It does not take a trucking expert to understand that hauling double trailers takes a lot more skill and finesse than a single. How can drivers haul more freight while reducing crashes? The state of North Dakota plans to have its legislature discuss the topic in January. The Great Debate The way things are now […]
The United States government is a complicated system. In a short summary relating to truckers, the president appoints the Secretary of the Department of Transportation, who then manages the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). It is a tall building where it may feel as though the limit of trucker input is voting for the […]
On September 29th, truckers will breathe a sigh of relief as FMCSA hours-of-service regulations are loosened and allow more leeway to the driver. If you have been delivering for the many various State of Emergencies that have plagued 2020, you may have forgotten what the changes to the hours-of-service regulations entail. Here is a refresher […]
It seems as though every trucking industry change is taken to court at some time or another. This time, it is a change that most truckers are looking forward to: the changes in hours-of-service regulations. Intended to provide added flexibility to a trucker’s daily work, the hours-of-service changes are being challenged by safety groups arguing […]
Either in spite of, or because of, all the crazy events happening in 2020, trailer sales for the recent months have been going up, up, up. We at TopMark Funding wrote in an article for July trailer sales, saying, “It will be interesting to see where August stands on the scale.” That data is officially […]
Another month has gone by since we last reported on the coronavirus pandemic affecting job numbers. Although the pandemic appears to not have an end in sight, society as a whole has become acclimated to the pandemic, and things are returning slightly back to normal. Some people are going back to work (albeit working from […]
Every month for a while now, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has been extending the State of Emergency by another month. The FMCSA has decided to take a more proactive approach, and as of September 11th the State of Emergency has been extended until the end of the year. The Details You can […]
Between COVID-19, hurricanes, and now wildfires, it seems the whole United States is in a constant state of emergency. There is little need to worry though, truckers have the means to get us through these hard times. Even more so because, like for the hurricanes before it and the coronavirus pandemic going on now, the […]
Get Cash Back From the IRS 2020 has been a tumultuous year, to say the very least. Fortunately, the United States government has many programs in place to help provide relief for its citizens. One such example that is likely to get additional use this year is Section 179, a tax deduction for businesses to […]
If you have been following trucking industry news before the coronavirus pandemic hit the forefront, you may remember that Congress debated the DRIVE Safe Act. Apparently that bill died in the halls of Congress, because truckers under the age of 21 still cannot haul freight via semi-truck across state lines. The FMCSA wants to give […]
Pardon the pun, but the trucking industry is on a roll. Trucking sales rose for yet another consecutive month. The Data Two studies, one from the Freight Transportation Research Associates (FTR) and the other from Americas Commercial Transportation Research Company (ACT), tell ever so slightly different stories. ACT estimates Class 8 truck sales for the […]
We at TopMark Funding have written about the AB-5 bill before. In the last article covering the bill, we talked about how U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez issued a preliminary junction against it, meaning that until the lawsuit between the State of California and the California Trucking Association (CTA) is resolved, the default position is […]
The DAT numbers are in for August, and it is a good time to be a trucker. Though the trendline slopes are still downward, that very well can change in the future, as August 2020 marks the fourth month in a row where all three categories of freight have risen from the previous month (Reefer […]
Alphabet Inc., known primarily for their Google search engine and YouTube video platform, has a subsidiary known as Waymo. Waymo has two wings, Waymo One for typical four-wheel driving of passenger vehicles, and Waymo Via, where they are testing the technology in 18-wheelers for long distance deliveries.Waymo is still a far way away from making […]
In the early hours of Thursday, August 27th, Hurricane Laura hit the eastern Gulf Coast of the United States. It first hit land in Louisiana, eventually touching Texas, Arkansas, and Alabama. A category 4 hurricane, Laura has winds reaching 150 MPH but not quite reaching the 156 MPH needed to be a category 5 like […]
It is a secret to absolutely nobody that there has been a pandemic for the past six months or so. The federal government, especially the White House, has been making efforts to reduce not only the health effects of COVID-19, but the secondary collateral effects on the economy as well. This scenario the world finds […]
Whether you are a fleet owner hoping to add a new Kenworth medium-duty truck to your fleet, or a dealer hoping to add some variety to your dealership lot, your decisions in regards to T270s and T370s just became much more varied. The Default Before we go into the new options for your truck, it […]
