Magazine Contents
Editor's Page
Fine tuning
When Fleet Owner was founded in the 1920s it was written for people like my grandfather who managed maintenance for bus and transit companies. Barnie...
Management: In Box
HOS rules intact for now
Saying that they are fully committed to issuing an hours-of-service final rule this year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) offered...
Rodeo salutes technicians
Rush Truck Centers held its second annual technician skills rodeo in Nashville last month, part of a multi-pronged effort by the nationwide chain of Peterbilt...
Talking with Marvin
W. Marvin Rush is the founder and chairman of Rush Enterprises, a publically traded $2.4-billion collection of commercial truck and equipment sales and...
Teamsters, YRC agree to tentative labor deal
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) and TMI/YRC Worldwide, which includes Yellow Freight, Roadway, and USF Holland, have agreed to a tentative...
The Oklahoma crew
Recently, I got the opportunity to look inside the working life of today's diesel truck technician courtesy of three top-notch pros Matt Wheeler, Pat...
Driver-driven compensation
Tasked with blending two compensation packages, Contract Freighters, Inc. (CFI), a Con-way company, made the most of the challenge and went directly to...
Fleet Owner taps Lawrence, Neil
Fleet Owner Publisher Tom Duncan has announced that Reggie Lawrence has assumed the position of National Sales Manager and Tom Neil has been promoted...
The Bottom Line
Over the years, Ken Simonson has provided a most valuable perspective on the economic issues impacting fleets through his monthly column, The Bottom Line....
Management: Green Roads
Park it
To take care of New York City's 29,000 acres of parks, playgrounds, ball fields, beaches, natural areas and street trees, the Dept. of Parks & Recreation...
More to energy bill than meets the eye
The 35-mpg federal fuel standard for cars that is the centerpiece of the energy bill that President Bush signed into law last month has caught the world's...
Insurance fleet launches green initiative
The Co-operators Group Ltd., a multi-product insurance company owned by 37 Canadian co-operatives, credit unions and like-minded organizations, recently...
First out of the gate
Line production of International Truck & Engine's DuraStar Hybrid has been under way since November, making it the first OEM to build hybrid-drive commercial...
Hybrid use up in Europe
The use of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) is increasing dramatically across the world, far exceeding sales forecasts. In Europe, for example, Fed-Ex...
NYC's City Harvest adds green truck
City Harvest, which collects excess food from restaurants, grocers, company cafeterias and manufacturers and then delivers it to community food programs...
Ryder rolls out green tractors
Ryder System announced the availability of its RydeGreen line of tractors and trailers, designed to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions....
Management: First Person
Please run for president
It's almost a year until the U.S. presidential election. That means Americans have about ten more months of candidates' speeches, debates, accusations...
Management: Feature
OUTLOOK '08 Hard to Read
Truck fleet managers driving for success in 2008 will have to keep eyes and ears wide open to steer successfully through an economic landscape whose features...
Management: Safety Matters
Step by step
Change is never easy. The significance of that statement, simplistic as it seems, became very real for me recently when a long-time acquaintance was involved...
Management: Private Fleets
Value added
One of the largest producers of customer proprietary plastic containers, the Plastipak Packing Co. has operated a private fleet of trucks since l984 under...
Management: Economics
Bailout bonanza
The federal government's housing bailout may be setting us up for a harder fall the next time around. It could have some unintended consequences that...
Management: Closing the Deal
Turbulent times
During an industry function in Canada a couple of months ago, some colleagues and I got to chin-wagging about the sorry state of the trucking business...
Equipment: Nuts & Bolts
Tundra expands lineup for '08
Looking to the needs of commercial users, the 2008 Toyota Tundra has expanded availability of the base-level interior from just its Regular Cab to both...
J.D. Power on mediums
For the second consecutive year, the J.D. Power and Associates Medium-Duty Truck Customer Satisfaction Study ranked Peterbilt highest in conventional...
Meritor Wabco unveils new trailer stability system
Meritor Wabco Vehicle Control Systems has introduced the third generation of its Roll Stability Support trailer system, RSSplus. Designed specifically...
