Voice Of GO(r)D

Voice Of GO(r)D is very happy to bring you another academic who has spent a great deal of his life studying the trucking industry, and who also started out behind the wheel. University of Minnesota-Morris Economics Professor Stephen Burks joins the show to share with us the findings of some of his studies, what undergirds many issues in the industry, and stories from his life on the road back in the 1970s. You can find Professor Burks online - https://twin-cities.umn.edu/news-events/expert/stephen-burks https://www.iza.org/person/1883/stephen-v-burks His research project on driver turnover - https://morris.umn.edu/academics/truckers-turnover-research-project And a list of many of Professor Burks great research papers - https://morris.umn.edu/academics/truckers-turnover-research-project/results Professor Burks most recent paper we discussed on the pod - https://docs.iza.org/dp16477.pdf The American Compass piece I mentioned in the intro - https://americancompass.org/crash-and-churn/ Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com Subscribe to my substack and never miss any written content, or this podcast - https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/

Voice of GO(r)D is happy to present in conversation Mr Dwayne Stovall, candidate for Congress from Texas who happens to have a long history in trucking, especially hauling around heavy equipment for the oil industry, and his own construction company. Dwayne has a deep understanding of problems in the business, and brings a lifetime of local political involvement to bear, along with many years of international business experience from trading in heavy equipment around the world.The real driver shortage in America resides in Congress, where far too many careerist politicians with no connection nor experience in the real world make life difficult for the rest of us who do operate in reality land. If you live in Texas CD 9, why not consider Dwayne to be your representative?You can find out all about Dwayne, his life experiences, and his commitments to the people of Texas over on his website -https://www.dwaynestovall.com/index.phpDwayne is also on Twitter - https://x.com/DwayneStovallAnd here is a special message from Dwayne to his fellow truckers and Texans - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mQioUL0VHgQuestions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are always welcomed and encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.comAs many of you know, my book on the fate of the North American trucker is complete, and available for presale, so you can have it in your hot little hands this coming March.Why not advance order a copy for yourself, or as a Christmas Gift for a trucker or someone else you know with interest in the people who make our world go round?https://creedandculture.com/books/end-of-the-road-inside-the-war-on-truckers/Check out my own site at - https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/

Voice Of GO(r)D is very happy to bring you a long and substantial conversation with fellow trucker and ‘Trucker-Tok’ personality Wolfgang Wentland. Mr Wentland has been documenting the decrepitude of the trucking industry, and the ‘undiscussed in polite society’ consequences and adversity American Truckers are forced to deal with downstream of the mass flooding of our roads with third world incompetents by the Biden Administration. To say that there is an unsafe (and unsanitary) culture clash happening on the interstates and in truck stops is to put it mildly. That this is happening at all is just another example of our distant and decrepit Ruling Class not giving a damn about the citizens for whom they are supposed to serve.The trucking industry in America is in a protracted freight recession which has been ongoing for three years, and the Biden Administration dumping at least 600,000, and more likely over a million, migrants, refugees, and illegals into out industry in a blatant wage suppression, has had far reaching consequences which Mr Wentland and I discuss at length. The show is nearly 2-1/2 hours long - pack a lunch.You can find Mr Wentland on TikTok here - https://www.tiktok.com/@wolfgangkw2On Twitter - https://x.com/wolfgangkw2And his new YouTube based podcast, The Back Row ShowPre-sales for my book on the fate of the North American trucker in 2025 are now open and you can confirm your copy for March delivery right here -https://creedandculture.com/books/end-of-the-road-inside-the-war-on-truckers/Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and Strongly Encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D is very happy to bring you a discussion with a friend of the show and fellow author who has just released an excellent new book.Dr. Chris Ellis is a student of preparedness and his latest work, after multiple masters degrees and a PhD (and preparing defense resiliencies via his role in the United States Army) he has written this book which examines our understanding of ‘preppers’ and the different types of thought, and different types of threats and forward thinking, which animate those who are getting ready … to be ready.You may remember Dr./Colonel Ellis from a Christmas Post of yore, where he detailed for us the history of NORAD’s Santa Tracker program, of and for which he has been a volunteer, along with his awesome wife, Kim.Our conversation winds from resiliency mindsets that lead to community building and through to some of the more negative ideas which cause various of the more political problems we have to be prepared for. All in all a positive and very informative discussion.You can find Dr. Ellis’ book at his very own website -https://www.resilientcitizens.com/You can also follow him on Twitter - https://x.com/Prep4DisastersHe has started a Substack as well, and I look forward to seeing more of his thoughts there very