The Playbook

Adam Wingfield Thursday, December 18, 2025

Is the Spot Market Waking Up or Just Stretching?

That story feels familiar to small carriers for a reason. Spot rates don’t move on a schedule, and they don’t follow clean rules. For years, the industry has tried to predict them with confidence — the turn is coming, capacity is tightening, just wait a few more weeks. After enough missed calls, you stop reacting. […]

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Adam Wingfield Thursday, December 11, 2025

Is Texas Quietly Downgrading Non-Domiciled CDLs? — Here’s What We Actually Know So Far

Over the past several days, screenshots like the one circulating below have spread rapidly across trucking social media. The letter, issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), notifies a driver that their non-domiciled Commercial Learner’s Permit or CDL has been cancelled effective immediately, citing non-compliance with federal regulations. Naturally, that has triggered a […]

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Rob Carpenter Thursday, December 11, 2025

Has FMCSA’s Decade-Old Chameleon Carrier System Been Running on Autopilot?

When a November 2025 draft memo from the Department of Transportation surfaced promising a groundbreaking “data-driven severity matrix” to catch chameleon carriers, it raised uncomfortable questions about ARCHI (Application Review and Chameleon Investigation), built with $3.5 million in congressional funding in 2012-2013. Is this bureaucratic amnesia, rebranding of an underperforming system, or evidence that FMCSA’s chameleon detection infrastructure has been quietly abandoned?

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Rob Carpenter Thursday, December 11, 2025

Freight Market Turmoil and What Smart Carriers Do Differently To Survive

Drawing parallels to COVID-era passenger carriers that either collapsed or strategically positioned for recovery, this analysis examines how predictive financial management, disciplined cost control, and forward-thinking strategy determine which carriers survive brutal market downturns, and why the industry’s broken pricing structure punishes operators doing everything right.

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Adam Wingfield Monday, December 8, 2025

Non-Domiciled CDL Drivers and Highway Safety: What the Numbers Say, What They Don’t, and How Social Media Fills the Gaps

The debate over non-domiciled CDL holders — and immigrant CDL drivers who entered the workforce after 2019 — has exploded across social media. One viral crash video turns into a sweeping accusation. One fraudulent licensing scandal becomes proof of a national crisis. One politician posts a clip, and suddenly the internet decides an entire segment […]

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Adam Wingfield Tuesday, December 2, 2025

North Carolina Finally Ends Booting on Commercial Vehicles — Could Other States Follow?

For years, drivers rolling through North Carolina have been dealing with a problem that never should’ve been part of their workday—a growing number of private parking-lot companies slapping boots on tractor-trailers and box trucks the second a driver stepped away from the vehicle. Some operators waited in the shadows for truckers to leave the cab. […]

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Rob Carpenter Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Trump Administration Purges 3,000 CDL Schools From Federal Registry

After 25 years of documented CDL fraud schemes producing 6,000+ fraudulent licenses and at least 13 deaths, FMCSA finally removed 3,000 training providers from the federal registry. The problem? Another 36,000 providers remain unvalidated, operating on the same honor system that enabled Operation Safe Road, Larex Incorporated, and the Massachusetts golden handshake scheme.

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