Playbook: Cash & Capital

Sixty-five owner-operators is not the same thing as sixty-five trucks. That distinction sits underneath everything Christian Martinez does. As director of operations at Voyager Nation in Mulberry, Florida, he manages a fleet that is 100% owner-operator, which means he manages 65 independent business owners who have no obligation to stay and every other option available […]

(The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.) The Supreme Court’s Montgomery decision changed the litigation landscape for the trucking industry. Although the case addressed a negligent selection claim against a freight broker, plaintiffs will not limit their investigations to the […]

The regulation at the center of this fight is not new. It has been sitting in the Code of Federal Regulations since 1980. 49 CFR 371.3 requires property brokers to keep a record of each transaction, and it gives each party to that transaction the right to review the record. On paper, an owner-operator who […]

That’s where chargebacks come into play—and if not handled carefully, they can quietly erode your profits and hurt your business. In this guide, we’ll explain what chargebacks are, how they influence your factoring costs, and what steps you can take to reduce your risk and choose a partner who truly protects you. What Are Chargebacks […]

If you’re a carrier operating in today’s freight market, with tight margins, rate volatility, and rising operating costs, the real issue isn’t the tool. It’s whether the financing actually fits how your trucking business runs day to day. Because in trucking, survival comes down to one thing: keeping cash moving at the same speed as […]

I have known Jerry Murphy for almost two years. We talk every couple of weeks. And I can tell you there is no version of him for the cameras. The man you hear on this episode is the same man I get on those calls. He did not have a driver’s license when he started […]

(The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of FreightWaves or its affiliates.) Owner-operators and motor carriers are facing a fast-growing scam in the trucking world. While cargo theft and ghost trucks remain the top mind for many logistics professionals, fraudsters are using fake trailer rental […]

You can run loads consistently, work with solid brokers, and still feel pressure every week because most invoices take 30, 45, or even 60+ days to get paid. That delay is exactly why freight factoring has become one of the most widely used financial tools for owner-operators and small fleets. It’s the fastest way to […]

If you’re running loads consistently but waiting 30, 45, or 60 days to get paid, freight factoring becomes less of a luxury and more of an operational necessity. But before using it, there’s a straightforward question every carrier asks: What does freight factoring actually cost—in real dollars? This guide breaks it down without fluff. No vague […]

Some carriers see it as a practical tool to keep cash flow moving. Others associate it with high costs, confusing agreements, chargebacks, or bad experiences with companies that were not clear from the beginning. And that is the real issue. In many cases, the problem is not factoring itself. The problem is how factoring has […]

Now the market turns. Spot rates in mid-2026 are running roughly 15% above where they sat a year ago, the strongest year-over-year comparison since early 2022. That load that paid $2,200 last year is paying $2,500 or $2,600 now. Good. Real money. But there is a caveat, because this is where operators fool themselves. The […]

Why This Argument Never Ends Go search “factoring” in any trucking group on Facebook. Doesn’t matter which one. What you’ll find looks less like a conversation and more like a street fight. One driver swears it kept his business alive through the freight recession. The driver next to him says it quietly ate his margins […]

Why the Monthly Payment Is the Wrong Number to Focus On The monthly payment is a cash flow number. It tells you whether you can keep the lights on week to week. It tells you almost nothing about what the truck actually costs. What the truck actually costs is the purchase price plus every dollar […]

A Note Before We Start Tax law is not a place for general advice to substitute for specific counsel. The concepts in this article are educational. The numbers used are illustrative. Your actual tax situation depends on your entity structure, your annual taxable income, your state’s conformity with federal law, and decisions that need to […]

On Monday, May 18, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced that FMCSA is deploying $217 million across four grant programs targeting trucking safety enforcement, CDL program modernization, technology deployment at roadside inspections, and career training for military veterans entering the trucking industry. This is not a future commitment. Applications are open right now. The […]

The compliance crackdown of 2026 has pushed a meaningful volume of used equipment back to dealer lots, and with the freight market recovering and tender rejections at 14.43% as of late April, the pressure to add capacity is building for carriers who have survived the freight recession with room to grow. That convergence — more […]

Here is a number that does not get talked about enough: we have seen a some small carriers that have somewhere between $40,000 and $100,000 in completed work sitting as unpaid invoices at any given time. That money has been earned. The load moved. The delivery was made. The BOL is signed. The money simply […]

You delivered the load. The BOL is signed. The POD is in. The job is done. And now you wait — 30 days, 45 days, sometimes longer — for a broker to release payment while your truck payment, your fuel bill, your insurance premium, and your driver’s paycheck are all due right now. That gap […]

One month ago the national average for diesel was $3.65 a gallon. As of this week, it is over $5.00. According to AAA, that is a 38% increase in roughly 30 days — the fastest one-month fuel price spike the trucking industry has experienced in years, driven by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes against Iran that […]

Sanjay Singh founded Royal Bengal Logistics, Inc. in 2018 in Coral Springs, Florida. He built a website that described a company with 250 employees, a fleet of over 200 semi-trucks and growing, and revenue of $1 million per month. He held annual investor banquets in hotel ballrooms. He posted a video of himself onstage announcing […]