March 12, 2026 • 36 mins
In this episode, we sit down with OOIDA’s Lewie Pugh to break down what’s really moving in Washington and how it directly affects everyday truckers. From the massive 2026 highway bill reauthorization to real funding for free truck parking, the long-stalled broker transparency fight, and practical defenses against freight fraud, Lewie Pugh maps the landscape and shares what OOIDA is pushing for—and what drivers can do right now.
We lead with parking because it’s the pain point everyone feels. Lewie details the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, why federal grants must go toward building actual safe, well-lit lots with real capacity—not just signs or apps—and how states, cities, and private truck stops can access multi-year funding as long as parking stays free for drivers. Better lighting, secure restrooms, and more spaces don’t just ease HOS pressure; they make the industry safer and more welcoming, especially for women entering trucking.
Freight fraud gets its own hard look—how to report it effectively through FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database, why looping in local law enforcement and associations makes a difference, and why staying proactive beats getting burned.
This episode is for every driver, owner-operator, and small-fleet boss who wants safer roads, fairer pay, and policies that actually work. Your voice matters—contact your lawmakers, share exactly how these issues hit your wallet, your hours, and your safety, and help OOIDA push practical fixes across the finish line.
Key Takeaways 👇
✅ Truck Parking Funding Fight — The Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act channels federal grants into real, free parking spaces (not just signs); states, cities, and truck stops can apply for multi-year builds with safe lighting, restrooms, and capacity to ease HOS crunches and boost industry safety
✅ English Proficiency & CDL Standards — OOIDA restored English as an out-of-service criterion, exposing CDL mills and training gaps that threaten road safety
✅ Broker Transparency Push — Status update on OOIDA’s 2020 petition: carriers should see broker pay electronically—no forced waivers; until then, verify counterparties, keep your name on the BOL, use vetted load boards, and build direct shipper ties
✅ Freight Fraud Defense — Report scams via FMCSA’s National Consumer Complaint Database; involve local law enforcement and associations for stronger follow-up and prevention
✅ Autonomous Trucks Red Flags — No full incident reporting, weak cybersecurity, or mandatory qualified driver in the cab = unacceptable risks for 80,000-lb vehicles in real-world conditions
✅ Your Power — Call lawmakers, tell them ho
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:00):
Welcome back to That's Delivered.
(00:01):
I'm your host, Truck and Ray,and today we have a special
guest with us, Louis Pugh fromOOIDA.
And I'm really glad to have himback on the show.
He's got a lot of perspectivesof things that he's working on
out there to help individuals,truck drivers like yourself,
owner operators, independenttruck drivers that are doing
things to keep America going.
Louis joined us uh last year inan episode that got a lot of
(00:23):
attention because it went beyondthe headlines and actually
explained what happens inWashington and how it affects
drivers on the road.
Since then, a lot has changedand some big decisions are being
made right now for truckers thatneed to understand.
So before we uh jump into theupdates, though, um, we'll start
with a quick reset for anyonewho's hearing for the first
(00:44):
time, and uh we'll have Louiebring onto the show here.
Louie, how are you doing today?
Glad to have you on the show.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
I'm great.
Thanks for having me.
Looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_02 (00:58):
Nice.
Is the weather good for you?
Where you at there?
SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
Oh, it's a little cold today.
It was pretty cold up here.
I'm in outside of Kansas City.
I think it's only a high 30something today, but we don't
have no snow, just a little coldand windy.
SPEAKER_02 (01:11):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean, some some of the areasof the country are getting
slammed last week and now thisweek.
Wow.
What are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Yeah, I was in DC a couple weeks ago.
They had all kind of snow outthere, they can have it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:23):
Exactly.
I'm ready for spring myself uphere in Minnesota.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
I know it's it's hard to believe.
It's only the it's not even theend of February, but yeah, I'm
with you.
I'm ready for warm weatheralready.
SPEAKER_02 (01:34):
Man, I see trucks in the ditch.
Man, it's it's rough.
They're getting pulled out twodays later.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
Well, yeah, so we get right to it.
Just an overview for the driversthat didn't catch last episode.
You gave a quick overview ofwhat OOIDA is all about and what
drivers can do to help out.
Just wanted to do some follow-upon that.
Uh, what does OOIDA stand for orrepresent?
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Let's go ahead and give it a yeah, we're the uh
we're the owner operatorindependent drivers association.
We were started in 1973 by a fewtruck drivers got together,
decided they were going to go toWashington and get some of the
problems resolved in trucking.
And uh here we are 50-some yearslater, still feels like fighting
some of those same fights.
(02:20):
But uh, we're the largestnational association
representing small businesstruckers and employee drivers.
And, you know, I remind folks,it doesn't matter whether you're
an owner operator or an employeedriver, we represent you.
In fact, we have bills to helpboth sides and work with both
sides.
Independent driver, and our nameis just house before
(02:40):
deregulation was just a truckdriver who wasn't a teamster.
So I guess I shouldn't say justa truck driver, but an employee
driver that wasn't a teamster.
So that's what an independentdriver was.
So our name's a little bit datedbecause we were starting before
deregulation, but we're here foreverybody.
It costs$45 a year to be amember.
(03:02):
But I would tell people ifyou're watching this, call our
membership department here atheadquarters, tell them you saw
this, and tell them I told youto give you a$20 discount.
So you can be a member for$25 orrenew.
And uh it takes all of us.
We don't have a lot of money oranything like some of our
opposition does in Washington,but we do have members and
(03:23):
grassroots, and and that's howwe really move the needle.
If members join us and getbehind us and pick up the phone
and call their lawmakers aboutsome of the stuff that we're
gonna be talking about today,that really makes it a lot
easier for us to do our job anda lot easier for to get stuff
moved across the finish line.
SPEAKER_02 (03:42):
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely correct, man.
You guys are doing great thingsin an organization that has been
one of the few that's beenconsistently fighting all over
time for owner operators andsmall fleets, pushing back on
bad policies and advocating fora safety and for firmness, you
know, so that there's a there'sa lot of things that drivers
need to make sure to actuallyhave you know, seat at the
(04:03):
table, and you guys are doingthat.
So why does this matter now?
What's the background, why itreally matters?
What's some of the changes ofgoing here 2026 that we're going
into?
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
Well, the big thing we got going on in 2026 is the
highway authorization bill, oryou know, highway bills we call
it.
That's where most truckingregulation and legislation
either comes to move forward andbecome law or comes to die.
So it's depending on what it is,whether we want it to carry on
or we want to or to get itinvested or we want it to pass
(04:35):
or die.
So they re rewrite these aboutevery five years or so.
One comes about, I guess it isevery five years.
So it's an important time rightnow for truckers.
It's an important time to bereaching out to your lawmaker
and talking about things and howrules and regulations affect
you.
You know, you, your business,your family, whatever.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
So$2 million for truck parking.
Let's start with truck parkingbecause it's something that you
know every driver deals with uhregardless of where you run or
where you go.
So two$200 million advocated fortruck parking.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
Well, actually, that's what's in this bill that
just came out.
That's an appropriation billjust for a year.
It'll only be good untilSeptember.
We consider that sort of a downpayment.
In the highway bill, we do havethat we're trying to get in the
highway bill is the TruckParking Safety Improvement Act.
That's actually$750 million inparking on competitive things,
(05:33):
and that'll be for five years.
So that money's out there forfive years in states, local
towns, municipalities, truckstop operators, all these
different people can get thismoney for expansion.
The important thing to mentionhere is one, it has to be
physical spots, not signs, notelectronic things, telling you
(05:55):
that there's no place to park,any that kind of stuff.
And the second thing it has tobe is it has to be free.
So if a truck stop wants to tapinto this money because they
want to expand their lot orsomething, they can go through
the municipality and they canand get this grant money, but it
has to be free because truckersyou already paid for it, the
money's already been put outthere, you've already paid your
(06:17):
taxes, so you shouldn't have topay for it twice.
And again, that's the uh truckparking safety improvement
action.
It's on the house side.
We don't have a companion billon the Senate side yet, but hey,
I'll probably say this multipletimes when you're call your
lawmakers, call your senators,your congressmen.
If you don't know who that is,you can go to
fightingfortruckers.com, that'sa O I D A site where we list all
(06:41):
this kind of stuff, and you canfind out who your lawmaker is.
You can even message yourlawmaker right off of that site.
It's really fast, it's reallyeasy.
So if you know, if you wantthese guys out here, get tired
of either shutting down early orhaving to decide where it's a
safe place to park or you know,be in violation of one of your
hours.
(07:01):
This is one of these thingswe're trying to do to improve
that to give you more parkingavailability.
SPEAKER_02 (07:07):
Nice.
So won't have to fight for thatspot.
It'll make it a lot easier.
What do you think the projectionis for money like that?
You think it's gonna actuallymake a difference?
