Transflo’s ELD inventory is a bright light for the trucking industry as the sun sets on 3G wireless devices, according to Fleet Equipment.
“We’ve been preparing and have sufficient inventory for our customers who will sunset our legacy Transflo T7 and G7 ELDs, as well as enough ELDs for new customers wanting to make the switch to Transflo,” said Senior VP of Strategy Doug Schrier. “Orders can be expedited so fleets and owner-operators have time to swap out units.”
Transflo’s T-Series is a plug-and-play ELD and installs in a just a few steps. “It’s very simple,” Doug says, “even for fleets that want to have their drivers make the change on the road.”
President Biden says his administration’s Trucking Action Plan will “allow aspiring drivers to earn while they learn, while making this essential job more attractive to potential drivers regardless of age, background and gender.”
The key, of course, is keeping those drivers in the profession. The Dept. of Transportation is targeting detention to keep trucks rolling and drivers safer and happier on the job. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is pushing for something more substantive: the repeal of the overtime exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act so truck drivers can be compensated for all of their time.
The detention message was amplified by HBO’s John Oliver, whose Last Week Tonight show on Sunday focused on driver pay and unpaid delays. Even if you don’t appreciate his sense of humor, Oliver shows why detention and burnout are no joke to truck drivers.
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance asked trucking regulators to include a maximum time and/or mileage limit to the definition of personal conveyance under federal hours-of-service rules.
Personal conveyance is when a driver operates a commercial vehicle for personal use while off duty. It’s confusing for not only truck drivers but also enforcement personnel because it’s hard to verify whether personal conveyance time claims are legitimate. CVSA says a driver could travel hundreds of miles over several hours to reposition a truck under the designation of personal conveyance, using the vague guidance to avoid hours-of-service violations.
FMCSA denied a similar request by CVSA in 2020, saying that the issue didn’t merit a fresh round of rulemaking. CVSA says false records-of-duty status violations were the third-most documented driver violation in 2021.
Last year, large American manufacturers sent procurement bids for chemicals, produce, construction materials and other goods from six times as many suppliers based in Mexico as they did in 2020, according to a new survey from software firm Jaggaer. At the same time, the number of suppliers in China that received bids declined by 9% in 2021.
More companies are looking at “nearshoring” to bolster supply chain resilience and reliability in a climate of COVID-19 outbreaks, plugged ports, extreme weather and geopolitical conflicts.
A separate survey of 2,000 U.S. and U.K. chief executives by London-based procurement and supply chain consulting firm Proxima Group found that 15% had moved production closer to their home countries or sourced from suppliers in nearby regions, and 26% were considering it.