Merry Christmas

Today I want to take a second to wish everyone reading this a Merry Christmas.  

Christmas is a special time of year, where I especially take more time to be with family and enjoy a slightly slower season.

This the season for giving thanks to our creator for the miracle of his son Jesus’s birth.  

Sometimes we get so caught up in giving and receiving presents, food, and of course work that we forget to pause and give God thanks for all the blessings he has given us.  

You see a little over two thousand years ago the Virgin Mary conceived a son from the holy spirit.  Her husband-to-be was going to divorce her quietly until one day an angel of the Lord came to him and told him that the son to be born was from God and he was to name him Jesus.

Jesus came into the world to bring peace and gather his “father flocks”.  He came with a mission and purpose.  

When was the last time that you found your mission or purpose?  Do you know what they are?  Have they ever changed?

Personally, my mission is to be a loyal servant to God, a great father, a loving husband, and a trustworthy person in business and personal life.  But before I was married being a loving husband wasn’t part of my mission.  Likewise being, a great father didn’t really have much of a rating either.  

Don’t worry if your mission changes.  All of our missions change as we move into different seasons of life.  

Today I really want to encourage everyone to slow down and look around you.  Enjoy the season of life that you are currently in.  Give thanks to God for not only creating you but also for giving you the blessing that you have received.  

Take a little more time and look to see how you could improve the lives of those around you.  Maybe it’s by volunteering, or giving a helping hand, or stopping to help change a flat tire on the side of the road.  When you feel moved, get up and go for it.  

From my family to yours.

Merry Christmas!

My God Bless your life and everything and everyone in it. 

Give Memories Not Things

When my wife and I had our first son Christmas started getting more extravagant.  

At first, it was a ton of movies that our family would enjoy. Then it turned into a TON of toys that our kids would enjoy. 

A couple of years ago we looked around our house and realized that it was stuffed to brim with stuff. Our basement was full, our garage was full, our storage sheds were full, even our attic was full.

It was then that we decided that our kids no longer needed stuff and we started giving them experiences instead. 

Here's what worked for us. First, we started traveling as a family more.  We devoted at least 2 full weeks a year to make memories. 

Of course, to begin with, all the amusement parks were on the kid’s lists to go to. And we did visit a few. In fact, after we found the Universal Studios was our favorite we bought season tickets one year. (We found a screaming deal the annual passes cost less than a typical day at the park)  we mainly focused on spending time together without making real plans. 

Our favorite trip to date was a week in a beach house just north of San Diego.  

We spent a full 6 days on pretty much a private beach for less than $200 a night. We literally made no plans. And ended up making some of the best memories ever. We went to eat at our favorite burger place in Ocean Beach, Hoodads.  We got in the ocean several times a day, took surfing lessons, chilled, played games, and ate home-cooked meals most of the trip. 

It was amazing.

This year we talked to the kids to see if they wanted stuff for Christmas or more family time. They all said they'd like a few small things (less than $20 each) but really wanted to keep making memories. 

We wouldn't trade our memories for all the stuff in the world. 

You see we realized that our kids would be out of the house into time at all and we were really being selfish by making memories.  Our kids loved making those memories though and I can't wait to see memories we make next. 

Maybe Costa Rica, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida Keys, New York City, who knows??  The possibilities are endless. 

The FLEET side of DOT compliance

We have been getting a ton of questions around the fleet side of DOT compliance.

Let’s start with all the companies that send you letters saying your out of compliance and in danger of being fined $10,000 a day.

Have you ever gotten one of those letters?

We feel that this should be illegal, and we know that it is immoral to send those letters out.

Unless the letter is from the FMCSA and has their symbol on it, don’t worry about it.  It’s just a “schistery” company that is trying to scare you into giving them your business.

MCS 150 

Your MCS-150 needs to be updated every 2 years.  Your DOT number tells you everything you need to know about when it has to be updated.  US DOT 1234567 The last number in your DOT number tells you when it needs to be updated. For instance, 1 means January, 2 -February, 3 – March, 4 – April, 5 – May, 6 – June, 7 – July, 8 – August, 9 – September, 0 – October.

The second to the last number of your DOT number explains if you update on odd or even years.  US DOT 1234567.  If it is an even number then you need to update your MCS 150 on even years. If it is an odd number then you would update it on odd years.

If your USDOT number is 1234567, then your MCS 150 would need to be completed by June of even years. 

Note that you can update your MCS 150 as often as needed. But it must be done at least once every 24 months.  

Make sure that you report accurately when you update anything for the DOT.  

If you have your DOT Pin number you can update your MCS-150 free here website, It’s fairly simple, but if you would like any assistance please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.

UCR (Unified Carrier Registration)

The UCR is only for commercial vehicles that operate in interstate commerce.  

Really it’s just another tax for Interstate CMV’s.  

A CMV is defined by the federal government as any vehicle that has a GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) over 10,000lbs. Is used in interstate commerce. If you are not registered with the UCR and are operating in interstate commerce. Then you could get detained at a Port of Entry (POE).

The UCR is extremely easy to complete. If your MCS-150 is up to date then the system can pull those numbers directly from FMCSA.  

Most years the UCR is required to be completed by December 31st.  It depends on the year when it opens.  If the government is struggling to define the costs I have seen it open as late as March. If they have the costs determined it has opened as early as September.

If you have both Intrastate and interstate vehicles you can use exemptions when filing. And it might lower the cost of your UCR.  Make sure that you are reporting accurately and not fabricating your numbers to get a lower cost.

Visit their website

IFTA (International Fuel Tax Agreement)

IFTA is the easiest way to file and pay fuel taxes for each state you drive in.  Unlike UCR, IFTA is only needed for vehicles with a GVWR over 26,000lbs that are crossing state lines.  

