#335 Trucking’s Underbelly Exposed: Illegal Labor, Fake Repairs, and Failing Oversight
Wrench Nation
#335 Trucking’s Underbelly Exposed: Illegal Labor, Fake Repairs, and Failing Oversight
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Car
Tesla Semi
The Tesla Semi is a big electric truck made by Tesla, which is known for its electric cars. It's designed to help transport goods and is supposed to be cheaper to run than regular trucks that use diesel fuel.
Car
Dodge Dart
The Dodge Dart is a small car made by Dodge that was sold for a few years. It was meant to attract younger drivers and is based on a European car design.
Car
Dodge Neon
The Dodge Neon is a small, budget-friendly car that was made for a few years and was popular with younger drivers. It was known for being fun to drive and not too expensive to buy.
Term
recall
A recall means that the car company wants you to bring your car back to fix a problem that could be dangerous. They do this to keep drivers safe.
Part
shifter cable
The shifter cable is a part that helps you change gears in your car. If it breaks, you might not be able to keep the car in place, which can be dangerous.
Term
VIN number
A VIN number is like a car's fingerprint. It's a special code that helps identify your car and contains important details about it.
Company
Stellantis
Stellantis is a big car company that makes many different brands of cars, like Jeep and Maserati. They manage a lot of popular vehicles.
Car
Nissan Nv 200
The Nissan NV200 is a small van that businesses use to carry tools and goods. It's easy to drive around the city and is good on gas, making it a favorite for people who need to deliver things.
Car
Chevy City Express
The Chevy City Express is a small van made by Chevrolet. It's good for businesses that need to deliver things in cities because it's easy to drive and park.
Term
NHTSA
NHTSA stands for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. It's a U.S. government agency that makes sure cars are safe to drive and looks into problems with vehicles.
Term
fuel tank temperature sensor
A fuel tank temperature sensor checks how hot the fuel is in the tank. If it gets too hot, it can help prevent problems like fires.
Term
fuse box
A fuse box is like a safety box for a car's electrical system. It holds fuses that can stop electricity from flowing if there's a problem, helping to prevent damage.
Term
fuel pump
The fuel pump is a part of the car that moves gasoline from the tank to the engine. If it doesn't work right, the car can have trouble running or might stop altogether.
Term
T-bone accident
A T-bone accident happens when one car hits another car on its side, making a shape like the letter 'T'. These types of accidents can be very dangerous.
Car
Rolls-Royce Spectre
The Rolls-Royce Spectre is a fancy electric car made by Rolls-Royce. It's designed for luxury and has a lot of advanced features.
Concept
canine inspired luxury
Canine inspired luxury means that the design of the car is influenced by dogs, like using colors that match a dog's fur. It's a way to make the car feel more personal and special.
Part
door skin
The door skin is the outer part of the car door. It's what you see when you look at the door from the outside, and in luxury cars, it's made to look very nice and stylish.
Car
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle is a small car that looks very different from most other cars because of its round shape. It has been around for a long time and is loved by many people for its quirky style and fun driving experience.
Brand
Rolls Royce
Rolls Royce is a famous car brand that makes very expensive and luxurious cars. They are known for their high quality and attention to detail.
Concept
electric vehicle
An electric vehicle is a type of car that runs on electricity instead of gasoline. They are often better for the environment because they produce less pollution.
Company
Pronto National Association
Pronto National Association helps people and businesses in the car parts industry learn and work together better.
Company
Parts Authority
Parts Authority sells car parts to both mechanics who fix cars and car lovers who work on their own vehicles, and they also help local communities.
Company
MotorCraft
MotorCraft makes parts for Ford cars, helping to ensure they work well with those vehicles.
Company
AC Delco
AC Delco makes various car parts, especially for GM cars, like batteries and brakes.
Term
DEF
DEF is a liquid that helps diesel engines produce cleaner exhaust. It's required by law to reduce pollution from diesel trucks.
Term
exhaust system
The exhaust system is what takes the gases from the engine and sends them out of the car. It helps keep the car quiet and clean.
Concept
EPA regulations
EPA regulations are rules made to keep the air clean. They require certain technologies in cars and trucks to reduce pollution.
Term
DEATH system
The DEATH system is a part of diesel engines that helps clean up the exhaust gases. It uses a special fluid to make the emissions less harmful to the environment.
Term
maintenance
Maintenance means taking care of a vehicle to keep it running well. This includes things like checking the oil, brakes, and tires regularly.
Term
lubrication
Lubrication is when you put oil or grease on parts of a vehicle to help them move smoothly. It helps prevent wear and tear.
Term
non-qualified technicians
Non-qualified technicians are people who work on cars but haven't been properly trained. This can be risky because they might not know how to fix things correctly.
LIVE
Welcome back Wrench Nation hanging out with you mechanical maniacs right here from the
East Valley Institute of Technology right out of Phoenix, Arizona.
If you're catching us on the podcast, we love you, but we got to send you over some trumpets
and some sacks that follow. Yeah. We're diving in deep today.
One of your favorite automotive lifestyle shows coming up.
Welcome back. Welcome back. I always enjoy spending time with you guys in studio. I got
a big, big announcement. Wrench Nation, if you're new to the show automotive, we've got
in a little tips, a little bit of lifestyle. We've got eight and more in studio. What is
happening? How are you doing? You wearing a Metallica shirt. Are they still performing
Metallica? I believe so. We got a little music in the headset, maybe. I don't know if you
can hear it. A little bit of music still in the headset. There we go. That does not mess
you up. It's like singing in the shower and you're done and the music still playing. Maybe.
How you been this weekend? Doing all right. Nice. Doing all right. Just vibing. You vibing.