Pollution is bad. Nobody would reasonably argue against this. Anyone who lives in or has recently driven through TopMark Funding’s home state of California can see the dense smoke haze covering the state, giving headaches to anyone foolish enough to go outside without a face mask for even a small handful of minutes. How timely […]
The United States government operates as an agreement between 50 individual states, as well as the country as a whole, called the federal level. The states help the federal, and the federal helps the states, whenever assistance is needed. On Wednesday, August 19th, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced that it would be […]
The race to get a viable fully electric heavy-duty truck is still on, but the lower difficulty challenge of doing the same for medium-duty trucks appears to be coming to a close. Now, Peterbilt Motors Company joins the lineup of electric vehicles in the Class 6 and Class 7 markets, thanks to the Peterbilt Model […]
The numbers are in. We had written about June trailer sales at approximately this same time last month, and Freight Transportation Research (FTR) has released its latest data for new trailer sales. July 2020 shattered all expectations.By the NumbersIt does not take a trucking industry expert to imagine that the coronavirus pandemic caused new trailer […]
Cummins and Navistar International announced on August 10th their plans to continue working together in a partnership, as they have for over eighty years.Working in UnisonMost truck companies, such as Volvo and PACCAR, build their own engines in house, for both cost savings and to ensure all of the parts work together. Navistar International prefers […]
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration state of emergency has been extended for another month. This is the fifth extension, set to last until September 14th, but may be extended yet again.Changes MadeYou can read the declaration in full on the FMCSA declaration’s webpage. In summary, the exemption for hours-of-service has been extended, with a […]
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, normally having their International Roadcheck in June, scheduled it this year for May 5th to 7th. Later, it was postponed until further notice as a result of a certain worldwide pandemic. Now, the CVSA has decided that the pandemic has cooled down enough where having the event to improve safety […]
Apparently April to May was the lowest point of the coronavirus pandemic, as demand for shipped goods and materials continued its ascent for the third consecutive month (two for dry van), and all three forms of freight are at their 2020 highs.DAT speculates the current month’s rates as it is happening, and while August is […]
Not too far back, we wrote about how Love’s is requiring face masks in all of its over 500 locations. Now, Pilot company (Pilot and Flying J) and TravelCenters of America (TA and Petro) are following suit.Desperate Times; Desperate MeasuresThe declarations from the three companies comes off the heels of various state governments once again […]
We have written a lot about zero-emission trucks, but when it comes to hauling perishable goods such as frozen foods, tractors are only half of the equation. The reefer unit also needs to use energy in order to offset the second law of thermodynamics (that is, keep cold items cold). Wabash National, a manufacturer of […]
If you are a trucker that keeps track of anything related to regulations, you know about the FMCSA’s ELD Mandate. As of December 2019, all non-exempt trucks (exempt trucks including ones that tow other cars, among others) are required to have a compliant electronic logging device (ELD) to track various factors of driving data. The […]
Here is something we do not get to write about very often; TopMark Funding finances passenger vehicles as well as cargo vehicles.The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on July 15th that it is removing some old regulations in a cost-saving effort.“This rule will remove outdated and overly burdensome reporting requirements on commercial buses that don’t […]
The coronavirus pandemic sweeping the nation has taken its toll on the trucking industry, but the federal government will not let the industry collapse without a fight. Through the Payroll Protection Program (PPP), which is part of the CARES Act, trucking companies both big and small have applied for loans to keep goods moving, loans […]
You might remember that at the beginning of 2020 we compiled annual reports from the American Trucking Associations (ATA) all the way back from 2003. The ATA generates a new report for the year prior in the middle of summer, and it is that time of year again: the ATA has a new report.Data AnalyticsThe […]
We wrote about this before, how trucking levels were on the brink of being above the price per mile before the pandemic hit. Now we can finally bust out that champagne: we are now above February’s rates!Above and BeyondNow at this point you are probably thinking this is hardly a cause for celebration; February is […]
Electric vehicles are intricate machines, but eventually due to the laws of physics such as that blasted conservation of energy, the vehicles need to be recharged with juice after some amount of traveling. Emining, a Swiss technology company focusing on the mining and quarry industry, has come up with an ingenious way to have dump […]
