Welcome to the WHAT THE TRUCK?!? Newsletter presented by Drive Axle. In this issue: Fleet sizes vs. fast food locations; drivers share their pay; DIY port; and more.
Fleet sizes vs. fast food restaurant locations
Grok
Crunchwraps and crunching numbers — I never knew how much XPO and Taco Bell were alike. We all know McDonald’s is everywhere, but so are megafleets. That got me curious: How do the largest fleets compare in size to the number of major chain restaurants?
I’m not the only one. When I posted about this on LinkedIn, Brad Jacobs seemed to enjoy my research.
But, if XPO is the Taco Bell of fleets, who is the McDonald’s of fleets? Turns out J.B. Hunt and Schneider National both have 12,000-14,000 trucks while McDonald’s has over 13,000 locations in the U.S.
Grok
Did you know that McDonald’s isn’t the biggest fast food chain in the U.S.? That distinction belongs to Subway, with over 19,000 stores. The only fleet that large is Knight-Swift. Despite AI only listing approximately 19,000 trucks for Knight-Swift, the company actually dwarfs Subway with over 27,000 tractors. (Verdict: Dooner>AI)
Saia, Landstar and Old Dominion are the Dunkin’ of fleets.
Grok
Although AI says none can compare to Chili’s, and I’m sure Reed Loustalot would agree with that statement, New Legend and Western Flyer Express both have 1,200 tractors to match Chili’s 1,200 locations.
Arby’s not only has the beef, but it also has 3,398 locations in the U.S.. Marten has 3,349 tractors, making it the Arby’s of carriers.
Linehaul.ai’s Anthony Fecarotta cut his teeth at XPO and filled his mouth with Taco Bell.
You may be wondering why Starbucks was curiously absent from this list. David Coffield made his own comparison. There are roughly the same number of food service DCs as there are Starbucks. In terms of fleets, UPS is the closest with over 19,000 trucks.
Which fast food restaurant does your fleet match up with? Email me.
(Note that these numbers are approximations and that this is for entertainment purposes only.)
DIY Port
Did you know that you can buy a gantry crane on Alibaba? Even better: You can pay in four easy, interest-free Klarna payments!
Bankrate
But beware. Missed payments and overspending are starting to become a problem for buy-now, pay-later services.
Driver, what’s your pay?
Truck driver pay is all over the place, so when I saw Indeed list the average truck driver salary as $93,190, it got me curious.
Wednesday on WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, I caught up with former trucker Justin Martin to break down pay and look at a series of popular TikToks where drivers explain their rate per mile (usually in comically confused ways.)
Here’s what you all had to say about your pay:
This is just a cross section of the replies I received, but maybe Indeed isn’t too far off on its average. And of course, net and gross can be two vastly different numbers in trucking. If you really want to dive deep on your own operating numbers, check out Adam Wingfield’s Playbook.
Is the FMCSA finally getting serious?
Earlier this year, the FMCSA made some key changes to the Unified Registration System in an effort to fight the freight fraud epidemic. Starting on April 1, mandatory identity verification via Idemia became a requirement for all new motor carriers.
Per CarrierOK: “This chart shows the monthly counts of Filed vs. Published new carrier applications, and the Filed-to-Published conversion rate (white line). After FMCSA’s identity verification became mandatory in April 2025, published counts (light blue) dropped by over 50%, while filings (dark blue) held steady – driving the conversion rate down from ~65% to ~30%.” Read the full report here.
WTT Friday
Blitz week breakdown: top violations – Friday on WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, I’m catching up with SearchCarrier’s Garrett Allen. His new site allows you to easily look up any carrier and see how often it’s been put out of service, inspected and more. We’re diving into his blitz week dashboard to break down this year’s top violations.
Konexial’s Jerry D’Addesi on the latest in AI load matching, double broker prevention and edge computing.
Plus: Trump appeals tariff ruling; FMCSA’s new policy craters new trucking authorities; a look at where the post-Memorial Day market is headed; and more.
Catch new shows live at noon ET Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays on FreightWaves LinkedIn, Facebook, X or YouTube, or on demand by looking up WHAT THE TRUCK?!? on your favorite podcast player and at 5 p.m. Eastern on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Trucking Channel 146.
WTTGear.com
The fit – Head on over to WTTGear.com to get our made-in-the-USA T-shirt collection. Also, now all products get free shipping in the U.S.
Now on demand
100 deadliest days of summer; do truckers know their pay?; carrier bankruptcy
Secure Roads & Safe Trucking Act; escaping Yellowknife; theft victim speaks
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Exit through the gift shop: WTTGear.com
Don’t be a stranger,
Dooner
