Straight answers to trucking’s basics.

Guides

These are the plain definitions for the terms you’ll hear before you ever haul a load for us: what a rate con actually is, the difference between an MC number and a DOT number, how a lease-on works if you don’t have your own authority yet, and what actually separates an owner-operator from a company driver. Each guide answers the question directly in the first few lines, then goes deeper for anyone who wants the full picture. Most of what a new driver gets told happens once, fast, over the phone, and half of it doesn’t stick — this section exists so you can read it again, at your own pace. Read one before your first call if you want to walk in already knowing the vocabulary, or send the link to someone else who’s asking. The field notes in the blog cover the situational stuff that changes load to load; these are the fixed definitions underneath it. Want it all in one list instead? The blog’s trucking terms glossary covers the same ground in a single post.