soon.https://resilientcitizens.substack.com/My book on the fate of the North American truck driver is done - final final final last call editing for the manuscript has been sent back to the publisher, and the book is now being reviewed by some of the best in the business.Pre-sales for End of The Road open at my publishers website on Monday, November 24, for delivery to your door in March. Get yourself a copy, and better yet, buy one for a trucker in your life - it would make a great Christmas gift for truck stop (or unpaid detention delay) reading.https://creedandculture.com/books/end-of-the-road-inside-the-war-on-truckers/As always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D brings you two trucking industry researchers in discussion on a hot topic today that is now being discussed in the wider media, downstream of a major enforcement action in Oklahoma. Danielle Chaffin returns for her third appearance on the show along with Miranda from the very popular and informative Trucking Made Successful YouTube channel, and we dive in to the question of how random migrants from around the world are showing up in America and various states are issuing them CDLs with very little in the way of any identification, verification, or possibility of accountability should anything go wrong.There is a lot to say about this topic, and more details that won't fit into Spotify's show description character limit, so please head over to my Substack to check out the rest - https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/no-name-given-on-the-fraudulent-issueYou can go follow Danielle on Twitter/X - https://x.com/maybedanielleee and, if you want, NerdIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maybedanielleee/ and her Substack is great, too - https://www.highwayveritas.com/You can find Miranda’s awesome YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@TruckingMadeSuccessful and on Twitter/X - https://x.com/TMSuccessfulIn other news - my book is complete! The first round of editing, revisions, and more editing, are all wrapped up, and the manuscript is now in the hands of my publishers at Creed and Culture. They will have a week or two to analyze the manuscript, make any final suggestions or changes, and later this month we should have a final manuscript of the book ready to go. Pre-sales at their website will open in November, and the Hardcover will be delivered to your door in March; or, you can meet me at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky, March 26-28 2026, and I will sign a copy for you in person! An E-reader version will also be available, and I will be narrating an audiobook for all of my Road Warrior colleagues to listen to while you are white-knuckling it along the Interstate Mad Max Wasteland.https://creedandculture.com/books/end-of-the-road-inside-the-war-on-truckers/Thanks for listening, and please pass this discussion along to your favorite trucker, or US DOT investigator, or State DMV official, or anyone else with the power to fix this problem - its time to start cleaning things up, and attain the Highway Hyperborea that is within our capacity to create.Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and Strongly Encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice of GO(r)D is very happy to bring you Rob Carpenter, trucker, safety expert, writer, and maestro behind the The Tea/Talking Wreckless Substack.Rob’s current writing project, the 30 Days of Why series, which I highlighted here recently, is one of the best pieces of investigative journalism and deep critiques of the trucking industry I have ever seen, and it is my pleasure to bring Rob to the show to discuss that series, his life in the industry, and so much else.https://www.talkingwreckless.com/In the intro you will hear me discuss the latest installments to Rob’s series, which came out after we recorded; I will have to get Rob back on to discuss this two part investigation, because the utterly insane story he highlights speaks to EVERYTHING that is wrong with trucking now, and how multiple system failures, matched with this belief that truckers are just human resources slurry that can be sloshed from country to country, resulted in 9 children being immolated in a totally preventable wreck.The Safety Tech is not going to save anyone, which is another point Rob and I address.https://www.talkingwreckless.com/p/the-pruitt-alabama-crash-a-deep-divehttps://www.talkingwreckless.com/p/the-pruitt-crash-part-two-lives-dependYou can find Rob on Twitter - https://x.com/ThewhitesmokeAnd on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-carpenter-cds-cdm-e-74500977/The rough draft of my book is complete - this week sees the manuscript going through the first edit, and then it will be submitted to the publisher and see more tweaks and suggestions from them. I will be announcing when pre-orders will be available in November.My publisher, Creed and Culture Books, being a new kid on the block, finally got their website up and running here last week, and you should go check it out.https://creedandculture.com/Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonamail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D is very happy to bring you a conversation with Tamie Sue Stuttle of the advocacy organization Real Women in Trucking, where we discuss many of the usual problems facing truckers, and one in particular that is of import to Lady Truckers.Due to the intransigence of certain of the biggest trucking companies in the country, and their reliance on a wicked and evil training model, a study examining Sexual Abuse and Sexual Harassment in the industry was recently cancelled.As reported on by John Gallagher at FreightWaves not two weeks ago -The Trump administration has canceled a study aimed at addressing sexual harassment and rape in the trucking industry, according to one of the study’s developers.