What do you think?
SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
Oh, I think it would make a difference.
I don't think it's enough, itwill solve the entire problem,
but every little bit else.
And the good thing about thisis, you know, right now parking
projects come out of generalfunds usually or something like
that.
Most people don't want to usethat because they want to do
things that are sexy.
Well, you know, it ain't sexy tocome out there and cut a ribbon
(07:37):
on a parking lot for a truck,you know, so just bridges and
stuff like that people like, youknow.
So you know how unfortunately welive in this world of we all
want our stuff, but we don'twant the trucks to bring it, and
that's not feasible orpractical, and that's what we
continue to try to educatepeople.
But I do think there's a goodchance of getting this passed.
(07:59):
We've had it through theCongress twice now and on the
House floor without a highwaybill.
Now that we have a highway bill,everybody in DC is talking about
it.
It's bipartisan.
So again, the biggest thing weneed now is some help on the
Senate.
So pick up the phone, tell yourlawmakers how this affects you.
SPEAKER_02 (08:17):
Awesome.
I mean, definitely one of goodroads, we want good places to
park, but uh also we want to besafe out there.
How about the English languageproficiency as out-of-service
criteria?
A lot of those changes.
What would you say has helpedthat industry or that particular
topic to be a better pain pointfor the truck industry?
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
Well, yeah, I mean, there's been a lot on English
language proficiency this year.
And excuse me, I'm proud to saythat Oida had a lot to do with
that.
We petitioned CVSA to put thisback in the hours of service, or
I mean back in the hours ofservice, excuse me, and we were
successful.
Our very own Doug Morris fromour DC office, he was very, very
(09:00):
adamant and did a great job atCVSA this year, getting our
point across and why we neededto vote on this and we needed
just to pass, and was verysuccessful in that.
You know, so I think that's beena good thing.
The other things here that havebeen helpful is both Secretary
Duffy and Administrator Barrhave been very willing and eager
(09:25):
to listen to truckers and hearwhat they're saying.
Secretary Duffy's been takingthat up the hill to the White
House and getting the WhiteHouse to listen.
So for once, it seems like thatwe have an administration along
with an agency and DOT that'skind of listening to truckers
and listening to the problems.
(09:45):
We've seen this stuff come outabout CDL mails, we've seen all
this craziness aboutnon-domicile CDLs, and just all
these problems that we'recontinuing to see.
And, you know, I remind truckersthat this is really, really a
good thing, and we need to keepour pressure on this because,
you know, this isn't as much of,you know, a lot of people prefer
(10:05):
this as immigration and foreignfolks coming in industry.
This is a problem, and ourindustry has been going on for a
long, long time.
Even by people who can't speakthe language, who are born here
and raised here, they don't gettrained correctly, they get sent
to CDL mills, they don't gettreated correctly.
So I feel like the good thingyou can say about what's going
(10:26):
on, it was kind of, even thoughit's really a small percentage
of everybody in the industry,the good thing about it is it
was sort of the match that litthe lantern to shine a light on
all these problems we have asfar as training, driver pay,
parking, too low of a barrier ofentry to become a truck driver,
to be too low of a barrier ofentry to become a motor carrier
(10:48):
or a broker.
So all these things, you know,as bad as they are, uh hopefully
we're gonna see some good comeout of them.
You know, it's it's a shame it'staking this long, but I think
we'll get there.
SPEAKER_02 (11:01):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's yeah, I don't wantto make it too political, but
you want to make it more of anindustry thing for us to focus
on because even afteradministration changes, these uh
issues will still be here withus in our professional
environment that we want to keepsafe.
So nice to see.
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Yeah, and I mean that's what that's it's so very
important.
Like Oida, we're a bipartisanorganization.
We have to work with Republicansand Democrats and whoever's in
charge.
So, you know, we have to workwith everybody and try to get
everybody to get along to getour things, because there's no
there's no one party that'sgreat for trucking, and no one
(11:38):
party that's bad for trucking.
They both sort of have theirthings that they're good, and
they both sort of have theirthings that are bad.
So we just gotta try to navigatethrough the political process.
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Trucking should be bipartisanbecause everybody needs goods to
be delivered.
So a good point there.
So that we're not stopping thesupply chain, we're keeping it
flowing for everybody.
Nice.
Yes, sir.
Broker transparency rule.
That's one of the biggest issuesdrivers have pushed for over the
(12:10):
years, the broker transparency,and now a long-awaited rule is
finally in effect, right?
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_01 (12:17):
Well, it's not in effect yet.
I mean, the rule's still outthere.
We're still waiting on FMCSA torule upon our petition.
For those who don't know ordon't recall, in 2020, OOIDA
petitioned FMCSA on ruling onthe broker change paranormality
was just 371.3 rule that saysall parties of the transaction
(12:39):
have a right to see that allparts of the transaction.
So, meaning for a trucker, ifyou take a load, a broker load
and haul it, you can ask thebroker to give you proof of what
he was paid, how much he gotpaid, so you know whether he is,
you know, taking too much offthe top, I guess, for lack of
(13:03):
better terms.
Of course, most brokers don'tlike this idea.
And the reason we had topetition this was because
unfortunately, most brokers aremaking trucking companies waive
their right to this regulationand their broker carry
agreements.
We don't feel that that's legal,that one private business entity
(13:25):
can ask another private businessentity to waive its rights to
anything.
So again, we don't think that'seven legal.
So that's what we asked for inour petition.
Along with they had to providethis stuff electronically
because some of the ones who doallow it, when the trucker asks,
they say, Well, you need to cometo our office.
(13:47):
Well, if you're a trucker wholives in Ohio and all you do is
run back and forth to the EastCoast and the brokers in
California, that's not reallypractical.
And we do everything elseelectronically, so why can't we
do this?
But with all that being said,here we are six years later
almost.
May I think will be six yearssince we petitioned.
(14:09):
Hopefully, I've pretty much, youknow, I tried to get the last
eight folks over at FMCSA to dothis before Biden left and could
rule on it.
Nobody would.
I, you know, I've shared withAdministrator Bars and his staff
that this is something you guysneed to rule up on, good, bad,
(14:30):
or different.
But the can needs to be quitgetting kicked down the road.
It's been six years, for God'ssakes.
Let's tell truckers where westand.
And, you know, I know this is acontentious issue, and probably
no matter how this shakes out,nobody's gonna be completely
happy.
But I I think something's gonnahave to happen.
And again, I still don't believethat FMCSA is gonna say that
(14:54):
brokers can waive their right,because and maybe they will, but
I don't see how that's legal towaive.
You know, if I hired you todrive my truck, I can't tell you
that you have to waive yourrights to hours of service.
How you know that isn't gonnahappen.
So why can a broker waive hisrights to transparency when it's
a a regulation in the big greenbook?
SPEAKER_02 (15:15):
Well, yeah, I mean, that's something that everybody
needs, is know that that servicehas value.
So even on the other side, youknow, if the the margins are too
small, I mean, you've got thatbroker that's gonna be stretched
pretty thin.
So it goes both ways, but yet wedon't want it to be where it's
flop-sided and one one way issuffering more than the other.
I feel like that's it makessense to me.
(15:37):
We want everybody to be inbusiness, there's plenty to go
around.
SPEAKER_01 (15:40):
Yeah, and probably with all this freight fraud and
freight theft and all this otherstuff we're seeing, some more of
this transparency would haveprobably would probably be
helpful in catching these folksfor keeping these people from uh
from operating.
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Yeah, freight fraud.
Man, that's uh seems to berunning rampant.
Like uh, yeah.
Is there anything that we can doas a trucker to reach out to uh
you know the government to letthem know, hey, or are you guys
got that covered, or how howshould they work on with freight
fraud?
SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
I mean, the biggest thing you can do on freight
fraud is if you're a victim ofit, or you think you're a victim
of it, reach out.
You can go to the NationalConsumer Complaint Database
NCCDB on MCSA's website andreport it there as you should.
I mean, they're gonna tell youreport to local law enforcement.
You can.
A lot of times local lawenforcement doesn't really know
(16:34):
what to do with it.
If you're a member here at Oh, Ididn't report this stuff, let us
know.
We can try to help report you aswell.
If you talk to our compliancedepartment, if you're a member.
But the biggest thing to keep inmind, know who you're working
for.
You know, it's better to takeloads off of broker loadboards.
(16:55):
And I mean, like, you know, CH,Snyder, Landstar, some of these
companies have their own loadboard.
If you're using that, you knowyou're dealing with the right
people.
If you're out here on some ofthese commercially known load
boards, that seems to be wherethese up some of these people
operate the most and you know,as fake and get caught.
(17:17):
If, you know, make sure you knowif you're getting asked to do
things that don't sit right,call your shipper, call somebody
like that, make sure.
I always tell people too, makesure you got your name on the
bill lading.
