Kansas Bureaucracy

I try not to operate through states with too much bureaucracy, because if it takes too much of my time to complete paperwork for that state, it's probably not worth the effort. At a cross-road, I did my calculation and from KS-city to the Los Angeles, CA area the best shortest and most cost-effective way for me was to run through Kansas, but as I remember it, I could have avoided it altogether by simply going around. I called and purchased a Temporary Trip Permit, not before I was assured NOT to receive any additional correspondence from Kansas regarding the matter. (The undeniable exception being that I would report all gallons purchased and miles travelled through KS to IFTA) Obviously this was NOT enough... I was sent out a 6-page application that needed to be completed and sent back to KS by either e-mail, fax, web, or mail.

The following, is the letter I sent out to Kansas via e-mail at: pvd_mctax@kdor.state.ks.us

Dear Kansas Representative,

I do not operate through KS on
a usual basis. I have been in business for some years now, but I have only
entered in KS once in 2008, when I entered, I purchased a trip permit, as you
can see attached to this e-mail. Those were the only miles I have ever run
through KS and the reason is to avoid unnecessary paperwork, which I was assured
upon purchasing this permit, I will not have to complete, since KS is NOT on my
CAB CARD.

Although I was assured I will not receive future
correspondence, the bureaucrats will always remain at their lying best.
Here is a completed form W9-N769. Please remove me from any future
mailings. I do NOT wish to receive them in the future. I will do my
best to AVOID your state (Kansas) in the future. I moved to this country
to be FREE, but communism is making its way into the hearts of FREE-Born people,
which are giving in little by little without realizing the little freedoms given
up.

I don’t understand why it is I have to disclose such
information as to the purchase price of my vehicle that I was already taxed on
10 years ago. Do you want to tax me on THAT value? Why do you need
to know all my business? I pay my taxes, I report the mileage &
gallons I run through all the states and I pay that to IFTA so that I would NOT
have to do this. Isn’t THAT why IFTA has been established? Why do
you need me to complete paperwork with my phone number and address, if you sent
the paperwork to me at that address? Why do you ask for my phone number,
when I gave that to you upon purchasing the Temp. Trip Permit? Why do you
want my MC & USDOT numbers, when you have access to all that information
online at the FMCSA website? http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_carrlist
I’ve also attached a copy of today’s copy of what they show for my
record. Why do I update the MC-150 form with FMCSA every 1-2 years? –so
you can ask me for the same information again every quarter or how often WILL
Kansas send me these forms?This business has become nothing more than the
avenues for bureaucrats to make money off the backs of the struggling
truck-driver’s dedicating themselves at the cost of the time with their families
so that they can make more money and regardless the economic situation, the
taxes do NOT fail to raise while at it. Isn’t that what business is all
about? Making money? What, isn’t bureaucracy a
BUSINESS?

Well, let me know if you have received these files and if
they will be enough information for you.

Thank You,
Marcel Suciu
Diamond Seven
Express
20995 W. Prospector Way
Buckeye, AZ
85396-7686


MC# 584243


mals

Reinvest in My Reefer or Buy a Different Trailer?

So, maybe someone with a good head on his shoulders has something good to say that make sense. I have a 1999 Wabash 48' trailer with a TK-Whisper SB-III Reefer. It's a good unit with no problems, but the Reefer law coming to California, and as I understand it soon to be adopted by Arizona and Oregon and other states as well, I'm thinking I have a few different options.
As a general background, I've been working Coast-to-Coast reefers for a good few years and about 17 years of general trucking experience. I've opened up a brokerage business and soon looking to get it off the ground, but not really looking to keep the equipment too much longer, or at least until it makes sense to keep a driver employed and make a little money from it to survive while getting the truck brokerage going.
The options I have to stay in business are:
1. I can invest in my current reefer about $6,000 - $7,000 and get some kind of a filter (a friend told me about this, but Thermo King does not confirm this) and this would supposedly make me California Carb-Compliant.Pros: Least cost investmentCons: Not sure how long it will make me compliant and not sure if available
2. I can invest about $8,500 - $10,000 in a new 2009 engine to replace in my current unit (This DOES NOT replace the whole unit such as compressor and other peripherals) This would make me Carb-Compliant until 2016.Pros: I would stil be in my niche of expertise, and it would make me compliant for a good amount of years, and I know my equipment is in good condition.Cons: I would still have an old unit, and a 48' instead of a 53' and eventually I would spend close to if not just as much possibly more than I would if purchasing a 53' reefer.
3. I can buy a used 53' Reefer even if immediately or eventually I will have to upgrade the unit. The cost can vary between $20,000 - $40,000Pros: I would be able to haul more freight and more companies are hauling in 53' Reefers, as well as the productivity factor of additional LTL freight I could add to supplement my TL rates.Cons: High upfront investment for the amount of time I think I will still be in business. I don't know what type of equipment I can find in the short amount of time I have left to do so (until July 17, 2009) I don't have too much cash and don't want to finance either a new trailer or very expensive one, because I don't want to stay in debt.
4. I can buy a dry van for anywhere between $7,000 - $10,000 in decent shape and start a new niche.Pros: No more Reefer headaches. No more watching the temperature. Lower Insurance rates. Less mainenance costs.Cons: Lower rates overall. I need to find a niche. I don't have client base for this equipment.
5. I can buy a drop deck but the pricing varies so much as $16,000 - $25,000 for used equipment, and I'm not sure what type of money can be made, but I hear lots are doing good in this niche.Pros: Good potential money can be made in this niche (as I heard) Lots of freight can be hauled on this, including some produce, machinery, cars, oversize, lots of options. I'm not sure on maintenance, but imagine it can't be more than a dry van.Cons: High initial investment. Higher insurance rates even than Reefer. Higher liability.
In general, I am thinking if they start to really enforce the California Reefer laws, three things would happen:1. Lots of demand for reefers with CA-compliant units and they will pay a premium for that.2. Californians will starve themselves from the rest of the country, and maybe they will lift this law.3. Many truckers will go out of business, which again will open new doors for people with compliant units, where more money will be poured since the laws demand it, therefore may be a good market to stay in.
Somebody help me!! What should I do. I'm looking for informative answers, not short smart remarks. If you know something please share with me and the other readers. Is there something I don't know or I should be made aware of?
Where do I go from here. Both, my father and myself are looking for the answer in which direction we need to go from July 17th on forward.

