TRUCKING'S BIGGEST MONEY SUCK | BRAKE CHECK

Charles Gracie (0:26)

You don't have to turn a wheel to lose your ass in trucking today. Just ask the carrier with trailers collecting dust, freight waiting to move, and a government registration system that apparently needs a permission slip just for you to do your job. See, industry estimates suggest that trailers spend roughly 40% of their time sitting idle. 40%!

That's not an investment. That's a lawn ornament with mud flaps. See, meanwhile, over at the Fmcsa, Motus is supposedly there to make registration easier for today's carriers. One of today's guests spent four hours trying to get help on one carrier's issue yesterday.

Four hours! Apparently, the only thing moving slower than freight rates is the government's help desk. Meanwhile, your insurance doesn't stop. Your equipment payments, well, they don't go anywhere. And your customers, well, they're not waiting around for Washington to figure out which button to push. But your money, that keeps disappearing. So today, we're asking two questions. Why in the hell are we paying for equipment that isn't earning us money?

And why are legitimate carriers paying the price when the system they're required to use doesn't work? Because in trucking, the most expensive mile might be the one, well, you never drive. This is Brake Check. I'm Charles Gracie. And it's time to punch in, punch up and smash those brakes. See, today, we're going to talk to a couple great people. We're going to talk to some people that know trucking. We're going to first up talk to Shanna Gray, President of S&B Transportation out of South Dakota, who keeps trucks aligned and carriers compliant and has it to, well, memorize the whole music trauma that has going on with Motus right now. Then Todd Waldron from Repowr is here. He's going to show us what a trailer sitting actually cost. Well, because, hey, cost matter, money matters, and today's conversation matters. But before all of that, let's talk to Apex. Shout out to our sponsors.

SPEAKER_2 (2:25)

Why are you waiting to get paid for a load you've already delivered?

Todd Waldron (2:29)

You did the work, you earn the money. Fuel doesn't wait.

SPEAKER_4 (2:33)

Truck payments don't wait. Repairs don't wait.

Todd Waldron (2:36)

And neither should you.

Apex turns your unpaid invoices into cash fast. So you have the money you've earned when you need it.

Charles Gracie (2:44)

Don't wait to put your money to work.

Todd Waldron (2:46)

Check out apexfactory.com to get paid today.

Charles Gracie (2:51)

Now, if you're trying to keep more of your money, you're trying to run smarter, you're trying to stay ahead of today's nonsense in trucking, you need to hit that like, subscribe and follow right here on FreightWaves for your top freight cash trucking news and conversations that actually make trucking sense. But if you want to go beyond the screen and you want to get into the room where real FreightWaves are made, F3 is right around the corner right here in Chattanooga. And I got a chance for you to save some money because well, your bank account matters. Use promo code BRAKECHECK and save almost 50% off today's current pricing. But it's time to go into our daily pileup.

Now, first up in trucking, social media news, tell me you don't know trucking without telling me you don't know trucking. Check out Phoebe's skits right here.

Phoebe (3:47)

Having a really hard time understanding why we pay truckers. Their job is probably the most useless job in the history of our country.

They don't do anything except take up all the space in the road, waste gas and diesel, and waste everybody's time. Why are we paying them? Why are we allowing them to hog the roads when they have no actual objective or purpose?

Charles Gracie (4:11)

Now, that's a satire count. Turns out everyone was getting mad at her.

That video wound up getting 1.6 million views the last time I saw it. So she celebrated that. And also raised awareness for some trucker-related issues like Trucker's Final Mile. Check this out.

Phoebe (4:30)

I genuinely wasn't expecting that video to get over a million views, but it did. So I wanted to try to turn this into something good. So I made a GoFundMe. And all the funds go towards an organization called Trucker's Final Mile, which helps truckers and their family in the event of loss of life, injury, serious illness, or a crisis at home, or the need to make mobility improvements at truckers' homes. I already made the first donation, but go to the link tree in my bio. It's at the very top. It says Truckers Go Fund Me. If you click on that, it'll take you right to the fundraiser and donate if you are able to. I think it would be pretty cool. I think at the end of all of this, you know what I mean? I feel like truckers don't get talked about a whole lot. And I know I kind of stirred the pot by being, you know, silly about it, but maybe this could be a genuine opportunity to help truckers.