January 7, 2026 • 40 mins
Looking ahead to what we expect to see in 2026. IKC Trucking's Mike Kucharski joins Kevin to talk about the effect of illegal immigrants driving trucks. Kevin also compares his 2025 predictions against the so-called experts. And Kevin has the details on the car sales numbers that were released by Ford, Toyota and GM.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
This is America's truck and Network with Kevin Gordon, one.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Of the more Thanks for tuning in on this Wednesday morning.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
You know, last week we started seeing.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, in the last couple of weeks, we've been seeing
you know, the news in review looking back in the past,
some of the top stories and where things were in
terms of what they had expected at the beginning of
the year, where they were versus the end of the year.
Now this week we're starting to see stuff about well,
what is twenty twenty six going to bring? And you know,
(00:38):
based on their estimates for last year, I'm not so
sure that we can really depend on those. But what
you can depend on is at N because we have
been right more often than they have been right. But
let's just go. Let's play the game and see what
they have to say. Market uncertainty to follow trucking into
twenty twenty six. Now, Eric Starks, the chairman of FTR
(01:00):
Transportation Intelligence, he's having his predictions in here. One of
the things kind of skipped to the chase here. I
think the best case scenario would be a flat market
into quarter one, but you could see noticeable softening quarter
one into quarter two if we start seeing substantial layoffs
and consumers pulling away. Well, we haven't seen any examples
(01:24):
of that so far. We haven't seen any hint of
that happening based on what we've seen as far as
retail sales, what we saw as far as gross domestic
product in the third quarter, and we're also anticipating now
what we're going to be seeing the gross domestic product
in the fourth quarter coming up here in the next
(01:44):
few days. Complicating outlooks starts note is a lack of
capacity of certainty on how long stable environment would need
to be in place to instill calm in the marketplace,
not going to require any time at all. Once they're
are standard, once the playing field is known, and once
people know what's going on, it will go pretty rapidly,
(02:06):
because let's not forget the fact that we are rugged individualists,
not the crazy crap that we're getting out of Mondani
in New York that we want to have collectivism and
all that.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
It's a story for another day.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
He suspects business will remain cautious on investing, especially when
it comes to equipment and technology. Yeah, centering around interest rates,
which we should see a break in that come May
when the new FED chairman is installed, and hopefully this
guy will be a supply side economist and get the
economy moving with lower interest rates. And I may want
(02:42):
to interject here that our interest rates are twice what
they are in other developed countries. So if we get
those down, we'll see an economic boom and businesses expanding,
employees getting hired, and so on. This could contribute to
tough for operation conditions in the first part of next year,
(03:03):
according to him. Chris Rogers, head of supply chain research
at S and P Global Market Intelligence, let me see
the story of terrorists.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Is over, he says.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
We still have to have a decision from the Supreme
Court about the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs that
President had implemented, whether they're legal. They're going to make
that determination, and if they're not, what will replace them.
There's a whole lot of national security tariff reviews still
going on, covering electronics, medical supplies, machinery, and critical minerals.
(03:40):
I will be very disappointed with the Supreme Court if
they're stupid enough to rule against the Trump administration, because
by all accounts, these terroifts have been good. They've been
a good generator for the American public plus, it levels
the playing field, it makes it more fair trade instead
of just free trade.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
And they ought to understand.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And you know, I got to tell you, you know,
when it comes down to law and it comes down
to interpretations. I have seen on a personal basis and
with clients that I've had in the past, that you
can have all the facts on your side, and you
can even have the law on your side, but when
it comes to certain decisions, certain people, like Kentucky Supreme
(04:23):
Court several years ago, took a look at a situation
that was clearly being violated by a non governmental.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Entity that was collecting taxes.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
But they looked at it from the standpoint that, well,
gee whiz, if they've got to go back and refund
and do that and these other not only that particular county,
but like eighty eight other counties in Kentucky, that would
be a headache and a nightmare. So they just took
a pass on it and said well, and their determination
(04:54):
was that you know, everybody knew based on.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
What the law was, that they were wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
But the comment from the Supreme Court was, well, the
Institution did the good faith effort in following the law
and I'm telling you. From that point on, I kept saying,
you know, I'll tell you what next time. I you know,
if I ever pull up to a stop sign and
I rolled through it and I get pulled over, I'm
going to tell the cop. Hey, look, I made a
(05:22):
good faith effort to stop there. Oh, I made a
good faith effort to keep my speed not overspeeding. And
you know, with that kind of method, maybe I could
get by with it now. But this is what their
ruling actually said, that they had made a good faith effort. So,
you know, politics aside and whatever, what's good for the country.
These tariffs have been good for the country. If the
(05:42):
Supreme Court knows what's best, they will go ahead and
side with the Trump administration. Just one man's opinion there,
and of course, you know I have an opinion. I'm
not afraid to use it. SMP Global in twenty twenty
six outlook side of these legal challenges surrounding Trump's use
of the i EPA, which again is International Emergency Academic
(06:04):
Powers Act in settlling terraiffs, specifically as it relates to
implementation of Section two thirty two duties. This Section two
thirty two provisions of the Trade Expansion Act empowers the
use of levies to address imports that are deemed a
threat to national security. Trump has used this rule as
(06:24):
the basis for most of the tariffs, and I think
he's dead on as far as that's concerned, but the
legal interpretation has been challenged.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
With the ongoing cases.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Working their way through the courts, legal determinations are expected
to be finalized in early twenty twenty six. Trade policy
that has nothing to do with terriffs also expected to
remain in flux as twenty twenty six arrives, according to Rogers,
and of course that is Chris Rogers, head of supply
chain research at S and P Global Market Intelligence. He's saying,
(06:55):
the big one is that we're watching, obviously, is to
negotiate renegotiation in the United States Mexico Canada agreement. He said,
that's going to be going on throughout next year and
should be completed ahead of the US midterm elections. But
I wouldn't take that for granted, and then we have
the deals being signed elsewhere in the world. Talks about
(07:16):
in this article rule crackdown, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration stepped up enforcement of English language proficiency for truck
drivers and titaned scrutiny on issuance of non domiciud commercial
driver license threatens long term removal of capacity from the market.
(07:36):
While safety stands at the forefront of the effort. The
net result could be smaller driver pool that puts upward
pressure on freight rates. This according to Jason Jason Seedel,
managing director of the investment banking firm TD Cowen. Now,
the purpose of that of cracking down on the non
(07:57):
domiciout English proficiency and these CDL mills and getting rid
of incompetent drivers and drivers that don't have the skill
is a safety issue and keeping insurance rates low, keeping
the American public safe and cause less deaths on the highway.
And if it pulls out excess capacity and freight rates
(08:21):
start going up a little bit so that these companies
can make some money and get things back on a
level playing field, that will be good for the economy
as well. So they're kind of taking this approach as
though it's going to tighten scrutiny and capacity will be
taken out of the market. Well, do you want over
capacity or you want safety?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I just people keep taking out the human element in
terms of these decisions and what is possibly going to
cause havoc around the war, around the trucking industry, and
as far as safety on the highway in terms of
historic norms. Title notes that the that over the road
trucking demand tends to be softer following the holiday season.
(09:04):
Of course, we'll see how things pick up in the spring.
US Bank Corporate Payment Systems Jeff Pate, manager of Transportation
US Corporate Payment Systems, says fleets that embrace artificial intelligence
and ring efficiencies should do a little bit better. And
I think that is important as well. When you implement
(09:25):
certain areas of artificial intelligence and get those get more
efficiencies within the trucking industry, that will pay off. Also,
they talk about possible industry cooperation. Let's see there is
much greater emphasis on collaboration and transparency on both sides,
(09:47):
leveraging data and technology to make smarter, faster decisions instead
of focusing solely on price. So a lot of estimates
going into twenty twenty six and coming up we're going
to be talking to in relating to this. As far
as the CDLs and illegal aliens obtaining CDO license, we're
(10:09):
going to be speaking with Mike Kucharski, co owner and
vice president of JKC Trucking, and then I will get
into a little bit of our predictions from ATN. I'm
Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW a's America's
Trucking Network. My guest is Mike Kucharski. He is co
(10:29):
owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, has over thirty
years experienced. JKC Trucking is the largest refrigerated trucking company
based out of Chicago, Illinois.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Welcome to the program, Mike.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Nam program again, thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Now, as if a three year freight recession, increasing cargo theft,
cyber attacks pushed to during the prior administration to convert
the EVS weren't enough, or some of the other EPA
restrictions that were there, if that weren't enough, Now we
have to deal with illegal aliens obtaining CDLs and in
(11:07):
many cases unable to demonstrate English language proficiency. So welcome
to the trucking industry in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yes it is. You know what's what's happening out there is?