Patrick, Patrick, many a master technician. Patrick, get on the mic. Patrick's hanging
with us. Hello. Hello, Mr. Patrick. I know you love to give shout outs to the little ones.
Give shout outs. Shout outs. And my Sophia, James and Patrick, what's up? That's it. This
is what we do. We got an honor effect. I was just talking during the break. I get invitations.
I get invitations to do different events and stuff. And I've been homebound because I'm
trying to get my youngest to college, which just means what? To all my parents out there.
Scholarship money. Help a dad out. Do well in school. Get some scholarships. Aiden colleges
are not cheap, man. No. She's talking out of state and it gets Bukku money. Yeah. The
out of state ones. I mean, they may, she may change your mind, but it seems like I don't
know why like colleges gotten this expensive. They should make it more affordable. Oh yeah.
Would you go to college? I mean, right now you've probably done a little community stuff.
Of course I would want to go to college. If you had to sustain it. If it was a lot more
affordable, I'd absolutely love to go. Man. That's a whole nother topic right there on
this show. I'm going to bring it out to you. We got some recall news to bring to you. I
remind you get to wrench nation.tv. There's a ton of great shows for all of my formula
drift people episode three, three, two on the podcast. We had Jim Liao, who's a co-founder
of formula drift and currently is heading the PR I, which is part of SEMA and speaking
of SEMA, SEMA, Tom Catooso, who's a VP of events. That show was released a lot of part
of September. My point is you guys will dip in and out of the radio and we love to have
you guys hang on the podcast when you want it. Of course it's there for you. There's
a ton of shows on this show. A lot of you, you've seen the nightly news, maybe, maybe
on social media. You've seen a couple of blurbs about truck driver, illegal, killed a few
people, made some wrong turns. What is going on in the trucking industry? And we're not
just talking about bad actors behind the wheels, although we're going to address some of that.
You guys know America runs on wheels, period. A lot of those wheels belong to, well, the
men and women behind the big rigs, those drivers. What happens when that whole system starts
to crack? In other words, you've got a federal administration right now that is cracking down
on some of these laws behind the domicile worker, which is basically an immigrant that
may not be a citizen. How does that affect the truck drivers? We've got trucker Tim.
He's going to call in live behind the wheel. This man lives behind the wheel and he's going
to reveal some of the situations. Mechanically speaking, are these trucks safe? Are they passing
inspection? A lot of you drive on the freeway and you see these big, I saw one today. It
was a small trailer. It wasn't a big semi truck, but it was spitting out like machine gun.
Patrick, you've ever been behind a wheel and somebody's tire goes on a trailer and it's
like a machine gun. The only alligator I've ever seen. And everybody's bobbing and weaving.
Big piece of a rubber in the street. Yeah. That's so, in fact, I'm going to get into
the trucker Tim's ear about that. We really want to reveal to you listening a little insight
into the trucking industry. There's a lot of changes going on. How does that affect
what you pay at the end? Let's say at a grocery store. Does it even matter? How much do truck
drivers have the opportunity to make? I just read an article now with these new laws, which
trucker Tim is going to talk about regarding the qualifications. I E must speak English.
Must be able to read. Yeah. These drivers that were caught in this accident barely got
by with English. In fact, there may have been some miscommunication about the roadway science.
That's that's out there. That's happened. And so we're not saying that all truck drivers,
but we want to dive in to the underbelly of what's happening in the trucking industry
as it relates to kind of skeptical labor practices. Some of these repairs that may not be legit.
And let's face it. A lot of you say, well, if we had, if everybody obeyed the laws, whoa,
everybody obeyed the trucking industry laws, they exist. Are we obeying them? Are we breaking
them? Is this new? Is the Trump administration diving in to try to correct some of that?
I read another article this morning. It's like 198,000 truck drivers. Now, mind you,
I think there's several million trucker Tim will correct us on that, but 198,000 drivers
are set to lose their job behind the wheel. What does that do to the freight rates? We
all pay for that. So we're going to dive in deep to the trucking industry, exposing, exposing
all that with trucker Tim here in a minute. I do want to bring recalls. I always try to
work hard. Relevant recalls, not the 50 cars, but there's two recalls I want you to know
about because it may affect many of you. The Dodge dart. I'm not a fan of the new dart.
Patrick, they took the classic dart and they, they turned it into a little neon or something.
Once they stopped making it with metal. I'm not a huge fan.
You were done when they, yeah, exactly. I mean, some of my classic car people that the
original dart was amazing.
It's, it's kind of like a, it's to me, the dart remade is like a neon. It's kind of like a
little, uh, yeah, like a stat, like a kind of like, yeah, like Plymouth. What was it?
The, uh, my understanding is, I mean, we're not going to, some of you driving a dart right
now, not too happy. We love them. Yeah. But 300,000 of those darts in the US are being
recalled. Uh, they may roll away. Is that your biggest fear, Patrick? Your car just
roll away with no control. Never once in my life. Okay. So you, uh, what about you?
You worried about your car just rolling away? You know, now that you, now that you mentioned
it and maybe a little bit, just you're talking to some friends and you just start because
you put a lot of faith. You put first rolling away when you're talking to friends at a car
meet. Here you are. Like, I don't care for the push buttons. We had a whole show on how
the switching, the switch. Yeah. Like, yeah. Like you didn't like BMW. It's got that. They
call it, I think the eye drive or whatever. And then a lot of manufacturers kind of, they're
all, but I think it's going back to be, I like the shifted center console, put it in
park. You feel it. You feel it. Yeah. And a lot of you agree. Some of you don't care
because you're all, you spend 12 hours a day Aiden, uh, playing video games and you don't
care as long as it might be called out. It almost feels like you're in a space like
a NASA spaceship. See the big, the biggest thing is I just want to shifter that I'm not
making a mistake for my AC knob. So what I'm saying is the confidence of mechanically
putting a shifter in park makes you think, all right, this thing is locked. It's not
going anywhere.
