Got Your Trucking Authority? Choose the Right Software
You got your operating authority! Congratulations! Running your new authority on spreadsheets? Take our quiz to see whether you have outgrown your trucking spreadsheet. Just getting your authority? Our guide to goal setting for a new trucking company shows how...
What Is an MC Number? An Owner-Operator’s Guide (2026)
An MC number — short for Motor Carrier number — is the identification number the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) assigns to your interstate operating authority. Think of it as the license number of your trucking business: if you haul regulated...
3 Reasons Why Integrated TMS and ELD Work for Independent Truckers
For independent truckers, the purpose of trucking management software (TMS) is to keep the business organized. The purpose of the electronic logging device (ELD) is to track hours of service (HOS) and stay compliant. Is there a reason to have integrated TMS and ELD?...
Maintenance and the Roadcheck
When was the last time you did a full inspection, not a pre-trip inspection, of your rig? The upcoming CVSA Roadcheck isn’t far away. Instead of skipping the week, why not prepare now for your rig’s inspection? Looking ahead and getting ready now will...
Check Your DOT Medical Card
With all the news about DOT inspectors putting trucks and truckers out of service, let’s take a look at one that a truck driver has the most control over (other than his flip flops.) DOT regulations about medical cards is a simple set of requirements, but some...
Struggling With Costs and Chaos? Efficient Trucking Software Transforms Your Business
Running a trucking business is complicated. Juggling money, routes, invoices, pre-trip inspections, and HOS, managing a trucking business isn’t about driving a load. That’s the easy part. The business costs and data chaos have to be managed – and...
Avoid ELD Fraud: How Owner-Operators Can Choose a Reliable ELD
The bots on social media platforms have been slamming anyone who expressed a mild interest in trucking with posts about truckers being pulled from the roads because they can’t read a children’s book and an increasing number of reports about ELD frauds. If...
Owner Operators Need to Consider Regional Trucking
Many truck drivers start their careers by working for a corporate trucking company. For them, loads were assigned with the back-office paperwork managed. They clenched their teeth when dispatchers give impossible instructions. Saved money for the whole time until they...
Is It Time to Buy Trucking Equipment?
Is it wrong to think about growing your trucking business right now? There are always people willing to take risks even when the economic signs look questionable. This contrary mindset might be the start of growing an independent owner-operator trucking business into...
To Lease On or Not? Part 2
In the last post, we discussed the pro side of the decision for a new owner-operator to lease on to a trucking company. In this post, we take a look at the reasons why the driver would turn down the option. The short answer: leasing on to a trucking company trades...
To Lease On or Not? Part 1
Should New Owner-Operators Lease On with a Trucking Company? Should a new owner-operator lease on? For most drivers buying their first truck, yes — leasing on is the middle step in a trucking career. The carrier finds the loads and handles the majority of the billing,...
Expand Your Trucking Revenue Stream
Have you ever thought that you might be leaving money on the table in your trucking business? Maybe you’re looking for a way to expand your trucking revenue stream? Just getting started? See why a truck freight brokerage start-up needs software from day one....
Build a Family Trucking Business
A family trucking business is a carrier operation owned and staffed by members of the same family — most often an owner-operator who expands to a second truck driven by a spouse, son, or daughter. Building one is a financial decision before it is a family one: the...
Need a New ELD?
Did you just find out your electronic logging device (ELD) has been removed from the FMCSA list? Are you looking for a new ELD? Comparing devices? Our guide to the best ELD for trucks covers what owner-operators should look for. Still frustrated? Read Hate Your ELD?...
Intro to Freight Factoring
Cash flow may be one of the biggest issues for trucking companies. The upfront costs of hauling freight won’t wait until the shipper sends the payment – if it’s sent on time. Before you sell an invoice at a discount, check whether the real problem is...
Your End of Year Trucking Business Plan Review
Every year, reviewing a company’s business plan is a key step to growing an independent trucker’s business. What a thorough review will show can be the difference between no growth, slow growth, and sustained, scalable success. Setting goals first makes a...
Truckers: Stop Letting Past-Due Invoices Hurt Cash Flow
It sneaks up on an owner operator with no warning. Business is good. And then the truck owner realizes that there isn’t any money to pay for fuel. What happened? Everything looked good – on paper. But past-due invoices haven’t been paid, and the bank...
How ELDs Help Truckers Get the Detention Pay They Deserve
No trucker wants to be stuck in a dock for hours on end. It can take money out of a trucker’s pocket to keep them waiting to be loaded or unloaded. Deadlines and commitments can go out the window when a trucker is detained. Then to add insult to injury, the...
Gifts for Truck Drivers: The Best Gift for Independent Truckers
The best gifts for truck drivers are the ones that fit a life lived in a truck cab: small, useful, and tied to the job. Cab space is limited, so for an independent trucker or owner-operator the most valuable gift is usually something that saves time and money running...