“We all put a lot of time and attention into this, and just got an email yesterday telling us not to do any more work, that we’ve been cancelled,” Anne Balay, a member of the working group overseeing the project, told FreightWaves.“Everyone knows rape and sexual harassment are incredibly common in this industry, and this was an attempt to do an actual study that would have led to suggestions on how to address it and make the industry safer. But it was canceled not to save money – the money had already been spent – but to prevent the results from getting out to the public, ensuring now nothing gets done to change the industry and make it safer for women.”A screenshot of a notice from the administration states that the decision to terminate the study “is because the government’s priorities have shifted and this project no longer meets our needs.”As Tamie and I discuss the cancellation, it appears that it is not the governments needs they are concerned with, but those of the members of the American Trucking Association, whose ‘Team Training’ programs would be exposed to the scrutiny they need by this study, and possibly bring this stupid training method, and all of the sexual abuse it leads to for women, into the public eye. And, perhaps, result in it being made illegal - which is the correct action, to our minds.Tamie and I also discuss various other issues relevant to woman behind the wheel, and every other trucker out on the road, including a recent study from the ATA’s research arm which suggests that more felons be recruited into trucking. What about those convicted of sexual crimes who would now be a problem for women truckers?You can find Tamie on Twitter - https://x.com/tamiesue2Tamie’s own podcast - https://truckinwithtamie.com/The canceled SASH study at FMCSA - https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/research-and-analysis/cmv-driver-sexual-assault-and-sexual-harassment-sashhttps://www.realwomenintrucking.org/Driver Documentary FilmPetition to re-instate the SASH Study -https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-the-fmcsa-study-on-sexual-assault-and-harassment-in-truckingThe disgusting White Paper from ATRI encouraging the recruitment of dangerous ex-cons and Foster Children into trucking -https://truckingresearch.org/2025/07/new-atri-research-highlights-evolving-truck-driver-demographics/Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are always welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice of GO(r)D is very happy to present a short discussion with the CEO of the North American Punjabi Trucking Assocation, Mr Raman Dhillon.NAPTA is kind of a Member Support organization who provide training, support for members with business development, bulk purchasing discounts, and seek to represent their particular corner of the trucking industry.I recorded this conversation back in June, before all of the attention which became focused on Mr Dhillon’s community in the wake of this horrific tragedy earlier in August down in Florida. I asked Mr Dhillon to come back on the show to record an addendum to this; he has yet to respond.This was a useful conversation, where we covered Mr Dhillon’s immigration story to America from India, various topics and problems within trucking, his meeting with former President Biden, and we also touch on issues specific to the Punjabi community and their deep penetration into the trucking business, both in Canada and the United States. You will find that Mr Dhillon is in agreement with the rest of us on many basic and common sense operational rules and approaches for the industry.In the show we mentioned Mr Dhillon’s interview with Overdrive Magazine, which you can read here -https://www.overdriveonline.com/regulations/article/15748790/biden-trucking-plan-and-crisis-of-unvetted-drivers-raman-dhillonI know the wider discussion out there about migration and all of the work permit/work visa scams is pretty heated right now, and I wanted to hear from someone on the other side of that equation than those born and raised in North America; I hope you find some value in that.You can find NAPTA online here - https://www.gonapta.org/Mr Dhillon has his own podcast, Punjabi Trucking 360, which is occasionally recorded in English, and can be found on all of the major podcasting platforms.Thanks for listening!I’m almost done the book! Pre-sales will be available in November.Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D is happy to present you a conversation with brother and sister Michael and Chasaty Rainer, proprietors of Booker’s Dude Ranch, an event facility in the East Texas town of Henderson that is also doubling as an old school truck stop of sorts, part of the Truck Parking Club network of locations which offer an alternative to the ever declining quality and chaotic madness of America’s large truck stop chains.Michael himself is a lifelong trucker that is still out there on the road, and is well clued in to the challenges facing drivers in 2025, and sister Chasaty is a nurse who takes a holistic approach to the health and wellness of the truckers that are her guests.If you happen to be passing through that area of the country, and want a quiet place to park, have some decent non-fast food slop, and maybe have a horse riding lesson while taking a reset, you should go check them out.You can find The Dude Ranch at their own website -https://www.bookersduderanch.com/And over on the Insta -https://www.instagram.com/bookersduderanch/And Facecrack -https://www.facebook.com/bookersduderanchIf you would like to hear more about the Truck Parking Club mission directly from its founder, have a listen here -As Always - questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.comI’m writing a book on the fate of the North American Trucker in 2025, due to be published in March 2026. It’s almost done! Stay tuned for news on editing progress.