That's supposed to be the way itworks anyway, but a lot of times
it doesn't.
It'll have somebody else's nameon there.
Make sure your name's on thebill lading.
(17:40):
You know, like I said, just ifyou see a load is too good to be
true, it probably is.
So be really, really, reallycareful about that.
You know, I know it's tough whenyou got one truck and you're
trying to do everything andverify these people.
And in this down freight market,loads don't hang out very long
(18:00):
on the load board.
So I know these things aretough, but these are things you
need to do.
You need to do your duediligence.
And, you know, I can't stressenough.
If you're got your own motorcarrier authority, you need to
be finding your own freight andyour own customers and use
brokers as an as needed.
Get you back, get you out of badareas, something like that.
(18:22):
Don't become a trucking businesswith this mindset and this
business plan that you're gonnarun strictly for brokers all the
time.
You know, you live by the spotmarket, you die by the spot
market.
And we've seen, you know, howbad it's been for folks on the
spot market for the last threeor four years since COVID
wrapped up.
(18:43):
And, you know, guys withcontract rates and running
contract rates in their owncustomers and own freight, it's
not been easy for them either,but it's been a lot easier than
those folks on the on the spotmarket side.
SPEAKER_02 (18:56):
Well, have you heard of any success stories, possibly
with uh certain lanes or certaintypes of uh um hauling, maybe a
hazmat or I mean it seems likeeverybody's getting affected.
SPEAKER_01 (19:07):
Yeah, I think everybody across the board, and
of course, you know what usuallyhappens in our industry is
you're over here doing yourlittle thing, mind your own
business, and all this segmentof the industry, you know, they
get wiped out, whatever they'redoing goes away or gets changed
or whatever.
So then these people starthunting around.
Next thing you know, you gotpeople over here nosing into
(19:30):
your business and and trying totake your work from you and
stuff.
So and it happens.
I mean, it's unfortunate, that'swhat happens.
You know, that's what I alwayssay.
I always say when I wastrucking, if you got something
good, it ain't gonna last.
It's never gonna last forever.
But, you know, make it make itwhile you can.
SPEAKER_00 (19:48):
Make it while you can, right?
SPEAKER_01 (19:49):
But but I mean, big thing, if you can get your own
customers, you know, especiallysmall guys deal with small
customers.
It's a lot easier to get yourfoot in the door, do what you're
asked, be where you're supposedto be, you know, be extensive to
that company.
And a lot of times they'll keepyou around even in the bad times
because they they want to makesure their stuff gets where it's
(20:12):
going to be.
Big shippers, big receivers,seems like they just whoever's
the cheapest, which I find itfascinating, maddening almost,
that they don't really care whohauls their stuff.
But that's just the way it isfor some of these shippers and
receivers out here.
SPEAKER_02 (20:29):
Do you guys work with the box trucks and small
hotshot deliveries?
Do you guys help those driversas well?
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
I mean, we've got a few guys that run the hotshot
stuff and and the deliveries.
I mean, as I tell people anytimethey ask, I put there's probably
nothing out here in truckingthat I don't at least have some
one member doing somewhere.
You know, we're our membershipis as diverse as what trucking
is.
So, yeah, we got guys in allthese different sectors and
(20:57):
stuff, and uh, you know, theyseem to be doing okay too.
But again, I feel that's where alot of these folks that they say
are going now that's losingtheir CDL.
They're going to these deliverybox companies, Uber, stuff like
(21:36):
that.
We don't have to have one.
SPEAKER_02 (21:37):
Okay.
Yeah, less regulations, I guess,and less classification.
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
Well, if it's under 26,000 pounds, you're out,
you're out from under FMCSA'spurview.
So you can do what you want,unless you're on highs, man.
SPEAKER_02 (21:51):
So you guys got events coming up.
You're going to go to Matt'sprobably and some other shows
that they can look for, get andsee you guys.
Yeah, we're right.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
We'll be at Matt's.
We'll be at the uh we'll be atMatt's here next month.
We got a new booth out in thelobby.
We'll be at the American TruckHistorical Society convention
thing in Springfield in June.
And then Marty's at a lobby.
We'll be up at Walcott.
We'll have a truck and be up atWalcott.
And uh Marty will just be atlittle truck shows all around
(22:20):
the country if you go toalIdake.com.
Or follow our social media andkind of find out where Marty is
with the tour truck and wheresome of us are.
And I'll be at Matt's, I'll beat the ATHS show.
Not sure if I'll be at Jeep atWalcott, but I'll be at those
other two shows for sure.
And I'll probably be at someother shows as time goes on.
SPEAKER_02 (22:40):
Yeah, we love seeing you out there.
I mean I love being out there.
Yeah, yeah.
You bring a good presence.
Yeah, you don't.
SPEAKER_00 (22:47):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (22:48):
So man, you kind of think this is gonna be the last
stop for you.
You got some new things you'reworking on?
What do you what do you see forthe future for you or even IDA?
SPEAKER_01 (22:56):
I mean, as far as me, here I am.
I mean, I'm here, I ain't seenothing else.
And as long as but as far as us,you know, we're we're always
watching what's going on, youknow, no fear when it's rolling.
I mean, the great thing aboutus, our board of directors,
we're all trucker, are alltruckers, the leadership myself,
Todd Spencer will pass truckers.
(23:18):
That's that's what makes it alot of different.
You've got to be in truck, be atrucker to be in leadership to
be on our board.
So that's good.
And you know, we have over130,000 members out here running
around.
They don't hesitate to call in,tell us what they're seeing.
So, as I always tell people, thestuff that we're doing and we're
working on, it's coming directlyfrom the people behind the
(23:38):
wheel, the men and women makingtheir living driving a truck.
So, you know, and sometimes Iknow truckers, you know, even
myself, we don't always agreewith what we're doing, but we
always have to look at things aswhat's the greatest thing,
what's the greatest for alltruckers as a whole.
Because, you know, trucking'svery diverse.
(23:59):
What works for one doesn'talways necessarily work for
others.
But so we try to we try to godown the road where we're trying
to help the most people at allpossible.
And some of the things we workon, you know, I got people
calling still and say, I don'tknow why you're wasting this
time with parking.
I don't have any problem findinga park place to park, which hey,
it's probably true.
I I didn't really have that muchtrouble finding places to park,
(24:21):
but I ran a certain region, knewwhere I was at, new places I
could park that a lot of peopledidn't know, but not everybody's
that fortunate or that lucky.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Yeah, I know it's uh it gets hard just to find a
decent bathroom.
I mean, a lot of places are usoff there, like you know, we got
some good, good, beautifulplaces to go to, but they don't
allow trucks in there, and soyeah, it's I mean, there is a
lot of parking, but shouldshould you be parking there, you
know, or you know, are youallowed?
(24:50):
A lot of these rest stops seemlike they do a lot with the
architect, you know, they kindof get real involved in the
building, the way it looks.
And I'm like, I just we justneed a parking spot.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
So yeah, near Tree Islands.
That's what I get tofortunately.
I guess I get invited to a lotof these DOT conferences and
state meetings and stuff,especially when they're talking
about commercial.
And we get in, or I talk to alot of states on parking, and
that's the thing I tell themlook, appreciate nice buildings,
appreciate a nice place to parkand rest area.
(25:21):
But what we don't need is treeislands and all this other
stuff.
As much parking is what we need.
A clean bathroom, running water,clean, but it doesn't have to be
anything big or fancy.
Yeah, just we need parking,parking, parking.
SPEAKER_02 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, and that helps out too with a lot of
people coming into the industry.
Like women coming into theindustry is huge.
So, I mean, you know, for formen, it may be a little
different for the access or thebathroom.
So we got to think about otherpeople, like you said, not just
ourselves, but others as well.
So I'm glad that they'reproviding some safe places that
are kind of well lit and placewhere they can use the restroom.
(25:59):
I mean, that's seems likesomething really small, but you
know, it's something you don'twant to talk about, maybe.
I don't know, but it's anecessity.
We all do it.
SPEAKER_01 (26:07):
So yeah, I mean, it's mad and we have a bill in
Congress, a guaranteed restroomaccess bill right now because
shippers and receivers won't lettruck drivers use their bathroom
when they let them make you sitthere for four and five hours on
end or longer to load you orunload you.
It's just absolutely crazy thatwe've had to get to where we
have to have a congressionalmandate to make you allow
(26:31):
truckers to use the restroom.
It's just it's crazy to me.
SPEAKER_02 (26:35):
Yeah, I'm not sure if it's some type of liability
or something with the lawyers orwhy they're just making sure
people don't slip in thebathroom or something.
I'm not sure what it is, but youknow, I was in uh Minneapolis
the other day, and it wasextremely hard to get into a
bathroom.
But you know, that's probablybecause of the homeless rate or
what have you, or the poverty,or I'm not sure, but it's it was
(26:55):
bad.