But when you have like the push button thing, it's like, Oh, okay. I'm giving it to the
vehicle. It's just a feeling. I don't know. It's a trust issue. Yeah. I agree. It's a
faith issue. That would be like the worst thing, but these dodge darts, uh, we're talking
298,000 of these vehicles in the U S because the detached shifter cable may cause a vehicle
to roll away. These shifter cables can come apart. Have we seen that in the garage? Mechanical.
Yeah. Absolutely. Uh, GM's shift cable used to break when you go to sit and that's right
of two piece. Uh, recall, uh, is taking place. So what do you do? Uh, you call a lot of you're
going to get upset. You know, you get nervous, be nice to the dealerships, man. They're all
working hard. They're all behind cause it's this shortage of skilled labor anyway, but
you can get onto NH eight, uh, NHTSA dot gov type in your VIN number. I always tell you
if you buy a used car, type it in there. You're going to do the car facts, but see if there's
any open recalls and, uh, they will take care of that. The recall comes after Stellantis,
which is the mothership Stellantis. They own all those companies, including Maserati. I get those
in the garage. I'm not going to talk on Maserati right now, but, uh, they're recalling these
shifter cable, uh, bushings, uh, or cables, I should say. Let me get it right. April 2000.
Apparently they had some other recall back in 19 with a similar issue. See, I don't understand
that Patrick like if I was an engineer, recalls are happening. I would be, I'm going to look at
all my lines, risk and reward of financial, you're right. It's what it is. Yeah, they're all
we don't need it. If they, if the government didn't tell us to do it, don't spend, leave it alone.
What was that scene in fight club? It was like, if the, yeah, that's right.
Now, Salantis goes on to say they're not aware of any accidents or injuries. Like we don't want
that, but maybe some people have been reported. Maybe they thought it was a fluke, you know,
got up in the morning, had coffee, uh, half the ladies out there doing their makeup. I see
you get the makeup done before you get in the ride, but you may have had problems pulling that
shifter out. They'll take care of it. Give them a, either a call or more, more appropriate. Get
on to the website and HTSA.gov and see if that affects you. One more recall before we get to
your weird automotive news. Nissan, I had to do this one and I'll tell you a lot of my fleet
companies, you guys love the vans and you, you buy those vans are inexpensive. I mean,
you can spend money like on a Mercedes Sprinter, but Nissan has that. Pat, I don't know if you've
seen it. It's a smaller van. It is the NV 200. It's a real tiny van. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's a small
affordable van. If you've got a plumber is just starting out that they are recalling those because
of a potential blown fuel pump fuse. Now, what's the specifics? Let me get into it. They're
recalling about 173,000 of the, uh, I don't see many of these in the car. I have. In fact, I've
not to be honest. I've seen them running around the road and V as in Victor 200 little, little
vans, some of more taxes. Yeah. It's a real tiny one. That's small. Yeah. In fact, uh, businesses,
like you said, 100% and the year range was 14 to 17. Uh, actually, let me get it right. Boy,
there's so many different recall covers the 13 to 21 Nissan NV 200, the 14 to 17 and 2019. Okay,
so between 13 and 21, as well as the Chevy city express. Now I've never seen one of those, but
they partnered with, uh, it's not the big X full Chevy expresses memory, the old express, man.
Anyway, about, uh, 5% of the recall population is expected to have the defect. So again, going in
NHTSA, uh, the fuel tank, temperature, sensor, harness may not have been routed correctly in
affected vehicles. Got to know the temperature of fuel. Is the catching fire? Well, again, it will,
it will blow the fuse, which I imagine the recalls, it doesn't say, but I, if it's going to stall or
die in flight, if you're driving on the freeway or worse yet, how many died in the intersection?
You making that left turn, minding your own business in the car, she shuts off at slow
speed in the interstate. Bam, you're done. My grandma died the intersection. No. Oh, okay. No,
man. Don't grandma, don't bring up grandma. Sorry, grandma. Yeah. I was going to say, no. Uh, but
no, that's the serious thing. A lot of people can get T boned and all kinds of stuff in the
intersection. They just had a common problem when they put the fuse box up front for melting the
fuse pump. Yes. That's right. They rerouted it to a different spot. Yeah. So that's, uh,
that harness has not been correctly routed. Again, that's a 13 to 21 NV 200. Uh, the contact may
result in the protective coating wearing away, causing electrical short, long fuel pump views.
This may interfere with the delivery of fuels. Exactly what we're talking about, which is a
loss of power, shuts off, lack of power, whatever. It's going to sputter and die. Good night, Charlie.
That's always been my fears when like left turns. Yeah. I mean, left, left turn is
in general can be risk. The risk goes up. The fear of T bone. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean,
hit in the middle. In theory, if you're taking a left turn, the opposing car is going to hit.
Hopefully you don't have a passenger in your, but it's just left turns. I've told my kids to
really be careful with a left turn. Aiden, you feel confident with your left turns? I do. I do,
but I know a lot of people that definitely aren't. That's, I don't have the stats, but I imagine a
lot of first time drivers, the left turn was, was like the cause of an accident or not in
paying attention or whatnot, you know, texting and driving that sort of thing.
All right. There's your recalls. Aiden, give me some happy dudes. What do you got in the weird
all right? So we all spoil our pets right for the most part. I got way too many, man.