ACG-Logistics Inc from Doylestown, PA

So I did a couple of loads in a row for theese guys, from New Jersey to Southern California one at the end of January and the next at the begining of February. It costs money to get paid quicker and i always try to plan mine out and get paid later, but receive all the money without fees. So, they have a 30 day pay that I opted to do, with NO Advance and I sent in original scanned copies via e-mail (in Color) and asked the dispatcher, Tom, whom by the way is a very nice guy, to start the 30 day countdown based on the e-mailed .pdf file and I will send him the originals in the mail as well, to which he agreed.
When it came time to pay, I called and Beth in the accounting office said she would send the payment out based on when she received the bills. So, I overlook this and said, "Well, maybe Tom wasn't aware that's how it's got to be done..." When the 30 days came due, according to when Beth said she received my papers, she said she would send it a couple of days early, and I was happy about that - this was in the middle of the week, so I expected payment at the end of that current week, maybe by Monday of the following week at the latest. Instead I got it on the following Saturday. When my wife opened the envelope, I asked her to look at the postage date and it was the middle of next week that the check for my first load got sent out. So, I ignored this and went on with my life.
When the time came to pay my next load, based on 30 days from date of receipt, I called Beth a little bit in advance about the time they needed to send me the payment so I would receive it by the 17th of this month. This was two Thursdays ago on 12th of March, and she told me, "I'm not sure why the system hasn't generated the payment yet, but the system has it scheduled to go out tomorrow." I asked "Can you give me a check number?" to which she replied "I don't have one now, but it will go out tomorrow." So, naturally I waited again until this morning March 24th when I called again, having not received the payment for this load yet, and asked her why this payment has not come yet, and reminding her of the job I did for them on theese last loads that even the receiver asked for my name to have me requested as the delivery driver for the following load. To quote them directly they said, "I can't believe this load is not on the floor! Usually when we get these loads, they barrels are on the floor." After this, she cuts me off and asks me in a very insensitive way "Let's start with an invoice number." I replied "Invoice #9009" and she said "I'll get the payment processed and sent out today." This just turned all my insides all around and I got rouled up and frustrated that my settlement has still not been sent out, and because of the prior load's payment experience, I asked her "Beth, last load, when I called you, you said you are going to send out payment on Friday of the week I called you, but based on the postage marking and the time that I received that payment, it didn't go out untill the middle of next week. Could you tell me ahead of time if I will experience the same with this load? I want to make sure that I can make my mortgage payment at the begining of next month?!" She said "I told you the check number and that I'm sending out today!! What else do you want me to do?" after which she rattled something about "goodbye" and hung the phone up in my face.
I'm not going to say that I came accross as a nice guy while on the phone with her, but considering my frustration in waiting almost 2 months for payment on this load, without a cash advance, out of my pocket in fuel expense of approximately $1,000, and rudeness topped off with ignorance, I would say I was doing a good job not yelling or swearing at her about it. I have a family to support and I have bills. The load didn't pay what I usually get from the East Coast to the West Coast, but I figured on at least getting paid on time.
I don't encourage anyone to do business ACG Logistics Inc from Doylestown, PA. I hope this message gets out and people start to pay attention to how they are being treated for the great job they do.

Trucking Industry Expenses vs Income

There has to come a time when truckers and brokers will take time and research the industry and wonder if the present industry standard may wipe out this industry!?...

Some brokers are getting rich while others are not making enough to survive. Second party brokers and fuel surcharges are a joke nowadays. Who's going to stop this?

The trucking industry, specifically truckers, have threatened to boycott, stop work, etc for nearly decades now, but it seems that is just talk. I don't know if anyone will ever take this seriously, but the corporations are living it up while the small business owner-operator type businesses are suffering going out of business.

Recently a friend of mine has just closed his business. The reasons behind this as he puts it is because the costs of maintenance are just through the roof. He could no longer balance the income with the expenditures.

I had similar problems with my repair shop. It seems that whenever I service my truck I need to employ myself for an additional job which is to check on my mechanic. Nothing ever gets done right!! I take my truck in to service it for air leaks and after I get done paying the one thousand dollar bill for this service with several different parts paid for that were supposedly needed for this, I go to pick up my truck and find my airbags deflated. After airing up the truck and my governor cuts out I turn off the truck and I can hear a distinctive loud hissing sound resembling air leaking from the truck. How is this possible? Why is a shop that charges a rate of $102/hour still in business while not able to completely eliminate my air leaks and before I paid them good money to have this service completed? This was only one of the issues.

The other issue was to take care of a faulty motor that was replaced on my driver side electric window still under warranty. Why is it I need to loose time to have this repaired and right after I took possession of the truck, allegedly repaired, that I have rattling noises in my door and why is it that my light in the door no longer works now? Why are these shops employing these types of mechanics and why are we paying them over $100 per hour to do this?

Thank you for your time in viewing this.

Sincerely,
Marcel