From Birmingham, England — 3,500 miles from American trucking — Tony breaks down the word that explains so much industry nonsense: externalities. Costs they create but you pay. While recovering from shoulder surgery that would’ve been ~$30K in the U.S. (and £500 in the UK), Tony lays out how trucking’s “bad math” hides the real costs on drivers.
Using Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground as a backbone, we dig into the LinkedIn math circus, deferred-maintenance shell games, gig-economy exploitation, the coming Crystal Palace of automation/surveillance — and why drivers are treated as the externality in everyone else’s equation.
“Every question you ask is a nail driven up through their floorboards. Keep driving nails. Keep asking. Stay conscious, villains.”
⏱️ CHAPTERS00:00 – Intro from Birmingham04:00 – Song: “Birmingham” – Broken Witt Rebels06:00 – Quotes: Upton Sinclair & Socrates11:00 – UK vs. US healthcare math (shoulder surgery)14:00 – “Non-Domiciled CDL” emergency (and who really profited)18:00 – LinkedIn Math Circus (Fuller/Miller/Miller)27:00 – Drive Line: Externalities explained30:00 – Notes from Underground (the consciousness problem)33:00 – The Crystal Palace (autonomy, AI dispatch, surveillance)36:00 – Socratic method as resistance: define your terms41:00 – Post Trip: Villa train story & collective voice47:00 – Next week preview (UK ride-along, Magna Carta, Kodiak)
🔎 TOPICS COVERED• What externalities really mean (McDonald’s trash example)• Underground Man’s “curse of knowing” vs. men of action• Craig Fuller’s admission about deferred maintenance & what it hides• The LinkedIn math circus: undefined terms everywhere• How Uber perfected trucking’s exploitation model• The Crystal Palace they’re building (and why we’re the support beams)• Non-domiciled CDLs & chameleon carriers (features, not bugs)• Birmingham train ride: collective voice vs. American isolation• Kodiak IPO timing (Diesel Damus called it)
🗣️ KEY QUOTES“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” — Upton Sinclair“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think.” — Socrates
🔗 LINKS & RESOURCESWill Cook — A Driver’s PerspectiveFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61570019885862
TJ Graff — Star Behaviors AssessmentStar Behaviors → https://starbehaviors.comStar Advisor (FREE self-assessments) → https://starbehaviors.com/staradvisor.html
“Big Cal” — Trucking with Coffee and CalFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564967548222
Chris Barber — Fighting for FreedomWebsite: https://cbtruckingltd.ca
Mike Ritzema — Superior Trucking Payroll ServiceWebsite: https://truckingpayroll.com
Deb LaBree — A Woman TruckerWebsite: https://awomantrucker.com
Bobbi McGee — A Hard Shell LifeBlog: https://hardshelllife.blogspot.com
🚚 UPCOMING TRUCK SHOWS• Barry Trahan’s Louisiana Truck Show — Rayne, LA — Oct 24–25• Lee Owens’ American Truckers Jubilee — Searcy, AR — Oct 24–25Full calendar: https://thetruckshowlist.com
🤝 SPONSORSTrucker’s Wealth — Financial strategies for drivers & owner-opshttps://truckers-wealth.com
Trans Carolina Permits — Permits, IFTA, compliance since 1977https://transcarolinapermits.com
True TMS — Cloud TMS: planning, rating, invoicing, reportinghttps://truetms.com
📬 CONNECTEmail: inbox@channel19experience.comWebsite: https://channel19experience.com
🎵 MUSIC“Birmingham” — Broken Witt Rebels (support the artists)
#️⃣ TAGS#Trucking #TruckingPodcast #Externalities #NotesFromUnderground #Dostoevsky #CrystalPalace #OwnerOperator #FreightWaves #CraigFuller #GigEconomy #Uber #SocraticMethod #DefineYourTerms #Channel19Experience #CDL #DriverShortage #NonDomiciledCDL #ChameleonCarriers #KodiakIPO #DieselDamus #Birmingham
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