Tell me how come home. It sounds like a zoo. So going into that rolls Royce just built what's
called the specter Bailey, a one off car made to celebrate a, uh, a couple's adorable dog Bailey,
the golden laboratory retriever mix. Wait a minute now. So when you got that kind of money,
you, you can do that apparently. Yeah. So what is this called the rolls Royce? So it's called
the specter Bailey. The whole thing is dripping with canine inspired luxury as, as rolls Royce
called it. Uh, the color matches the dog's ear fur. So like if you, if you actually saw,
but why your fur, not the tails? I mean, well, I mean, that's what I think that I think their
whole thing is the ears. Actually, that's going to be the same color throughout the dog body
itself. Patrick. Officially, this is a crazy story. I'm very intrigued. I want one. So the
ear, the ear color of what kind of, what kind of dog is Bailey golden laboratory retriever mix
and love the laboratories. Yeah. Wow. This is a lucky dog rose gold details featuring actual paw
prints and on the interior and on the door, uh, skin. This is crazy. Not the door skin,
but the inner, the inner track right before the base of the floor. You get in the vehicle,
the door trim. Yeah. I wonder what the dog, the act. I wonder what the dog thinks of this car.
I mean, he probably loves it. He's got his own portrait right in the middle of the passengers.
If we can speak doggy language, he's having a fight with his own portrait that's in the middle
of the two passenger seats there. All dogs go to heaven. We can all agree to that. And when we
meet them in heaven, you know what these dogs, because they can speak English in heaven or
whatever language. No, where were you? No, they're going to call us out. How stupid were you to do
some of the things you did? Actually, I think the dog would feel good, but the owner's got to be
like that's different. Pat, I want to, that's a whole new love right there. I want to meet the
girlfriend of 16 years that drives a Volkswagen Beetle, but the dog got a Rolls Royce. I know.
She should be upset. This is, this is like a whole level of dogs got his own custom Rolls Royce
and the girls over here with a 20, like a 2010 Volkswagen Beetle. Well, listen, I'm looking
at this car and driver article. It's a beautiful, I like Rolls Royce. Put your pickies up.
That spectra was introduced in 24. First, fully electric. That's what makes the spectra.
Really? Yeah. But we reported on it last week. Porsche decided to recant. Porsche was going to
go all out on a full electric. And they decided, oops, no, we're going to hybrid and gas. We made
mention of that. Rolls Royce would be a little more selective. They obviously don't make as many
vehicles, but this is their electric offering. And just the paw prints has got me like, I guess
that's what you would do with that. I mean, the spectra is a beautiful car in general, but the
biggest thing there is the fact that they were like, all right, you know what? I'm going to get
one solely for my dog. Well, listen, we're, hey, when you got money, you can do it. I mean, hey,
if you got your favorite parakeet, I mean, I'm, you've designed a lot of you love your cars.
You love your dogs. We're a dog family and you sacrifice, you know, sometimes they
do stuff in the back and, you know, whatever, but put a little, how many,
Pat, do you ever have a dog with a dog diaper? My wife does the dog diaper thing. Nope. Even
just the sock things are kind of watching them try to walk in those things because they're
well, it does get hot. But I think my family, we need family therapy. How many of you actually
will, we'll put a diaper on your dog? Nope. If you buy it, is that lazy diaper?
Be doing that. That's a nice Rolls Royce. We got that right in a Rolls. Yeah. Yeah. That's a
whole nother story there. Yeah. Anyway, if you want more of that goofiness, you get on a cart
driver.com type in Rolls Royce and you'll get to see that that that's got to be a half a million
dollar situation. Oh, easily. I would think right 300 to 500, you know, for the custom job. Yeah.
Well, not only custom, but it is all electric. Yeah. There's no rebates on that one. Well,
that's true. Not at all. All right. We're talking, you know, we're going to segue from dogs because
most truck drivers, they usually have nice dogs in their trucks, keep them company on those long
halls. We're going to dive in and really get into the underbelly of the trucking industry. You've
heard some nightly news about it. The borderline illegal labor, fake repairs, oversight that may
be needed. How, you know, and you listen to, do you feel safe driving next to a truck? Years ago,
Patrick, it would be, it was known truckers were the safest drivers after all they lived behind
the wheel. Is that still the case? Well, we got trucker Tim, he's going to join us right after
the breaks. They too rent a nation.
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partsauthority.com. Welcome back for information. Always an honor to hang with you right here from
the East Valley Institute of Technology. I got a nice charitable good way to hang out with your
family over at Harold's Corral up in Cave Creek. The 2025 Community Fest is happening October 29
from 5 to 8 p.m. I have two tickets come by the garage. No, you don't have to worry about
getting your car fixed, but Desert Car Cave Cave Creek. I got two tickets. They're $25 face value.
What are we doing? Well, we're raising money for the charitable and a big shout out to all of our
charitable, Foothills Food Bank and Purse Impressions, Desert Foothills Library, Kiwanis Marketplace,
Cave Creek Museum, Caring Corps and the Holland Center. We are raising money that evening at
Harold's Corral. Of course, we're helping sponsor that. There's hardware out there, Carstens,
Desert State Roofing, Tech4Live, Parkway Bank. I got to give these shout outs because these people
took time from their businesses to help initiate what would be, I believe this is the second year,
Community Fest. Get with me at Desert Car Cave Creek. I've got two tickets for you.
