Will truckers pull their horns for you?

Welcome to the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Newsletter presented by Trauxit. In this issue, will truckers pull their horns for a grown man; Thanksgiving costs; reefers rise; and more.

Horn of plenty

Call and response — You know the drill: Give a trucker the old horn pump hand motion and wait for ’em to blow back. In fact, not a week goes by online that I don’t see at least a few drivers complaining about this lost art. Apparently, the kids just aren’t doing it as much these days.

Can grown-ass men fill the gap? I’ve got good news for you, pilgrim: Fist pump away as most drivers say they’d welcome the request.

I surveyed the driver community on X and here’s what they had to say:

Mark Fuzzy Outlaw — Sure unless he starts blowing kisses or something.

TankerDonkey — Any arm pump gets the air horn.

SwaggerFinMan — Absolutely man I’ve done it several times.

Li’l Trucker Wally — If you don’t, you suck.

SoCal Trucker — When you have a train horn, you give it to anyone who asks! 😬

Osogdeny — yeah! it brings out the kid in both of us.

Although most responses were very positive, there were a few naysayers:

Jason Sidorski — Nope I only do it for young children … laying on the air horn for no apparent reason could potentially cause an accident to the unsuspecting.

LTC Kilgore — No, kids only.

The cost of a Thanksgiving meal is how much?

Fake news — The Farm Bureau released its annual cost of a Thanksgiving meal report, claiming it only costs $61.17 to feed a family of 10. I don’t know about you, but my annual cost of a Thanksgiving meal report is my Publix receipt and that was well over two bills!

How does the Farm Bureau derive these costs? According to them, “Farm Bureau ‘volunteer shoppers’ checked prices Nov. 1-6, before most grocery store chains began featuring whole frozen turkeys at sharply lower prices.”

Well, I asked my volunteer shoppers, the logistics community, what they spent. Here’s what they had to say:

How much did your Thanksgiving meal cost? Email me for my survey!

Chart of the week

Scam alert

No phishing — FreightCaviar recently reported on a phishing scam that DAT users are experiencing. How it works is the bad actor will send you an email claiming that you’ve received a Carrier411 FreightGuard report and need to provide your credentials to DAT.

There’s just one problem: The website they’re asking you to go to is a phishing site that will then use your credentials to hack your account. This is a very common scam with sites like Facebook and a number of other services but now it has found its way to DAT.

Grace Sharkey reports, “According to load board Truckstop.com, marketplace fraud increased 400% from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022.”

How can you protect yourself? Look long and hard at the address they’re sending you to. Often the scam site URL will look very similar but the address extensions are wrong.

Have you been a victim of load board phishing? Email me.

WTT Wednesday

How truckers handle Thanksgiving and the shippers’ holiday handbook — On Wednesday’s episode of WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, Truck Parking Club’s Evan Shelley joins Dooner to co-host the show. They’ll talk about parking solutions for drivers during the holidays.

C3 Solutions’ Greg Braun breaks down the shipper handbook to managing expectations this holiday season.

Trucker Chris Thomas talks about how drivers handle Thanksgiving; what he’s seeing out on the road; staying accident free; and remaining positive.

FreightWaves’ Alan Adler has the scoop on more drama over at Nikola; Hyliion’s big workforce cut; and the latest on Hyzon.

FreightWaves’ Rachel Premack delivers the top stories on FreightWaves.com.

Plus, latest news and trends.

Catch new shows live at noon ET Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on FreightWaves LinkedIn, Facebook, X or YouTube or on demand by looking up WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on your favorite podcast player.

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Amazing machines, bankruptcies mount and supply chain cyber risk