FMCSA: Beware of Companies Posing as Government Agencies
Traffic on I-380 south of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (The Cedar Rapids Gazette)
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials posted a warning to truckers on April 8 to be aware of “predatory” companies that pose as government agencies.
The message came one day after the Iowa attorney general issued a news release announcing it reached an agreement with a Texas company that agreed to refund money to any Iowa truck drivers that paid it $149 to submit federal documents that can be filed for free.
The company, Compliance Processing Group of Frisco, Texas, sent past-due notices to Iowa truck drivers under the name FMCSA Compliance Processing Group. The letters warned that the truckers must “contact us immediately” or risk fines of $1,000 a day for a total of up to $10,000 and risk being taken out of service, “per the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.”
CVSA
An upcoming app from the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) is offering some nice perks at a much lower price than CVSA membership.
The 2021 CVSA app will be available soon and Kerri Wirachowsky, director of the Roadside Inspection Program at CVSA, is excited about the additional features their latest app offers.
“It’s my new favorite thing,” Wirachowsky said following a recent CVSA webinar that offered updates on out-of-service criteria and inspection bulletins (see below). “I don’t have to carry around my reg book anymore. I don’t have to carry around my out-of-service criteria. It’s there at my fingertips. All of the inspection bulletins are on there. Everything is on there.”
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is blasting lawmakers’ failure to help small-business truckers in its $900 billion pandemic relief package, saying it is nothing short of “shameful.”
As part of the package, $45 billion goes to the transportation industry, including $14 billion for transit; $1 billion for Amtrak; $2 billion for private motor coaches, school buses, and ferry industry; $10 billion for state highways; $15 billion for airline payroll support; $1 billion for airline contractor payrolls; and $2 billion for airport and airport concessionaires.
In a letter to members of Congress sent on Wednesday, Dec. 23, OOIDA called out lawmakers for failing to remember the men and women who have been at the frontlines of the pandemic, keeping the grocery stores stocked and delivering essential medical items including the COVID-19 vaccine.