That's October 29th. So we always love the charitable. I think small business is the backbone,
Mr. Aden. Absolutely. You know, we get in all this highfalutin stuff and I think small business
can make a difference. True, very true. We're talking about the trucking industry and some of the
hootenannies, the shenanigans that ultimately, you know, I don't even know if it's affecting like
major safety. I didn't go into the stats, but I do want to bring a very experienced trucker who's
behind the wheel as we speak. He is live. Let's bring trucker Tim in if we can.
Hey guys, how's it going? Tim, thanks for joining Ranch Nation. First off, where are you at? What
part of the country are you hanging? I'm in Utah right now. We're getting ready to load up with
turkeys for Thanksgiving. Oh my god. Why'd you remind me, man? We got Thanksgiving. It's another
holiday pressure for the family. But we are diving into some of the, well, can we just get into it?
There's some laws being broken in the trucking industry right now. So it had been quiet,
Tim, for some time and now we're starting to see the nightly news cover it. What do you see
as far as laws? And then we'll get into a bit more of your background and some of your pet peeves
and move on. What laws do you see right now that are being broken while, you know, not mentioning
names? What's the biggest thing that you're seeing regarding the laws out there for trucking?
Well, historically, if we go back the last 10, 15 years, probably even longer than that,
there's been a lot of laws broken. The trucking industry has just turned into the wild wild west
and it's all for money. You know, everything has their roots based in money. The Trump
administration, you know, is tightening up the laws right now, especially with the non-domicile
workers. Well, hold on. Talk to people because some people don't know what is a non-domicile worker.
Right. So a non-domicile worker fits into two categories. It's typically
a foreign national who has a visa to work in the United States for a certain period of time.
When that visa is up, the license should not be reissued, but it has been reissued over the years.
Some states are more lenient in reissuing and not checking somebody's residency
as required by law. So that's one law that's changing. Non-domicile also refers to, let's say,
you have a person in Florida who, say, in the rumorville hears that, oh, it's easy to go to
California and get your CDL. The test is real easy. It's really cheap. You'll be done in a week
and a half and you'll be driving a semi truck. And so it also refers to a person that doesn't
live in the issuing state that they receive their CDL. So those are the two categories that a
non-domicile person would fall into. I got to ask you on that front. All right. So non-domicile,
why would a trucking company favor a non-domicile worker?
Once again, it's all based on money. If a trucking company, and this has happened,
there's a couple of incidents out of Texas where trucking companies were hiring Hispanic
workers from the nearby border and paying them half the money that an American truck driver
would get paid. So when you look at the market rates at how much these loans are paying right now,
the last month or so, the rates have gone up. But since COVID, a lot of trucking companies have
gone out of business. You have Yellow who's in business, I think, 97 years and had to shut their
doors. Specifically, let's talk about Yellow because that's an iconic institution of a trucking
company been around for all those years. Do you attribute as to why they went out of business?
Because they just can't compete with this whole, I mean, why did they go out of business?
I'm not privileged to take a look at and have time to read all of the specific documents related
to that. But I stay up on the news pretty frequently and the low rates are bad right now.
There was another company out of, I believe, Alabama that just laid off 1,000 drivers
because they just couldn't afford to keep running. Those drivers were literally stranded in other
states and no way to get their trucks back and the driver's getting home and return the equipment.
Fuel cards were shut off and drivers are less stranded. So when you have a segment of the
trucking market that is willing to take loads at a cheaper price, the brokers who are issuing these
loads, they thrive off of that because I'm in Utah now. I'll be in Washington state in a few
days delivering a load. When I get to Washington state, my dispatcher and company will look for
a load that goes someplace else. So what happens is a broker or a lot of brokers for a region
know how many trucks are in an area that are available to move loads and they're offering these
loads at ridiculously very, very low rates where a lot of companies are basically taking these
loads for free just so that they can get the truck into a more profitable region of the country
for that time of the year. So the broker is able to make more money and overall the American
companies who are following the hours of service rules and maintaining their equipment professionally,
which is not cheap, it's hard for them to stay afloat. And the last I've read, I think it was
something like 2,000 companies a week were filing bankruptcy and keep in mind these are companies
anywhere from two to five trucks in a company. That's a huge volume. I want to back up a little
bit. You had mentioned we're going to get to the maintenance and sort of how these trucks are
taken care of, but you had mentioned like you can't get behind the truck first. And I speak to
those listening that have no idea about the rules and regulations of driving behind the truck.
Could you talk to us a little bit about some of the laws and regulations surrounding the
electronic logs, the amount of time that I can drive like, you know, get into that because
that's where a lot of it is fractured, my understanding in how folks are breaking the law.
So the trucking industry, and I just read this yesterday online, is the most highest regulated
and government oversight industry in the United States. There are so many laws that govern and
dictate how drivers and trucks, how drivers will drive and how trucks will, you know,
be maintained. There are entire, you know, debt using debt. For example, I've seen
a lot of companies deleting the debt off of there. That's part of the diesel system.
Right. Right. So back in the 70s and 80s, right, remember the trucks with the big black
smoke coming out of the top, you know, we don't, we're not doing that anymore.
Well, we, as youngsters, Pat, we thought that was cool. He would pour in, you know,
his trucks, this blue, black smoke. It's still kind of cool. But now, if you don't know death,
which is an additive that's used to clean up the exhaust system, it's an EPA mandated.
Trucker Tim is talking about how they'll bypass and delete that because sometimes repair that gets
really expensive and the truck will actually time out. But go ahead, Trucker Tim.
Yeah, that's correct. If the system's not functioning properly, your truck will automatically
slow down to roughly 45 miles per hour. That gives you enough speed to get to a shop.
If you don't, your truck's going to go down to maybe 10 miles per hour. And then eventually,
it will shut off in order to save the equipment and the engine.
