Ever found yourself scrubbing down a mud-splattered home courtesy of your four-legged friends? That's how my day kicked off before steering the conversation towards the less talked-about financial hardships in trucking. We'll navigate through a rain-soaked tale of canine chaos and segue into a sobering look at the industry's economic challenges. From the gripping story of independent truckers fighting to keep their wheels rolling amid a freight recession to the tragic tale of a life lost over a truck stop parking spot, we're exploring the real-life highs and lows of life on the road.
Shifting gears, we tackle the looming shadow of automation in transportation and the potential impact on jobs. Reflecting on my stepfather's short career at UPS, we grapple with the balance between technological advancement and its human cost. We talk automation, wage demands, and the disparities in earnings, all while winding through the personal stories that show the heart behind the haulage. These are the untold stories of the road—about the people who keep our world moving, and what happens when the world moves too fast for them.
Lastly, we're revving up for the return of my true crime podcast series. In this episode, we teased some of the chilling details that you won't want to miss. From the unsolved disappearance of Jolene Cummings to the deadly altercation between truckers, our investigative journey is just beginning. So keep your hands on the wheel and your ears tuned in—you never know what might happen on the long hauls and dark roads. Thanks for joining me on Truckin' on the Recap, and let's keep those wheels rolling.
Follow us on facebook , YouTube and Instagram. Trucking on the recap
Ever found yourself scrubbing down a mud-splattered home courtesy of your four-legged friends? That's how my day kicked off before steering the conversation towards the less talked-about financial hardships in trucking. We'll navigate through a rain-soaked tale of canine chaos and segue into a sobering look at the industry's economic challenges. From the gripping story of independent truckers fighting to keep their wheels rolling amid a freight recession to the tragic tale of a life lost over a truck stop parking spot, we're exploring the real-life highs and lows of life on the road.
Shifting gears, we tackle the looming shadow of automation in transportation and the potential impact on jobs. Reflecting on my stepfather's short career at UPS, we grapple with the balance between technological advancement and its human cost. We talk automation, wage demands, and the disparities in earnings, all while winding through the personal stories that show the heart behind the haulage. These are the untold stories of the road—about the people who keep our world moving, and what happens when the world moves too fast for them.
Lastly, we're revving up for the return of my true crime podcast series. In this episode, we teased some of the chilling details that you won't want to miss. From the unsolved disappearance of Jolene Cummings to the deadly altercation between truckers, our investigative journey is just beginning. So keep your hands on the wheel and your ears tuned in—you never know what might happen on the long hauls and dark roads. Thanks for joining me on Truckin' on the Recap, and let's keep those wheels rolling.
Follow us on facebook , YouTube and Instagram. Trucking on the recap
here we go. Another day, another dollar here on trucking. On a recap, I am your host, rich. Thanks for joining me here today. Just another week, week out on the road, another week in the books. This is what I'll be talking about this week. On the recap Dog disaster we had a mishap in my house, man. I tell you what. I was never so pissed off in my life. I'll tell you what happened there. It wasn't good Money the company makes. Why do people bitch about it? I don't understand Trucking freight recession. With that, we'll also talk a little bit about the key bridge coming down.
Speaker 1:Police say parking disputes led to fatal trucker versus trucker shooting at a Pennsylvania truck stop Shipping giant UPS to close 200 facilities. The costs and a little true crime. Black guy promise Now sit back, relax and grab. And a little true crime, like I promised, Now sit back, relax, grab the beverage of your choice and let's get this bad boy rolling. Here we go, thank you All right. Thanks for joining me here today. Yeah, all right, thanks for joining me here today. Yeah, hey.
Speaker 1:I want to say to everybody out there you know we're into spring, the weather is changing. Not too much snow going on out there, so we're putting our guard down a little bit, but at the same time, let's slow it down in the rain. Over the past two weeks, I've seen a lot of accidents out there. There's one or two I know for a fact where a driver has lost his life just driving like a maniac Just driving like a maniac in the rain. Slow it down, man. You're not the only one out there on the road. I hate preaching, but it is what it is.