How is this number one? The trucking industries is overregulated,
a very hard industry. But you know what's happening out
there with.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
These non domicile drivers and illegal driving these trucks, you know,
is eye opening and concerning because this is a is
a serious safety crisis on American roads and pretending.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
It isn't happening. No longer is that option.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Because the trucking industry runs on trust from a from
a safety standpoint, this kind of enforcement, you know, matters, you.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Know, thinking about it.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Every every morning we put our kids on the school buses,
millions of commuters had to work in their cars, millions
of families will be traveling up for the holidays.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
They and they need they need trust.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
And the professional is driving eight thousand pound trucks around
them that they can read roadsigns or safety commands and
reacting to emergency commercial This.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Isn't about you know who someone is or where someone
is from.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
It's about whether they're qualified safety, safety operating heavy equipment.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
On public grows exactly. And the question, well, actually it's
this kind of started. I guess over the last couple
of years they were talking about I guess at some
of these trucking shows talking about the English language proficiency.
That was was a reason for out of service being
put out of service, but wasn't enforced during the latter
(12:41):
years of the Obama administration. But at that time there
wasn't this invasion from the southern border, so some of
these were a lot, I guess more, fewer and far between.
But now once we have this invasion from the southern
border under the last administration, this has exploded. And then
(13:01):
you have states where like California and I think you're
in Illinois, that they can actually gain the system, find
somebody that will certify them, sign the documents falsely, and
issue a driver's license. It just makes things a whole
lot worse.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
It does.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
It does, And I'm glad you brought the English proficient
language because back in the nineteen seventy two is when
they made the law saying that English proficiency costruck drivers
should English's language.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
You must speak English.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
That was in the seventies, right, And then twenty sixteen
a Bottle orginistation change that role a little bit saying, look,
you don't have to be proficient in English, but you
could use a device like a Google Translate to to
communicate with law enforcement and everybody else.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And that sounded great.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
But what they what they did is they took that
and they twisted it completely different way. And the drivers
that are out there right now speak very little English.
And if you want of these videos, there's drivers out there,
truck divers making videos of all other truck drivers talking drivers,
troopers talking to these drivers, and they speak very little English.
And if they do speak English, there's they don't understand
(14:11):
a word or they're giving the completely wrong answer. Ian
this is you know, this is alarming because you know truckers.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Truckers are the.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Heartbeat of the American economy and the supply chain. You know,
a truckers only move at least only seventy percent of
all the goods nationwide. You know, because of the scale
and responsibility trucking, his formula recognized as a critical infrastructure
to something America relies on every day.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, and we saw the example this past summer. We
saw that hard genders sing who did that illegal you
turned down in Florida, and then another guy by the
name of Josh and pret saying no, I don't think
they're related, but had that crash he was under the
influence and rear ended a bunch of cars out in
(14:56):
California and when these fiery crashes happen, and then of
course it gets people's attention. But going back to what
was it in April that President Trump did the executive
order demanding that English language proficiency be there and that
the CDL licensing process be regulated. Sean Duffy then issued
(15:23):
a proclamation that this was going to be enforced, and
then it was supposed to go into effect or whatever
in June. This guy gets pulled over in July in
New Mexico. They did the English language proficiency, let him go,
he didn't pass, and then a month later, in less
than a couple of weeks later, causes this accident down
(15:43):
in Florida. So this is something that the Trump administration
has been working on, but there needs to be some
cooperation with the individual states and possibly some legislation from
Congressman and senators to put some teeth to some of
these laws.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Correct, correct, and the whole main the goal of this
is is two things. Number One, safety for all the
commuters on the road are family.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Members, mothers, fathers, daughters that you know children.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
And two, protecting American jobs and ensuring the integrity of
our workforce is absolutely centre. Look, my primary concern is
always going to be who's behind the wheel. Example, law
abiding truckers pay for training, insurance, and compliance, and when
others cut corners, it undercuts the trucking and undercuts the
(16:31):
truckers doing the right thing every day.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
You know, if you look up this.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Year, about twenty thousand trucking companies or studior last year
have gone out of business. You know, these truckers are
killing the American dream and truckers. You know, for for
small business, for small trucking companies like mine, Enforcing enforcement,
keeps things honest and fair and protecting the jobs of
(16:56):
law abiding citizens.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Well, American jobs first.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Basically levels the playing field, so everybody's playing by the
same rules. My guess is Mike Kucharski. He is co
owner and vice president of JKC Trucking. So I guess
the problem I have is trying to figure out how
in the heck a company would hire somebody who doesn't
have the qualifications. That's going to shoot up your insurance rates,
(17:23):
that's going to put the public at risk. How do
you sleep at night? How do you go through this
and know that you're actually with a ticking time bomb
out there, and then when this happens, it gives a
bad reputation to all truckers. You know, used to be
in the dad and my wife talks about this a
lot when we're out driving. She said, you know, it
(17:43):
used to be that the best drivers out on the
road were the truck drivers. And once in a while
you see somebody that really doesn't seem to be that
good of a truck driver, but that ruins it for
the thirty or so out there that.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Are correct, correct, correct, you know, I mean, I mean,
it's crazy what's happened in this country. Let me let
me explain to you what's happening and how these people
are maybe paying a picture of how these people are
getting licenses.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
You know, these people are coming to.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Stays like California, where they've set up these trucking companies,
well truck driving schools that they'll pay to go to
this school. This school will quickly push them through, and
they're getting grants from the government to obviously, uh train
these drivers usually and then when these drivers get a license,
they're brought to a trucking company or a truck lease
(18:36):
program where they take these drivers and they say, look,
we're gonna lease to a truck, a trailer.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
H you're gonna work for us, You're.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Gonna we're gonna deduct the payments every month from from
your paycheck. And on top of that, they say, look,
I'm giving you a truck and a job.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
We're gonna give you loads to two haul.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
And these are like, well, these guys are like, this
is great, this is the full package. Let you know
where do I sign? And these guys all ten nine
ten ninety nine. Because truckers should be W two's unless
you are independent driver, so they put them in an
independent class, which.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Is, you know, rooting for independent drivers.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
In my opinion, they're getting these jobs, getting your truck
and put on the road with very little experience. And
on top of that, these companies are also selling them insurance.
And shame on the insurance companies for you know, covering
these guys, because for example, if I are a driver,
he needs to have two years of experience. These guys
have no experience. Obviously they have to I assume, you know,
(19:36):
I mean they're looking the other way and then giving
them licenses.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
You know, So there's.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Insurance, and the insurance area is something to talk about,
and we need to take a quick break here and
when we come back, we'll pick that up on the
other side of the break. Speaking with Mike Keacharski, co
owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, I'm Kevin Gordon,
America's truck in Network seven hundred w L.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
We stayed in the rest of the country in the
Tri State O but I'm mostly claudy. They'll go down
to forty partly sunny Wednesday, a high of fifty three. Thursday,
mostly claudy with a slight chance of afternoon rain. Highs
in the lower sixties. Rain likely in the morning Friday.
Otherwise claudi hies in the mid sixties Nationally through Thursday.