Personally, driving around the country, I have never, ever had any one of my pieces of equipment
tested to see if the death is, you know, working. If the death system's being used or was it,
you know, was it hooked up to a computer and completely deleted? The fines for this,
for the companies, it's very large, but it's also a very common practice. Not every truck,
but a lot of companies do that to prolong the life of the, what people believe,
you could prolong the life of your engine and save money from buying death fluid, you know,
every time you fill up. So they bypass it? They bypass the entire system, yes. Which is illegal?
Completely illegal. And I'll be honest, I tried to report a company that was doing that. They
wanted me to drive a truck with no, and there's no way I was going to do that because now the
liability's on me, you know, and I would get hefty, you know, fines and it would go on my
driving record. And it was almost impossible to report that type of usage. I tried reporting it,
I was told, oh, you have to go to the environmental, the EPA and report it with them and the online
stuff. It was just, it was a real big hassle, you know, but anyway, you know, we could talk about
repairs, shoddy repairs, I've seen brakes put on upside down. We're going to get to that,
but I want to get back more into getting a sense for the average driver down the road of the
regulations with the, the talk to us about how, how, how many miles can you drive and how many
hours can you be behind the wheel before you got to take a break? I want to talk about that. We
can get into who's, how they're breaking the law there. So a truck driver can work 14 hours a day
in a 24 hour period, you can work 14 hours, and then you have to take a 10 hour break.
So within that 14 hours, let's say you do three hours at a dock getting loaded. So now you have
11 hours of driving that you can do. Let's say tomorrow morning I wake up, my truck's already
loaded. I can drive 11 hours maximum in one 24 hour period, then I have to take a 10 hour break.
How many miles? And I know this would be an average, but how many, what,
how far can you go in 11 hours like without breaking speed? And your average truck is going
to do somewhere around 625, 650 miles. You have places like North Dakota and South Dakota. They're
probably get to 700 miles going through those states. But then you get to Montana and the
mountainous states, you know, you're going 35 miles an hour uphill, you know, probably 40 downhill.
So you're going to lose a lot of time when you're doing the mountain driving.
Does the trucking company that most of these truckers work for, are they good with
about those averages or is the sentiment they want more and more and more? Keep going, going, going, going.
So from a driver's perspective, when we're gone from home for whatever the agreed time is, say
you're going to go out two weeks and then you're going to go back home and take three or four days
off or you're going to stay out for a month and then go back home and take, you know, five days off.
You know, the goal for us is we're out here sacrificing our time. We're away from our family.
We're driving through all kinds of hazardous conditions, snow, ice, blizzards, like conditions,
road closures, detours, you know, navigational problems. It's not just a matter of, you know,
get on the highway, just put your feet up and drive straight. You know, there are a lot of
challenges, especially in the winter months as we're coming close to them.
So the goal for us is to make as much as we can before we get back home. You know, that's what
we're out here for. How was that log detection or the log books, I should say, because years ago it
was just a handwritten, correct? It was like a spreadsheet handwritten kind of thing. So you
have to log and what does that mean? Like what does the log mean to regulation and how are the
logs potentially broken? The ELDs, the electronic logging devices are automatically connected
to the ignition system of the truck. So when I start driving, if I parked, I will be either on
duty or off duty. So as soon as I start driving, the ELD automatically goes into driving mode
and it calculates all of your driving and all of your on duty time right on the app that you're
using. There's no way for a driver to alter that. However, there are a lot of companies
that will get into the system and alter your driving time. That's a big problem because you
just said 11 hours a day. I mean 14 figuring two, three hours at the dock and 11 hours driving.
You're telling me that these are rigged in a way where they can bypass that so a driver can
potentially drive 18 hours a day. Right. So if you can imagine, say, let's say I do a delivery
at 8am at a warehouse, I offload, it takes three or four hours to do that. Then I drive
two hours to go pick up my next load. And then it takes me three hours to get loaded.
But every time you pick up a load, you're going to have to do on average anywhere from
three to five hours of driving to get to where that your load has to be on time. These are very
tight schedules. It's not like you have, you know, 15 hours to goof off and go fish the Yellowstone
River. You know, you're going to be driving and moving as quick as you can to make your appointment
time because if you're late, you could end up paying anywhere from 150 to $400 late fee
out of your pocket. Who pays that? Uh, typically the driver will be responsible.
So I'll give you an example. I'm here in Utah. I checked in a little bit early and the guy I
was talking to said, I'm going to find you $350 for being early. I said, well,
that seems a little unfair. He says, well, it's in the contract. I said, well, I'm the driver.
I don't get to see the contract. He said, well, if you're parked on my property,
you need to get off my bar property, go find someplace to park and then come back at your
appointment time. I took a team. Why is this? I mean, is he trying to make a living off your
back skin or is there a problem with navigating other trucks? It's like a time deal where he
can't have too many. Why do they do that? Each warehouse throughout the country and there are,
I don't know how many tens of thousands of warehouses, they all have their own
different check in and check out procedures. They're not all the same. Some houses or some
warehouses will let you check in one hour before your appointment time. Some will let you check in
three hours before your appointment time and they'll call you when they're, you know, they have a
doctor already available for you. But, you know, as we talk about that, every time a driver is
sitting at these docks for excessive amounts of time, if I have a 2am appointment at a dock
and they don't even get to me until six o'clock at night, that's four hours of my time.
Every driver, we don't get paid for any of that time. We're volunteering our time to offload
this stuff. How many hours a month are you talking about waiting at a dock for the average? Oh,
I would say on a week, I probably sit roughly 25 to 30 hours at docks. And you don't get paid?
