Articles
- Compliance
2027 UCR Is Open, Fees Are Up About 20%, and the Clock Runs Out December 31
The 2027 Unified Carrier Registration period opened October 1 with a fee increase averaging 20 percent. What you owe, how to count your trucks, and how to not pay a middleman.
5 min readRead article - Compliance
The Paper Med Card Stops Counting October 11. Check Your MVRs Now.
FMCSA's paper medical card exemption expires October 11, 2026. After that, a CDL driver's motor vehicle record is the proof. Here is what to check this week.
5 min readRead article - Freight Market
Rates Are Up and Freight Is Down: Reading a Capacity-Driven Market
Truckload rates are well above last year while volumes run below it. That is a supply story, not a demand story — and it changes how you should price and book.
4 min readRead article - Compliance
What Your CSA Score Actually Affects — And What It Doesn't
FMCSA is rebuilding the math behind carrier safety percentiles. Here is what those numbers really control, who reads them, and how to check yours before someone else does.
5 min readRead article - Compliance
Motus Is Live and Rocky: What FMCSA Registration Requires From You Now
FMCSA's new registration system replaced the Portal and URS in 2026. Here is what actually changed, what didn't, and the claim step where most carriers get stuck.
5 min readRead article - Cost & Margin
Diesel Hit a Record. Your Fuel Surcharge Is Probably a Week Behind.
US on-highway diesel averaged $6.285 a gallon the week of September 14, 2026 — an EIA record. Here is the arithmetic, and where a stale peg quietly eats your margin.
4 min readRead article - Operations
Detention and Accessorials: Agree It Up Front, Then Actually Bill It
Detention is commercial, not statutory. If the free time and rate are not in the rate confirmation before the truck rolls, you are negotiating after the fact — and losing.
4 min readRead article - Drivers
Driver Retention Is Mostly Predictability, Not Pay Rate
Raising the rate is the expensive lever and rarely the one that was broken. Settlement accuracy, home time that holds, and dispatch that does not waste hours matter more.
3 min readRead article - Cost & Margin
Getting Paid Faster: Invoicing Discipline Before You Reach for Factoring
Most slow-pay problems are self-inflicted: missing paperwork, late invoices, no aging discipline. Fix those first, then decide whether factoring buys speed or covers a mess.
3 min readRead article - Cost & Margin
What Cost Per Mile Actually Includes — And What Most Carriers Leave Out
Fuel and driver pay are the easy half. The costs that decide whether a lane was profitable are the ones that do not arrive as a per-load invoice.
4 min readRead article
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