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Interstate motor carrier

Arrow Truckers

The Logbook

Notes for people who run trucks.

No press releases. Settlement math, inspection checklists, and the business of owner-operating — organized into four working guides, written to be useful at a truck stop, not at a conference.

Guide 01

Hotshot Trucking

The 30–40 ft gooseneck world — our specialty, from first rig to full lanes.

The hotshot division ↗Trailer program ↗Cost-per-mile calculator ↗

HotshotJul 15, 2026

Best States for Hotshot Trucking: It's a Radius, Not a Ranking

Every hotshot forum has the same thread — what's the best state to run? The honest answer is that the question is slightly off, and fixing it is worth more than any top-ten list. States don't pay freight bills; industries do, and they're not spread evenly across the map or the calendar.

HotshotJul 15, 2026

The Best Loads for Hotshot Trucking Aren't Just the Ones That Pay Most

Ask ten hotshot drivers to name the best load and you'll get ten rates per mile. Rate matters, but a 30- to 40-foot gooseneck behind a dually is a specific tool, and the best loads are the ones that fit it — in size, in weight, and in where they leave you Friday afternoon.

HotshotJul 15, 2026

Hotshot Maintenance: Keeping a Working Dually Alive

A hotshot rig is a medium-duty pickup doing heavy-duty work, and the truck knows it even if the brochure didn't. You can't maintain it like the guy who tows a bass boat twice a summer. The difference between a maintenance schedule and a breakdown is mostly about which one of you picks the shop day.

HotshotJul 15, 2026

Hotshot Cost Per Mile: The Deep Dive

A hotshot rig runs on the same cost-per-mile math as a Class 8 — the numbers just wear different clothes. Cheaper truck, better fuel economy, smaller checks, harder ceiling. Until you've run this arithmetic with your own inputs, every rate you quote is somebody else's guess.

HotshotJul 15, 2026

Securement Basics: Half the Weight, the Right Count, and the First Fifty Miles

Open-deck freight commonly pays a premium over van work for a blunt reason: the trailer doesn't hold the cargo on — you do. The federal rules in 49 CFR 393.100 through 393.136 are the same whether you pull a 48-foot flat or a 40-foot hotshot gooseneck, and the numbers in them are the line between a clean inspection and a bad afternoon on the shoulder.

HotshotJul 8, 2026

Hotshot Trucking: The Beginner's Guide

Hotshot trucking is the lowest-cost serious entry into owning a trucking business: a heavy-duty pickup, a 30–40 ft gooseneck flatbed, and freight that can't wait for a semi. Here's the whole model — equipment, licensing, economics, and the honest trade-offs — in one sitting.

Guide 02

The CDL-A Division

Class 8 craft: scaling legal, working docks, and pulling equipment you don't own.

The CDL-A division ↗How pay works ↗Cost-per-mile calculator ↗

ComplianceJul 16, 2026

Scaling Legal: Axle Weights, the Bridge Formula, and the Tandem Slide

A legal gross weight can still be an illegal truck. Eighty thousand pounds is only the headline number — the axles underneath it have their own limits, and the difference between a clean scale and a ticket is usually four holes on a tandem slide.

FreightJul 16, 2026

Dry Van Work: Docks, Appointments, and Drop-and-Hook

Deck freight is won with straps; van freight is won with the clock. Nothing about a dry van load is physically hard — the money is decided by how much of your day the dock keeps, and by what you check before you ever back in.

FreightJul 16, 2026

Power Only: Pulling a Trailer You Don't Own

Power only is simple to describe: you bring the tractor, somebody else brings the trailer. It's simple to run, too — right up until an inspector writes a violation for a trailer you'd never seen before that morning, and it lands on your record anyway.

Guide 03

The Lease-On Guide

MC leasing from every angle: the agreement, the settlement, the chargebacks, the law.

Lease-On 101 ↗The settlement, explained ↗Truth-in-Leasing, cited ↗

MoneyJul 15, 2026

Owner-Operator Taxes 101: You Are the Withholding Department Now

On a W-2, taxes came out before you ever saw the check. On a 1099, the whole settlement hits your account and nobody upstream withholds a dime — the IRS trusts you to send in their share yourself. That's not a loophole; it's a job, and it's yours now.

MoneyJul 15, 2026

Trucking Insurance Types, Explained: What Pays, Who's Covered, and When

Insurance is the part of the lease packet everybody skims and the part that decides how bad a bad day gets. The names — bobtail, occ-acc, NTL, physical damage — don't all mean what they sound like, and two of them get confused for each other constantly. Here's the landscape, coverage by coverage.

ComplianceJul 15, 2026

The Lease Agreement, Explained Clause by Clause

The lease you sign when you bring your truck to a carrier isn't a formality — it's the only document that matters when the money gets weird. Federal law — 49 CFR Part 376, which governs leases with for-hire interstate carriers — says exactly what that lease has to contain, clause by clause, and it's a short list worth reading before you sign.

The BusinessJun 2, 2026

Leasing On vs. Getting Your Own Authority: The Real Math

Every owner-operator runs this math eventually, usually at 2 a.m. in a truck stop parking lot. Here's the honest version of both columns — because the right answer depends on your savings, your risk tolerance, and how much unpaid office work you want.

MoneyMay 18, 2026

How to Read a Weekly Settlement (and Catch Problems Early)

A settlement statement is the most important document in your business, and most drivers skim it. Ten minutes a week reading it properly is the cheapest insurance you can buy.