No pay at all. Is that industry wide? Is that industry wider? It's an industry wide
practice that needs serious attention because I don't think it's right to give me an appointment
time. If I'm late, you're going to charge me. But then if I sit there for five hours getting loaded
with pears or apples or cherries or turkey or ham, whatever it is, corn, you know, that I have to
lose out on that time. Now keep in mind, all of that time these drivers are sitting at these docks
waiting, their appointment time for delivery remains the same. It doesn't change. So if I'm
waiting four hours, I've now I've got to work, you know, later through the night and still get to
my appointment on time. And it's a it's a really unfair, very common practice in this industry.
Choker Tim Hanksite, Aiden's got a question. Aiden, what do you got? So what I'm basically
hearing is you guys have to be on time. But if you're early, you get punished. If you're late,
you get punished. If the people that are loading you are too slow, you still get punished. If they're
too fast and you still end up at the next location, you get punished. So exactly. So the question is,
if there is almost only you guys getting punished for stuff that the money comes out of your pocket,
not your trucking company, yours, why is it that we still have truckers taking this abuse?
But they're, but they're still expected to make time quotas like, you know, like their genies,
you know what I mean? I compliment him, trucker Tim. So if you go back, like we grew up,
it like the union seemed to be really strong. Pat, I mean, you grown up, those types of
trucking industry union was strong to compliment what what Aiden is saying, Tim, where's the
union? I'm able to imagine the union is freaking out. So okay, we're talking right now, roughly what
330,000 trucking companies in the United States. And you'll have companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi
who belong to a trucking union. But your common carrier is a guy who owns maybe five trucks,
eight trucks. That is your typical trucking company in the country. You have your
megatrucking companies like JB Hunt, Swift, Knight, Walmart, they might have their own unions or no
union at all. So there is the ATA, the American Trucking Association. And I believe they're based
out of Texas. They recently submitted some bills to Congress to try to get them approved. I did not
see one item in there that included this problem with the warehouse times for loading and unloading.
It just it wasn't an issue for them. But for the common blue collar truck driver who's got a
family to take care of, you know, bills to pay and mortgages. And it is an issue because
we get paid when the wheels are turning. Most people get paid with long hauling, you get paid
per mile. Usually the local trucking companies, Coke, Pepsi, some other salad companies,
they're on hourly pay. So... Or like Walmart. I read Tim Walmart has said they'll pay
X amount of like $14 for the waiter. That's an exception. We're talking about the massive
carriers that that's what this conversation is and not the exceptions of some of the
bigger box stores and stuff. Right. But the long hauling part of the trucking industry
is typically paid by mileage. Your flat decks, your dry vans, reefers all get paid per mile. So
all this time, so right if I'm sitting at a dock 25, 30 hours a week, can you imagine how many
miles I could be getting paid had I been driving those hours? So I'll give you an example. When
I got to Utah, it unexpectedly took six and a half hours to unload my truck
and it caused us to lose the next load. I couldn't make it on time. So now we had to wait
for the market to open to look for another load to get me out of Utah to another state.
Why is this? What's with these distribution centers? What would you say is a common problem?
Why are you waiting six hours? It's overbooking and it boils it down to money again.
Do you, does a warehouse want to drive a higher 12 forklift drivers or three?
Right. So the mentality is also what there's, you know, 18 trucks in the parking lot waiting
to get unloaded. That says warehouses just do not care at all. They have, they do their eight,
they hit the gate, they go home, right? The truck driver, we're in the ones in panic like,
oh, you know, we're going to lose the next load and we're going to sit all weekend until the
market opens on Monday. You know, it's a huge impact on the trucking company because we're
losing money. We're losing money every day that the truck doesn't move. And when these warehouses
hold us up, then it puts a big dent in everybody's paycheck.
It makes it difficult. I can see that. I want to go back to just one more point on the domicile
workers. Brokers, so we understand this, that brokers sort of broker where the loads are going.
The carrier will pick up whatever load. Could you talk to us about the competition
within these load rates? How does one trucking company beat another trucking company? I mean,
if we were to talk about business, everybody wants to be competitive,
but how are they able to do it for a whole much less? Like, how does that work out?
Well, if you have a trucking company, let's say you have a group of immigrants that come from
whatever country, typically Eastern Europe or India or some Latin countries. So when they
come to the United States, if they could make $800 to $1,000 a week and live in the truck
with no overhead, no apartment, no house, that's really good money for them. And they send all
that money home. So a trucking company will illegally hire them, say for half the price,
say $0.35, $0.40 a mile. And that driver's happy with it. You know, he's making good money.
What's the going rate for a mile? What did you say right now?
Anywhere from $0.65 to $0.70 a mile for reefer and drive-ins, flat decks,
the guys who haul construction equipment and big bulky items, the oversized loads,
they're making a little bit more, probably 80 to 85 cents a mile.
Now, keep in mind, though, I mean, that equipment has to be loaded on those flat decks. You see
the trucks, they have the tarps. I mean, even bees, you know, you have bee haulers out there.
They load up all these crates of bees. They cover them with a big netting. It's very time consuming
to do all this work to load these flat decks and stuff. So that gives us perspective about
how much they're cutting. So if I have five trucks and I can, I can have a guy in there working for
half, I'm getting that load. I'm going to put Arizona on the spot because there was a gentleman
out of Arizona with a trucking company. He was just on the news roughly four days ago,
and that's what he was doing. And I think he profited about $2 million in two years
off of operating like that. And I'll tell you what, there are drivers out there who don't even
have a CDL. Colorado just did a sting operation, stopped a bunch of trucks,
put some of them out of service for logbook violations, equipment violations,
and one driver did not even have a CDL, was not even qualified to drive the truck.