Voice Of GO(r)D brings to the mic Texas Trucker Jayme and Blake, a pair of representatives from a small trucker advocacy organization called The National Owner Operators Association, whose recent activities around demanding transparency in the dealings between freight brokers and the truckers who keep the country moving have touched off some heated debates in the industry. TNOOA have some very pointed and compelling positions about the ‘race to the bottom’ in the trucking industry, and how that is driven, in large part, by the over-capacity in the industry not only of trucks, but of brokerages themselves.TNOOA have been featured in several articles by Overdrive Magazine, and have engaged in meetings with various politicians on the question of proposed broker transparency legislation, as well as advising them on other issues and regulation in the industry. Blake and Jayme also describe how TNOOA is not merely working for owner operators, but truckers as a whole. They share various stories of assistance they have rendered our fellow truckers, especially in dealing with parasite complexes such as overzealous local parking officers, predatory towing companies, and the dodgier, scummier elements amongst our friends in the world of brokering, including the Armenian double broker and convicted gangster G-Face.You can find TNOOA online here - https://tnooa.com/Jayme and Blake are both active participants on FreightX, Blake from her office while supporting her family trucking business, and Jayme from out on the road, who is a Texas based Owner-Operator doing his level best to help his fellow truckers from his position behind the wheel.Follow Blake here - https://x.com/FosfamilyJayme here - https://x.com/Andersonj2273TNOOA puts out a quarterly online magazine within their website called ‘The Stand’ which features unique industry commentary from their members.https://tnooa.com/the-stand-magazine/Thanks for listening! If you found this podcast episode valuable or entertaining, pass it around to your friends and associates, especially other truckers.And as always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail can be sent to me directly - gordilocks@protonmail.comI’m writing a book on the fate of the North American trucker in 2025, and its almost done! Find out more about the book here -https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-major

Voice Of GO(r)D has convened something of an emergency roundtable in the wake of this horrific tragedy in Florida last week, as much of the reporting on it that’s out there is weak, inconsistent, politically motivated, and lacking in substantive context and background.This tragic incident, for those who follow this Substack, or pay close attention to the North American trucking industry, is but one of many in a long line of completely unnecessary and preventable crashes, and the causes of all of these crashes are many, but there are notable through-lines and historical context. The media, along with many online commentators, are trying to pin this on bad immigration policy, which is certainly a component, or the corruption of politicians like Gavin Newsom, which is also a factor, but this is merely to find convenient villains who are a regular feature of life in America in 2025, and to miss all of the other problems; which are, quite frankly, of far more consequence to this incident.To help describe the view of this problem in its entirety from 30,000 feet, I have invited colleagues and former guests of this show to join me in a wide ranging roundtable which tackles all of the angles of this story, to help you make more sense of it and arm yourself with accurate complaints to make to your relevant authorities.Shannon Everett is a co-founder and the public face of American Truckers United. He is, like myself, a trucker who comes from a multi-generational trucking family. Shannon now manages an Arkansas based carrier, and his group has done some incredible research into the suspicious and massive increase of CDLs being issued across America over the past 5 years.You can listen to our previous interview here, and find his very active Twitter here.Danielle Chaffin is the granddaughter and daughter of old school truckers in Tennessee, and she has been a freight broker and a social worker, but is now behind the scenes at a TMS company that helps fleets manage all of their data. She is also an independent researcher into the industry, and writes the excellent Highway Veritas substack, which I quote here often. You can find Danielle’s previous appearances on this podcast here and here, and Danielle’s prolific and informative Twitter here.Justin ‘Supertrucker’ Martin is a former trucker and social media operator, who has held many roles behind the wheel, including hauling high security loads for the United States military, mail for the United States Postal Service, and was once the co-host of the FreightWaves podcast ‘Back The Truck Up’. You can find Justin as a guest on my show here, here, here, and here, and his meme-heavy Twitter account here.For the first time, and for those folks who prefer to watch things online, I have made the video from our roundtable available on YouTube. I’m not a fan of the video format, mostly because I don’t have time to watch almost anything, but if you like an assemblage of talking heads, here you go -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5I5mxcYgJII am a few short days away from submitting the rough manuscript for this book, which will likewise describe the insourcing of unskilled and illiterate labor onto our highways, as well as many other issues of consequence during the twilight days of the last American cowboy. https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-majorAs always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D is back and in conversation with Atlanta based attorney Jeremy Citron of Long Haul Law and the Hurt Boss, where we discuss the perception of truckers by the public, and more specifically, members of juries, and how that comes into play when truckers get tangled up in trial. Jeremy also lays out some recommendations on how truckers can facilitate accountability and professionalism and thus more readily protect themselves in such situations. We also get into many issues facing trucking today, and why it is we have so many dodgy operators around.Jeremy is a thoughtful guy and this was an informative conversation - I hope to get him back again some day. Thanks again for listening!Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