Heavy mountain snow expected in the Cascades as well as
parts of the interior West in the Northeast State, which
(20:22):
are storm tonight bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain. Meanwhile,
well above average temperature scene from the Great Plains of
the Appalachians through Thursday.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
This is America struck In Network seven hundred WLW. I'm
Kevin Gordon. Continuing our conversation with Mike Kacharski. He is
co owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, Before the break,
we talked about the insurance angle of this, where you
talked about how these drivers who are ill equipped, ill trained,
(20:52):
got some sort of I guess a pass or paid
off the licensing bureaus and motor vehicles to get the license,
go to these companies, get hired to get a lease,
option to buy truck or at least i'm a truck,
and then provide the insurance for them. But the insurance
companies themselves are probably well, aren't less than reputable, and
(21:16):
they will have a bunch of policies out there like this,
and if one of them, you know, gets in a
major accident, then they just you know, go file bankruptcy
and go on from there.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Did I have that correct?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Correct? Correct? Yeah? So there's there's four people to blame.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Number one is that the driver getting the license because
he knows that he did not get enough training, got
pushed through to get a license too.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I blame whoever gives them the license, whoever part.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Of the DMV, like especially in California where they had
the giving seventeen thousand licensed to trug evers.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
That had expired work V Size three to blame is
the insurance company.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
How you mean How could these insurance companies hire these
guys when they knew they have zero experience? And for
I blame the people that are giving them them the freight.
The shippers are giving them the freight that they're not
checking to because they're liable if they get an accent,
I mean they're they're partially liable to give to give
(22:14):
these drivers inexperience, brand new drivers freight.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I mean, we're living in a crazy world.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Now, you mentioned your drivers. You don't hire people that
have at least two years worth of experience. Now that
could be well, of course, you talk about somebody who
comes out of school, a rifidal school, they get the
CDO license, then they have to basically partner with another
person to where they shadow them or train them on
(22:44):
the road for a period of time before they let
them loose. Describe that process and you know how quickly
is somebody capable of being out on the road or
I guess, I guess there's two pronged question here. You've
got in state deliveries or you have interstate deliveries, and
(23:05):
of course with interstate, then you go into other areas
with different climates, different temperatures, cold, hot, snow, whatever within
the individual state. It's a little different than being cross country.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Correct. Just to give me an idea.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
So my insurance, my liability insurance company says I cannot
hire nobody.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
With less than two years driving experience. The insurance companies
you know, say that, look, you need two years.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
They believe that's enough for them.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
For some drivers.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Yes, I believe in my opinion, you know, it takes
two three years to be a well run of drivers.
But let me let me give you a let me
paint a picture. Let's say you and I go truck
driving school. We'll be in truck driving school two three months,
we'll graduate, we'll get our medical card, and then we
need to find a trucking company that will train us.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Further to get this experience, because you mean, all we did.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Is passive drivery TSK. We know the very bare essentials.
Now need to get the experience and truck other trucking companies.
For example, we have a truck driving program that we
ran for Native American Indians.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
They would get they would go to truck driving school,
and they.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Would come to our shop and we would give them
a local job for three months at least ninety days,
sometimes one hundred and twenty days of these they would
have to they would go with another driver training driver
and they would do a lot of local deliveries and
pickups so they could get used to accustom, you know,
(24:30):
traveling through busy cities, the paperwork. After that, if they
passed the local they get used to that.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
When we put.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Them on uh you know, regional runs with with with
a driver trainer, which is overnight.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
They'll go to like let's say we're out.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Of Illinois, they'll run to Michigan, Detroit and the back
to get more experience under that out that would be
another to three months to do that. And after that
we put them on long distance with the tr trainer
and after they have a good grasp of that for
fwoture months, So that that whole process takes about a
whole year. Right, I'm driving with a trainer, and then
(25:08):
when they're good enough, we either let them drive you know,
uh locally not locally, well, they could do local, they
could do overnight regional, or or we start sending long
distance but short long distances so they could get that
under their belt. It takes a long time because you know,
truck driving is it's not like jumping your car, You're
(25:30):
you're you're traveling through multiple states, you're traveling through elevation,
you're running through white out storms, black guys in the summertime,
extreme heat. It's it's a very very complicated process. It's
not it's not like you know, running into the grocery
store and back. It's you had There's a lot to learn,
(25:54):
and even after three years of experience, I mean, I
feel tru numbers are still always learning because you know,
you things are having there on the road all the time.
It's a lifestyle and you have it too, some of
a lifestyle and you can't do it in two three months.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
We're speaking with Mike Kocharski. He is co owner and
vice president of jk C Trucking. So I guess we
move into the legislative phase here because there's been a
number of bills that have been put out there. One
that I've seen, I've read several different bills, but one
that kind of peaud my interest was kind of cleverly
(26:29):
named No CDLs for Illegals Act. This is done by
a representative, Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Of all places.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Of course, he's a Republican in this What type of
things do you want to would you want to see
in a bill?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Is there a bill out there that you like?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Is there something that you're in support of, because obviously
something needs to be done to rain this system in No.
Speaker 5 (26:58):
Yeah, so right now we are what's happening with the
Department Transportation and Sean Duffy, he's I mean the ability
to speak of this hrd A sixty three OCLS for
Legals Act. That is what they're redoing is recmenting what
ARI was there.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
They're saying, look, if you come to this country and.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
You don't have a Social Security number, you cannot get
a CDL. You need to be you need to have
a residence and you have to domicile at least a
Green card to get a CDL.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
This was always the law until recently, and I don't
know what happened.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
And what they're doing is they want to do this federally,
which is great. And then on top of that, other
states are taking other steps. You know, Arkansas last year
before all this even surfaced, February of twenty twenty four
said look, anybody comes in a state of Arkansas is
going to be tested for English proficiency. They made them
read some sentences. They would have to write some stuff
(27:52):
and describe what they did when they would come to
the point of venture of Arkansas.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Texas is taking the same stand. Last night, I was
reading the Tennessee saying that if a driver comes.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
In that has non domicile license will be put out
of service, arrested, and it might face up to jail
time in Tennessee. Because we have this internal battle, a
lot of states will all states should be going, look,
we need safe drivers.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
A lot of states are saying we support.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
That these drivers should be put out of service, and
some states are fighting it. So we have this battle,
and I support anything that supports because houses we need
safe drivers.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
These laws are coming out because we need safe drivers
on the roads you know, run.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
By legitimate businesses and legitimate drivers. You know, this keeps
the American public safe. And when it keeps the American
public safe, we all win.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Because right now it's a wild while West exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And I think one of the things about this bill
that is kind of interesting is not only does it
penalize the driver, but then it penalizes the non compliant
states that are allowing these licenses to be issued, targeting
them with transportation, with holding transportation funds and also targeting
the trucking companies themselves, because again, the people that are
(29:08):
putting these dangerous vehicles out there need to be held
responsible and until somebody goes to jail, until somebody is
shut down. You know, reputable companies like JKC Trucking with
Mike Kocharski as the co owner are going to be
I guess beneficiaries of a bad reputation because of the
(29:30):
bad people out there driving.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Yeah, what a lot of these dates are doing.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
They're forgetting that the federal motor Carrier, Sean Duffy is
They're the gatekeeper. He makes the law for all of
American we should all follow it. In a lot of
these states are saying no, well we're gonna we're gonna
look the other way. But they're the gatekeeper regards how
was this. The law should be the same from New
York to California, wherever you go. You can't just pick
(29:56):
and shoes what because it consistency and this was set
up for the safety of the American people. And these
states are deciding to fight these things and look the
way they're twisting issues.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
My favorite thing is that you got.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
To wonder how much concern they have for the American
citizens and the driving public out there. Mike, we're up
against the clock here and it's been a pleasure talking
to you. We got to do this more often. I
talk to you again about this disease of bills proceed
Any final thoughts.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Here real quick.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Yeah, Look, my primary concern is always going to be
who's behind the wheel.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Law abiding truckers pay for training, insurance, and compliance.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
One of the cuts corners that are undercuts the people
doing the right thing. You know, if we have safe
drivers on the road, run by legitimate businesses, this keeps
the American public safe and we all win.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Fantastic Again, my thanks to Mike Ktarski, co owner and
vice president of JKC Trucking. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck
in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
It happens all the time. Your neighbor's pet zebra it's lose.