Speaker 1:First, we'll start out with a happy Easter to everyone who celebrate. Yeah, today is Sunday, easter Sunday. So if you celebrate the holiday, enjoy the day, enjoy your family and enjoy the food. Oh yeah, hey, we had an issue going on in my house. It was a freaking nightmare. I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1:Last weekend, you know, I was doing a podcast last weekend for the show here and I just didn't get it posted because we had problems. We had major problems in my house. Our dogs were going nuts. It was raining all weekend. Downpour my mud, yeah, my mud. My yard was so muddy it was ridiculous. Now, for those of you that have been listening to the show for quite a while, you know I have three Labradors, two purebred and one is a mix between a black lab and a mastiff. Our golden lab decided to go play in the mud and it was pretty, pretty bad.
Speaker 1:I was down here podcasting and I let the dogs out and I forgot they were out and they come in through the doggy door and it was not good. My wife is yelling Rich, rich, you better get up here. This isn't good, come up here. I go up there, my entire house. I will post these pictures on the website or on the Facebook page.
Speaker 1:My entire house was mud, all of it. Just about every square inch of the house was mud. The kitchen, the for air, my dining room, my TV room, jumped on the couch, got the couch all mud. I tried chasing them out. Nope, they took a left and, uh, went upstairs, got the upstairs all mud and finally I got them out and at first it was funny. It really was. Then I realized my wife had somewhere to be that day for the whole entire day.
Speaker 1:So who's stuck cleaning it? Oh yeah, yours truly, yours truly, my son had a friend sleep over the night before. They were up till all hours of the night and the one got up and I purposely brought their drinks in and put them on the counter in the kitchen so they did not have to go out in the sunroom and accidentally leave the dogs in. Well, and I specifically said where their drinks were. Well, apparently went in one ear and out the other. So as I got the kitchen all cleaned up and the cabinets wiped off and clean, they decided to go out in the sunroom and get a drink. And what do they do? Leave the dogs in again, again. So it's round two of cleaning up.
Speaker 1:It was just bad. It was not good. I was not a happy camper. Um, the dogs are. They're lucky they're alive. That's how upset I was. We have a gate that at the top of my steps here I come down into the basement, my slash studio, and I was so upset I ripped that gate right off the wall. I, oh my god. And to top it off, it wasn't that bad, I it? No, I'm lying, it was freaking bad. But then we get them all, get the house cleaned up.
Speaker 1:And I said to my son give the black lab a bath, which he did First time giving a dog a bath. He did great, did a good job. And my yellow lab did not go outside. He's not a dummy, he's pretty smart. He says I'm not going out in that shit, I'll just shit right here in the sunroom before I go out. And that's what he did not, that it mattered with all the mud that was there.
Speaker 1:But the yellow lab or not, the yellow lab jagger, my golden retriever we bring him in and we try to get him upstairs to give him a bath. No, no, anybody that has a golden retriever or knows anything about golden retrievers, they do not like to have a collar put that put on them and they're very intelligent and for some reason this dog does not like to go upstairs because, especially for he'll like he goes up there. But if we're coaching him to come up, he knows he's getting a bath and he does not like to be scrubbed. He likes the water, obviously, but he does not like to be scrubbed. So it was a chore getting him up the steps 85 pound dog, lifting him up one step at a time to get them up there for a bath and then get them in the tub. What a mess. What a mess. I'll tell you what it was a disaster.
Speaker 1:But we got everything situated, the house cleaned, dogs cleaned, and uh it, it was bad man, it was just bad and um, that's it, it was done. You know what's done is done and uh, that's it. Hey, today's Easter Uh, I have a day off today. Yeah, I worked yesterday. Uh, saturday, uh, it was pretty easy day. Um and uh, I stopped by.
Speaker 1:My truck is broke down. It's down near Harrisburg at the shop. It was supposed to be and I was coming back on. I believe it was Friday. So I swung by the shop because I was driving through there to get my tractor, get my stuff out of it anyway, because it's been down there for too long. Things might start disappearing. So I want to get my things out of it. So I go to the shop. It's not there. Nope, they had to send it out to a vendor to fix what's wrong with it. So the tractor I'm using now it's a loaner and I'm going to keep this. So I'm probably going to go down there Monday and get all my crap out of there.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what. The truck was clean, the one I'm in now, the one I'm keeping. But I don't know what this guy was doing in that mattress, on that mattress. But oh, my god, it was disgusting. No, it was freaking gross. Would I lay in it? No, not a new. New it was. It was bad, I don't know. It was disgusting. So I just took the mattress out, threw it out and put my old mattress in there for my other truck. That thing is comfy for some reason. It's beautiful. But yeah, you know, you guys out there on the road, you know, come on, man, take a shower, keep your tractor clean, especially if you're living in that thing for a week or two or three or four or five, whatever. Take care of your stuff, man. The tractor was clean, it was clean, but that mattress, it was bad. Excuse me, it was bad.