The Voice Of GO(r)D podcast is very happy to bring you a discussion with former MIT Data Scientist Dr. David Correll, whose work within MIT FreightLab, a project of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, examines the mother of all problems in trucking, and the one that begets so many others, DETENTION.For non-truckers, detention is when trucks are held up for unreasonable amounts of time in the loading and unloading process at customer facilities. Some facility operators are notorious for this, and I have spent days trying to get certain things unloaded, and will share a particularly egregious example in the book I am writing on the fate of the North American Trucker in 2025. (see details below)Everyone remembers seeing footage of a hundred container ships waiting to be docked at the Port Of Long Beach/Los Angeles during Covid - imagine that this is what its like in many sectors of trucking, except it happens all the time, year in, year out, and has been this way since forever.Dr. Correll’s research concludes, in his words, that America leaves “40% of its trucking capacity on the table every day” due to this pernicious and seemingly intractable problem, which is the proximate cause of -- Truck driver churn and retention issues- Speeding and aggressive driving behavior which pose a saftey hazard on our roads, and has resulted in the imposition of ELDs and other surveillance tech into the lives of truckers- Shippers being ghosted by carriers who find better facilities to work with- The wasting of millenia, yes, literally thousands of years worth of valuable human capital. Multiply all of the hours lost times millions of truckers times decades of this problem …. and its probably more than millenia.- An unnecessary drag on the resiliency of American supply chains.We had an interesting discussion that covers detention and then connects it to these other issues, and we also discuss possible solutions.You can read all about it at the following links -David’s testimony to the Biden ‘Trucking Task Force’ -https://www.congress.gov/117/meeting/house/114233/witnesses/HHRG-117-PW0Wstate-CorrellD-20211117.pdfDavid at Medium -https://medium.com/mitsupplychain/is-there-a-truck-driver-shortage-or-a-capacity-crisis-73a7d7a5bcbFrom MIT’s own news site -https://news.mit.edu/2022/are-supply-chains-stuck-detention-0425Some FreightLabs research papers for your perusal -https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/130093https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/142935https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/126383You can find Dr. Correll onlinehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/davidhccorrell/https://x.com/DavidHCCorrellPlease enjoy this musical interlude - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7kwFSp7yh4&list=RDc7kwFSp7yh4&start_radio=1I have written extensively about one of the solutions to this problem, and that solution has been sitting in Congress for 3 years, waiting to be acted upon. Its amazing how a one line bill that doesn’t include new taxes or giveaways to anyone seems to have so much trouble getting out of committee -https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-want-support-working-class-vote-andy-levins-trucker-bill-opinion-1715058https://www.newsweek.com/trumps-proposal-remove-taxes-overtime-almost-perfecthe-just-needs-include-truckers-opinion-1954663https://www.theamericanconservative.com/pay-truckers-for-their-work/Questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and encouraged, especially if you are being abused by lazy and disorganized cretins holding you up and wasting the only resource you can’t make more of and is the most important thing we have in life - TIME.gordilocks@protonmail.comI’m almost done the rough manuscript of this detailed overview of what has become of the North American Trucker in 2025 -https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-major

Voice Of GO(r)D is pleased to bring you a light conversation about a heavy topic centered on the question of why the country that is most dependent in the world on highway freight for its economy has such short and light trucks.Professor Christopher Clarke is an economist at Washington State University, and is a presenter on a new social media channel called Business Explains The World. Their recent video on this question went viral, and as I have spent much of my trucking career outside of the USA pulling longer and heavier trucks than are usually to be found in America, I had to get him on the podcast.I’ve always thought of the 53’ foot freight box as highly symbolic in that it is built explicitly to max out calories cubes where something like a Canadian Super B Train is built to max out on nutrition weight, and one of these things is healthier for the body economy than the other. Professor Clarke and I go back and forth on this question, amongst others, including the corporate welfare part of the equation where it concerns the production