It starts biting people and knocking over a mailboxes and
pooping on lawns and mounting your cement goose. Right, So
then you got to go in the house and you
got to get your zebra product again. And then you
stun it and it starts to come to So you
got to get the duct tape out and then you
got to wrap it in at tarp and then you
(31:15):
bring it back to your neighbor. But now you've missed
part of my show, the Scott Sloan Ship.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Don't worry.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
You can still listen to the podcast on the iHeartRadio
app and get it and missed and then save the
stun gun, duct tape and tart for the neighbor.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Kevin Gordon thanks to Mike Katarski spending time with us.
He's co owner and president vice president of JKC Trucking.
If you missed that interview or any of our previous shows,
hit up that iHeartRadio app brought to you by our
friends at Rush Truck Centers. Now, as far as predictions
from ATM, let's not forget how much ATN Kevin Gordon
(31:51):
on ATN was right about tariff's not leading to runaway inflation,
which everybody was predicting was going to happen. A lot
of the economists tariffs causing massive layoffs and or recession
didn't happen GDP. They predicted being at one point eight
percent to maybe two percent GDP was be too. I
(32:11):
predicted j GDP was going to be between four and
a half to five percent versus their one point eight
two percent. GDP in the third quarter was four point
three percent, a lot closer than their estimate, and I
still think the fourth quarter is going to come in
even better. Now that flying the ointment here is the
fact that the government shutdown. According to estimates. Now when
(32:35):
those numbers come in, remember that the shutdown could possibly
have caused according to the government estimates CBO and all
as of government Congressional Budget Office, could have caused a
one point five to a two point two reduction in
the GDP. So thank you Chuck Schumer, the Schumer shut
(32:56):
down and the Democrats who voted to keep the government
shut down and to punish the military. Because the Democrats
didn't get their way with some of their goodies and
their subsidies to people that.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Really don't well illegal aliens.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
They wanted to fund all these plans to subsidize illegal
immigration in this country. And so thanks to them, GDP
will be suffering by one point five to two point
two percent. And all those people, the military, the air
traffic controllers, and many of the government workers that went
without a paycheck for forty three days, Thank you, Chuck Schumer.
(33:33):
So again atn was on the head of this, and
as far as inflation is concerned, I predicted that we
would be at two percent by the end of the year.
I don't think we're going to get there when the
numbers come in when we see what happened in the
fourth quarter. However, when you take into consideration the different
contracts that have been signed between ups, railroad workers, auto workers,
(33:58):
all the ports on well the ports on the East
coast and the West coast, all those negotiations as far
as salary, all those contracts, as far as wages are concerned,
have affected inflation, and so that we may be off
a little bit there, but I will take a four
point five to five percent GDP over not hitting the
(34:21):
inflation target every day of the week. Now, referring back
to the story that we had before, we talked to
Mike Kacharski talking about what the predictions were going into
twenty twenty six and what things might look at. Again,
they're talking about, well, you know, well, the people will
(34:41):
the citizens, will customers, consumers, will they pull back? We
haven't seen any evidence of that in fact, when we're
seeing retail sale numbers, it's above expectations, better than expected,
and so on. And here we have another situation and
we're talking about a major purchase.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Here.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Ford reports best annual US vehicle sales since twenty nineteen
out of Detroit. Ford Motor on Tuesday said US vehicle
sales last year increased six percent to achieve the company's
best annual sales since twenty nineteen, in other words, pre pandemic.
The Detroit automaker reported sales to two point two million
(35:25):
vehicles in twenty twenty five, including a two point seven
percent uptick to more than five hundred and forty five
thousand units in the fourth quarter. In twenty nineteen, the
automaker sold two point four to two million, so they
were within about two hundred thousand vehicles of what they
sold back in twenty nineteen, so again, best sales years
(35:47):
since pre plandemic. Ford finished the year third largest automaker
in the US, behind Toyota, which had which was up
eight percent in sales, and domestic sales leader General Motor,
which was up five point five percent in twenty twenty five.
Ford US vehicle sales for the and Imagine what vehicle
(36:09):
sales would have been if we had decent interest rates.
When you look at the price of seven eight percent
for interest rates on vehicle purchases. If the Federal Reserve,
if lion Jerry Powell had gotten off his butt and
reduced those interest rates, then as far as the overnight
rate to the banks, the credit cards would have fallen
(36:29):
in place, truck loans, car loans, mortgages would have fallen
into place as well, and we would have seen more sales,
more vehicles sold in that fourth quarter. But again, Federal
Reserve holding US BACKUS vehicles for the year were largely
in line with I get this, okay. They were up
six you know, we saw Ford was up six percent,
(36:51):
GM was up eight percent, and General Motors was up
five point five percent. US Ford US vehicle sales in
the year were largely in line with analysts expectations, such
as those from Cox Automotive, which expects industry wide sales
to have risen by about two percent. Okay, where is
six percent close to two percent, where is five point
(37:13):
five percent close to two percent, where is eight percent
close to two percent? Industry analysts predicted a two percent increase,
where Ford had a six percent, Toyota eight percent, and
GM had an increase of five point five percent. Unbelievable,
but they're still sticking to it. Andrew Frick, president of
Ford's non fleet vehicle business. He said that the automaker
(37:37):
seems to be on track to offset lost production of
tens of thousands of lucrative pickup trucks this year, including
adding another shift to a plant in Michigan. Now that's
a result of fourth quarter. Ford fourth quarter performance came
in continues to battle production troubles because they did have
some plant fires, two separate fires at a New York
(38:00):
plant and a key aluminum supplier Novellas F series sales,
including a popular F one point fifty. We're up eight
point three percent in twenty twenty five, but off three
point three percent during the fourth quarter. Like many automakers
for they're getting away from the electric vehicles that only
(38:21):
accounts for about fourteen percent of their sales. Eighty six
percent of Ford's sales are in the internal combustion engines.
One of the areas that's kind of creeping up and
looks to see some promise is hybrid vehicles, which could
actually be very good. So you know, again, we're seeing
(38:43):
this mixed bag. We've got the so called experts saying
that there are things headwinds going into twenty twenty six.
But the evidence that we have already in hand from
what happened at the latter part of twenty twenty five
and showing no signs of slowing down show and points
to a good twenty twenty six as opposed to some
(39:04):
of these other predictions. Now, seeing what's going on even
after the capture of Nicholas Maduro over the weekend, with
Venezuela and the oil down there, all of a sudden,
now China isn't interested in buying Venezuelan oil, Isn't that interesting.
They're the ones that have been propping up the regime
(39:25):
down there, the illegitimate regime. They've been buying the oil
from them and taking it and I guess storing it
because I guess they've got deep pockets there. They're shunning
that now. What it appears is though, that people talking
about whether or not there'll be a ramp up and
whether or not how quickly the oil industry can get
back on par don't discount the ability of American companies
(39:51):
to go in and when they really put their mind
to it, how quickly certain things can get done. I'm
sure the Venezuelan Pea people are anxious to get out
of eighty six percent of the people there are living
in poverty.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
And if the newly installed.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Vice president now president of Venezuela, they say that she
has been very cooperative and very interested in working with
these oil companies, maybe the oil companies get in there
a lot quicker and ramp up the production. At one
point they were producing up to three million barrels per
day down there, and they are now down in the
(40:29):
hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. So again, how
quickly that can come on board, And I think that
is going to surprise a lot of people over the
coming years. So it's going to be interesting to see
how that all pans out. Well, folks, that does it
for us? We're up against clock here. Stay tuned for
Retie Radio atop the hour. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck
in Network seven hundred WLW
This is America's truck and Network with Kevin Gordon, one.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Of the more Thanks for tuning in on this Wednesday morning.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
You know, last week we started seeing.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, in the last couple of weeks, we've been seeing
you know, the news in review looking back in the past,
some of the top stories and where things were in
terms of what they had expected at the beginning of
the year, where they were versus the end of the year.