On Tuesday, June 23rd, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration chief Jim Mullen said his agency is looking into potential violations regarding rate transparency among brokers. The statement comes from the FMCSA’s session at the Truckload Carrier’s Association’s Virtual Safety and Security Meeting. The event was moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. The “Changes” We […]
You may remember that TopMark Funding wrote about the INVEST in America Act in the past. What we know now is that the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has deliberated on it further. They went through over 24 hours of debate and more than 175 different proposed amendments. The finished bill was an act […]
We have written about AB-5 and its federal counterpart before. The law, intended to curb workplace abuse by making it harder to classify a worker as an independent contractor, has legal issues for owner-operators hoping to work under a larger carrier such as Landstar. If this is you and you were worried about losing your […]
Normally we at TopMark Funding provide updates for freight rates monthly, however, we bring news that is too good not to share. The rates are closely approaching the numbers they were before the pandemic began (pre-pandemic), and for reefers have already passed the point. The Graphs The rates for all three forms of freight (dry […]
President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order No. 13924,85 FR 31353 on May 19th, 2020. This directed federal agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to take action in fighting not just the coronavirus pandemic, but the economic damages resulting from the pandemic as well. One way the FMCSA took action was to suspend […]
TopMark Funding has been writing about COVID-19 for well over three months now, even before the World Health Organization (WHO) officially announced it as a pandemic. As time goes on and the general populace has stayed at home as long as it could to “flatten the curve”, the evidence seems to be piling up that […]
The numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) are in: the for-hire trucking sector of the U.S. economy lost 1,200 jobs in May. Furthermore, the trucking industry total employment, 1,431,000, was the lowest it has been since November 2014. This is despite the U.S. economy as a whole gaining 2.5 million jobs. By themselves, […]
With Tesla delaying the Semi for another year, it appears to be that the Nikola Motor Company (also named after electrical inventor Nikola Tesla) is the frontrunner to get a fully electric semi-truck to market. Their chances just increased immensely when they finished performing a reverse merger with VectoIQ Acquisition that will also raise at […]
The month of May resulted in some interesting phenomena for the trucking industry: usually when it comes to dry van, flatbed, and reefer hauling, the rates all change in the same direction. This has been a crazy year, which leads to some crazy changes.For May, the reefer rate average rose, most likely due to the […]
TopMark Funding not only finances trucks and trailers, but also other forms of business equipment, such as machines used in construction. The machines we will focus on in this article are not necessary per se, but in terms of time and sweat saved are invaluable to any construction operation.BricklayerFashioning a brick road the old-fashioned way […]
With the national emergency suspension of hours-of-service now lasting through June 14th, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants to fulfill its purpose of maintaining safe truck operations without risking its agents contracting COVID-19. To do this, the FMCSA is issuing guidance about how they plan to do compliance reviews remotely. Remote Control Although systems […]
The Texas Department of Transportation (DOT) has released a study detailing their findings regarding truck parking spots, taking place over 2018 and 2019.If you travel interstate as a trucker, there is an extremely high chance you will eventually find yourself in Texas. With over a quarter-million square miles of land, the state is the […]
The Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration has announced an extension to the hours-of-service suspension. It was first declared on March 13th and originally extended from April 12th to May 15th, and is being extended again to June 14th. The Applicable Shipments Not all trucks on the road get the privilege of ignoring hours-of-service until the […]
Caterpillar Inc. manufactures dump trucks (lovingly referred to as off-highway trucks), complete with their in-house engines to get the job done. In this article we will be going over the specifications for their most popular engines, that is, those that appear most often in their dump truck models. The full list, complete with over eighty […]
Although it may be tiring to hear about COVID-19 each and every day, it appears that the pandemic may be coming to an end soon. The trucking industry may return to normal, but a new normal from how the trucking industry was in January 2020. What changes will be permanent? Online Interaction The need for […]
So you want to advance your career in the trucking industry and earn a little extra money to improve your life. Any of these positions, with the right expertise, can be lucrative positions to have.10. RecruiterNot a job behind the wheel of a truck, but a trucking job nonetheless. With a driver shortage in the […]