and flooding of the market with ‘drivers’, which is part of the problem here. Higher density trucks require a higher quality level of driver, and if anything this Substack should have taught you by now, it is that the trucking industry in North America in 2025 is very busy chasing the high quality operators out.You can find Professor Clarke all over -Twitter - https://x.com/EconChrisClarkeProfessor Clarke’s own blog - https://econchrisclarke.wordpress.com/TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@econchrisclarkeInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/econchrisclarke/As mentioned during the show, I hope to get Professor Clarke on for a longer and heavier discussion about this topic.As always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections, weight loss tips and Hate Mail are strongly encouraged and always welcome - gordilocks@protonmail.comI’m almost done writing a book on the fate of the North American Trucker in 2025https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-major

Voice Of GO(r)D is happy to bring you a long overdue interview with Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of freight industry news website FreightWaves, as well as the freight data analytics tool SONAR and Firecrown Media empire. FreightWaves has been of great service to the industry, and employed some of the finest journalists working on trucking, including former guests of this show Rachel Premack and Clarissa Hawes, as well as my pals Dooner and Supertrucker and so many other great people dedicated to Making Trucking Great Again.Craig fills us in on his family history in trucking, including his Dad and Uncle at the US Express and Covenant Transport companies, the origin story of FreightWaves, current topics in trucking, and, of course, our favorite people in the world, the American Trucking Association.(sarc) Craig had a bomb lobbed at him by Chris Spear the other day, and Craig has returned fire in kind, which lead me to having to bump this interview up in the schedule; this was recorded two weeks ago before the ATA started up their shit.The Return Fire has been beautiful to watch - head on over to my Substack for screenshotshttps://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/a-chat-with-freightwaves-ceo-craigTypically I try not to get involved in other people’s fights but Craig has been nothing but good to me and I think in his heart is trying to do right by truckers; Chris Spear and the ATA, on the other hand, are corporate lobbyists whose grip on media narratives around trucking, and the taxpayer loot they extract from us for their members, are one of the primary causes of trucking being in the utter mess that its in, so to hell with them.You can read more from Craig himself here -https://www.freightwaves.com/news/the-atas-waning-influence-irks-its-leaderAnd while you are there, have a look around FreightWaves site, the reporting is excellent, and they have so many great people there, including Dooner, JP Hampstead, John Kingston, and Grace Sharkey, amongst others.Craig's TwitterCraig and I are both writing books at the moment - his is done, and will be out in November, mine is getting there and will be out in March.https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-majorIf you want to help see me through to the end -https://www.givesendgo.com/EndOfTheRoadQuestions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are always welcome and strongly encouraged!gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D is pleased to bring you a discussion with Dale Prax, founder of FreightValidate, a service and tool to help brokers and shippers deal with the scamming and parasitism epidemic in the North American trucking industry today.From his website -Trust FreightValidate to provide crucial insights into the reliability of carriers and brokers operating in the United States and Canada. Our platform uniquely combines advanced technology with deep industry knowledge, a thorough understanding of 49 CFR regulations, and Public Law 112-141 (MAP-21), along with years of industry experience. We use objective, impartial, and factual data in our FreightValidation process—no predictive analytics, no guesswork, no hypotheticals. Just the facts.Dale fills us in on his history in trucking and freight brokering, and what he has seen over his career, and the nuances of various laws and regulations, how they’re being enforced, or not, usually, and what you can do to beat the ‘Chameleon’ and ‘Ghost’ carriers who are out there putting your freight, and the lives of motorists, at risk.Dale also shares with us his interactions with regulators, and some of the very simple policy suggestions that would greatly reduce the number and impact of these bad actors on the industry.You can also see Dale speaking at the FreightWaves Freight Fraud Symposiumhttps://youtu.be/8dhpPSo-EM8You can find Dale on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dale-prax-%E2%9C%85-a6814518/Or email him directly - info@freightvalidate.comAs mentioned in the Intro, friend and former guest of the show Danielle Chaffin maybe danielle’s thoughts has written a couple of bangers on this subject over the past few days, and you can check them out here -https://maybedanielleee.substack.com/p/hope-trans-llc-knowns-unknowns-andI’m writing a book on the fate of the North American Trucker in 2025 -https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-majorIt’s very close to being ready for editing, and if you want to help me get it over the finish line, you can donate here -https://www.givesendgo.com/EndOfTheRoadQuestions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

