On today’s episode, Dooner and Prevost throw you in headlong to a brand new week with truckloads of volatility and heavy-duty headlines.
First, another state wrangles with their own tolling approach to paying for deteriorating highway infrastructure. In this case, state legislators in Connecticut want tractor-trailer trucks to do the heavy-lifting. They have scheduled a vote for February 10 on the controversial plan. Meanwhile, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) is locked in a battle with the state of Rhode Island over its truck-only toll plan. They call truck-only tolls discriminatory and in violation of federal regulations. Owner-operators say such costs will be passed on to their customers.
A jury delivers a Texas-size verdict of $7.4 million in damages to a man who was injured from metal debris when a truck driver hauling an oversized load veered off route for about 13 miles and struck a bridge. Even Better Logistics was unwilling to settle for $750,000, and ended up owing nearly ten times the amount by letting the case go to court.
Meanwhile, freight forwarders and shipping lines are keeping operations to a minimum as the 2019 Novel Coronavirus spreads. The World Health Organization said the confirmed death toll in China has now risen to 427 as of the release of this posting. All but two of the deaths occurred in mainland China.
The Coronavirus is also haunting the oil markets. Prices are volatile and threatening to fall beneath the $50 per barrel threshold. Craig Fuller fills us in on why the volatility is happening, how it impacts global and U.S. supply and demand, and the best sources and methods for tracking this developing situation.
Donny Gilbert and Dooner cross swords with an epic Market Expert Trivia battle that comes down the final True or False question on everything you didn’t know about the Coronavirus and were afraid to ask. Who will be quickest to the button this time?
Chad Boblett of Rate Per Mile Masters fame talks trucker health. In particular, we learn about the health benefits of fasting for short and long durations. He tells us his experience first-hand of what it’s like to complete a 21-day water-only fast.
J.B. Hunt’s, Jose Socorro, talks about personal branding, how less is more, the art of punching up, and the thrill of public speaking.
The Coronavirus even spreads into the Big Deal Little segment, like how it’s taking a bite out of Apple in China for at least another week. But wait, there’s more! IKEA is digitizing its meatballs, Trader Joe’s may or may not come to Chattanooga depending on how many Ph.D.’s exist per capita, avocados are “green gold” in Mexico in part because Americans just can’t get enough. Finally, does Dooner or Prevost win the final stretch on determining just how big of a deal was it that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl for the first time in 50 years?
DID YOU KNOW?
The state of Georgia needs to spend between $3.4 billion and $4 billion a year over the next 30 years to move freight efficiently through the state without adding more congestion to metro Atlanta roads, according to a report by a special state commission.
And as always, thanks for tuning in to the What the Truck?!? community, and for helping make us a top-20 podcast in Business News on iTunes!
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