It was really hard to use thebathroom.
SPEAKER_00 (26:57):
Yeah, which is just nuts.
SPEAKER_02 (27:03):
Yeah, it is.
So yeah, that the outlook lookswe're we're hoping it for good
things in the future.
You know, I know there's somebig changes that are coming
through.
People are worried about thetariffs and the rebates and and
all the stuff that's going onthere, too.
I don't know how old IDA is.
What do you guys see about that?
Are any prospects for that aswell?
SPEAKER_01 (27:22):
Market stability is all we want to see.
I mean, I don't I'm not a youknow, I'm not a tariff expert,
nor is OIDA tariff experts.
You know, we we deal intrucking, we stay in our lane.
What I do know is that all thisflipping flopping and changing
makes for a very unstablemarket.
So whether we have tariffs ordon't have tariffs, what we need
(27:45):
is to decide something and leaveit.
So shippers, receivers,manufacturers, all these folks
know what they're looking at,know what their costs are going
to be, know how much stuff theyneed to order, and they can just
sort of we can get this marketto where it's running an equal,
an even queue.
And then trucking should takeoff this year.
I mean, I know I said the samething last year, we're looking
(28:07):
forward to take off, but we dofeel like by mid-summer we
should hopefully things aregoing the right direction.
SPEAKER_02 (28:14):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01 (28:15):
We're starting to see some telltale times of that
now.
So hopefully by summereverybody's going strong.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
That'll be nice.
You know, when I first got intothe truck industry, they told me
for safety reasons, nothingchanges real quick.
It's not like being in theoffice, but it seems like with
AI and a lot of electronics,I've been able to be more
mobile.
Seems like the changes have beenkind of trickling into the cab.
So yeah, it's it's hard, notjust in the cab, but also for
(28:41):
the office people.
I mean, they're trying to getthese loads delivered too, and
even though they're not drivingthe truck.
So yeah, I hope it does get someconsistency so that things can
kind of level out.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we need consistencyacross the country now, and
trucking just for consumers andstuff all across the world.
I mean, it's just crazy whatthings are, what things cost
right now, inflation.
SPEAKER_02 (29:03):
Yeah.
Well, I know the highway bill isa is a good thing.
What do you see if possiblysupporting the highway bill
makes it easier for autonomoustrucks?
Um, what are your takes on that?
SPEAKER_01 (29:13):
Yeah, we don't support autonomous trucks.
We're gonna push back againstautonomous trucks as much as we
can.
We don't feel that oneself-reporting it makes it's
crazy.
Like these people only have toreport if somebody would die or
not.
I mean, we don't know how manynear misses there are or any
kind of thing like that becausethey don't have to report
(29:35):
anything unless they want to.
So you know they're only gonnareport good things, you know.
So plus plus, there's a hugeconcern in cybersecurity,
there's a huge concern of partsbeing made in China.
So, you know, we hear about thisstuff where they can listen and
watch.
I mean, I I remind peoplewhenever I talk about this, the
(29:58):
trucks weigh up to 80,000pounds, they haul anything from
toilet paper to bomb.
Probably it's a real good ideato know who's behind the wheel,
and nobody can hijack that stuffbecause we know there's plenty
of places in this world thatdon't like Americans, don't like
Americans.
So I've seen TV things wherethey hack into minivans and
stuff with a laptop.
(30:19):
So it's hard for me to believethey can't do that kind of same
kind of thing with theseautonomous vehicles, especially
if you don't have a safetydriver in there.
And my second, you know, andthen my other concern is what
happens, you know, when there'sa school bus on the side of the
road broke down, there's kids,there's cars, there's all this
stuff.
What's that thing decide to hitif it comes around the corner
(30:41):
and that's all going on?
I mean, I'm assuming it'sprogrammed to take the path of
least resistance, which wouldprobably be the kids in that
scenario.
So, you know, and I don't know.
And what frustrates me withthese autonomous trucks more
than anything is I don't know alot about them.
I've reached out to all theautonomous truck people asking
(31:03):
for to come visit, take a ride,learn more about these things,
so I could speak, you know, withmuch more intelligence than just
my gut and my feeling.
But unfortunately, nobody'staking me up on that.
So that also I find concerning.
SPEAKER_02 (31:21):
What do you think they'll be at Matt's?
Maybe they'll have one ondisplay like Tesla or something
like that.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
Maybe I guess we'll wait and see.
I've seen them other places ondisplay, and I'm always told
we'll get back to you.
We'd love to take you, we'll getback to you, but they never get
back to me.
SPEAKER_02 (31:36):
I hope that's a topic that doesn't go away
either, so we can help make theroads safe just as much as we
want for uh, you know, these uhnon-domiciles and all these
other things that are out theretoo that uh weaken the integrity
of the industry.
So yeah, we want to keep itstrong.
Yep, we're we're only strong asour weakest link.
SPEAKER_00 (31:53):
So exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (31:55):
Yeah, so we really appreciate all the work you guys
are doing over there.
I think a lot of people canbenefit from you guys and learn
more.
Maybe some people don't evenknow.
Spread the word, tell tell asmany people as you can.
This is uh word to our listenersout there.
So if you know anything aboutOIDA, come take a look at them
at the truck shows.
Uh, they got a great trailer,got a lot of great friendly
individuals out there that'll dothings to answer your questions
(32:18):
and talk to you and tell them,tell you guys about what you
guys are working on, some of thenew things that are coming down
the pipeline and all that.
So keep up the good work.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:26):
Thank you, buddy.
Yeah, by all means.
The more members we have, thestronger we are in Washington.
And again, you can if you haveany questions or comments, you
can always call our compliancedepartment.
You can call any, you can talkto me, you can talk to Todd
Spencer, the president.
You know, if you don't see theshow, you can call us here to
talk to us.
SPEAKER_02 (32:45):
You got a chance to talk to Sean Duffy or any people
like that?
SPEAKER_01 (32:48):
Or we've talked to Duffy.
I mean, Todd's talked to Duffyprobably more than I have.
I I talked to Mr.
uh administrator bars probablymore than anything.
That's sort of our guy.
So but no, we've had well, we'vehad Duffy on our semi-trailer,
you know, in our truck, youknow, and last year when they
signed the English languageproficiency regulation down in
(33:10):
Houston or Austin, I'm sorry.
Mr.
Duffy was there and saw the Outof Truck was in the Out of
Trailer and stuff like that.
So that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02 (33:19):
Nice.
Yeah, it seems like we'regetting some headways, some lot
of changes that directly affectthe driver for good.
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (33:26):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (33:26):
Yeah, it seems like more they they understand what
we're going through, uh, themore that they'll be uh on the
lookout for these these billsthat come through and make sure
that they're they're implementedfor the good versus being
ignored.
And it seems like it takesforever for things to get done
on the heel.
SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
Oh boy, isn't that a fact?
Yeah, government moves veryslow.
SPEAKER_02 (33:50):
Yeah, yeah.
So when you make headway,sometimes you get take a couple
steps forward and end up takinga couple steps backward, but
hopefully we're going in theright direction, not going in
the wrong direction.
Yeah, for sure.
All right.
Well, I'm glad to have you onthe show.
Anything else you want to letpeople know before we go?
Maybe it's something I missed,or something else you want
people to be aware of.
SPEAKER_01 (34:08):
I'll just remind people talk to your lawmakers.
Don't be afraid to talk to yourlawmakers.
I hear so often from members,that's what we pay you for.
I don't know how to talk tothem.
Well, I never met a truckdriver, couldn't talk.
And you can talk to them becauseyou're the professional, you
know about your industry.
They don't.
And let me promise you, there'splenty of people on the other
(34:29):
side who are trying to make yourjob much harder or put you out
of business or whatever thething.
The guarantee they're down theretalking.
So let your lawmakers know, andyou never know where where
that'll go or what that'llhappen.
So much stuff that we getstarted just because the member
picked up the phone and got theear of a lawmaker or his staff,
(34:50):
and then it's turned intosomething organically.
So, you know, call yourlawmakers, go to
fightingfortruckers.com.
You can find out about what youand I talked about today, plus
more stuff.
And again, call our membershipdepartment if you need to renew
or if you're not a member, tellthem you saw this, and they'll
give you a$20 discount.
SPEAKER_02 (35:11):
Awesome.
Hey man, appreciate it.
So uh, for everybody out there,if you like what you see, I
appreciate uh Louis Pew comingon the show here, helping us out
talking about these topics so wecan get it right from the
horse's mouth.
So we appreciate this breakingit down for drivers in a way
that they actually understand.
I think this stuff matters.
I think everybody should beinvolved, not just if you're in
trucking, but even if you knowsomeone that's in trucking, uh
(35:32):
reach out to your lawmakers andhelp them see the importance of
what's necessary.