Now this week we're starting to see stuff about well,
what is twenty twenty six going to bring? And you know,
(00:38):
based on their estimates for last year, I'm not so
sure that we can really depend on those. But what
you can depend on is at N because we have
been right more often than they have been right. But
let's just go. Let's play the game and see what
they have to say. Market uncertainty to follow trucking into
twenty twenty six. Now, Eric Starks, the chairman of FTR
(01:00):
Transportation Intelligence, he's having his predictions in here. One of
the things kind of skipped to the chase here. I
think the best case scenario would be a flat market
into quarter one, but you could see noticeable softening quarter
one into quarter two if we start seeing substantial layoffs
and consumers pulling away. Well, we haven't seen any examples
(01:24):
of that so far. We haven't seen any hint of
that happening based on what we've seen as far as
retail sales, what we saw as far as gross domestic
product in the third quarter, and we're also anticipating now
what we're going to be seeing the gross domestic product
in the fourth quarter coming up here in the next
(01:44):
few days. Complicating outlooks starts note is a lack of
capacity of certainty on how long stable environment would need
to be in place to instill calm in the marketplace,
not going to require any time at all. Once they're
are standard, once the playing field is known, and once
people know what's going on, it will go pretty rapidly,
(02:06):
because let's not forget the fact that we are rugged individualists,
not the crazy crap that we're getting out of Mondani
in New York that we want to have collectivism and
all that.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
It's a story for another day.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
He suspects business will remain cautious on investing, especially when
it comes to equipment and technology. Yeah, centering around interest rates,
which we should see a break in that come May
when the new FED chairman is installed, and hopefully this
guy will be a supply side economist and get the
economy moving with lower interest rates. And I may want
(02:42):
to interject here that our interest rates are twice what
they are in other developed countries. So if we get
those down, we'll see an economic boom and businesses expanding,
employees getting hired, and so on. This could contribute to
tough for operation conditions in the first part of next year,
(03:03):
according to him. Chris Rogers, head of supply chain research
at S and P Global Market Intelligence, let me see
the story of terrorists.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Is over, he says.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
We still have to have a decision from the Supreme
Court about the International Emergency Economic Powers Act tariffs that
President had implemented, whether they're legal. They're going to make
that determination, and if they're not, what will replace them.
There's a whole lot of national security tariff reviews still
going on, covering electronics, medical supplies, machinery, and critical minerals.
(03:40):
I will be very disappointed with the Supreme Court if
they're stupid enough to rule against the Trump administration, because
by all accounts, these terroifts have been good. They've been
a good generator for the American public plus, it levels
the playing field, it makes it more fair trade instead
of just free trade.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
And they ought to understand.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
And you know, I got to tell you, you know,
when it comes down to law and it comes down
to interpretations. I have seen on a personal basis and
with clients that I've had in the past, that you
can have all the facts on your side, and you
can even have the law on your side, but when
it comes to certain decisions, certain people, like Kentucky Supreme
(04:23):
Court several years ago, took a look at a situation
that was clearly being violated by a non governmental.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Entity that was collecting taxes.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
But they looked at it from the standpoint that, well,
gee whiz, if they've got to go back and refund
and do that and these other not only that particular county,
but like eighty eight other counties in Kentucky, that would
be a headache and a nightmare. So they just took
a pass on it and said well, and their determination
(04:54):
was that you know, everybody knew based on.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
What the law was, that they were wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
But the comment from the Supreme Court was, well, the
Institution did the good faith effort in following the law
and I'm telling you. From that point on, I kept saying,
you know, I'll tell you what next time. I you know,
if I ever pull up to a stop sign and
I rolled through it and I get pulled over, I'm
going to tell the cop. Hey, look, I made a
(05:22):
good faith effort to stop there. Oh, I made a
good faith effort to keep my speed not overspeeding. And
you know, with that kind of method, maybe I could
get by with it now. But this is what their
ruling actually said, that they had made a good faith effort. So,
you know, politics aside and whatever, what's good for the country.
These tariffs have been good for the country. If the
(05:42):
Supreme Court knows what's best, they will go ahead and
side with the Trump administration. Just one man's opinion there,
and of course, you know I have an opinion. I'm
not afraid to use it. SMP Global in twenty twenty
six outlook side of these legal challenges surrounding Trump's use
of the i EPA, which again is International Emergency Academic
(06:04):
Powers Act in settlling terraiffs, specifically as it relates to
implementation of Section two thirty two duties. This Section two
thirty two provisions of the Trade Expansion Act empowers the
use of levies to address imports that are deemed a
threat to national security. Trump has used this rule as
(06:24):
the basis for most of the tariffs, and I think
he's dead on as far as that's concerned, but the
legal interpretation has been challenged.
Speaker 3 (06:32):
With the ongoing cases.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Working their way through the courts, legal determinations are expected
to be finalized in early twenty twenty six. Trade policy
that has nothing to do with terriffs also expected to
remain in flux as twenty twenty six arrives, according to Rogers,
and of course that is Chris Rogers, head of supply
chain research at S and P Global Market Intelligence. He's saying,
(06:55):
the big one is that we're watching, obviously, is to
negotiate renegotiation in the United States Mexico Canada agreement. He said,
that's going to be going on throughout next year and
should be completed ahead of the US midterm elections. But
I wouldn't take that for granted, and then we have
the deals being signed elsewhere in the world. Talks about
(07:16):
in this article rule crackdown, The Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration stepped up enforcement of English language proficiency for truck
drivers and titaned scrutiny on issuance of non domiciud commercial
driver license threatens long term removal of capacity from the market.
(07:36):
While safety stands at the forefront of the effort. The
net result could be smaller driver pool that puts upward
pressure on freight rates. This according to Jason Jason Seedel,
managing director of the investment banking firm TD Cowen. Now,
the purpose of that of cracking down on the non
(07:57):
domiciout English proficiency and these CDL mills and getting rid
of incompetent drivers and drivers that don't have the skill
is a safety issue and keeping insurance rates low, keeping
the American public safe and cause less deaths on the highway.
And if it pulls out excess capacity and freight rates
(08:21):
start going up a little bit so that these companies
can make some money and get things back on a
level playing field, that will be good for the economy
as well. So they're kind of taking this approach as
though it's going to tighten scrutiny and capacity will be
taken out of the market. Well, do you want over
capacity or you want safety?
Speaker 3 (08:41):
You know?
Speaker 2 (08:42):
I just people keep taking out the human element in
terms of these decisions and what is possibly going to
cause havoc around the war, around the trucking industry, and
as far as safety on the highway in terms of
historic norms. Title notes that the that over the road
trucking demand tends to be softer following the holiday season.
(09:04):
Of course, we'll see how things pick up in the spring.
US Bank Corporate Payment Systems Jeff Pate, manager of Transportation
US Corporate Payment Systems, says fleets that embrace artificial intelligence
and ring efficiencies should do a little bit better. And
I think that is important as well. When you implement
(09:25):
certain areas of artificial intelligence and get those get more
efficiencies within the trucking industry, that will pay off. Also,
they talk about possible industry cooperation. Let's see there is
much greater emphasis on collaboration and transparency on both sides,
(09:47):
leveraging data and technology to make smarter, faster decisions instead
of focusing solely on price. So a lot of estimates
going into twenty twenty six and coming up we're going
to be talking to in relating to this. As far
as the CDLs and illegal aliens obtaining CDO license, we're
(10:09):
going to be speaking with Mike Kucharski, co owner and
vice president of JKC Trucking, and then I will get
into a little bit of our predictions from ATN. I'm
Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW a's America's
Trucking Network. My guest is Mike Kucharski. He is co
(10:29):
owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, has over thirty
years experienced. JKC Trucking is the largest refrigerated trucking company
based out of Chicago, Illinois.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Welcome to the program, Mike.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Nam program again, thank you.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Now, as if a three year freight recession, increasing cargo theft,
cyber attacks pushed to during the prior administration to convert
the EVS weren't enough, or some of the other EPA
restrictions that were there, if that weren't enough, Now we
have to deal with illegal aliens obtaining CDLs and in
(11:07):
many cases unable to demonstrate English language proficiency. So welcome
to the trucking industry in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Yes it is. You know what's what's happening out there is?
How is this number one? The trucking industries is overregulated,
a very hard industry. But you know what's happening out
there with.