Voice Of GO(r)D is pleased to welcome back to the show returning guests Danielle Chaffin and Justin ‘Supertrucker’ Martin in discussion on the ease with which certain bad actors in trucking can be identified and avoided. If you are on FreightX, Danielle and Justin are revealing, on the daily, ‘Chameleon’ or ‘Ghost’ Carriers, and the shell games they play with layers of LLCs, the trade in Motor Carrier numbers, and other methods by which they avoid accountability for their unsafe and unprofessional operations. In doing so, they show us how easy it is for shippers and load broker to screen these guys out, especially with a new and easy to use tool developed by our mutual and friend of this show, Garret Makes, simply called ‘Search Carriers’.I’ve been a little behind on getting episodes out - we recorded this over a month ago - but the timing of edit and release today was fortuitous, as yesterday, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy appeared on our colleague Timothy Dooner’s show WHAT THE TRUCK? and it was quite a White Pill to discover that Duffy has been taking on criticisms and complaints from FreightX and other social media, and is, in fact, launching investigations into various problems in the industry highlighted by truckers online, especially the Non-Domicile CDL scams identified by our friends at American Truckers United.Check it out!https://www.freightwaves.com/news/dot-secretary-duffy-nationwide-non-domiciled-cdl-audit-elp-enforcement-what-the-truckAlso worthy of a look is Danielle’s recent contribution to Freight Caviar regarding Chameleon Carriers - the data she has dug up would be a worthy project for Secretary Duffy’s team to look through - we have a problem here!https://www.freightcaviar.com/eye-opening-patterns-in-fmcsa-data/You can find Danielle on Twitter/X - https://x.com/maybedanielleeeAnd LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/maybedanielleee/And Justin - https://x.com/supertruckerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jmartsupertrucker/Our friend Garret - https://x.com/garrett_makesAnd his handy Carrier Screening Tool - https://searchcarriers.com/Stay tuned for the release of their new podcast “Shady Freight”, coming out soon!I’m writing a book on the fate of the North American Trucker in 2025, read about that here -https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-majorAs always - questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com

The Voice Of GO(r)D podcast is very happy to bring you the self proclaimed ‘King of Content’, the Doer of The Work™️, lawyer, historian, marketing guru, prolific writer, and former co-host of the What’s Left? podcast, Mr Oliver Bateman. Oliver encouraged me to start this Substack and is one of many who told me I should start a podcast - he has always been very encouraging of this project, and has served as a great inspiration and adviser to me over the years, and I am very happy to get him on the show and get him to you. We centered our conversation on our fathers, as Oliver’s Dad looms large in his work, both as a man of size and as a philosophical driving force behind Oliver’s work. We end up meandering around a number of different stories, including those of our Grandfathers services - mine driving a Sherman tank in Europe and then trucks across Canada, and Oliver’s being a submariner in the US Navy during World War 2, with these family histories ultimately animating everything we do and discuss here on the show. Oliver is everywhere - https://www.oliverbateman.com/https://oliverbatemandoesthework.substack.com/https://x.com/MoustacheClubUShttps://www.instagram.com/oliverleebateman/?hl=enClick here for a list of everything he has ever written - and he is everywhere - MEL Magazine, UnHerd, The Ringer, RealClear Politics, The Washington Examiner, Splice Today, American Greatness, WaPo, American Affairs Journal, The Spectator, VICE, Compact, you name it, he’s probably written for them. https://www.oliverbateman.com/bibliographyAs we discussed on the show, one of Oliver’s most recent must reads, on the Everyman embodied in Norm from Cheers, and the man who made him - https://oliverbatemandoesthework.substack.com/p/the-work-of-pouring-one-out-for-aA couple of my favorites of his Work - A critique of social media and what it is doing to us - https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2023/05/anti-social-media-a-modest-proposal-for-significant-restraint/On the siloing of our elites and how calls for censorship are meant only to re-enforce the ear plugs which prevent them from hearing the issues of the masses - https://amgreatness.com/2020/12/13/our-coddled-elites-and-all-the-pain-they-cant-feel/Satire at both the expense of AI and its pimps, and the baser elements of human behavior - https://www.splicetoday.com/digital/resist-the-ai-overlords-at-all-costs’An Ode to the CFL’ -https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/magazine-life-arts/3080999/an-ode-to-canadian-football/And as we discussed in the show, Oliver’s grandfather served on a US Navy Submarine, and Oliver published his diary of The Life Aquatic here - https://oliverbatemandoesthework.substack.com/p/the-work-of-a-world-war-ii-submarineThanks for listening!As mentioned in the intro, I am writing a book on the fate of the North American Trucker in 2025, which you can read about here - If you are of means and want to chip in to help me see it through - https://www.givesendgo.com/EndOfTheRoadAs always, questions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are always welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.comThanks for listening - this show is mostly a gift for my fellow truckers, and it would be awfully nice if you passed it around to any truckers you might know or anyone else who likes podcasts - word of mouth is the best marketing, and I appreciate it greatly.