Speaker 1:Let's continue on here. Let's move on to the items at hand. Yeah, hey, you know, it's 2023. We're in a freight recession right now. It's 2024. The recession started really in 23. It's bad. It's bad out there.
Speaker 1:As far as freight goes, if you're not on a dedicated account, you're over the road or whatever. I'm sure you are struggling to find loads. I had a gentleman here on my account. He had his own truck. When he came to the account he got out of the truck because he couldn't find freight. He came back to our account. Then he left again. He wanted to give it another shot. He went back out. That didn't work. And now he's back. He was barely breaking even. I guess he was doing okay, until something went on his truck and he had to fix it. It was like a $20,000 fix and it just bankrupted him just about. And he's back with us here.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what if you're on a dedicated account, that is where you need to stay. That is where you need to stay. Don't be job hopping. You know I'm not preaching. If you want to take the risk, now is not the time to stay. Don't be job hopping. You know I'm not preaching. If you want to take the risk, now is not the time to take a risk, not like that. No, stay where you're at, have a steady income, and you know that's what you need to do. In my opinion, that's what you have to do.
Speaker 1:But hey, you know why are we in a freight recession? You know, like I said in a previous podcast, people are spending their money on. They're not spending their money on like physical items, like anything for the house or home renovations, anything like that. They're spending it on like vacations and eating out things of that nature, In other words, things that they kind of experience, you know, not things that they can use around the house. Like I said, home renovations, that's what people are spending their money on. They want to go get out of the house. After COVID, people are sick of sitting in the house and I know we're still talking about COVID and when you're sitting in the house for a year and it plays on you and it might take you two, three, four years to readjust yourself. So that is one of the reasons we're in a freight recession right now, you know.
Speaker 1:Then we get into the amount of trucks out on the road. There's more trucks on the road than there needs to be as far as freight being moved. There's more drivers than trucks, to be honest with you. So in turn, that put a lot of owner operators out, even smaller companies. I've seen a couple of companies in my area go belly up because the freight just is not there. It's just not there. People are struggling in all aspects, not only the trucking industry, but some manufacturing companies are struggling. People just aren't buying physical items. They're not.
Speaker 1:When I was doing the research on this and they had said about people not doing home renovations that much or building homes, you know, I find that a little bit. A little bit hard to believe because I'll tell you, I go up to Home Depot and that place is packed. It's packed. There's a lot of people up there and they're not buying like refrigerators or washer and dryers or anything like that. A lot of contractors are buying lumber. You know, when I drive up the turnpike here, 476 are going down. There's a lot of new developments going up, a lot of them, and it makes me wonder why these companies are building these homes. I think they're looking at dollar signs because the price of homes are going up. I don't think the price of the homes are going up as far as the cost of the home itself. I think it's the interest that is putting the hurting on people with their mortgages and I don't know if they're selling these homes that they're building or what. But you know inflation, yeah, it's through the roof, excuse me, you know, although there's some whack jobs out there that want to be adamant and say that the economy is good, you know it's not. How could you sit there and say it's good? It sucks right now it sucks. I go for lunch with my son on the weekends or breakfast. It's costing me 40 bucks for lunch or breakfast. It's crazy. 20 months we have been in this freight recession.
Speaker 1:The US GDP is two-thirds of consumer spending. A lot of credit cards being used out there. I'm guilty of it too, but at least I have the money to pay it off. I don't use it a lot. We keep it at a minimum. This is causing a lot of people to go into default, which in turn, of course, it drives up interest rates, not only with the credit cards but mortgages. And if you're buying a car, the interest rates are high on that. They put a lot of advertisement oh, buy a brand new car 1.5%, that is if your credit is perfect perfect, and I don't know of too many people out there that their credit is perfect.
Speaker 1:It's not a good situation for consumers in the future. When their credit runs out and the cashflow is low. You can't make them payments and you're making a minimum payment, but then by the time they tack the interest on, you're still, you're getting yourself still in a hole. You can't keep up. But you know freight will remain slow for the rest of the year. A lot of drivers are leaving the industry due to lack of freight and the high operational costs. You know, like I said, my buddy, you know he, you know, something went on his truck tractor and it cost him 20 grand. Put him right in the hole. So that was the end of that. The operational cost to keep a truck moving, keep it. It keeps rising and it has no signs at all of slowing down. It really doesn't. And it has no signs at all of slowing down. It really doesn't.