Smart ELD Buys During Black Friday Deals
Looking for an ELD for your truck? Right now, if your internet is like ours, Black Friday and Cyber Monday special sales are slamming the feeds. Is this the right time to buy a new ELD? Before you buy, it helps to know what a legal ELD actually has to do. Our guide to...
How Profit and Loss Statements Make Trucking Businesses Grow
When a trucker has a dispatch and a route, they know where to deliver the load. The process is clear: pickup, transport, delivery. When you decided to start a trucking business, you chose to operate under your own authority. Load decisions got more complicated...
Efficient Trucking Software
If there’s one word in the business world that everyone wants, it’s efficiency. How efficient is that task? How can we make our work more efficient? (Hint: it often means “how can we do this cheaper?”) Developing complete trucking software fits...
How to Find Shippers for Your Trucking Company Without a Load Board
To find shippers for your trucking company, ask for a referral — from your current customers, from local businesses near your home base, and from the people who already know which companies in your area need freight hauled. Direct shippers are not hidden behind a...
Winter Trucking on the Road
Winter trucking isn’t the same as summer on the road. The weather is obvious. Rain, sleet, snow, puddles around the fuel pumps, and that one guy in shorts who’s filling his fuel tank like it’s July. While a sunny day in midwinter might be pretty with...
Manage Trucking Company Expenses
Trucking company expenses are the costs of running your trucking business, and you manage them by recording every dollar that leaves your pocket and then reviewing your own business history. If you want to control trucking company expenses, it’s not complicated....
Freight Brokers and Dispatchers
Some owner operator businesses look for ways to expand their company. The bottom line needs to go up – but the funds to invest in another rig or a secondary driver just aren’t in the bank. So they move laterally as a freight broker for other drivers. It...
Truck Expenses Per Loaded Mile
In the trucking industry, the owner operator is a major component. Sure, contracts with shipping companies are a major factor, but we know that half of the truckers on the road are independent. Those truckers have the freedom to choose their loads, but also the...
E Logs Without Contracts
Looking at the cost of running an owner operator trucking business isn’t just for newbies to the industry. Examining every expense may be tedious, but it’s critical to keeping a trucking company running. We talk often about Trucker Stats™ – data...
Profit Per Load with Trucker Stats™
When building a trucking company, how can anyone know if a trip is profitable? How can you know how much profit per load a trucker is making? Want the big-picture view of your monthly costs? See Trucker Success with Trucker Stats™ for how TruckingOffice PRO turns...
Your Trucking Company Business Plan Review
Q2 is done. Hopefully, you used TruckingOffice PRO and ELD’s integration to produce an accurate (and fast!) IFTA report and have dealt with that annoyance and are now ready for what’s next. Do you know what’s next? If you pulled out your trucking...
Save Time With TMS Trucking Software
Long-distance truckers don’t get paid by the hour. We get paid by the mile. So tracking time seems unnecessary. TMS trucking software is an essential tool in today’s industry – and it tracks miles, not hours. So why are we talking about time? For a closer...
Automating Your Trucking Business
It’s the 21st century. Why aren’t more tasks that run an owner operator trucking business automated? Good question. TruckingOffice has ways for automating your trucking business already waiting for you. Automation pays off in hours, not just accuracy: here...
Legal E-Logs for Less
Whether you’re starting a new trucking company or trying to cut expenses, finding legal e-logs is one of those tasks that has to be done early in the start-up, or as soon as possible to save money. What Are Legal E-Logs? Legal e-logs are electronic logging...
Trucker Success with Trucker Stats™
Trucking company success doesn’t come easy. A trucking business is ultimately a complicated endeavor with many moving parts. (Pun intended.) How do you know if what you’re doing is right? Do you have data that can tell you what works -and what...
No Contract ELDs
A no contract ELD is a compliant electronic logging device you pay for month to month, without committing to a long-term (often year-long) contract. For owner operators and new truckers, it means staying compliant with the ELD mandate without getting stuck with a...
Goal Setting for Your New Trucking Company
Are you new to the trucking industry? Getting started as an independent driver or owner-operator can be a costly investment that requires you to be making money from the start. For most of us, goal setting is an ideal way to make sure you’re making a profit as...
Hate Your ELD? Find the Best ELD for Trucks
Do you hate your ELD? Many truck drivers do. It’s one of those pieces of equipment that truckers are stuck with, it costs too much, and the consequences of it not working can be dire. If the contract is what you hate most, learn how a no contract ELD keeps you...
How To Write a Trucking Company Business Plan
In years past, we’ve written a lot about your trucking company business plan. How to write it, how to use it, how it is the core of building a successful trucking company – whether it’s a fleet or an owner-operator company. But it’s 2025, and...
Do You Love Truck Maintenance?
Truck maintenance is the scheduled inspection, servicing, and repair of a truck’s tires, oil, suspension, and other equipment so it stays safe, road-ready, and earning money. Talking to truckers, we always hear how important it is to keep your truck in prime...Free Load Profit Calculator for Truckers
How To Get Your Own Trucking Authority
Get Your Own Trucking Authority
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