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09
Oct
Five trucking grievances part of planned protest
Organizers listed five trucking-related issues as driving the Ride for the Constitution demonstration that is planned to start Friday in and around Washington, D.C., and across the nation with individual shutdowns, other convoys and a called-for buy-nothing solidarity protest.The five demands emerged from a conference call the evening of October 2 hosted by Pennsylvania-based company driver and former owner-operator J.B. Schaffner, also proprietor of TheAmericanDriver.com. Call participants represented varied segments, including an intermodal port hauler, a dispatcher of owner-operators and a former Midwest-based bull hauler. Schaffner had consulted offline with representatives of a California-based group as well, he said.
As previously reported, the first part of the demonstration is planned to have bobtail drivers and others ride into the heart of D.C. attendant to delivering the trucking-related demands as well as the “demands of the American people,” in the words of Ride for the Constitution promoter Zeeda Andrews, a separate list of five alleged constitutional violations. As of Monday, October 7, the then-organizer of the bobtail convoy into D.C., driver Earl Conlon, had noted “evidence” would be delivered to law enforcement authorities intended to result in
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the arrest of certain politicians “for violating their oaths of office” to uphold the constitution. Since that report, as well as this U.S. News and World Report articlefeaturing a wide-ranging interview with Conlon, promoters have attempted to distance themselves from the driver. (more…) -
01
Oct
Pilot close to ending manual rebate calculations, CEO says
Manual rebate calculations — the source of the fraud accusations against Pilot Flying J — are close to being eliminated at the company, said owner and CEO Jimmy Haslam in a prepared statement to the media last week.Ending manual rebate calculations at the company “has almost been accomplished,” Haslam said, referring to an April 22 statement in which he said the company — as part of a five-step plan to try to ensure the company no longer would be fraudulently withholding fuel rebates — would be moving all of its customers to electronically calculated rebates.
In addition to the near elimination of manual calculations, Haslam said last week the sales department is no longer handling the manual calculation.
In the statement, Haslam also discussed the other four points of his plan, including the field audits that the company began in April. Haslam said then the company would be reviewing all of its customer accounts that had been on manual rebate calculations.
Those were completed June 30, Haslam said, and customers were notified in all instances in which the team found a discrepancy. As Overdrive reported in June, the company then sent customers checks for the difference, along with interest.
“We are finding discrepancies in a relatively small number of our almost 7,000 diesel fuel sales customer accounts audited, and that the amount we’ve paid to correct those discrepancies represents a very small percentage of our overall diesel fuel sales,” Haslam said.
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24
Sep
California’s low carbon fuel standard upheld in court
California has not violated interstate commerce laws with its regulations on fuels based on carbon production, ruled a federal appeals court Sept. 18. The three-judge court ruled 2-1 to vacate a ruling by the lower court that had placed an […]
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17
Sep
Truck drivers: keeping the country rolling
WRIGHT, McLEOD COUNTIES, MN – Truck drivers are in high demand, with more than 80 percent of US communities depending exclusively on trucking for delivery of their goods and commodities.“Without their sacrifices and diligence driving these large trucks through America, the world as we know it would be so much different,” noted Kevin Otto of Otto Transfer in Delano.
Sept. 15-21 is National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, a time to recognize the contributions of the 3.4 million men and women who have chosen truck driving as their profession. (more…)
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09
Sep
Readers split on government, industry solutions to detention
In a well-participated-in poll on loading and unloading delays at shippers and receivers, conducted here on OverdriveOnline.com late last month, respondents weighed in on a variety of solutions to the long-grappled-with problem, with 50 percent favoring some kind of industry-focused solution, 41 percent actually taking the line that the federal government should have a role in detention.As has been written about in Overdrive over the last several years, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administrator Anne Ferro has been up-front about her intent to use the “bully pulpit” to influence shippers and receivers, but at once she’s also stressed lack of regulatory authority to get into such business. There have been some efforts — notably by Rep. Peter DeFazio — to introduce new authorities with legislation that would put regulated limits on detention, and FMCSA is currently involved in a study on the subject of what FMCSA can further do to help combat the problem. Ferro most recently said she expected results from it in 2015.
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