Speaker 1:Now we have this collapse of the Key Bridge in Maryland. That is definitely going to put a strain on the supply chain here. I think in the Northeast they say it's not really going to affect too much, but I think it's going to affect a little bit. As far as the economy goes. Anyway, it already put people out of work. It's not going to be for a short period of time to rebuild this thing. If they can get that mess cleaned up in a timely manner, it won't be so bad, but I don't it's going to be a while. What impact would this have? Most surely create a logistical nightmare, that's for sure. Shutting down ship traffic at the port of Baltimore, snarling up cargo and commuter traffic. So for us truckers out there traveling in that area, give yourself a little bit more time to get to your destination, your shipper or receiver.
Speaker 1:I travel through there just about every day in the early morning hours. I was going through there when the bridge come down. I don't go that way to go over that bridge, but I was going through there when it come down. I haven't seen much of an increase in traffic. As of now. I depart a little later in the morning, leaving from Baltimore around 8.30. There's a slight increase on 95 and 695 West, not a whole bunch, but enough to notice. Well, I can't say. I'm usually get down there around between, I'd say, six in the morning and seven, eight o'clock. Between six and eight, I'd say I haven't noticed much of a difference that early in the morning. But you know, once you get into nine, 10 o'clock it is going to pick up, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:President Joe Biden said he expects the federal government to pick up the entire building cost of the bridge. His administration approved $60 million in emergency federal aid to pay for debris removal and other initial costs. So my question here is why is our tax money paying for this? And I know we have to keep up with things moving as far as the supply chain goes. We have to do our part, so to speak. So before a full investigation is done as to who is at fault with this collapse? Why, automatically, without any critical thinking going into this, which I don't think they did why are we footing the bill for this? This I don't understand, to be honest with you. Let's get the investigation done and make a determination as to who is at fault and possibly have the shipping company or whoever is at fault foot some of that bill, if not all of it.
Speaker 1:You know we look at these oil spills in the ocean. Why aren't the oil companies accountable and responsible for the cleanup? They were responsible for the cleanup. What is the difference here? What's the difference? Somebody was still negligent for doing their job. It didn't take long for this administration to make this decision, that's for sure. That's why I say, you know, you can't really say they use their critical thinking skills here, they really put any thought into this. Something does not seem right here at all, something's off. You know I'm no conspiracy theorist at all, but sometimes you have to look at things in a little, get a little different perspective. Something just doesn't seem right here. Something just it's off, something is off.
Speaker 1:Coast guard rear admiral shannon girly girly said friday that the first goals are to reopen the shipping channel and remove the ship. Uh, I think the first goal is to uh get the bridge off the ship. Sit right on it. Uh, these trusses weigh between 3,000 to 4,000 tons. That's a lot of weight, man, it's a lot of weight.
Speaker 1:The collapse is not likely to have a big effect on worldwide trade because Baltimore is not a major port for containers vessels and proves more important when it comes to goods such as farm equipment and autos cars, said judah levine, head of research for global freight booking platform, freight toes. But jobs for roughly 2400 members of the international longshoremen's association. Local 333 could dry up until shipping traffic resumes, according according to Scott Cowan. The union's president. Cowan also goes on to say union leaders are working with elected officials to find compensation for longshoremen. In the meantime, they should find compensation for them. It's not their fault, they lost their job. You know there's a lot of hazmat in this water. Also, um, they say you can see a slight sheen on the top of the water from the leakage of these materials out of the containers.
Speaker 1:Uh, this is, uh it's a major cleanup effort in all aspects. Uh, when we say clean up, uh, it's cleaning, excuse me, it's getting the bridge out of the water, getting the cargo ship out of there, getting the hazmat cleaned up. They have to get that hazmat cleaned up because you think about a ship goes through there. That hazmat's going to cling to the ship. You know they get out to sea rough seas, it's going to come off of the ship. You know that's going to cling to the ship. You know they get out to sea rough seas, it's going to come off of the ship. You know that's going to have an effect on ocean life. That's for sure.
