilt trucks, and a living history with three owners of a 359, 379 and 389

    Peterbilt trucks, and a living history with three owners of a 359, 379 and 389

    The mood among truck owner participants in Peterbilt's sixth-ever, invite-only Pride & Class parade event and truck show in Denton, Texas, this past October might have been marred by the freight demand situation.

    As Texas fleet owner and custom-truck builder Troy Massey of Massey Motor Freight put it, "If you're not struggling in trucking, you better be real quiet about it."

    Certainly don’t tell anyone just how you're achieving your success, Massey went on from there to say. If you do, chances are they’ll be coming for your business soon enough.

    Yet the mood at the Pride & Class event for truck owners was upbeat, for Massey too. "This is a pretty prestigious event" for Peterbilt owners and enthusiasts, he said, and represented his first invite. "I'm pretty excited."

    The same was true for two other owners featured in this edition of Overdrive Radio. Settle in for a tour through history via three models in a long lineage of Petes, from a 1984 vintage Peterbilt 359 custom restored by owner-operator Greg Crispell: https://www.overdriveonline.com/custom-rigs/video/15661158/ownerop-greg-crispells-finely-tuned-flattop-1984-peterbilt-359

    To oil and gas pipeline professional Jarrett Landry’s “oversize dually,” as he quipped about the single-drive-axle former daycab 1988 379: https://www.overdriveonline.com/life/article/15636541/peterbilts-sixth-annual-pride-class-parade-kicks-off

    And, finally, Troy Massey’s latest custom creation, moving well forward to model year 2022 of the 389. With the 589 taking that model’s place in the long-hood genre for Pete this year, consider this edition something of a tribute to all that’s come before, and all that remains well-entrenched in the present through the work of these owner-operators.

    Stay tuned for video looks at both Landry's and Massey's rigs, and catch a few more views of each via this link: https://www.overdriveonline.com/life/article/15636541/peterbilts-sixth-annual-pride-class-parade-kicks-off

    Owner-operator Crispell's rigs is featured in full here: https://www.overdriveonline.com/custom-rigs/video/15661158/ownerop-greg-crispells-finely-tuned-flattop-1984-peterbilt-359

    • 24 min

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