Transportation Is tenure-based driver pay coming to an end? March 1, 2014 MISSISSAUGA, Ont. --The days of tenure-based pay increases for professional drivers could soon be over, as more carriers look to reward their most productive drivers instead of the ones who’ve simply been there the longest.
Transportation Used trucks a valuable commodity March 1, 2014 The used truck market usually follows the peaks and valleys of new truck sales by the space of a few years, but since fewer Class 8 vehicles were made and sold during the recession years of 2008 to 2010, a bottleneck presently exists in the...
Transportation Brokers: The good, the bad and the ugly March 1, 2014 Load brokers take a lot of criticism. Some richly deserve it, but others are actually a benefit to small carriers. Despite what some industry members may say, load brokers provide an important service to the trucking industry, whether you run a...
Transportation The big chill on driver supply March 1, 2014 Who had ever heard the term “polar vortex” until this winter? Here in Canada, we’re supposed to be used to cold, snowy weather. But, the winter blitz and higher than expected freight demand combined to reveal just how strained...
Transportation Head injuries March 1, 2014 Over the past few years, concussions have become a hot topic in professional sports. As a result of this interest, the amount of scientific research and knowledge has recently grown substantially. We now understand concussions in much more...
Transportation A SWIFT solution to the S-word? March 1, 2014 One thing trucking is good at is making lists of issues; but I wonder at times if we’re not better at cataloguing the issues than we are at actually doing something about them. I mean, most of the top 10 issues have been on the top 10...
Transportation Controlling drivers vs empowering them March 1, 2014 As long-haul truck drivers, we spend the majority of our time observing what is happening around us. Most of us are very good at it. It is a set of skills that extends far beyond the ability it gives us to be safe, professional drivers.
Transportation The challenge of digital tax docs March 1, 2014 In last month’s column, I wrote about the various types of tax deductions that may apply to you and encouraged you to gather up all your receipts and other paperwork.
Transportation When common sense is absent March 1, 2014 Where I sit most days, in what some refer to as Southern Ontario, some as mid-Ontario, and some simply with scorn, we are going through what seems to be the longest, coldest, winter in living memory.
Transportation Caffeine can give you a boost March 1, 2014 Are you reaching for another cup of steaming coffee, hoping for a hot, caffeine-induced energy boost in the middle of this dreary, cold winter weather? You’re not the only one. Caffeine is the most widely used psycho-active substance in...
Transportation In-cab distractions cause threats on road March 1, 2014 Few phrases will sound more familiar to a collision investigator than, “I only looked away for a second.” It has been uttered by some of the trucking industry’s most experienced drivers as they recalled the final moments...
Transportation Mark gets well soon March 1, 2014 He’d felt the first tickle in his throat back in Saskatoon. He’d thought nothing of it then, just coughed a couple of times, sucked on a Halls and stopped for a tea at the first Timmies he saw. But the tickle had grown into a...
Transportation The Last Word: Edgar Murdoch March 1, 2014 For Edgar Murdoch, a retired professional driver, schoolteacher and opera singer – yes, you read that right – there was no such thing as an ordinary load. Murdoch, who has held a commercial driver’s licence for 63 years,...