Speaker 1:It's a shame this happened. It's scary. To be honest with you, just driving your own car makes you wonder. You know what the hell could happen out there. How often does this happen? I asked myself this, so I did a little research on this one here, too. From 1960 to 2015, there were 35 major bridge collapses worldwide due to shipper barge collisions, with a total of 342 people killed. I think that's pretty high. To be honest with you, I think that's pretty high. To be honest with you, I think that's pretty high. According to a 2018 report from the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure, 18 of those collapses happened in the United States. That is high. The United States, that is high.
Speaker 1:So they say that the reason this ship hit I'm sure you all heard, you know that the power went out and they couldn't steer the ship. As I looked into that a little bit, if the power does go out, I think there should be a backup system on these ships, which there is. It's just all odd to me when I watch some of these videos of this ship. It just went, it just turned right into the support pillar. They say they dropped the anchor to try to stop the ship. Well, for one, it takes about two miles to stop a ship that size. It takes five miles to turn it around to do a complete 360. It's just very confusing to me as to why this ship hit the pillar. If the power goes out or the electronics go out, you should be able to steer this thing manually. I don't know, I don't know. It's very, very strange how this all played out. I'm just upset that they just come to the conclusion that the American people are okay for the government to spend their tax money on the cleanup of this mess. You know that pisses me off. Really does, really, really does. But we'll move on.
Speaker 1:Shipping giant UPS will shutter 200 facilities as part of a cost-cutting plan as the company shifts towards more automated operations. So why are they doing this? You know I have discussed this topic earlier on one of the earlier shows, when UPS was fighting for more money and they got what they wanted. I think they got a little bit more than what they wanted. Obviously, we all said it was going to come to this. The pay increase the workers got I believe it was back in August that they settled with the union was going to eventually lead to this Layoffs. They got laid off. A lot of people are. I think 4,000 people are getting laid off from UPS. Two to 4,000. Don't quote me on them numbers. It's something like that. It's up there. I knew it was coming to this. They bid themselves right out of a job. You can only ask for so much before a company starts to look elsewhere to cut costs, and the first place they're going to cut costs is reduce the manpower.
Speaker 1:The way tech is these days, I wouldn't think it would be that hard to replace workers. You know, when I was growing up, my stepfather worked for UPS. For a short stint there when he got slow with work, he painted houses for a living and he washed the trucks there. That's what he did and back then he probably should have kept the job because back then it paid phenomenal, like it does. It always paid good, but it was a steady job and it paid well. So now I guarantee you they don't have anybody anybody washing them trucks. They probably just run through a automated wash rack. I used to work for a trucking company that had a automated wash rack. I used to work for a trucking company that had an automated wash rack. Yeah, you just pull in, press the button and it washes your truck trailer, all of it. This is where we are at. These days high tech. Human body is replaceable as far as working goes.
Speaker 1:The company seeks to increase productivity through less dependence on labor to reduce the cost per package. The initiative is expected to save UPS $3 billion by 2028. Ups said that the company would close 200 of its more than 1,000 facilities over the next five years. As part of the Network of the Future, ups will close 40 facilities in 2024 alone. Over the next three years, we plan to make bold moves to create a growth flywheel in premium markets. We'll, at the same time, drive higher productivity and efficiency, said Carol Tomei, ups Chief Executive Officer. The growth and productivity initiatives we are executing will result in higher revenue, expanded operating margins and increased free cash flow to deliver long-term value to our share owners.
Speaker 1:I can't say that I didn't tell you, so I can't say that I didn't tell you. So Now, was this initiative put into place before they settled on this contract, this last contract with the workers Network of the Future? Doubtful, doubtful, highly doubtful. It was probably something that they made up to make it look good. You know, they bid themselves right out of a job, the employees, but themselves. You know, they bid themselves right out of this job.
Speaker 1:This is the same thing that is happening in the fast food industry. The people that work in a fast food restaurant in Virginia I don't want to say I think it's IHOP. I believe these people want like $28 an hour. Well, guess what? This company is going to find a way to replace you. They're going to find a way to replace you, and not only that. Do you think that $28 an hour is going to benefit you? It's benefiting no one. No one at all. You're going to get $28 an hour. Okay, so let's say you get that money and you want to go out to eat at IHOP. I think that's where this is happening. And guess what? That 28 is going to go just as far as the 14 or 15 you were making before. You got the increase because they raised the cost of their, of their product, of their food, just like I always say with the increase of unemployment or the minimum wage. Minimum wage does nothing but hurt the economy. You keep raising that minimum wage. Everything else is going up. People got you know these companies. They have to compensate for that. And what do they do? They raise the prices. That's what they do. That's what they do. That's what they do.