So, like I said, we uh have alot of links, we'll provide
those in the notes for you, anduh, you can look at those.
So it's good to know thatsomeone like yourself, Louis, is
out here doing great things,fighting for people and keeping
the country moving.
So appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
Hey, thank you.
Like I said, forward to team upfor everybody at OOI Day and all
of our members.
We we all do together, justain't me.
So thank you to everybody, andthank you to all you truck
drivers out here watching this.
We really, really appreciatewhat you do.
I know it's a hard, tough,thankless job, but thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (36:05):
Awesome, yeah.
So thank you again, and uh Mrs.
Truck and Ray, and that'sdelivered.
Welcome back to That's Delivered.
(00:01):
I'm your host, Truck and Ray,and today we have a special
guest with us, Louis Pugh fromOOIDA.
And I'm really glad to have himback on the show.
He's got a lot of perspectivesof things that he's working on
out there to help individuals,truck drivers like yourself,
owner operators, independenttruck drivers that are doing
things to keep America going.
Louis joined us uh last year inan episode that got a lot of
(00:23):
attention because it went beyondthe headlines and actually
explained what happens inWashington and how it affects
drivers on the road.
Since then, a lot has changedand some big decisions are being
made right now for truckers thatneed to understand.
So before we uh jump into theupdates, though, um, we'll start
with a quick reset for anyonewho's hearing for the first
(00:44):
time, and uh we'll have Louiebring onto the show here.
Louie, how are you doing today?
Glad to have you on the show.
SPEAKER_01 (00:55):
I'm great.
Thanks for having me.
Looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_02 (00:58):
Nice.
Is the weather good for you?
Where you at there?
SPEAKER_01 (01:01):
Oh, it's a little cold today.
It was pretty cold up here.
I'm in outside of Kansas City.
I think it's only a high 30something today, but we don't
have no snow, just a little coldand windy.
SPEAKER_02 (01:11):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I mean, some some of the areasof the country are getting
slammed last week and now thisweek.
Wow.
What are we gonna do?
SPEAKER_01 (01:18):
Yeah, I was in DC a couple weeks ago.
They had all kind of snow outthere, they can have it.
SPEAKER_02 (01:23):
Exactly.
I'm ready for spring myself uphere in Minnesota.
Let's go.
SPEAKER_01 (01:27):
I know it's it's hard to believe.
It's only the it's not even theend of February, but yeah, I'm
with you.
I'm ready for warm weatheralready.
SPEAKER_02 (01:34):
Man, I see trucks in the ditch.
Man, it's it's rough.
They're getting pulled out twodays later.
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_02 (01:44):
Well, yeah, so we get right to it.
Just an overview for the driversthat didn't catch last episode.
You gave a quick overview ofwhat OOIDA is all about and what
drivers can do to help out.
Just wanted to do some follow-upon that.
Uh, what does OOIDA stand for orrepresent?
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Let's go ahead and give it a yeah, we're the uh
we're the owner operatorindependent drivers association.
We were started in 1973 by a fewtruck drivers got together,
decided they were going to go toWashington and get some of the
problems resolved in trucking.
And uh here we are 50-some yearslater, still feels like fighting
some of those same fights.
(02:20):
But uh, we're the largestnational association
representing small businesstruckers and employee drivers.
And, you know, I remind folks,it doesn't matter whether you're
an owner operator or an employeedriver, we represent you.
In fact, we have bills to helpboth sides and work with both
sides.
Independent driver, and our nameis just house before
(02:40):
deregulation was just a truckdriver who wasn't a teamster.
So I guess I shouldn't say justa truck driver, but an employee
driver that wasn't a teamster.
So that's what an independentdriver was.
So our name's a little bit datedbecause we were starting before
deregulation, but we're here foreverybody.
It costs$45 a year to be amember.
(03:02):
But I would tell people ifyou're watching this, call our
membership department here atheadquarters, tell them you saw
this, and tell them I told youto give you a$20 discount.
So you can be a member for$25 orrenew.
And uh it takes all of us.
We don't have a lot of money oranything like some of our
opposition does in Washington,but we do have members and
(03:23):
grassroots, and and that's howwe really move the needle.
If members join us and getbehind us and pick up the phone
and call their lawmakers aboutsome of the stuff that we're
gonna be talking about today,that really makes it a lot
easier for us to do our job anda lot easier for to get stuff
moved across the finish line.
SPEAKER_02 (03:42):
Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely correct, man.
You guys are doing great thingsin an organization that has been
one of the few that's beenconsistently fighting all over
time for owner operators andsmall fleets, pushing back on
bad policies and advocating fora safety and for firmness, you
know, so that there's a there'sa lot of things that drivers
need to make sure to actuallyhave you know, seat at the
(04:03):
table, and you guys are doingthat.
So why does this matter now?
What's the background, why itreally matters?
What's some of the changes ofgoing here 2026 that we're going
into?
SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
Well, the big thing we got going on in 2026 is the
highway authorization bill, oryou know, highway bills we call
it.
That's where most truckingregulation and legislation
either comes to move forward andbecome law or comes to die.
So it's depending on what it is,whether we want it to carry on
or we want to or to get itinvested or we want it to pass
(04:35):
or die.
So they re rewrite these aboutevery five years or so.
One comes about, I guess it isevery five years.
So it's an important time rightnow for truckers.
It's an important time to bereaching out to your lawmaker
and talking about things and howrules and regulations affect
you.
You know, you, your business,your family, whatever.
SPEAKER_02 (04:56):
So$2 million for truck parking.
Let's start with truck parkingbecause it's something that you
know every driver deals with uhregardless of where you run or
where you go.
So two$200 million advocated fortruck parking.
Is that right?
SPEAKER_01 (05:11):
Well, actually, that's what's in this bill that
just came out.
That's an appropriation billjust for a year.
It'll only be good untilSeptember.
We consider that sort of a downpayment.
In the highway bill, we do havethat we're trying to get in the
highway bill is the TruckParking Safety Improvement Act.
That's actually$750 million inparking on competitive things,
(05:33):
and that'll be for five years.
So that money's out there forfive years in states, local
towns, municipalities, truckstop operators, all these
different people can get thismoney for expansion.
The important thing to mentionhere is one, it has to be
physical spots, not signs, notelectronic things, telling you
(05:55):
that there's no place to park,any that kind of stuff.
And the second thing it has tobe is it has to be free.
So if a truck stop wants to tapinto this money because they
want to expand their lot orsomething, they can go through
the municipality and they canand get this grant money, but it
has to be free because truckersyou already paid for it, the
money's already been put outthere, you've already paid your
(06:17):
taxes, so you shouldn't have topay for it twice.
And again, that's the uh truckparking safety improvement
action.
It's on the house side.
We don't have a companion billon the Senate side yet, but hey,
I'll probably say this multipletimes when you're call your
lawmakers, call your senators,your congressmen.
If you don't know who that is,you can go to
fightingfortruckers.com, that'sa O I D A site where we list all
(06:41):
this kind of stuff, and you canfind out who your lawmaker is.
You can even message yourlawmaker right off of that site.
It's really fast, it's reallyeasy.
So if you know, if you wantthese guys out here, get tired
of either shutting down early orhaving to decide where it's a
safe place to park or you know,be in violation of one of your
hours.
(07:01):
This is one of these thingswe're trying to do to improve
that to give you more parkingavailability.
SPEAKER_02 (07:07):
Nice.
So won't have to fight for thatspot.
It'll make it a lot easier.
What do you think the projectionis for money like that?
You think it's gonna actuallymake a difference?
What do you think?
SPEAKER_01 (07:17):
Oh, I think it would make a difference.
I don't think it's enough, itwill solve the entire problem,
but every little bit else.
And the good thing about thisis, you know, right now parking
projects come out of generalfunds usually or something like
that.
Most people don't want to usethat because they want to do
things that are sexy.
Well, you know, it ain't sexy tocome out there and cut a ribbon
(07:37):
on a parking lot for a truck,you know, so just bridges and
stuff like that people like, youknow.
So you know how unfortunately welive in this world of we all
want our stuff, but we don'twant the trucks to bring it, and
that's not feasible orpractical, and that's what we
continue to try to educatepeople.
But I do think there's a goodchance of getting this passed.
(07:59):
We've had it through theCongress twice now and on the
House floor without a highwaybill.
Now that we have a highway bill,everybody in DC is talking about
it.
It's bipartisan.
So again, the biggest thing weneed now is some help on the
Senate.
So pick up the phone, tell yourlawmakers how this affects you.
SPEAKER_02 (08:17):
Awesome.
I mean, definitely one of goodroads, we want good places to
park, but uh also we want to besafe out there.
How about the English languageproficiency as out-of-service
criteria?
A lot of those changes.
What would you say has helpedthat industry or that particular
topic to be a better pain pointfor the truck industry?
SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
Well, yeah, I mean, there's been a lot on English
language proficiency this year.
And excuse me, I'm proud to saythat Oida had a lot to do with
that.
We petitioned CVSA to put thisback in the hours of service, or
I mean back in the hours ofservice, excuse me, and we were
successful.
Our very own Doug Morris fromour DC office, he was very, very
(09:00):
adamant and did a great job atCVSA this year, getting our
point across and why we neededto vote on this and we needed
just to pass, and was verysuccessful in that.
You know, so I think that's beena good thing.
The other things here that havebeen helpful is both Secretary
Duffy and Administrator Barrhave been very willing and eager
(09:25):
to listen to truckers and hearwhat they're saying.
Secretary Duffy's been takingthat up the hill to the White
House and getting the WhiteHouse to listen.
So for once, it seems like thatwe have an administration along
with an agency and DOT that'skind of listening to truckers
and listening to the problems.
(09:45):
We've seen this stuff come outabout CDL mails, we've seen all
this craziness aboutnon-domicile CDLs, and just all
these problems that we'recontinuing to see.
And, you know, I remind truckersthat this is really, really a
good thing, and we need to keepour pressure on this because,
you know, this isn't as much of,you know, a lot of people prefer
(10:05):
this as immigration and foreignfolks coming in industry.
This is a problem, and ourindustry has been going on for a
long, long time.
Even by people who can't speakthe language, who are born here
and raised here, they don't gettrained correctly, they get sent
to CDL mills, they don't gettreated correctly.
So I feel like the good thingyou can say about what's going
(10:26):
on, it was kind of, even thoughit's really a small percentage
of everybody in the industry,the good thing about it is it
was sort of the match that litthe lantern to shine a light on
all these problems we have asfar as training, driver pay,
parking, too low of a barrier ofentry to become a truck driver,
to be too low of a barrier ofentry to become a motor carrier
(10:48):
or a broker.
So all these things, you know,as bad as they are, uh hopefully
we're gonna see some good comeout of them.
You know, it's it's a shame it'staking this long, but I think
we'll get there.
SPEAKER_02 (11:01):
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, it's yeah, I don't wantto make it too political, but
you want to make it more of anindustry thing for us to focus
on because even afteradministration changes, these uh
issues will still be here withus in our professional
environment that we want to keepsafe.
So nice to see.
SPEAKER_01 (11:17):
Yeah, and I mean that's what that's it's so very
important.
Like Oida, we're a bipartisanorganization.
We have to work with Republicansand Democrats and whoever's in
charge.
So, you know, we have to workwith everybody and try to get
everybody to get along to getour things, because there's no
there's no one party that'sgreat for trucking, and no one
(11:38):
party that's bad for trucking.
They both sort of have theirthings that they're good, and
they both sort of have theirthings that are bad.
So we just gotta try to navigatethrough the political process.
SPEAKER_02 (11:48):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Trucking should be bipartisanbecause everybody needs goods to
be delivered.
So a good point there.
So that we're not stopping thesupply chain, we're keeping it
flowing for everybody.
Nice.
Yes, sir.
Broker transparency rule.
That's one of the biggest issuesdrivers have pushed for over the
(12:10):
years, the broker transparency,and now a long-awaited rule is
finally in effect, right?
Is that correct?
SPEAKER_01 (12:17):
Well, it's not in effect yet.
I mean, the rule's still outthere.
We're still waiting on FMCSA torule upon our petition.
For those who don't know ordon't recall, in 2020, OOIDA
petitioned FMCSA on ruling onthe broker change paranormality
was just 371.3 rule that saysall parties of the transaction
(12:39):
have a right to see that allparts of the transaction.
So, meaning for a trucker, ifyou take a load, a broker load
and haul it, you can ask thebroker to give you proof of what
he was paid, how much he gotpaid, so you know whether he is,
you know, taking too much offthe top, I guess, for lack of
(13:03):
better terms.
Of course, most brokers don'tlike this idea.
And the reason we had topetition this was because
unfortunately, most brokers aremaking trucking companies waive
their right to this regulationand their broker carry
agreements.
We don't feel that that's legal,that one private business entity
(13:25):
can ask another private businessentity to waive its rights to
anything.
So again, we don't think that'seven legal.
So that's what we asked for inour petition.
Along with they had to providethis stuff electronically
because some of the ones who doallow it, when the trucker asks,
they say, Well, you need to cometo our office.
(13:47):
Well, if you're a trucker wholives in Ohio and all you do is
run back and forth to the EastCoast and the brokers in
California, that's not reallypractical.
And we do everything elseelectronically, so why can't we
do this?
But with all that being said,here we are six years later
almost.
May I think will be six yearssince we petitioned.
(14:09):
Hopefully, I've pretty much, youknow, I tried to get the last
eight folks over at FMCSA to dothis before Biden left and could
rule on it.
Nobody would.
I, you know, I've shared withAdministrator Bars and his staff
that this is something you guysneed to rule up on, good, bad,
(14:30):
or different.
But the can needs to be quitgetting kicked down the road.
It's been six years, for God'ssakes.
Let's tell truckers where westand.
And, you know, I know this is acontentious issue, and probably
no matter how this shakes out,nobody's gonna be completely
happy.
But I I think something's gonnahave to happen.
And again, I still don't believethat FMCSA is gonna say that
(14:54):
brokers can waive their right,because and maybe they will, but
I don't see how that's legal towaive.
You know, if I hired you todrive my truck, I can't tell you
that you have to waive yourrights to hours of service.
How you know that isn't gonnahappen.
So why can a broker waive hisrights to transparency when it's
a a regulation in the big greenbook?
SPEAKER_02 (15:15):
Well, yeah, I mean, that's something that everybody
needs, is know that that servicehas value.
So even on the other side, youknow, if the the margins are too
small, I mean, you've got thatbroker that's gonna be stretched
pretty thin.
So it goes both ways, but yet wedon't want it to be where it's
flop-sided and one one way issuffering more than the other.
I feel like that's it makessense to me.
(15:37):
We want everybody to be inbusiness, there's plenty to go
around.
SPEAKER_01 (15:40):
Yeah, and probably with all this freight fraud and
freight theft and all this otherstuff we're seeing, some more of
this transparency would haveprobably would probably be
helpful in catching these folksfor keeping these people from uh
from operating.
SPEAKER_02 (15:54):
Yeah, freight fraud.
Man, that's uh seems to berunning rampant.
Like uh, yeah.
Is there anything that we can doas a trucker to reach out to uh
you know the government to letthem know, hey, or are you guys
got that covered, or how howshould they work on with freight
fraud?
SPEAKER_01 (16:13):
I mean, the biggest thing you can do on freight
fraud is if you're a victim ofit, or you think you're a victim
of it, reach out.
You can go to the NationalConsumer Complaint Database
NCCDB on MCSA's website andreport it there as you should.
I mean, they're gonna tell youreport to local law enforcement.
You can.
A lot of times local lawenforcement doesn't really know
(16:34):
what to do with it.
If you're a member here at Oh, Ididn't report this stuff, let us
know.
We can try to help report you aswell.
If you talk to our compliancedepartment, if you're a member.
But the biggest thing to keep inmind, know who you're working
for.
You know, it's better to takeloads off of broker loadboards.
(16:55):
And I mean, like, you know, CH,Snyder, Landstar, some of these
companies have their own loadboard.
If you're using that, you knowyou're dealing with the right
people.
If you're out here on some ofthese commercially known load
boards, that seems to be wherethese up some of these people
operate the most and you know,as fake and get caught.
(17:17):
If, you know, make sure you knowif you're getting asked to do
things that don't sit right,call your shipper, call somebody
like that, make sure.
I always tell people too, makesure you got your name on the
bill lading.
That's supposed to be the way itworks anyway, but a lot of times
it doesn't.
It'll have somebody else's nameon there.
Make sure your name's on thebill lading.
(17:40):
You know, like I said, just ifyou see a load is too good to be
true, it probably is.
So be really, really, reallycareful about that.
You know, I know it's tough whenyou got one truck and you're
trying to do everything andverify these people.
And in this down freight market,loads don't hang out very long
(18:00):
on the load board.
So I know these things aretough, but these are things you
need to do.
You need to do your duediligence.
And, you know, I can't stressenough.
If you're got your own motorcarrier authority, you need to
be finding your own freight andyour own customers and use
brokers as an as needed.
Get you back, get you out of badareas, something like that.
(18:22):
Don't become a trucking businesswith this mindset and this
business plan that you're gonnarun strictly for brokers all the
time.
You know, you live by the spotmarket, you die by the spot
market.
And we've seen, you know, howbad it's been for folks on the
spot market for the last threeor four years since COVID
wrapped up.
(18:43):
And, you know, guys withcontract rates and running
contract rates in their owncustomers and own freight, it's
not been easy for them either,but it's been a lot easier than
those folks on the on the spotmarket side.
