Why I'm Turning the Dome Light On

Most of what I know about running trucks I learned after hours. The phones go quiet, the drivers are rolling or parked, and the office light is the last one still on. That is when the billing gets done, the paperwork gets checked and the next day gets planned.

I am Abdullahi Hassan. I have spent six years at a carrier with more than twenty trucks. I started as a dispatcher, moved into billing, became the safety manager, and now I run fleet operations. Each seat showed me a different way a small fleet loses time or money.

What Dome Light is

Dome Light is my column: notes from the operations desk, written the way small-fleet owners do their billing, late and with a cup of something hot. It is not a news feed and it is not a sales page. It is one person writing down what he has seen work and what he has seen fail.

Who it is for

Owners running three to ten trucks. You are probably the dispatcher, the biller and the safety department on the same day. You do not need a lecture. You need someone to say what to check first.

What I will write about

• AI that actually helps. Where reading a rate confirmation or sorting a packet saves real time, and where a person still has to decide.
• Staying safe. Audits, files and the habits that keep a small carrier out of trouble.
• Getting paid. The paperwork between a delivered load and money in the account.

One ask

If a topic keeps you up after hours, tell me. I would rather write about your problem than guess at it.

The how-to material lives in the Pre-Trip Guides. This column is the part where I think out loud.