Speaker 1:Oh, moving on, moving on. You might hear a little glitch in there. I had to run up and grab a coffee. I used to have a coffee pot down here, but I don't clean it that often. Yeah, it gets pretty gross. So I think I'm going to put it back down here because I like to drink my coffee, that's for sure. I think we all do, as truck drivers, too much coffee.
Speaker 1:But hey, as we move on here, you know I was talking to a guy last week, last week or a week before, and he's from another company that I used to work for years ago. Still working there he is, I'm not, and you know, he started bitching and complaining about his pay. And when he started bitching and complaining about that, I started thinking about complaining about that. I started thinking about, well, here we go, we're going to go through, we're going to do this now, right. And uh, he started bitching about his pay and he started saying, well, why, why do these companies make so much money as opposed to what a driver makes? Why is their profit so high and these top executives with these big companies, the mega carriers, make so much money? Why do they get all these bonuses and all this stuff? And I try to be tactful, because we talked about this once before and I did. I tried to be tactful because we talked about this once before and I did. I tried to be tactful about it and this time I was not tactful.
Speaker 1:We all have to realize that we don't own our tractors. We are not responsible for the upkeep of the tractor as far as financially. For the upkeep of the tractor, as far as financially, we don't have millions of dollars that we have to pay out in insurance costs or safety equipment that go into these tractors. We're not responsible for finding our loads 99% of the time. I think one time over the years that I was working for a company, I had to look for a load on my own and I found one. That doesn't very, very, very rarely does that happen? Very rarely. As drivers, we have to realize what our risk is as opposed to the company's risk. Our risk is minimal as far as financially. Yeah, we take a risk on driving. Uh, yeah, we take a risk on driving. We take a risk on getting in an accident or possibly hurting or God forbid kill somebody, and if that happens, if that happens, we're looking at a multi million dollar lawsuit against the company we work for, lawsuit against the company we work for.
Speaker 1:And this is these are things that this gentleman just does not get at all, does not get it, and the last time we had this conversation I was just pretty adamant about it. It's like bud you get in your tractor every day. You get in it and go, something breaks. All you do is call somebody and they send somebody out to fix it. They don't hand you the bill, they hand the company the bill. You know you don't have to pay the insurance on this stuff. You're not looking for a load, you have somebody doing that for you, you know? I mean you're not paying for fuel. I mean you're not paying for fuel. You can pretty much take any route you need to take to get somewhere without being criticized for it or ridiculed for it.
Speaker 1:Got to start using our heads out here and I would say, with a lot of mega carriers even, especially the smaller companies, you're not looking at a raise for a while, and that is not due to the company not wanting to give you one. They can't. The economy sucks. Everything sucks. Freight sucks, economy sucks. You just cannot expect that right now. I'd say maybe another two, three years, maybe you might get a raise. I don't, you know, don't quote me on any of that, but that's my prediction. You know, think you know.
Speaker 1:We have to realize what's going on in the world before we start pointing fingers and wondering why these I mean even you look at the executives of these companies. They're the ones with the college education, not you. I mean, I have a college education, but I still drive that truck for a living. If I wanted to go sit behind a desk and make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, I would have chosen to do that, but I did not. I chose to drive a truck for a living and you know road rage is up. All right, I'll be up, I'm not cutting that out. So you know, this is where we're at with the world today and we all have to sit back and wait it out for as long as we can and uh, the election comes. You don't like what's going on in this nation? Go vote. That's all I could say. Go vote. And if you don't vote and you're bitching about what's going on in the country, you're wrong. Don't bitch if you don't vote and you're bitching about what's going on in the country, you're wrong. Don't bitch if you didn't vote. Moving on Police say parking dispute led to a fatal truck trucker versus trucker shooting at a PA truck stop.
Speaker 1:Pennsylvania State Police responded to a call at 2 48 am on March 22nd at a Love's truck stop located off of I-78 at Exit 40 in Berks County, new Jersey-based truck driver James Alexander Hilton, 40 years old, was helping another truck driver to park in the rear lot of the truck stop. This led to an altercation with the suspect who was not the truck driver being assisted by Hilton. During the argument the suspect fired on Hilton. Hilton died at the scene. The suspect left Love's. A trooper spotted the suspect's truck near the I-78 westbound exit 45 ramp in Lehigh County. A traffic stop was initiated and the suspect was taken into custody around 3.30 am.