SPEAKER_02 (18:56):
Well, have you heard of any success stories, possibly
with uh certain lanes or certaintypes of uh um hauling, maybe a
hazmat or I mean it seems likeeverybody's getting affected.
SPEAKER_01 (19:07):
Yeah, I think everybody across the board, and
of course, you know what usuallyhappens in our industry is
you're over here doing yourlittle thing, mind your own
business, and all this segmentof the industry, you know, they
get wiped out, whatever they'redoing goes away or gets changed
or whatever.
So then these people starthunting around.
Next thing you know, you gotpeople over here nosing into
(19:30):
your business and and trying totake your work from you and
stuff.
So and it happens.
I mean, it's unfortunate, that'swhat happens.
You know, that's what I alwayssay.
I always say when I wastrucking, if you got something
good, it ain't gonna last.
It's never gonna last forever.
But, you know, make it make itwhile you can.
SPEAKER_00 (19:48):
Make it while you can, right?
SPEAKER_01 (19:49):
But but I mean, big thing, if you can get your own
customers, you know, especiallysmall guys deal with small
customers.
It's a lot easier to get yourfoot in the door, do what you're
asked, be where you're supposedto be, you know, be extensive to
that company.
And a lot of times they'll keepyou around even in the bad times
because they they want to makesure their stuff gets where it's
(20:12):
going to be.
Big shippers, big receivers,seems like they just whoever's
the cheapest, which I find itfascinating, maddening almost,
that they don't really care whohauls their stuff.
But that's just the way it isfor some of these shippers and
receivers out here.
SPEAKER_02 (20:29):
Do you guys work with the box trucks and small
hotshot deliveries?
Do you guys help those driversas well?
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
I mean, we've got a few guys that run the hotshot
stuff and and the deliveries.
I mean, as I tell people anytimethey ask, I put there's probably
nothing out here in truckingthat I don't at least have some
one member doing somewhere.
You know, we're our membershipis as diverse as what trucking
is.
So, yeah, we got guys in allthese different sectors and
(20:57):
stuff, and uh, you know, theyseem to be doing okay too.
But again, I feel that's where alot of these folks that they say
are going now that's losingtheir CDL.
They're going to these deliverybox companies, Uber, stuff like
(21:36):
that.
We don't have to have one.
SPEAKER_02 (21:37):
Okay.
Yeah, less regulations, I guess,and less classification.
SPEAKER_01 (21:42):
Well, if it's under 26,000 pounds, you're out,
you're out from under FMCSA'spurview.
So you can do what you want,unless you're on highs, man.
SPEAKER_02 (21:51):
So you guys got events coming up.
You're going to go to Matt'sprobably and some other shows
that they can look for, get andsee you guys.
Yeah, we're right.
SPEAKER_01 (21:58):
We'll be at Matt's.
We'll be at the uh we'll be atMatt's here next month.
We got a new booth out in thelobby.
We'll be at the American TruckHistorical Society convention
thing in Springfield in June.
And then Marty's at a lobby.
We'll be up at Walcott.
We'll have a truck and be up atWalcott.
And uh Marty will just be atlittle truck shows all around
(22:20):
the country if you go toalIdake.com.
Or follow our social media andkind of find out where Marty is
with the tour truck and wheresome of us are.
And I'll be at Matt's, I'll beat the ATHS show.
Not sure if I'll be at Jeep atWalcott, but I'll be at those
other two shows for sure.
And I'll probably be at someother shows as time goes on.
SPEAKER_02 (22:40):
Yeah, we love seeing you out there.
I mean I love being out there.
Yeah, yeah.
You bring a good presence.
Yeah, you don't.
SPEAKER_00 (22:47):
Thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (22:48):
So man, you kind of think this is gonna be the last
stop for you.
You got some new things you'reworking on?
What do you what do you see forthe future for you or even IDA?
SPEAKER_01 (22:56):
I mean, as far as me, here I am.
I mean, I'm here, I ain't seenothing else.
And as long as but as far as us,you know, we're we're always
watching what's going on, youknow, no fear when it's rolling.
I mean, the great thing aboutus, our board of directors,
we're all trucker, are alltruckers, the leadership myself,
Todd Spencer will pass truckers.
(23:18):
That's that's what makes it alot of different.
You've got to be in truck, be atrucker to be in leadership to
be on our board.
So that's good.
And you know, we have over130,000 members out here running
around.
They don't hesitate to call in,tell us what they're seeing.
So, as I always tell people, thestuff that we're doing and we're
working on, it's coming directlyfrom the people behind the
(23:38):
wheel, the men and women makingtheir living driving a truck.
So, you know, and sometimes Iknow truckers, you know, even
myself, we don't always agreewith what we're doing, but we
always have to look at things aswhat's the greatest thing,
what's the greatest for alltruckers as a whole.
Because, you know, trucking'svery diverse.
(23:59):
What works for one doesn'talways necessarily work for
others.
But so we try to we try to godown the road where we're trying
to help the most people at allpossible.
And some of the things we workon, you know, I got people
calling still and say, I don'tknow why you're wasting this
time with parking.
I don't have any problem findinga park place to park, which hey,
it's probably true.
I I didn't really have that muchtrouble finding places to park,
(24:21):
but I ran a certain region, knewwhere I was at, new places I
could park that a lot of peopledidn't know, but not everybody's
that fortunate or that lucky.
SPEAKER_02 (24:29):
Yeah, I know it's uh it gets hard just to find a
decent bathroom.
I mean, a lot of places are usoff there, like you know, we got
some good, good, beautifulplaces to go to, but they don't
allow trucks in there, and soyeah, it's I mean, there is a
lot of parking, but shouldshould you be parking there, you
know, or you know, are youallowed?
(24:50):
A lot of these rest stops seemlike they do a lot with the
architect, you know, they kindof get real involved in the
building, the way it looks.
And I'm like, I just we justneed a parking spot.
SPEAKER_01 (25:00):
So yeah, near Tree Islands.
That's what I get tofortunately.
I guess I get invited to a lotof these DOT conferences and
state meetings and stuff,especially when they're talking
about commercial.
And we get in, or I talk to alot of states on parking, and
that's the thing I tell themlook, appreciate nice buildings,
appreciate a nice place to parkand rest area.
(25:21):
But what we don't need is treeislands and all this other
stuff.
As much parking is what we need.
A clean bathroom, running water,clean, but it doesn't have to be
anything big or fancy.
Yeah, just we need parking,parking, parking.
SPEAKER_02 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, and that helps out too with a lot of
people coming into the industry.
Like women coming into theindustry is huge.
So, I mean, you know, for formen, it may be a little
different for the access or thebathroom.
So we got to think about otherpeople, like you said, not just
ourselves, but others as well.
So I'm glad that they'reproviding some safe places that
are kind of well lit and placewhere they can use the restroom.
(25:59):
I mean, that's seems likesomething really small, but you
know, it's something you don'twant to talk about, maybe.
I don't know, but it's anecessity.
We all do it.
SPEAKER_01 (26:07):
So yeah, I mean, it's mad and we have a bill in
Congress, a guaranteed restroomaccess bill right now because
shippers and receivers won't lettruck drivers use their bathroom
when they let them make you sitthere for four and five hours on
end or longer to load you orunload you.
It's just absolutely crazy thatwe've had to get to where we
have to have a congressionalmandate to make you allow
(26:31):
truckers to use the restroom.
It's just it's crazy to me.
SPEAKER_02 (26:35):
Yeah, I'm not sure if it's some type of liability
or something with the lawyers orwhy they're just making sure
people don't slip in thebathroom or something.
I'm not sure what it is, but youknow, I was in uh Minneapolis
the other day, and it wasextremely hard to get into a
bathroom.
But you know, that's probablybecause of the homeless rate or
what have you, or the poverty,or I'm not sure, but it's it was
(26:55):
bad.
It was really hard to use thebathroom.
SPEAKER_00 (26:57):
Yeah, which is just nuts.
SPEAKER_02 (27:03):
Yeah, it is.
So yeah, that the outlook lookswe're we're hoping it for good
things in the future.
You know, I know there's somebig changes that are coming
through.
People are worried about thetariffs and the rebates and and
all the stuff that's going onthere, too.
I don't know how old IDA is.
What do you guys see about that?
Are any prospects for that aswell?
SPEAKER_01 (27:22):
Market stability is all we want to see.
I mean, I don't I'm not a youknow, I'm not a tariff expert,
nor is OIDA tariff experts.
You know, we we deal intrucking, we stay in our lane.
What I do know is that all thisflipping flopping and changing
makes for a very unstablemarket.
So whether we have tariffs ordon't have tariffs, what we need
(27:45):
is to decide something and leaveit.