MoneyApr 27, 2026

Fuel Cards, Surcharges, and Advances: Where Fuel Money Actually Goes

Fuel is the biggest line in your cost book after the truck itself. Three mechanisms decide whether it eats your margin or behaves: the card, the surcharge, and the advance.

ComplianceFeb 23, 2026

Truth in Leasing: The Federal Rules Every Owner-Operator Should Know

In 1979, after years of owner-operators getting burned by handshake lease terms, federal regulators wrote 49 CFR Part 376. It is short, blunt, and worth reading before you sign anything — here's the working summary.

Guide 04

Owner-Operator Business

Running the truck like a company: freight, home time, dispatch, fuel, compliance.

Success Academy ↗Regional lane planning ↗Cost-per-mile calculator ↗

MoneyJul 15, 2026

Detention, Lumpers, and TONU: Getting Paid What You're Owed

The rate on the confirmation is only part of what a load can owe you. Detention, lumper reimbursements, and truck-ordered-not-used fees are real money — and they're paid to the operators who document first and ask correctly.

ComplianceJul 15, 2026

Documentation Habits: The Folder That Survives an Audit

Every argument you'll ever win in this business — with a broker, a carrier, an auditor, or the IRS — you'll win with a document. The habit isn't complicated. It's five minutes a day, kept religiously.

FreightJul 15, 2026

Brokers Keep a List. Here's How to Get On It

Freight looks like a spot market — post a load, take the best truck, never speak again. It isn't. Every broker worth calling keeps a private list of trucks that made them look good, and the best loads go to that list before they ever touch a board.

The BusinessJul 15, 2026

Starting Your Owner-Operator Business: The LLC, the EIN, and the Bank Account

The day you lease on, you're not just a driver anymore — you're a business that happens to drive. The paperwork that makes it official — an LLC, an EIN, a separate bank account — takes about an afternoon. Skipping it doesn't save you anything; it just moves the mess to tax season, or worse.

MoneyJul 14, 2026

Maintenance Planning and Reserves: The Breakdown You Budgeted For

Every truck on the road is quietly wearing out, at a rate you can estimate within a nickel a mile. The only question is whether the money will be there when the wear presents its invoice.

ComplianceJul 14, 2026

Time Management Around HOS: Running the Clock Like an Asset

Hours-of-service rules set the same ceiling for everyone: 11 hours of driving inside a 14-hour window, then 10 hours off. The operators who consistently out-earn the average aren't bending that ceiling — they're wasting less of what it allows.

MoneyJul 13, 2026

Owner-Operator Cash Flow: Surviving the First 90 Days

Most owner-operator businesses that fail don't fail because the driver couldn't drive or the freight didn't pay. They fail because the money ran out before the rhythm arrived. The first ninety days are a cash-flow problem wearing a trucking costume.

FreightJul 12, 2026

Fuel Strategy Beyond the Card: Routing, Speed, and Idle Discipline

The fuel card gets the attention, but the card only changes what a gallon costs. The bigger lever is how many gallons you burn — and that one is entirely in the driver's seat.

FreightJul 11, 2026

Load Planning Week Over Week: Run the Month, Not the Load

A good load is easy to spot. A good week is harder, and a good month is the actual job. The operators who out-earn everyone else on the same boards aren't finding secret freight — they're planning in longer units.

FreightJul 10, 2026

Preparing for Seasonal Freight Markets: Produce, Q4, and the Winter Trough

Freight has seasons the way farming does, and they arrive on schedule whether you planned for them or not. Operators who know the calendar book their best quarters in advance; everyone else finds out from the load board.

FreightJun 20, 2026

Why Many Experienced Owner-Operators Stay Out 2–3 Weeks

Ask ten veteran owner-operators how long they stay out and you'll hear 'two to three weeks' more than any other answer. That's not a rule — regional operators build profitable businesses on three-day trips. But the 2–3 week pattern exists for economic reasons worth understanding before you pick your own.

FreightJun 12, 2026

Planning Home Time Without Giving Back Your Profit

The most expensive home time is the unplanned kind: a dead Saturday arrival, a Monday spent hunting a reload, and a week that grossed half of normal without feeling like a break. Veterans treat home time as a load to be planned — not a gap between loads.

FreightMay 30, 2026

Choosing Profitable Freight: It's Never Just the Rate Per Mile

Two loads pay $2.50 a mile. One is profitable, one costs you money — and the rate sheet won't tell you which. Load selection is where owner-operators quietly win or lose the month.

FreightMay 8, 2026

Working With Dispatch: How Top Drivers Turn It Into an Edge

The same dispatcher produces different results for different drivers — and the difference is rarely favoritism. Dispatch is a working relationship with inputs, and the drivers who feed it well get measurably better freight.

ComplianceApr 6, 2026

Surviving a DOT Roadside Inspection: A Working Checklist

A Level I inspection takes about an hour and touches everything: you, the truck, the trailer, the logs. The difference between a clean sheet and a violation is almost always preparation, not luck.

FreightMar 16, 2026

Deadhead Miles Are a Tax. Here's How Good Dispatch Fights It

Every empty mile costs you fuel, hours, and wear — and pays you nothing. You can't get deadhead to zero, but the difference between 8% and 18% deadhead is a mortgage payment every month.