Speaker 1:I could almost guarantee you I could figure out what happened here. I'll tell you right now what happened. The guy who pulled the trigger and shot this this James Alexander. I guarantee you he was pulling into the truck stop. Now look at what time it is 2.48 am Am. He pulled into the truck stop looking for a place to park. He saw a place to park. He's probably peeking through through you know the tractors and he saw a place. He come whipping around try to get in there, but there's already somebody starting to back into it and that's what he got pissed off at. And this poor guy here, james alexander, he was probably just sitting in his tractor having a coffee or whatever and saw this other guy backing in, got out to help him and the guy who shot him probably assumed he was either a trainer or a trainee in the truck that was being backed in, got pissed off and put a bullet in him.
Speaker 1:That's ridiculous. Over a freaking truck stop, over a parking spot. That is insane. You got to be kidding me. You can always find somewhere to park man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's not easy to come by in a truck stop. I know it, we all know it, we all get it. It sucks. But uh, yeah, jesus christ, you know if you're gonna, if you're that hard up, you got to pull the trigger and shoot somebody to get in a truck, a parking spot at a truck stop. You are in a wrong, freakin occupation because a lot of times when you're shutting down that early in the morning you're not gonna find a spot. What are you thinking? You know, hopefully they didn't release this guy's name who pulled the trigger. I think they want to make sure it is this guy, and this was research I did two weeks ago, so I'm sure they have the name now.
Speaker 1:I did try to find out, follow up on it, on what had happened, but it's nobody's saying nothing. I don't see anything anywhere on who the gentleman was that pulled the trigger. Come on, let's uh, let's uh be a little courteous out there. But you know, by reading this here, you know, getting this out here, how many guys are going to get out of their tractor now and help somebody back in at 2.30 in the morning? I know I wouldn't, I ain't getting a freaking shot. No, hey, I'm going to go up and I'm going to have a coffee with Road Rage here and I'll continue this in a couple minutes. Be right back, all right. I'm all right, I'm back, I'm back. Yeah, she just woke up so I went up, had a little coffee with her for a while and we're gonna continue this bad boy right here.
Speaker 1:Hey, uh, I used to do a true crime podcast a while back. It was good, it was pretty, actually, it was real good. But I did not really have a whole bunch of time to do it and, to be honest with you, I really don't right now either. But I'm making time. That's why I'm back up at two o'clock in the morning. Like I said, I wasn't going to do anymore, but I'm doing it anyway because I just love doing this shit. Between the true crime podcast and this podcast, I just do it. So I'm thinking about doing it again and sticking with it this time and, uh, we'll see how it goes. Let me know what you think of this true crime adventure right here.
Speaker 1:This here is the story of well, it's not really the story of this girl, jolene Cummings. This is a young woman, a wife, a mother of two, a young woman that was loved and liked by everyone who met her. She went missing in 2018. She was last seen on May 12th of 2018. Just one day shy of her 34th birthday.
Speaker 1:She was a hairdresser in Nassau County, florida. She attended Hilliard Junior Senior High School and graduated excuse me in 2002. She attended cosmetology school right after high school. I guess, from what I have seen, this is what she wanted to do with her life. She wanted to do hair. She got a job as a hairstylist at Tangles Hair Salon in Fernandina Beach, florida. It doesn't say how long she had worked there. Uh, it not very long.
Speaker 1:Um, through, like from what I have seen, um through social media and uh, from what I've heard, her natural people skills. Uh, she built up a pretty good uh client base. I she was very talented at what she did. Uh, from what I gather, um and people liked her. Uh, you know, it's like our barbers. You know, as truck drivers uh, male truck drivers, you know, our barbers are sometimes like our therapists. Sometimes, you know, we tell them things we don't tell other people because, who knows? You know, I don't know why we do that, but we do sometimes.
Speaker 1:Like I said earlier, she was a mother of two. She was obsessed with those babies that nothing else mattered. Those kids came first a friend, mariah Lorraine, had said in an interview From other reports. Her friends say she was very vibrant, easygoing and a hard worker, someone who would stick up for you If you got yourself in a situation, she would stick up for you. In a situation, she would stick up for you. Unfortunately, her marriage between her and her husband it began to falter. They separated in 2017. She was married at the time to Jason Cummings. Jason was never a suspect in Jolene's disappearance.