So shippers, receivers,manufacturers, all these folks
know what they're looking at,know what their costs are going
to be, know how much stuff theyneed to order, and they can just
sort of we can get this marketto where it's running an equal,
an even queue.
And then trucking should takeoff this year.
I mean, I know I said the samething last year, we're looking
(28:07):
forward to take off, but we dofeel like by mid-summer we
should hopefully things aregoing the right direction.
SPEAKER_02 (28:14):
Yeah, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01 (28:15):
We're starting to see some telltale times of that
now.
So hopefully by summereverybody's going strong.
SPEAKER_02 (28:21):
That'll be nice.
You know, when I first got intothe truck industry, they told me
for safety reasons, nothingchanges real quick.
It's not like being in theoffice, but it seems like with
AI and a lot of electronics,I've been able to be more
mobile.
Seems like the changes have beenkind of trickling into the cab.
So yeah, it's it's hard, notjust in the cab, but also for
(28:41):
the office people.
I mean, they're trying to getthese loads delivered too, and
even though they're not drivingthe truck.
So yeah, I hope it does get someconsistency so that things can
kind of level out.
SPEAKER_01 (28:52):
Oh, yeah.
I mean, we need consistencyacross the country now, and
trucking just for consumers andstuff all across the world.
I mean, it's just crazy whatthings are, what things cost
right now, inflation.
SPEAKER_02 (29:03):
Yeah.
Well, I know the highway bill isa is a good thing.
What do you see if possiblysupporting the highway bill
makes it easier for autonomoustrucks?
Um, what are your takes on that?
SPEAKER_01 (29:13):
Yeah, we don't support autonomous trucks.
We're gonna push back againstautonomous trucks as much as we
can.
We don't feel that oneself-reporting it makes it's
crazy.
Like these people only have toreport if somebody would die or
not.
I mean, we don't know how manynear misses there are or any
kind of thing like that becausethey don't have to report
(29:35):
anything unless they want to.
So you know they're only gonnareport good things, you know.
So plus plus, there's a hugeconcern in cybersecurity,
there's a huge concern of partsbeing made in China.
So, you know, we hear about thisstuff where they can listen and
watch.
I mean, I I remind peoplewhenever I talk about this, the
(29:58):
trucks weigh up to 80,000pounds, they haul anything from
toilet paper to bomb.
Probably it's a real good ideato know who's behind the wheel,
and nobody can hijack that stuffbecause we know there's plenty
of places in this world thatdon't like Americans, don't like
Americans.
So I've seen TV things wherethey hack into minivans and
stuff with a laptop.
(30:19):
So it's hard for me to believethey can't do that kind of same
kind of thing with theseautonomous vehicles, especially
if you don't have a safetydriver in there.
And my second, you know, andthen my other concern is what
happens, you know, when there'sa school bus on the side of the
road broke down, there's kids,there's cars, there's all this
stuff.
What's that thing decide to hitif it comes around the corner
(30:41):
and that's all going on?
I mean, I'm assuming it'sprogrammed to take the path of
least resistance, which wouldprobably be the kids in that
scenario.
So, you know, and I don't know.
And what frustrates me withthese autonomous trucks more
than anything is I don't know alot about them.
I've reached out to all theautonomous truck people asking
(31:03):
for to come visit, take a ride,learn more about these things,
so I could speak, you know, withmuch more intelligence than just
my gut and my feeling.
But unfortunately, nobody'staking me up on that.
So that also I find concerning.
SPEAKER_02 (31:21):
What do you think they'll be at Matt's?
Maybe they'll have one ondisplay like Tesla or something
like that.
SPEAKER_01 (31:26):
Maybe I guess we'll wait and see.
I've seen them other places ondisplay, and I'm always told
we'll get back to you.
We'd love to take you, we'll getback to you, but they never get
back to me.
SPEAKER_02 (31:36):
I hope that's a topic that doesn't go away
either, so we can help make theroads safe just as much as we
want for uh, you know, these uhnon-domiciles and all these
other things that are out theretoo that uh weaken the integrity
of the industry.
So yeah, we want to keep itstrong.
Yep, we're we're only strong asour weakest link.
SPEAKER_00 (31:53):
So exactly.
SPEAKER_02 (31:55):
Yeah, so we really appreciate all the work you guys
are doing over there.
I think a lot of people canbenefit from you guys and learn
more.
Maybe some people don't evenknow.
Spread the word, tell tell asmany people as you can.
This is uh word to our listenersout there.
So if you know anything aboutOIDA, come take a look at them
at the truck shows.
Uh, they got a great trailer,got a lot of great friendly
individuals out there that'll dothings to answer your questions
(32:18):
and talk to you and tell them,tell you guys about what you
guys are working on, some of thenew things that are coming down
the pipeline and all that.
So keep up the good work.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (32:26):
Thank you, buddy.
Yeah, by all means.
The more members we have, thestronger we are in Washington.
And again, you can if you haveany questions or comments, you
can always call our compliancedepartment.
You can call any, you can talkto me, you can talk to Todd
Spencer, the president.
You know, if you don't see theshow, you can call us here to
talk to us.
SPEAKER_02 (32:45):
You got a chance to talk to Sean Duffy or any people
like that?
SPEAKER_01 (32:48):
Or we've talked to Duffy.
I mean, Todd's talked to Duffyprobably more than I have.
I I talked to Mr.
uh administrator bars probablymore than anything.
That's sort of our guy.
So but no, we've had well, we'vehad Duffy on our semi-trailer,
you know, in our truck, youknow, and last year when they
signed the English languageproficiency regulation down in
(33:10):
Houston or Austin, I'm sorry.
Mr.
Duffy was there and saw the Outof Truck was in the Out of
Trailer and stuff like that.
So that's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_02 (33:19):
Nice.
Yeah, it seems like we'regetting some headways, some lot
of changes that directly affectthe driver for good.
That's great.
SPEAKER_00 (33:26):
Yep.
SPEAKER_02 (33:26):
Yeah, it seems like more they they understand what
we're going through, uh, themore that they'll be uh on the
lookout for these these billsthat come through and make sure
that they're they're implementedfor the good versus being
ignored.
And it seems like it takesforever for things to get done
on the heel.
SPEAKER_01 (33:41):
Oh boy, isn't that a fact?
Yeah, government moves veryslow.
SPEAKER_02 (33:50):
Yeah, yeah.
So when you make headway,sometimes you get take a couple
steps forward and end up takinga couple steps backward, but
hopefully we're going in theright direction, not going in
the wrong direction.
Yeah, for sure.
All right.
Well, I'm glad to have you onthe show.
Anything else you want to letpeople know before we go?
Maybe it's something I missed,or something else you want
people to be aware of.
SPEAKER_01 (34:08):
I'll just remind people talk to your lawmakers.
Don't be afraid to talk to yourlawmakers.
I hear so often from members,that's what we pay you for.
I don't know how to talk tothem.
Well, I never met a truckdriver, couldn't talk.
And you can talk to them becauseyou're the professional, you
know about your industry.
They don't.
And let me promise you, there'splenty of people on the other
(34:29):
side who are trying to make yourjob much harder or put you out
of business or whatever thething.
The guarantee they're down theretalking.
So let your lawmakers know, andyou never know where where
that'll go or what that'llhappen.
So much stuff that we getstarted just because the member
picked up the phone and got theear of a lawmaker or his staff,
(34:50):
and then it's turned intosomething organically.
So, you know, call yourlawmakers, go to
fightingfortruckers.com.
You can find out about what youand I talked about today, plus
more stuff.
And again, call our membershipdepartment if you need to renew
or if you're not a member, tellthem you saw this, and they'll
give you a$20 discount.
SPEAKER_02 (35:11):
Awesome.
Hey man, appreciate it.
So uh, for everybody out there,if you like what you see, I
appreciate uh Louis Pew comingon the show here, helping us out
talking about these topics so wecan get it right from the
horse's mouth.
So we appreciate this breakingit down for drivers in a way
that they actually understand.
I think this stuff matters.
I think everybody should beinvolved, not just if you're in
trucking, but even if you knowsomeone that's in trucking, uh
(35:32):
reach out to your lawmakers andhelp them see the importance of
what's necessary.
So, like I said, we uh have alot of links, we'll provide
those in the notes for you, anduh, you can look at those.
So it's good to know thatsomeone like yourself, Louis, is
out here doing great things,fighting for people and keeping
the country moving.
So appreciate you.
SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
Hey, thank you.
Like I said, forward to team upfor everybody at OOI Day and all
of our members.
We we all do together, justain't me.
So thank you to everybody, andthank you to all you truck
drivers out here watching this.
We really, really appreciatewhat you do.
I know it's a hard, tough,thankless job, but thank you.
SPEAKER_02 (36:05):
Awesome, yeah.
So thank you again, and uh Mrs.
Truck and Ray, and that'sdelivered.
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The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.