Notes from the desk.

Siskiyou chain law, again.

Second spring storm this month has the pass under chain restriction overnight through Wednesday. If you're running the I-5 lane and your chains are still in the side box from January, fine. If they're in the garage at home, get a pair of V-bars at the TA in Central Point before you head up. I'll hold any southbound out of Portland until Thursday morning if you'd rather not mess with it — tell me which way you lean.

Terms used: chain law (mandatory tire-chain requirement on a pass), V-bar (a cam-style chain with welded traction bars, required on most western passes).

New MC on the Denver board — wait it out.

There's a broker posting out of Commerce City with a Feb authority date, no bond history yet, and already two "slow pay" notes passed around the dispatcher group. Rates look good. They aren't. I'm not booking any of our trucks with them until there's a credit score to look at. If you see them direct on the board, pass.

Reefer out of Nogales is heating up.

Produce season on the desert is two weeks ahead of last year. I saw $3.08 all-in on a Nogales-to-Dallas this morning, which is $0.40 above where that lane was sitting in February. If your reefer is inspected and clean, and you're willing to wait through a lumper at the receiver, this is the window. Won't last past Mother's Day.

Detention claims: write it on the BOL.

Two detention claims got denied last week because the driver didn't get the receiver to timestamp the BOL on the way out. Rate con said two hours free, after that $75/hour, but without a timestamped out-time we've got nothing to bill against. From here on, if a receiver won't stamp out-time, take a photo of the BOL next to the dash clock. I'll accept that as evidence.

Annual inspections — book them now.

DOT inspection blitzes typically land in May. Every shop in a 200-mile radius of here is already booked three weeks out. If your annual is due between now and Memorial Day, get on somebody's calendar this week. I'd rather route you around a shop day than have you chasing an inspector's OOS sticker in June.

I-80 across Wyoming — stop running it at night this month.

Black ice between Rawlins and Laramie every morning last week. I'm setting pickup and drop times that put trucks through that stretch between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. local. It'll cost a few hours on the clock. It won't cost a truck.

The Salinas reefer broker everybody uses finally raised their bill-pay.

You know the one. They went from net 45 to net 30 on March 1, which is why a few of our factoring advances came in faster than usual this week. Don't expect it to stick through produce season, but enjoy it while it does.