We at TopMark Funding have not been giving you the statistics for average freight rates lately, as we have been writing extensively about more immediate topics such as the Coronavirus. Now that it appears the pandemic is reaching the declining end of the curve, we can get back into the swing of things for normal […]
On March 23rd, a coalition of automotive dealers, including the American Truck Dealers (ATD), sent a letter to President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Cabinet members, and the Governors of all fifty states asking for “essential status” for dealerships in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.The Letter to the GovernmentThe letter outlines the coalition between […]
To Our Valued Customers We hope you and your family are safe and in good health. During this uncertain time related to the COVID-19 pandemic, we want to assure you that TopMark Funding remains open and ready to serve you. We recognize that with the constantly changing situation around the world, this is an unprecedented […]
Every year millions of U.S. businesses utilize some sort of working capital product to help grow or sustain their business when they need additional cash flow to do so. Due to the natural risk that is present when lending what is essentially cash, working capital can be expensive — however, expensive doesn’t mean it can […]
We recently wrote about how Mack and Volvo Group suspended truck production due to COVID-19 fears, now it appears that other truck builders are following in their footsteps. Recently, Paccar and Navistar International announced that they are also halting production. Both have announced two-week shutdowns, with a Paccar representative saying, “[we] will continue to provide […]
Mack Trucks and Volvo Group both announced on Friday that they were going to cease assembly operations due to the coronavirus. “We have decided to temporarily suspend production as part of the effort to slow the spread of the virus in our communities.” Mary Beth Halprin, vice president of public relations, Volvo Group, said. “During […]
From January to March (and especially February), when the holidays have passed but it is too early for produce to ripen, the trucking industry has its slow season. Here are our tips to help you survive this troubling time. Slow Season is Hiring Season Because the slow season has a low number of miles to […]
Keeping track of a large number of trucks simultaneously was once impossible. Fortunately, modern technology has streamlined live information regarding fleets in an easy to digest format. Using fleet management software is more of an investment than an expense: with due diligence, the money saved on fuel, maintenance, and safety make the systems pay for […]
In the previous month of February, Alabama was hit with flooding and a State of Emergency was declared. It seems with the new month, natural disasters are heading north to Tennessee, where a tornado hit Nashville in the first few days of March. Like with Alabama, a State of Emergency has been declared that suspends […]
If you have read any article about the transportation industry in the past few years, there is a high chance you have heard about a trucker shortage. Even the American Trucking Association (ATA) has been on record to say that there are not enough people hauling freight. “Over the past 15 years, we’ve watched the […]
Tires without air might not just be a luxury for push lawn mowers anymore. Bridgestone was at the 2020 Technology & Maintenance Council Annual Meeting and Transportation Technology Exhibition in Georgia. It announced that it was working on air-free tires for trailers. The design, shown below, is most likely patented with its unique design of […]
This February has been a tumultuous time for the state of Alabama. The state has been overrun with rampant flooding. Governor Kay Ivey has declared a State of Emergency. This will temporarily suspend regulations that can get in the way of providing victims with proper disaster relief. “The significant amount of rain that has fallen […]
One consistency in the trucking industry that seems to be as common as the sun rising in the east is that February is the month of the year with the lowest national average spot rates. In a way, it is refreshing to see the average rates in mid-February be only a slight drop, with just […]
Trucking is a dangerous job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the transportation industry has the second highest fatal work injury rate per 100,000 workers (14), behind only agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting (23.4). Additionally, transportation and warehousing has the second highest amount of non-fatal injury rate per 100,000 workers (4500), beaten again by […]
Buying a semi-truck, whether you are buying it for yourself in the jump from company driver to owner-operator, or for an employee as you jump from owner-operator to fleet owner, will be one of the biggest decisions anyone makes in their trucking career. It is not a decision to be taken lightly. It costs money […]
Navistar officially started progress on spending $125 million to expand its engine manufacturing plant in Huntsville, Alabama. They held a groundbreaking ceremony on February 11th, 2020. They also hinted that they will use the new space, to build their own powertrains, cooperating with Traton Group to make this a reality.Navistar International Plant ExpansionNavistar Big Bore […]
Though USMCA may sound like the acronym for an offshoot of the Marine Corps, in this context it stands for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The shipping of goods between the United States, Canada, and Mexico is bound to affect the trucking industry. History of the USMCA Before we understand USMCA, we must first know the […]