This renews every year on January 1st and is fairly cheap to get the license and decals for your company.  Most decals are under $5 and the licenses are usually included with the decal fee.  

A few things that you need to remember for IFTA is that you must track your fuel purchases and miles driven in each state for every truck that has IFTA.  You will also need to track which decals are placed on which trucks.  Both of these are as simple as keeping a spreadsheet and your fuel receipts.

If you would like an example spreadsheet click here and we’ll send you directly to your email.  

All companies that utilize IFTA do not need to buy fuel permits for each state they travel in.  It saves you a ton of time and in the long run $$ if you are crossing state lines regularly. If you don't have IFTA then you would need individual fuel permits.

Note that you must report every quarter your fuel purchased, where it was purchased, & the miles you drove in each state.  This is reported to the state where your IFTA is purchased originally. That should be the state where your vehicles are registered.

There are a few states that require more than IFTA and you need to know about them too.  They are New York, Kentucky, New Mexico.  Each of those states requires an additional annual permit and also requires that you file with them quartile.

 

New York State imposes a highway use tax (HUT) on motor carriers operating certain motor vehicles on New York State public highways (excluding toll-paid portions of the New York State Thruway). The tax rate is based on the weight of the motor vehicle and the method that you choose to report.  NY HUT 

Kentucky KYU is a tax license issued for all carriers traveling on Kentucky roadways. With a combined license weight greater than 59,999 pounds. KY WD 

New Mexico imposes a weight-distance tax on owners, operators, and registrants of intrastate and interstate commercial vehicles with a declared gross vehicle weight in excess of 26,000 pounds. This tax is based on vehicle weight and miles traveled on New Mexico roads. Companies must register and annually for New Mexico.  NM WD

 

IRP (International Registry Plan)

The IRP takes place of your registration for CMV’s that have a GVWR or GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) of over 26,000lbs.  This is extremely useful when you are crossing state lines regularly.  

If you don’t have IRP on your CDL vehicles then you have to get a “trip” permit every time you travel in any state other than the state your vehicle is registered in.  

Let’s say that your truck is registered in Colorado but not registered as IRP.  You haul it to Arizona for a job.  You would need to get a temporary registration to operate that vehicle legally while you are not in Colorado.  

If you had IRP on that truck then you would no longer need the temp registration for the other state.  

There are several things you should know about IRP.  One is that it is good for one year from the date you purchase it.  You will also need to know the miles driven in each state. So you can file those when you renew after the first year.  

Each truck will get their own cab card, that takes place of the registration for that vehicle. That document needs to be kept in the vehicle. 

2290 (Heavy Use Tax)

The heavy use tax is required to be filed annually for every vehicle that is registered gross weight over 55,000lbs.  2290 must be filed and the taxes due paid to the IRS by no later than July 31st.  

There are several factors to this tax.  One is what your vehicles are registered at.  The second is how many miles they have driven annually. 

You can get the 2290 form here.  

Hopefully, this helps you to know when everything is due and what exactly is needed to help keep your fleet in compliance. You can continue to operate your CMV’s and move your company forward. 

Until next time, stay safe and keep the rubber side down.

Family, Spending time where it matters

If you have been following my social media you have probably seen that I have been spending more time with my family and we have been doing quite a bit of traveling.  

We have been driving, mainly because it costs a ton to fly 6 people, but also because we love spending time together in the car seeing all of God’s creation.  

It seemed that we woke up one day and our oldest son was 14!  Then we said hey we only have 4 more years until he (most likely) moves out and on with his life.  We want to make the most of this time.  

So we made the decision to stop buying junk and start investing more in making memories.

One thing we did is sit down with all the kids and ask them where they wanted to go and what they wanted to do. 

We got all kinds of answers!

Some were out of this world, while others made our hearts glow.  Our daughter said that she wanted to learn more about fixing things.  One son said he wanted to spend more time as a family.  Of course one wanted to do more hunting (mostly in exotic places). 

All of this made us think.

Not one of them asked for more stuff!  They didn’t want us to buy items that they could play with.  They wanted us to give them experiences.  That’s the same thing we wanted.  Less stuff and more memories.

Have you ever sat down with your kids and had them tell you what they really want?  Not asked them what they want for Christmas or their birthday but asked them what they want to do, or where they want to go, or even what they want to experience.  

You see we have trained our children across the world that when we ask them what they want they automatically ask for things, not experiences.   Because whether you believe it or not, we have trained them to ask for things.  You know why?  It’s because things are easier to give than an experience is.  It takes way less time to go on Amazon and buy a dollhouse than it does to build one with/for your daughter.  

I want you to try something today, go home, and talk to your family about the experiences you remember as a child.  Fishing with your grandpa, working on a truck with your dad, decorating cakes with your mom, riding in the tractor with your other grandpa, or maybe baking bread with your grandma.  While you are talking about your memories watch your kids and see what makes them light up.  

I also want you to think back and try to remember the “things” you got that excited you the most.  Can you remember any of them?  Do you still have any of them?  I do.  One Christmas I got a few remote control toys.  They brought me a lot of joy.  But now when they bring even more joy when I see my kids playing with them!  You see I thought that the toy brought me joy, but the truth is that it was the experience of playing with the toy and now watching my kids play with the same toys that bring me true happiness.

It was NEVER the items in my life that brought me joy, it was the experience that I remember.  

With all of that being said, what can you do to bring more experiences to your family?  How can you “show up” for your kids in a way that they will remember.  

I guarantee that the family trip to San Diego and eating at your favorite hamburger place in Ocean Beach (Hodads), will bring more happiness and make a lasting impression way more than getting them a new phone every year! 

Get out there and make some GREAT memories with your family while you still have time!

As for me, you better keep watching my Facebook and Instagram see where life takes us over the next few years!