Speaker 5 (11:27):
These non domicile drivers and illegal driving these trucks, you know,
is eye opening and concerning because this is a is
a serious safety crisis on American roads and pretending.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
It isn't happening. No longer is that option.
Speaker 5 (11:40):
Because the trucking industry runs on trust from a from
a safety standpoint, this kind of enforcement, you know, matters, you.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Know, thinking about it.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
Every every morning we put our kids on the school buses,
millions of commuters had to work in their cars, millions
of families will be traveling up for the holidays.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
They and they need they need trust.
Speaker 5 (12:00):
And the professional is driving eight thousand pound trucks around
them that they can read roadsigns or safety commands and
reacting to emergency commercial This.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Isn't about you know who someone is or where someone
is from.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
It's about whether they're qualified safety, safety operating heavy equipment.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
On public grows exactly. And the question, well, actually it's
this kind of started. I guess over the last couple
of years they were talking about I guess at some
of these trucking shows talking about the English language proficiency.
That was was a reason for out of service being
put out of service, but wasn't enforced during the latter
(12:41):
years of the Obama administration. But at that time there
wasn't this invasion from the southern border, so some of
these were a lot, I guess more, fewer and far between.
But now once we have this invasion from the southern
border under the last administration, this has exploded. And then
(13:01):
you have states where like California and I think you're
in Illinois, that they can actually gain the system, find
somebody that will certify them, sign the documents falsely, and
issue a driver's license. It just makes things a whole
lot worse.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
It does.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
It does, And I'm glad you brought the English proficient
language because back in the nineteen seventy two is when
they made the law saying that English proficiency costruck drivers
should English's language.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
You must speak English.
Speaker 5 (13:33):
That was in the seventies, right, And then twenty sixteen
a Bottle orginistation change that role a little bit saying, look,
you don't have to be proficient in English, but you
could use a device like a Google Translate to to
communicate with law enforcement and everybody else.
Speaker 4 (13:48):
And that sounded great.
Speaker 5 (13:49):
But what they what they did is they took that
and they twisted it completely different way. And the drivers
that are out there right now speak very little English.
And if you want of these videos, there's drivers out there,
truck divers making videos of all other truck drivers talking drivers,
troopers talking to these drivers, and they speak very little English.
And if they do speak English, there's they don't understand
(14:11):
a word or they're giving the completely wrong answer. Ian
this is you know, this is alarming because you know truckers.
Speaker 4 (14:18):
Truckers are the.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
Heartbeat of the American economy and the supply chain. You know,
a truckers only move at least only seventy percent of
all the goods nationwide. You know, because of the scale
and responsibility trucking, his formula recognized as a critical infrastructure
to something America relies on every day.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
Well, and we saw the example this past summer. We
saw that hard genders sing who did that illegal you
turned down in Florida, and then another guy by the
name of Josh and pret saying no, I don't think
they're related, but had that crash he was under the
influence and rear ended a bunch of cars out in
(14:56):
California and when these fiery crashes happen, and then of
course it gets people's attention. But going back to what
was it in April that President Trump did the executive
order demanding that English language proficiency be there and that
the CDL licensing process be regulated. Sean Duffy then issued
(15:23):
a proclamation that this was going to be enforced, and
then it was supposed to go into effect or whatever
in June. This guy gets pulled over in July in
New Mexico. They did the English language proficiency, let him go,
he didn't pass, and then a month later, in less
than a couple of weeks later, causes this accident down
(15:43):
in Florida. So this is something that the Trump administration
has been working on, but there needs to be some
cooperation with the individual states and possibly some legislation from
Congressman and senators to put some teeth to some of
these laws.
Speaker 5 (15:58):
Correct, correct, and the whole main the goal of this
is is two things. Number One, safety for all the
commuters on the road are family.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Members, mothers, fathers, daughters that you know children.
Speaker 5 (16:10):
And two, protecting American jobs and ensuring the integrity of
our workforce is absolutely centre. Look, my primary concern is
always going to be who's behind the wheel. Example, law
abiding truckers pay for training, insurance, and compliance, and when
others cut corners, it undercuts the trucking and undercuts the
(16:31):
truckers doing the right thing every day.
Speaker 4 (16:34):
You know, if you look up this.
Speaker 5 (16:35):
Year, about twenty thousand trucking companies or studior last year
have gone out of business. You know, these truckers are
killing the American dream and truckers. You know, for for
small business, for small trucking companies like mine, Enforcing enforcement,
keeps things honest and fair and protecting the jobs of
(16:56):
law abiding citizens.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
Well, American jobs first.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
Basically levels the playing field, so everybody's playing by the
same rules. My guess is Mike Kucharski. He is co
owner and vice president of JKC Trucking. So I guess
the problem I have is trying to figure out how
in the heck a company would hire somebody who doesn't
have the qualifications. That's going to shoot up your insurance rates,
(17:23):
that's going to put the public at risk. How do
you sleep at night? How do you go through this
and know that you're actually with a ticking time bomb
out there, and then when this happens, it gives a
bad reputation to all truckers. You know, used to be
in the dad and my wife talks about this a
lot when we're out driving. She said, you know, it
(17:43):
used to be that the best drivers out on the
road were the truck drivers. And once in a while
you see somebody that really doesn't seem to be that
good of a truck driver, but that ruins it for
the thirty or so out there that.
Speaker 5 (17:58):
Are correct, correct, correct, you know, I mean, I mean,
it's crazy what's happened in this country. Let me let
me explain to you what's happening and how these people
are maybe paying a picture of how these people are
getting licenses.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
You know, these people are coming to.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
Stays like California, where they've set up these trucking companies,
well truck driving schools that they'll pay to go to
this school. This school will quickly push them through, and
they're getting grants from the government to obviously, uh train
these drivers usually and then when these drivers get a license,
they're brought to a trucking company or a truck lease
(18:36):
program where they take these drivers and they say, look,
we're gonna lease to a truck, a trailer.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
H you're gonna work for us, You're.
Speaker 5 (18:46):
Gonna we're gonna deduct the payments every month from from
your paycheck. And on top of that, they say, look,
I'm giving you a truck and a job.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
We're gonna give you loads to two haul.
Speaker 5 (18:58):
And these are like, well, these guys are like, this
is great, this is the full package. Let you know
where do I sign? And these guys all ten nine
ten ninety nine. Because truckers should be W two's unless
you are independent driver, so they put them in an
independent class, which.
Speaker 4 (19:12):
Is, you know, rooting for independent drivers.
Speaker 5 (19:14):
In my opinion, they're getting these jobs, getting your truck
and put on the road with very little experience. And
on top of that, these companies are also selling them insurance.
And shame on the insurance companies for you know, covering
these guys, because for example, if I are a driver,
he needs to have two years of experience. These guys
have no experience. Obviously they have to I assume, you know,
(19:36):
I mean they're looking the other way and then giving
them licenses.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
You know, So there's.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Insurance, and the insurance area is something to talk about,
and we need to take a quick break here and
when we come back, we'll pick that up on the
other side of the break. Speaking with Mike Keacharski, co
owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, I'm Kevin Gordon,
America's truck in Network seven hundred w L.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
We stayed in the rest of the country in the
Tri State O but I'm mostly claudy. They'll go down
to forty partly sunny Wednesday, a high of fifty three. Thursday,
mostly claudy with a slight chance of afternoon rain. Highs
in the lower sixties. Rain likely in the morning Friday.
Otherwise claudi hies in the mid sixties Nationally through Thursday.
Heavy mountain snow expected in the Cascades as well as
parts of the interior West in the Northeast State, which
(20:22):
are storm tonight bringing snow, sleet and freezing rain. Meanwhile,
well above average temperature scene from the Great Plains of
the Appalachians through Thursday.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
This is America struck In Network seven hundred WLW. I'm
Kevin Gordon. Continuing our conversation with Mike Kacharski. He is
co owner and vice president of JKC Trucking, Before the break,
we talked about the insurance angle of this, where you
talked about how these drivers who are ill equipped, ill trained,
(20:52):
got some sort of I guess a pass or paid
off the licensing bureaus and motor vehicles to get the license,
go to these companies, get hired to get a lease,
option to buy truck or at least i'm a truck,
and then provide the insurance for them. But the insurance
companies themselves are probably well, aren't less than reputable, and
(21:16):
they will have a bunch of policies out there like this,
and if one of them, you know, gets in a
major accident, then they just you know, go file bankruptcy
and go on from there.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
Did I have that correct?