Speaker 1:Around a year later, jolene had vanished. On May 14, 2018, jolene's mother called the Fernandina Beach Police Department to report her missing. She was last seen leaving work on may 12th 2018. The next day she failed to pick her children up from their father. After a week-long visit, the kid's father contacted her mother, ann johnson. He had said, quote uh, you know where jolene's at. She's supposed to pick the kids up and they didn't know where she was.
Speaker 1:Nassau County Sheriff Billy Purr told a news reporter I don't want to get into where I got these reports from because I don't know if this place is it's not very, I don't know what I want to say well-known. I'll put it to you that way. But as I researched all of this, all the reports I'm researching and that I come up with, they're all saying the same thing. So there's no discrepancy on what was said or what was done here. So there's no discrepancy on what was said or what was done here.
Speaker 1:They also spoke with the owner of Tangle's Hair Salon, who said Jolene had closed up on May 12th around 5 pm. She had been working with a new employee named Jennifer Seibert. Seibert was contacted by detectives but said she couldn't be involved in any law enforcement investigation as she was being stalked by an ex-boyfriend. This is what this Jolene, or Jennifer Seiper, claims. She said she wasn't close with Jolene and had no idea what had happened to her. She decided she didn't want to have any part of the police. As she leaves her place of work, which is Tangles, she says, I quote hey, I'm quitting, you can mail my check. I can't be involved in any police activity. This was a end quote. That was a concern to Chief Leeper. A concern end quote. That was a concern to Chief Leeper. So not only a concern, but it would definitely raise an eyebrow. I would want to look more into her.
Speaker 1:The only thing Jolene's children have to remember. Her is not a gravesite but a park bench. Remember. Her is not a gravesite but a park bench because her body was never recovered. The bench reads in loving memory of Jolene Jensen Cummings. There's nicknames on it that say Jojo and Gooser.
Speaker 1:So this is the story of a kind of sort of missing person, jolene Cummings and her murderer, kimberly Kiesler, and this is. It's a strange, strange case, very strange case. I had done extensive research on this. This is going to be on my True crime podcast I'm going to probably be dropping this week and next weekend, a week from today. More than likely, if you want to hear more on this case, you're going to have to go over there and get the gist of this case, get the rest of what has happened. I get into depth on the investigation of the case, the interview with Kimberly Kiesler and how and why she had murdered Jolene Cummings. It's a strange one. It's a very strange one.
Speaker 1:If you like true crime, you can head over to the Way I See it when I drop this. That podcast isn't even up yet. So more than likely I'll be doing this podcast here first and I'll give you an update on the true crime podcast I'm doing give you an update on the true crime podcast I'm doing. All the research is done. I just have to go through it, make sure everything is true and accurate, and that is where I am at. Also, next week on this podcast, I'm going to see if I can get the boys on here.
Speaker 1:When I say the boys, I'm talking about the idiot truckers, and you're just going to have to tune in, so to speak, and find out who they are. Who the idiot truckers are. You guys out there that are listening, that are the idiot truckers. Obviously you know who I'm talking about. I'm going to see if I could get them all on there. It'd be one, two, three, four, four of us on that phone call. These guys are crazy, they're insane.
Speaker 1:The conversations we have driving down the road on a conference crawl. I said crawl because the conversations will make your skin crawl. They're so disgusting some of them. I'm going to try to keep it clean when the boys come on. If they come on, see if I can get them all at once. It'll be interesting, that's for sure. And hey, that's all I have today.
Speaker 1:So you want to find out what's going on more with the True Crime Podcast. I'll let you know when that is going to drop. It's going to be next weekend sometime. The whole show, the whole entire investigation, and that's all I got for today. Hey, any questions, comments or concerns? Drop me an email at truckin on the recap, at gmailcom. Let me know what you think of the show and have a good day out there. Ladies and gentlemen, for Reg, this is Truckin on the Recap. Thanks for listening and maybe I'll see you out on the road. Eighteen wheels, burning diesel rolling down the road, ten gears shifting, double clutching, if it's right, don't let it flow. I'm that white line driver and I'm hammered down. We got a hard and low. Break them. Break them one night. Come on back. Can you hear me?