Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/535950
VOICES 12 | Overdrive | July 2015 For about a year now, John Raffone, 49, of Clearwater, Fla., has been with Swift Transportation in a 2013 Kenworth T660 under a lease-purchase agreement with payments of $610 a week for 108 weeks. While Raff one is leaning toward paying off the balloon about a year from now, the intervening period could be more interesting for another reason altogether. The 25-year over-the- road operator also is running for U.S. president as a Democrat. He has no operating budget for the candidacy and is relying on word of mouth via the road and social media. Raff one's platform, if he could be said to have one beyond a desire to return high-level politics to the average person, is heavy on trucking-related issues. He hopes that he at least can raise the profi les for what he says are in some senses "old-fashioned" trucking ideas. Raff one favors a return to pre-deregulation-style freight rates set with a formula simpler than the complicated lane-by-lane commodity-by-commodity style of long ago. He wants to eliminate cutthroat-type competition over freight that he says was enabled by 1980s trucking dereg- ulation and ruined the industry for many. He would give the U.S. Department of Trans- portation authority over shippers and receivers relative to detention time, with enforcement power delegated to the federal marshal's service. He also would remove the federal excise tax on new vehicles and devote a plethora of resources to highway infrastructure, dedicating all motor fuels taxes to the roads – and nothing else. Raff one's election chanc- es are slim, and he won't get any help from his party if an early-June tweet from his @johnr2112 account is any indication: "It's a shame when you try to an- nounce your candidacy for president to the national Democratic Party, [and] they hang up on you." Roadcheck road reports from readers showed a mixed bag of activity across the nation over the three-day inspection blitz in early June. Many commenters wondered where and if all the hyped- up activity actually was happening. Others, like Dennis Schaaf, took the time off to attend to some maintenance. "Not seeing anything," Schaaf wrote. "Working on my 'hon- ey-do' list. Sure will be glad when I get my truck out of the shop." Skooter Carswell: "Noth- ing in Texas. … Most scales are closed." James Olmstead: "Upset. I get $100 for every clean inspection, and I can't fi nd anyone to give me one." Day two got going with more of the same. Shady Hauck suggested some states stuck to their routine fi xed-station inspection programs or delayed the all-hands-on-deck approach for another time. Stay tuned for CVSA's blitz postmortem with full activity numbers. Find more blitz-week com- ments from readers at Over- driveOnline.com, search "Roadcheck road reports." Where's the beef? Todd Dills With a third of Overdrive readers saying they parked the truck to wait out the inspection blitz, DAT reported spot market rates saw a significant bump during blitz week, perhaps reflecting the reduced supply of available trucks. Search "Roadcheck rates effect" at OverdriveOnline.com for more analysis from DAT's Mark Montague. How did you handle the Roadcheck inspection blitz this year? Had truck gone over with a fine-tooth comb beforehand 8% Other 3% Business as usual 55% OverdriveOnline.com poll Parked the truck 34% Owner-operator eyes presidency Scan the QR to hear a podcast interview with owner-operator John Raffone about his upstart presidential run. Alternately, search "John Raffone" at OverdriveOnline. com.