Speaker 4 (21:29):
Correct? Correct? Yeah? So there's there's four people to blame.
Speaker 5 (21:31):
Number one is that the driver getting the license because
he knows that he did not get enough training, got
pushed through to get a license too.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
I blame whoever gives them the license, whoever part.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Of the DMV, like especially in California where they had
the giving seventeen thousand licensed to trug evers.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
That had expired work V Size three to blame is
the insurance company.
Speaker 5 (21:52):
How you mean How could these insurance companies hire these
guys when they knew they have zero experience? And for
I blame the people that are giving them them the freight.
The shippers are giving them the freight that they're not
checking to because they're liable if they get an accent,
I mean they're they're partially liable to give to give
(22:14):
these drivers inexperience, brand new drivers freight.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
I mean, we're living in a crazy world.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Now, you mentioned your drivers. You don't hire people that
have at least two years worth of experience. Now that
could be well, of course, you talk about somebody who
comes out of school, a rifidal school, they get the
CDO license, then they have to basically partner with another
person to where they shadow them or train them on
(22:44):
the road for a period of time before they let
them loose. Describe that process and you know how quickly
is somebody capable of being out on the road or
I guess, I guess there's two pronged question here. You've
got in state deliveries or you have interstate deliveries, and
(23:05):
of course with interstate, then you go into other areas
with different climates, different temperatures, cold, hot, snow, whatever within
the individual state. It's a little different than being cross country.
Speaker 4 (23:19):
Correct. Just to give me an idea.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
So my insurance, my liability insurance company says I cannot
hire nobody.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
With less than two years driving experience. The insurance companies
you know, say that, look, you need two years.
Speaker 5 (23:31):
They believe that's enough for them.
Speaker 4 (23:34):
For some drivers.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
Yes, I believe in my opinion, you know, it takes
two three years to be a well run of drivers.
But let me let me give you a let me
paint a picture. Let's say you and I go truck
driving school. We'll be in truck driving school two three months,
we'll graduate, we'll get our medical card, and then we
need to find a trucking company that will train us.
Speaker 4 (23:52):
Further to get this experience, because you mean, all we did.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Is passive drivery TSK. We know the very bare essentials.
Now need to get the experience and truck other trucking companies.
For example, we have a truck driving program that we
ran for Native American Indians.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
They would get they would go to truck driving school,
and they.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Would come to our shop and we would give them
a local job for three months at least ninety days,
sometimes one hundred and twenty days of these they would
have to they would go with another driver training driver
and they would do a lot of local deliveries and
pickups so they could get used to accustom, you know,
(24:30):
traveling through busy cities, the paperwork. After that, if they
passed the local they get used to that.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
When we put.
Speaker 5 (24:37):
Them on uh you know, regional runs with with with
a driver trainer, which is overnight.
Speaker 4 (24:44):
They'll go to like let's say we're out.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Of Illinois, they'll run to Michigan, Detroit and the back
to get more experience under that out that would be
another to three months to do that. And after that
we put them on long distance with the tr trainer
and after they have a good grasp of that for
fwoture months, So that that whole process takes about a
whole year. Right, I'm driving with a trainer, and then
(25:08):
when they're good enough, we either let them drive you know,
uh locally not locally, well, they could do local, they
could do overnight regional, or or we start sending long
distance but short long distances so they could get that
under their belt. It takes a long time because you know,
truck driving is it's not like jumping your car, You're
(25:30):
you're you're traveling through multiple states, you're traveling through elevation,
you're running through white out storms, black guys in the summertime,
extreme heat. It's it's a very very complicated process. It's
not it's not like you know, running into the grocery
store and back. It's you had There's a lot to learn,
(25:54):
and even after three years of experience, I mean, I
feel tru numbers are still always learning because you know,
you things are having there on the road all the time.
It's a lifestyle and you have it too, some of
a lifestyle and you can't do it in two three months.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
We're speaking with Mike Kocharski. He is co owner and
vice president of jk C Trucking. So I guess we
move into the legislative phase here because there's been a
number of bills that have been put out there. One
that I've seen, I've read several different bills, but one
that kind of peaud my interest was kind of cleverly
(26:29):
named No CDLs for Illegals Act. This is done by
a representative, Jeff Van Drew from New Jersey.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Of all places.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
Of course, he's a Republican in this What type of
things do you want to would you want to see
in a bill?
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Is there a bill out there that you like?
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Is there something that you're in support of, because obviously
something needs to be done to rain this system in No.
Speaker 5 (26:58):
Yeah, so right now we are what's happening with the
Department Transportation and Sean Duffy, he's I mean the ability
to speak of this hrd A sixty three OCLS for
Legals Act. That is what they're redoing is recmenting what
ARI was there.
Speaker 4 (27:13):
They're saying, look, if you come to this country and.
Speaker 5 (27:16):
You don't have a Social Security number, you cannot get
a CDL. You need to be you need to have
a residence and you have to domicile at least a
Green card to get a CDL.
Speaker 4 (27:25):
This was always the law until recently, and I don't
know what happened.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
And what they're doing is they want to do this federally,
which is great. And then on top of that, other
states are taking other steps. You know, Arkansas last year
before all this even surfaced, February of twenty twenty four
said look, anybody comes in a state of Arkansas is
going to be tested for English proficiency. They made them
read some sentences. They would have to write some stuff
(27:52):
and describe what they did when they would come to
the point of venture of Arkansas.
Speaker 4 (27:56):
Texas is taking the same stand. Last night, I was
reading the Tennessee saying that if a driver comes.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
In that has non domicile license will be put out
of service, arrested, and it might face up to jail
time in Tennessee. Because we have this internal battle, a
lot of states will all states should be going, look,
we need safe drivers.
Speaker 4 (28:18):
A lot of states are saying we support.
Speaker 5 (28:20):
That these drivers should be put out of service, and
some states are fighting it. So we have this battle,
and I support anything that supports because houses we need
safe drivers.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
These laws are coming out because we need safe drivers
on the roads you know, run.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
By legitimate businesses and legitimate drivers. You know, this keeps
the American public safe. And when it keeps the American
public safe, we all win.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
Because right now it's a wild while West exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:47):
And I think one of the things about this bill
that is kind of interesting is not only does it
penalize the driver, but then it penalizes the non compliant
states that are allowing these licenses to be issued, targeting
them with transportation, with holding transportation funds and also targeting
the trucking companies themselves, because again, the people that are
(29:08):
putting these dangerous vehicles out there need to be held
responsible and until somebody goes to jail, until somebody is
shut down. You know, reputable companies like JKC Trucking with
Mike Kocharski as the co owner are going to be
I guess beneficiaries of a bad reputation because of the
(29:30):
bad people out there driving.
Speaker 4 (29:32):
Yeah, what a lot of these dates are doing.
Speaker 5 (29:35):
They're forgetting that the federal motor Carrier, Sean Duffy is
They're the gatekeeper. He makes the law for all of
American we should all follow it. In a lot of
these states are saying no, well we're gonna we're gonna
look the other way. But they're the gatekeeper regards how
was this. The law should be the same from New
York to California, wherever you go. You can't just pick
(29:56):
and shoes what because it consistency and this was set
up for the safety of the American people. And these
states are deciding to fight these things and look the
way they're twisting issues.
Speaker 4 (30:08):
My favorite thing is that you got.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
To wonder how much concern they have for the American
citizens and the driving public out there. Mike, we're up
against the clock here and it's been a pleasure talking
to you. We got to do this more often. I
talk to you again about this disease of bills proceed
Any final thoughts.
Speaker 3 (30:25):
Here real quick.
Speaker 5 (30:25):
Yeah, Look, my primary concern is always going to be
who's behind the wheel.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Law abiding truckers pay for training, insurance, and compliance.
