For most owner-operators and small carriers, the conversation about survival usually starts with rates. Fuel prices come next. Then brokers. Then regulations. But during a recent episode of The Long Haul, one reality kept surfacing over and over again: many carriers don’t fail because they can’t run freight — they fail because they never fully […]

There’s a lot of discussion right now about non-domiciled CDLs. Headlines are flying, social media is dialed, and everybody’s got an opinion. But for the people actually holding the steering wheel — the drivers — much of what’s being said doesn’t line up with what’s really happening at the DMV, at the scale house, or […]

The CEO of King of Freight, a shipping company based in Wichita, Kansas, has been charged with felony child abuse and has stepped down from his leadership position as legal proceedings begin, according to court records and company communications. Michael Ricklefs, who served as CEO and was listed as part owner of King of Freight, […]

Power-only trucking sometimes is one of the most misunderstood pieces of the freight industry. Scroll social media long enough and you’ll see it framed as everything from a liability dodge to a race-to-the-bottom strategy that hurts drivers, safety, and rates. Others defend it as one of the few flexible tools left in a market that […]

The conversation around Right to Repair has been floating around trucking for years, but it’s usually talked about in vague terms. More access. More fairness. More competition. What Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) is pushing for right now is much more specific — and much more urgent. At its core, this is about who controls […]

There’s a moment most small fleet owners reach — usually late at night, staring at parked trucks — where the thought creeps in: “Maybe I just need help finding drivers.” It sounds simple. Logical, even. But recruiting isn’t just about finding people. It’s about filtering, selling, onboarding, and retaining — all at the same time. […]

Every cycle creates the same temptation. Rates start to firm up. Capacity thins out. Enforcement tightens. Someone tells you, “Now’s the time to grow.” And for some carriers, that will be true. But for many others, scaling in 2026 without the right foundation will quietly turn a survivable business into a fragile one. The mistake […]

Starting January 1, 2027, new heavy-duty diesel engines will hit the road. And when engines change, oil has to change with them. That’s the entire story. Under upcoming EPA regulations, heavy-duty diesel engines must achieve significant emissions reductions: an 80% decrease in nitrogen oxides (NOx) and a 50% cut in particulate matter. Furthermore, these rules […]

Part One laid the groundwork for why knowing your numbers matters in trucking. Not in a motivational way. Not in a “be a better business owner” cliché way. But in a very real, very practical sense: if you don’t know what it actually costs you to run your truck, you’re not negotiating freight — you’re […]

Some of the loudest conversations in trucking right now aren’t coming from policy rooms, conference stages, or trade group press releases. They’re coming from drivers, fleet owners, and industry veterans who feel like something fundamental shifted — and nobody warned them it was coming. That’s why this episode of The Long Haul was different on […]

Trucking is rarely a one-person job. Every mile logged, every late night delivery, every holiday spent on the road usually has a family on the other end of it—supporting, sacrificing, adjusting, and carrying part of the load. That’s something the industry doesn’t talk about enough. And it’s exactly what the OOIDA Mary Johnston Scholarship Fund […]

The end of the year sneaks up on small carriers faster than most people realize. One minute you’re grinding through the end of the season, chasing loads and keeping wheels moving. The next thing you know, it’s late December and everyone is talking about filings, renewals, and “stuff you’re supposed to do.” Year-end actions are […]

The 10 Playbook Stories That Defined Trucking in 2025 — And Why They All Point to the Same Truth If 2025 taught the trucking industry anything, it’s that the pressure wasn’t coming from just one direction. It wasn’t only rates. It wasn’t only regulation. It wasn’t only technology or labor or compliance. It was all […]

At Playbook, we’ve recently partnered with ATBS, one of the most trusted accounting and advisory firms in trucking, to help owner-operators and small carriers get clearer on something that has quietly become a competitive advantage in today’s market: understanding profitability at a granular level. Not estimates. Not averages. Not what worked last year. Real numbers, built […]

Health insurance has never been simple in trucking. For owner-operators and small carriers, it’s often one of the most confusing, expensive, and emotionally loaded parts of running the business. And in 2026, that pressure could increase — not because of a new law, but because a temporary one may quietly run out. Several provisions tied […]

With 2025 almost in the books, the smartest thing a small carrier can do right now isn’t chase one more load — it’s slow down just enough to decide what 2026 actually needs to look like. If you’re reading this with less than two weeks left in the year, you’re right on time. Not late. […]

There’s a moment in every trucking journey where two operators standing in the same parking lot, pulling similar freight, and running similar equipment quietly drift onto completely different paths. On the surface, nothing looks different. Both trucks are running. Both drivers are working. Both businesses are technically “operating.” But underneath, one is being held together […]

Going from a straight truck to a semi doesn’t end when you get the keys. That’s when the real differences start to show. In Part One, we talked about the decision to move from a box truck into a semi — the systems, discipline, and readiness required before you ever sign paperwork. Part Two is […]

Some carriers are taught to think in cost per mile. It’s familiar. It’s easy to explain. And it’s only part of the picture. Cost per mile tells you how expensive it is to move the truck down the road. It does not tell you how expensive it is to run a business. That’s where cost […]

Winter doesn’t usually just put trucking companies out of business overnight. It exposes the cracks that were already there. That’s the core idea behind the Winter Readiness Masterclass we recently held inside Playbook. Not winter as a weather problem—but winter as a stress test on your equipment, your drivers, your cash flow, your dispatch decisions, […]