Voice Of GO(r)D is very happy for the return of the finest investigative journalist in the world of trucking and freight, Clarissa Hawes. Over two decades of writing at both LandLine Magazine, the official media channel of OOIDA, and at FreightWaves, Clarissa has looked deeply into various issues and pathologies within trucking and has done a damn good job in reporting on them. Those who have been reading my Substack and articles for various publications will have read Clarissa’s work, as I have cited her often.Clarissa fills us in on her career in journalism, and we dive into some of her more recent beats, including the abuse of migrants in trucking and her being the Bad News Bear of the FreightWaves “Layoffs and Bankruptcies” section, amongst many other threads she has pulled at over the years.Clarissa is now working on her own, but you can find an archive of her work at FreightWaves here - https://www.freightwaves.com/news/author/clarissahawesYou can find Clarissa at both Twitter and LinkedIn -https://x.com/cage_writerhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/clarissa-hawes-60a1b012a/If you’ve got a hot tip or a lead on a story for her - clarissahawes@gmail.comAnd in case you missed it, Clarissa appeared on the show back in August 2023 in a roundtable discussion on fighting freight fraud with Justin Martin, Mike Lombard, and Paul-Bernard Jaroslawski of FreightCaviar -https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/avoiding-freight-scammers-a-logisticsQuestions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are welcomed and encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.comI’m writing a book on the fate of the North American trucker in 2025 -https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/book-project-announcement-and-a-major

Voice Of GO(r)D is pleased to welcome back to the show Mr Chace Barber, one of the founders and very public face of Edison Motors, the British Columbia based manufacturer of diesel electric hybrid trucks.In this discussion, Chace updates us on Edison’s move to Golden BC and fills us in on why they won’t be making trucks for the American market anytime soon (Hint - the EPA and US DOT are mewling cabbages) which leads into some extended editorializing from Mr Barber you typically wouldn’t hear in Edison marketing videos. I’m happy to be an outlet! Chace also answers a few of my questions on regulation vis a vis truck design for a chapter to be included in the book.Since recording this episode, Edison was given an interesting warning from Tesla regards a humorous piece of marketing that Edison has been using since they started. Given everything else we know about the Big Cheese at Tesla, and his KayFabe public Brolationship breakdown with the President this past week, it should come as no surprise that Tesla really do have something lodged firmly up their rear ends.https://www.tiktok.com/@_edison.motors/video/7512111442842176824You can find Chace and Edison all over the internet -https://www.tiktok.com/@_edison.motorshttps://x.com/EdisonMotorsLtdhttps://www.youtube.com/@EdisonMotorshttps://edisonmotors.ca/In the intro I mention an article that I was asked to provide comment for by a new (to me) Canadian online Business Magazine called The Logic. They’re a subscription based magazine but if you sign up via their website you get three free articles a month so head on over and check this out -https://thelogic.co/news/forestry-logging-autonomous-trucks/For more links, photos, and other intel regards Edison, head on over to the substack link for this episode - https://autonomoustruckers.substack.com/p/updates-and-raw-opinion-chace-barberQuestions, comments, suggestions, corrections and Hate Mail are always welcomed and strongly encouraged - gordilocks@protonmail.com