Do you think penalties for overweight trucks are fair? While penalties vary from state to state, one argument "for" assessing penalties is to recover the cost of wear and tear that illegal, heavy trucks inflict on highways that were not designed to handle modern load limits. But perhaps the fines being handed out are a little excessive?

Is an increase in the federal fuel tax the sensible, economical answer to funding highway infrastructure projects? The American Trucking Associations thinks so.

Have you ever been confused about when to take your legally required break after crossing into a new time zone?

You remember the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), right? The trilateral trading pact consisting of the United States, Canada, and Mexico formed during the first Clinton Administration? NAFTA is now seventeen years old, and has been shaped by the policy of a second Clinton White House and two George W. Bush terms. Now President Barack Obama is making his mark on the trade agreement, and his most recent changes affect U.S. and Mexican truckers.

As we traverse further up the road to "Finding Good Paying Freight," what does it require to be successful at finding the loads that pay the best in long range dividends? It takes a bit of grit, a large amount of dedication and a stick-to-it-iveness that will rival anything you've ever attempted.

As mentioned in previous posts, many states across the country are shutting down rest areas, forcing freight truckers to find alternate places to get in their legally required breaks.

The thought of riding a roller coaster leaves me with memories of the stomach in the throat, white knuckles, sweaty palms, and sheer fear of what's over the next rise or around the next corner. Kinda like what trucking has been for the past year and a half: fuel prices headed again into the stratosphere, available freight scraping bottom and freight rates leaving our stomachs in knots-well, like a roller coaster.

Continuing on the road to "Finding Good Paying Freight," the next challenge is, the fewer trucks you have at your beck and call, the less value you have to large shipping customers or brokers with a large number of loads from a single customer. If they have twenty loads in a single day and you only have a single truck, they would have to negotiate with twenty companies like yours to get the loads covered.

Interstate rest areas are certainly not the most glamorous places to pull over and, umm, take care of business. But after hours of hauling truck loads over exhausting distances, many truckers find them not only welcome but safe and legal places to recharge – especially in order to comply with hours of service regulations. For some truckers, the loss of these rest areas may mean sleeping in unsafe areas so they can get in their legally required breaks.

Is enough being done to increase cargo, driver, and border security? Some truckers and trucking organizations are voicing concern about cumbersome regulations that don’t necessarily expedite the safe and secure movement of freight.