I couldn't agree more. Well, I could, but I'd just be repeating everything you said. I'm sure some day the "big chrome" style will come back, but I like the minimalist look.

 

Figured I'd add a bit more on the MATS.

Anyway I was asking about Super Singles. The Michellin guy was talking them up. Then we went over to Bridgestone and they had one too but they said they were overrated and only good for certain applications.

Then we went over to the Toya or Toyo (I forget) tire company and he was telling me that Bridgestone had to pull theirs off the market and have had problems with theirs so that might explain why they talked them down.

Seems like people always seem to leave out something.

I was talking to a Walmart rep about fuel savings and he mentioned that they were not going to go with trailer skirts as they felt they weren't worth the cost. Since I just put them on I wasn't happy to hear that but then I was talking to the inventor of the things and he said Walmart has 4 trailers for every truck so they get a lot less miles out of the trailers and thus those things might not be a good fit for them.

This is why I just keep asking sometimes the same questions to different people as the answers always seem to be different (or wrong).

Actually the Wabash rep was telling me that if you get a flat with a Super Single and can't buy another one, that you can put on a set of duals and then Michellin will buy them back. I went right back over to Michellin and that wasn't true. What they will do is buy back OEM tires and rims and get you into a set of Super Singles at no cost to you.


I did see that Lonestar truck there but I didn't go look at it. I'm not really into trucks per se, but I did go into one truck that the inside looked like what Doghouse would have. Pretty amazing those things.

I was talking to the Norpass rep. Prepass told me that they time stamp their stuff, however the guy told me that wasn't true. I also found out that Norpass is a non profit thing and they don't charge for the service. I believe I already have the device capable of getting Norpass so I just need to call the guy back when I get home and read him the numbers off the device and I should be all set for that.

As we were leaving I saw the ATA booth but they were packing things up; wish I had a chance to talk to them. I took advantage of signing back up with OOIDA for $20 off but to be honest I'm not sure why. They are nice enough but don't see much use of them really. Hate to say it though.

We were talking to one fuel additive person and he talked us into buying a bottle of the stuff. I am skeptical of that stuff and my friend even more but the next day we put it in his car (it's a diesel Bluetec or something) and we were averaging about 36mpg (new Mercedes) and all of a sudden we were up to 39.2.

I ended up asking one of the Cummings engineers about it but he actually stuck his fingers in his ears and said that's what you need to do when people talk about additives. I don't know, that 39.2 didn't last too long. We told him about the 39.2 and he started talking about C-tane. I have no idea what that is.

We got a look at those new Goodyear tires that can be punctured and then re-seals itself. Those were pretty cool. A bit more expensive but worth it if you dont have to pull into a T/A to fix every puncture.

Plenty of brokers had booths. Kind of surprised by that. Seems like these brokers don't have trouble moving loads but what do I know. I was talking to a CH Robinson rep. He asked if I haul for them and I told him I try not to. He got a laugh out of that.

Also was talking to the T-Check rep. Actually we planned on meeting there anyway. They actually offer quite a bit. Fuel discounts on some of their programs but most of that is done of volume. I wasn't asking actually for myself obvioulsy but more for my friend. Last month alone he used about 25,000 gallons so I am trying to get him discounts on the transaction fees. They are going to reduce the fees but we haven't settled on a final fee yet.

I was asking the Freightliner rep, or one of them about those new engines DD15 or something like that about the supposed new fuel savings that Alan mentioned before. Something about they recycle the exhaust. Wish I understood more on that.

I was asking the Kenworth guy why more of the big companies don't buy Kenworth and he mentioned that they can't produce what the big companies need. I mean I look at like if the big companies don't buy them maybe they aren't as efficient. Actually the Toya tire guy said the same thing. They sell mostly to ABF and said they can only manufacture so many tires or rather only had the capacity to make them. Basically he was saying they never really had to market them as they could sell what they could manufacture without a problem.

Well that's all I guess. Sorry for any typos, we are driving and have slow internet so a big PITA to check for them.

 

No, he meant that KW can't produce cheap pieces of crap that the big companies buy. Freightliner has a monopoly on that one.

 

Well that's probably what he meant, he was just being diplomatic I guess.

 

I was talking with the Peoplenet (GPS tracking) people yesterday and I asked them why didn't they have a booth set up at MATS. I was surprised by what she said.

She said that show is geared more towards the O/O and that they use to go and you would have people come by with their families, take up all the pens and then they seemed to not generate much clients in the end.

That place was so big that it was overwhelming but she was telling me that they have other shows geared to larger fleets. Obviously we aren't larger fleets here but probably still get some good info at those types of shows.