We here at TopMark Funding covered WEX fuel cards as one of the best fuel cards in the market, but it appears there is a downside to being the most popular fuel card in the country. On the night of February 4th, 2020, WEX cards were not accepted at diesel pumps across the country. Hitting […]
In early 2019, Volvo Group, the parent company of Mack Trucks, started mysteriously posting job listings to hire engineers in the Salem/Roanoke area of Virginia. Volvo declined to comment about the job listings other than to say they would fulfill “future business needs”, but Jon Harris of the Morning Call predicted that Mack Trucks may […]
To many in the trucking industry, a semi-truck that gets 10 miles per gallon (MPG) at a full load seems like a fantastic pipedream. Of course, in the early years of the trucking industry, when trucks received 2 to 3 miles per gallon, the idea of 5 miles on a gallon of diesel also seemed […]
In our last article, we talked about the change in total revenue and weight hauled over time in the trucking industry. To compile that data took deep-diving into the American Trucking Associations’ article posts, years into the past. Today, we at TopMark Funding are saving even more time than before, going deep into DAT Solutions’ […]
In an earlier article, we discussed the credit statistics of owner-operators who apply for credit and the connection between FICO score and the likelihood of an owner-operator getting the deal they want. We are going to ramp things up this time around and compare the credit and funding of owner-operators versus fleet owners and see […]
Amazon Vs the Trucking Industry Free two-day shipping was just turned into free one-day shipping. It seems almost too good to be true, but it is what Amazon Prime is offering its members. While they were unveiling their new speedy shipping, Amazon discreetly unveiled their freight brokerage platform. You can see the new service at […]
Find The Best Loan For Your Business: The Basics Small business owners know the struggle that can possibly come with finding the best loan for your company. If you’re a business owner, you may have already attempted to go through your local bank to try to secure a loan. The result? Maybe you were hit […]
Gas prices. There are few things that can make you groan as much as passing by a gas station and seeing that high price tag on gas. If you run a semi truck or are looking to finance one, the same goes for you, but double. Big Rigs aren’t known for their fuel efficiency. Just […]
When you’re just starting out, the business world is a scary place. You have marketing plans, employees, insurance, money, and just about everything on your mind. Equipment financing should be easy and simple. And it shouldn’t be something that you skip out on due to fearing that it will take too long or […]
You’ve heard the news: the trucking industry is growing low on drivers. With life-long truckers nearing retiring age, the drivers in the field are starting to dwindle. Not only that, young people aren’t stepping up to replace the jobs of the retirees. Even with huge bumps in salary offered to them, the long hours […]
So you need a business loan. Hey, that’s a good thing! Your business is growing. It’s time to get the capital you need to keep the progress going. But you might find yourself a little bit stuck. What are the business loan requirements ahead of you? Maybe you don’t even know the first step of […]
What is the DRIVE-Safe Act? Is it necessary? Well, something’s happening in the trucking industry: fewer and fewer people are signing up. There’s a huge shortage of truck drivers that’s been steadily climbing, and doesn’t show signs of stopping. Drivers earn on average about 80,000 dollars. But still, no one wants to do it. The lifestyle […]
It’s something that no one wants to hear: gas prices are rising. Perhaps you’re fixing that tire on your bike or gearing up to buy yourself an electric car. But rising oil prices are affecting more than just your daily commute to work. For people in the trucking industry, almost their entire job is driving. That […]
There’s a new federal rule out there that’s making waves in the commercial trucking industry. The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, FMCSA, first proposed the rule in 2014. Even then, it was met with controversy. The law requires that anyone driving a commercial truck must use an electronic logging device, or an […]
It’s a four letter word that strikes fear and makes people’s stomachs sink, no matter who you are: debt. But there’s a big word that small businesses especially fear: bankruptcy. If you’re a small business owner and you’re looking at a lot of debt, this could be a reality that you’re trying to find anything to […]
The Big Question: Do I Buy New Or Used Equipment? When it comes to decisions for your business, you always want to make the most financially sound decision possible. Purchasing large equipment such as semi trucks can be an overwhelming decision unless you do your research. When you know exactly what to buy and have […]
Cash is king. This expression, some say a favorite expression of self-made billionaire Alex Spanos, can not be understated nor can it likely be disputed by anyone that has ever been responsible for running a business. This blog is going to discuss the consequences of businesses having a lack of cash and in what circumstances […]