Utility preps trailers for hybrid reefers
Utility Trailer Manufacturing Co. is offering a new prep package for trailers equipped with hybrid refrigeration units. Based on the company's 3000R refrigerated...
UltraShift gets park pawl option
Eaton Corp.'s UltraShift HV (highway value) medium-duty transmissions are now available with a park pawl option that securely locks the transmission to...
Bulletins
Warren Truck & Trailer recently introduced the FW-45 elevating fifth wheel for moving and spotting trailers. Appropriate for on/off applications, the...
ArvinMeritor looks to the future
At a presentation for analysts in Manhattan last month, Chip McClure, chairman, CEO & president of ArvinMeritor Inc., pointed out that the North American...
Long-life axle fluid
Shell Lubricants is now offering a synthetic, long-life axle fluid, Spirax ASX R SAE 75W-90, which it says contributes to improved fuel economy, as well...
Equipment: Light & Medium Report
The biggest Ram yet stands out
A At first glance, the silver 2008 Ram 5500 chassis-cab outfitted with a Reading dump body parked a tad rakishly outside Danbury (CT) Dodge looked like...
Driving impressions: Muscle truck
Supreme lands Budget deal Truck body builder Supreme Industries has been awarded a new fleet contract by Budget Truck Rental, valued in excess of $10...
Equipment: Tire Tracks
Know your vendors
One of the best things about the truck tire industry today is that there is more consistency in quality than at any other time in history. Between computers,...
Equipment: Feature
OUTLOOK 08: Shifting Specs
For Paul Will, deciding whether or not to change his fleet's tractor specs hinges on how much overall value they bring to the bottom line. If the specs...
Equipment: Hardware Report
what's new in: Retreads
Choosing the right retread for a specific truck application has gotten a lot simpler for fleets. For one thing, with Bridgestone's acquisition of Bandag...
Equipment: Maintenance Bay
Small changes, big savings
Automatic greasers and special oil filters make a difference Manager: Joe DeMarlie Title: Owner and president Fleet: DeMarlie Trucking, Reynolds, IL Operation:...
Equipment: Vocational Profile
Passes inspection
When you're carrying hazardous industrial, medical and specialty compressed gases like Airgas NCN (Northern California and Nevada region) does, safety...
Information Technology: truck.com
Tire management simplified
Wireless technology has advanced the science of tire tracking to the point that these expensive assets can literally be self-managed, according to Arsenault...
IT's impact on sales
According to CargoWise edi, a provider of integrated supply chain management systems, information technology investments can not only improve operational...
Managing sleepy drivers
While there are a number GPS-based fleet management systems on the market, the FOLO System from Effective Control Transportation's (ECT) also includes...
Constant contact
Sars Corp. has introduced the RoadTrac fleet tracking service, which uses the integrated satellite and land-based GPRS SureLinx wireless terminal from...
Warehouse training for drivers
Instructional Technologies Inc. has added a new suite of thirteen lessons for training in OSHA and Workplace Safety practices to its Pro-TREAD and Pro-TREAD...
GPS automates tax reporting
McLeod Software has announced the GPS Fuel Tax Module for its LoadMaster enterprise transportation management system. The module utilizes GPS position...
Standards still the issue for RFID
While RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) has begun to make inroads in trucking, adoption has been slowed by competing standards known as Ultra High...
off the wire
Arsenault Associates and U.S. Bank Voyager Fleet Systems have created the Dossier Fleet Card, a new fleet fuel and maintenance purchasing program for...
Information Technology: Feature
OUTLOOK '08 More data, better data
The 2008 outlook for information technology in trucking is fairly simple fleets will be collecting more data than ever before. It will be higher quality...
The State of Trucking
Welcome to the first installment of Fleet Owner's Small Business Review for 2008, a monthly series designed specifically to help small trucking companies...
The Last Word
The Last Word
Silver calendar The Shell Rotella SuperRigs calendar hits the quarter-century mark this year. To commemorate that milestone, the calendar includes a 25th...
