Recipe for disaster

For nearly two years now, I have covered the food safety beat here at Land Line, beginning when E. coli was found in bagged spinach, and some of our members were stuck with potentially affected product on their trailers and nowhere to go with it.Since that outbreak, I have been on a quest to find out what recall procedures the FDA and the USDA have in place to protect truckers who may be in

Open for business

An estimated 40 percent of American imports come through the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, and it’s apparent that about 40 percent of truck news is coming from those ports as well.Just the other day in Land Line’s newsroom, we spent 10 minutes going through the requirements truckers will have to meet to comply with the California Air Resources Board’s rules on drayage trucks, the ports

Trucking documentary to premiere Friday

“Drive and Deliver” is creating some pre-GATS buzz in the trucking industry. That’s the title of a new documentary-style film detailing the life of long-haul truckers.I haven’t seen it yet, but I did see a trailer and some promotional outtakes. Truthfully, it looks like it beats the heck out of some overrated studio films from the local Blockbuster that have wasted a number of my evenings this

Are you tired?

Do you think you should be tired?Are you tired of seeing news stories talking about lack of sleep, and how tired Americans are?I’m yawning just thinking about them.Every week we’re hit by “Good Morning America” or in USA Today with stories about why we’re too tired, can’t sleep at night, and probably suffer from a debilitating disease that quickly explains our being overweight and our early

Here’s a tip if you haul produce

How many times have you heard it? Information is power.Here on the Land Line blog, we’ve been discussing the state of the freight and how it affects owner-operators as opposed to major motor carriers.Plenty of owner-operators haul produce. This is a business where you MUST be on your toes. With the cost of fuel, there’s no room for a bad decision. So here’s a tip that we think will be helpful.The

Where's the soup-to-nuts freight?

The popular phrase “knowledge is power” rings true right now for many owner-operators struggling to make ends meet.We all know that giant shippers like automakers are cutting production because GM’s staggering losses dependably make the front page. That information is in your face. But what about that “other” freight – the computer stands, copy paper, tennis shoes, widgets made by companies whose

What's next? Chewing gum?

Those wacky lawmakers in Illinois are at it again. Truckers are all too familiar with the high jinks of the Illinois General Assembly. Logging repeated veto-proof margins to kill split speeds, only to fail to override gubernatorial vetoes, is just one example.Then there was the Illinois state lawmaker whom a Land Line staffer interviewed in recent years. She didn’t know the difference between a

Is freight really picking up?

The American Trucking Association’s chief economist, Bob Costello, made headlines early this month when he reported tonnage shipped by truck in the U.S. rose for the second consecutive month. Costello announced that ATA’s “seasonally adjusted tonnage index” rose 1.2 percent in June. And while Costello was clearly cautious, suggesting that the nation’s overall economy might not yet be on the road

Why is simple so hard?

Lucky is the person who has never had two or more people tell him or her how to do something. Jesus said you can’t serve two masters without loving one or hating the other. Supposedly, the Chinese pictogram for trouble literally means two women under one roof.In any event, the more people involved in making a decision, the more muddled the solution becomes. This may explain some, if not all, of

Easy rider

Truckers know the limits and high costs for driving around the Washington, DC, area, but until yesterday, few Americans understood just how big a bill they are footing for federal employees.The Associated Press published an interesting story on Thursday, July 31, detailing the federal government’s fleet of more than 640,000 vehicles. The AP reported that operating federal vehicles cost taxpayers