Speaker 5 (30:32):
One of the cuts corners that are undercuts the people
doing the right thing. You know, if we have safe
drivers on the road, run by legitimate businesses, this keeps
the American public safe and we all win.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Fantastic Again, my thanks to Mike Ktarski, co owner and
vice president of JKC Trucking. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck
in Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 7 (30:55):
It happens all the time. Your neighbor's pet zebra it's lose.
It starts biting people and knocking over a mailboxes and
pooping on lawns and mounting your cement goose. Right, So
then you got to go in the house and you
got to get your zebra product again. And then you
stun it and it starts to come to So you
got to get the duct tape out and then you
got to wrap it in at tarp and then you
(31:15):
bring it back to your neighbor. But now you've missed
part of my show, the Scott Sloan Ship.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
Don't worry.
Speaker 7 (31:21):
You can still listen to the podcast on the iHeartRadio
app and get it and missed and then save the
stun gun, duct tape and tart for the neighbor.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Kevin Gordon thanks to Mike Katarski spending time with us.
He's co owner and president vice president of JKC Trucking.
If you missed that interview or any of our previous shows,
hit up that iHeartRadio app brought to you by our
friends at Rush Truck Centers. Now, as far as predictions
from ATM, let's not forget how much ATN Kevin Gordon
(31:51):
on ATN was right about tariff's not leading to runaway inflation,
which everybody was predicting was going to happen. A lot
of the economists tariffs causing massive layoffs and or recession
didn't happen GDP. They predicted being at one point eight
percent to maybe two percent GDP was be too. I
(32:11):
predicted j GDP was going to be between four and
a half to five percent versus their one point eight
two percent. GDP in the third quarter was four point
three percent, a lot closer than their estimate, and I
still think the fourth quarter is going to come in
even better. Now that flying the ointment here is the
fact that the government shutdown. According to estimates. Now when
(32:35):
those numbers come in, remember that the shutdown could possibly
have caused according to the government estimates CBO and all
as of government Congressional Budget Office, could have caused a
one point five to a two point two reduction in
the GDP. So thank you Chuck Schumer, the Schumer shut
(32:56):
down and the Democrats who voted to keep the government
shut down and to punish the military. Because the Democrats
didn't get their way with some of their goodies and
their subsidies to people that.
Speaker 3 (33:10):
Really don't well illegal aliens.
Speaker 2 (33:12):
They wanted to fund all these plans to subsidize illegal
immigration in this country. And so thanks to them, GDP
will be suffering by one point five to two point
two percent. And all those people, the military, the air
traffic controllers, and many of the government workers that went
without a paycheck for forty three days, Thank you, Chuck Schumer.
(33:33):
So again atn was on the head of this, and
as far as inflation is concerned, I predicted that we
would be at two percent by the end of the year.
I don't think we're going to get there when the
numbers come in when we see what happened in the
fourth quarter. However, when you take into consideration the different
contracts that have been signed between ups, railroad workers, auto workers,
(33:58):
all the ports on well the ports on the East
coast and the West coast, all those negotiations as far
as salary, all those contracts, as far as wages are concerned,
have affected inflation, and so that we may be off
a little bit there, but I will take a four
point five to five percent GDP over not hitting the
(34:21):
inflation target every day of the week. Now, referring back
to the story that we had before, we talked to
Mike Kacharski talking about what the predictions were going into
twenty twenty six and what things might look at. Again,
they're talking about, well, you know, well, the people will
(34:41):
the citizens, will customers, consumers, will they pull back? We
haven't seen any evidence of that in fact, when we're
seeing retail sale numbers, it's above expectations, better than expected,
and so on. And here we have another situation and
we're talking about a major purchase.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Here.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Ford reports best annual US vehicle sales since twenty nineteen
out of Detroit. Ford Motor on Tuesday said US vehicle
sales last year increased six percent to achieve the company's
best annual sales since twenty nineteen, in other words, pre pandemic.
The Detroit automaker reported sales to two point two million
(35:25):
vehicles in twenty twenty five, including a two point seven
percent uptick to more than five hundred and forty five
thousand units in the fourth quarter. In twenty nineteen, the
automaker sold two point four to two million, so they
were within about two hundred thousand vehicles of what they
sold back in twenty nineteen, so again, best sales years
(35:47):
since pre plandemic. Ford finished the year third largest automaker
in the US, behind Toyota, which had which was up
eight percent in sales, and domestic sales leader General Motor,
which was up five point five percent in twenty twenty five.
Ford US vehicle sales for the and Imagine what vehicle
(36:09):
sales would have been if we had decent interest rates.
When you look at the price of seven eight percent
for interest rates on vehicle purchases. If the Federal Reserve,
if lion Jerry Powell had gotten off his butt and
reduced those interest rates, then as far as the overnight
rate to the banks, the credit cards would have fallen
(36:29):
in place, truck loans, car loans, mortgages would have fallen
into place as well, and we would have seen more sales,
more vehicles sold in that fourth quarter. But again, Federal
Reserve holding US BACKUS vehicles for the year were largely
in line with I get this, okay. They were up
six you know, we saw Ford was up six percent,
(36:51):
GM was up eight percent, and General Motors was up
five point five percent. US Ford US vehicle sales in
the year were largely in line with analysts expectations, such
as those from Cox Automotive, which expects industry wide sales
to have risen by about two percent. Okay, where is
six percent close to two percent, where is five point
(37:13):
five percent close to two percent, where is eight percent
close to two percent? Industry analysts predicted a two percent increase,
where Ford had a six percent, Toyota eight percent, and
GM had an increase of five point five percent. Unbelievable,
but they're still sticking to it. Andrew Frick, president of
Ford's non fleet vehicle business. He said that the automaker
(37:37):
seems to be on track to offset lost production of
tens of thousands of lucrative pickup trucks this year, including
adding another shift to a plant in Michigan. Now that's
a result of fourth quarter. Ford fourth quarter performance came
in continues to battle production troubles because they did have
some plant fires, two separate fires at a New York
(38:00):
plant and a key aluminum supplier Novellas F series sales,
including a popular F one point fifty. We're up eight
point three percent in twenty twenty five, but off three
point three percent during the fourth quarter. Like many automakers
for they're getting away from the electric vehicles that only
(38:21):
accounts for about fourteen percent of their sales. Eighty six
percent of Ford's sales are in the internal combustion engines.
One of the areas that's kind of creeping up and
looks to see some promise is hybrid vehicles, which could
actually be very good. So you know, again, we're seeing
(38:43):
this mixed bag. We've got the so called experts saying
that there are things headwinds going into twenty twenty six.
But the evidence that we have already in hand from
what happened at the latter part of twenty twenty five
and showing no signs of slowing down show and points
to a good twenty twenty six as opposed to some
(39:04):
of these other predictions. Now, seeing what's going on even
after the capture of Nicholas Maduro over the weekend, with
Venezuela and the oil down there, all of a sudden,
now China isn't interested in buying Venezuelan oil, Isn't that interesting.
They're the ones that have been propping up the regime
(39:25):
down there, the illegitimate regime. They've been buying the oil
from them and taking it and I guess storing it
because I guess they've got deep pockets there. They're shunning
that now. What it appears is though, that people talking
about whether or not there'll be a ramp up and
whether or not how quickly the oil industry can get
back on par don't discount the ability of American companies
(39:51):
to go in and when they really put their mind
to it, how quickly certain things can get done. I'm
sure the Venezuelan Pea people are anxious to get out
of eighty six percent of the people there are living
in poverty.
Speaker 3 (40:06):
And if the newly installed.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Vice president now president of Venezuela, they say that she
has been very cooperative and very interested in working with
these oil companies, maybe the oil companies get in there
a lot quicker and ramp up the production. At one
point they were producing up to three million barrels per
day down there, and they are now down in the
(40:29):
hundreds of thousands of barrels per day. So again, how
quickly that can come on board, And I think that
is going to surprise a lot of people over the
coming years. So it's going to be interesting to see
how that all pans out. Well, folks, that does it
for us? We're up against clock here. Stay tuned for
Retie Radio atop the hour. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's truck
in Network seven hundred WLW
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
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.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!