What, look, so you're in the industry. These are actually somewhat scary points, Patrick,
Teddy's making. How in the end does it affect safety on the roads? Let's address that. And
then we're going to get into the mechanics of, we only have seven minutes. This needs to be like
a two hour gig, but how does it, like, so the average driver's listening to all this and all
that trucking industry has problems. I'm not going to worry about it. What have you seen in your
time? You've been doing this for a long time. That can truly affect the average family driver out there.
You know, my number one advice to all of your listeners and to my own family is I tell them
when you're next to a truck, pass it, slow down, just get away from it. You don't know who worked
on that truck. You don't know how long that driver's been driving. I can't even tell you how many
times over the last 12, 13 years, I've seen a semi just end up in the grass or off the road or
even off bridges. This is stuff I've personally witnessed. I've seen full tire sets come off
of a truck. That's usually lack of lubrication. You find the industry speaking of maintenance,
do they run to failure? I mean, aren't I supposed to take care of my truck on a regular basis?
Isn't that regulation? Yes. So what happens is some companies want their truck
returned to the company's home base. So let's say, for example, I work for a company out of Chicago
and I call the owner, I say, hey, you know, the tires are really bad on this truck.
You know, they're not going to pass inspection if I get inspected. Okay, well, just bring the
truck back to Chicago and we'll replace the tires in Chicago or we'll replace, you know,
or we'll check the brake pads when you get to Chicago or, you know, we'll check everything
when you get back to home base. So they push the drivers to keep driving that way and drivers
should not be doing that. Drivers have to learn to put their foot down and say, no,
I'm not going to risk getting, you know, three flat tires, you know, driving 1200 miles back
to Chicago or Indiana or, you know, New Jersey to get these repairs done. Plus the drivers putting
themselves at risk at getting a ticket for unsafe equipment. And it's very common with
the non-domicile companies. They're always trying to save a few bucks here and there when they can,
putting, Frank, I've seen wheels come off a truck, brake fluid spraying everywhere,
I've seen sparks come from underneath the chassis of semi-trucks. I had a repair done,
the guy put the brakes on backwards, you know, all the brakes had to be redone again,
you know, which will take us into that other segment you were talking about. But non-qualified
technicians, you know, people just being hired to work on these trucks with no certification,
no formal training or schooling at all. Frank, I will tell you an horrible story.
I left the company, took a vacation, when I came back, they said, hey, we gave your truck to somebody
else, we got another one for you. I said, okay, great, let's go. I went, checked out the truck,
nice, clean, low miles. I was driving from Sioux City to Sioux Falls in the early spring,
very high winds that were going through there at the time. I kid you not, Frank, the cab of
the truck was lifting off the frame. It later turned out, long story short, these backyard
mechanics were buying parts from a salvage company and building their own trucks.
Oh my gosh. The truck that I was in was missing, only had two bolts tightened down for the cab.
That's crazy. The other eight or 10 bolts were not secured.
Tim, I got maybe a minute left and we're definitely going to get you back on because I want to dive
into more of this and certainly over the next 30 days, definitely through the remainder of the
year, there's going to be all kinds of stuff. The administration sounds like it's moving and
grooving. You got a minute. What's your favorite part of truck driving?
Getting to see the entire country, meeting good people along the way.
Never been to Louisiana before, but I love going there. The Cajun food is just great
down there. People are really nice. Same with North, South Carolina, Alabama. I love going
down to Arizona when I can. It's a nice opportunity to see how great of a country that we actually
live in. Man, that's solid. Patrick, man. I feel like I want to start.
That's a good answer. Well, we thank you for your time, Tim, spending with Wrench Nation.
We'll definitely have you back. There's so much more to talk about. Thank you so much.
We appreciate your time on Wrench Nation. You're welcome, guys. Enjoy the holidays.
Be safe. We don't give our truckers enough credit. For you, if you are, I mean, he was pretty
drastic about if you're near a truck, just like get in and out. It used to be truckers were the
safest. I mean, it is what they, I don't know. I mean, but he's on it. He sees it. And so this
is a big shout out to all the truckers. We have a lot of truckers that live to the, listen to the
podcast. It is not an easy industry. And let me tell you, when I get my banana, I get my cherry,
I get my wood. I think about you guys. So hang in there. We're going to wrap it up Wrench Nation.
Patrick, thank you for joining us. Thank you guys. We're going to open it up more, Eden. Thank you
for hanging out. As I tell you every week, be safe. Hug each other and never forget the Hogan
mechanic.
Girl, I need you there with you. What would I do for without you?
She put your love into these. Girl, I know you feel no shame. Just let this be.
Girl, I love you very much. She needs me all about you.
About this episode
Delving into the complexities of the trucking industry, this episode exposes the challenges of illegal labor practices, inadequate oversight, and the impact on safety. Trucker Tim shares firsthand experiences about the consequences of hiring non-domicile workers and the financial pressures that lead to unsafe practices. The discussion also highlights the struggles truck drivers face with long wait times at docks, the burden of regulations, and the importance of proper vehicle maintenance. With insights into recalls and the industry's future, this episode offers a revealing look at the underbelly of trucking.
Original notes
This week on WrenchNation, we’re joined by Trucker Tim — a seasoned long-hauler who’s witnessed it all: the grit, the grind, and the growing dangers inside today’s trucking world. America’s economy rolls on eighteen wheels, but what happens when those wheels start coming off?From illegal labor to shady maintenance shortcuts and companies cutting corners just to survive — the cracks are widening.This isn’t just a trucking crisis. It’s a road-safety wake-up call for every driver out there.
Wrench Nation
Frank Leutz
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