Dec 31, 2015

Truck-driver teams have emerged as the shipping heroes of the holidays.

According to Loretta Chao, reporting for the Wall Street Journal, retailers and parcel carriers found themselves turning more than ever to driving teams this season, in which drivers pair up to keep trucks rolling for hundreds of miles over 20 or more hours a day.

Gary Helms, a 57-year-old driver said “The goal would be for this truck to never stop,”. He has hauled freight for companies including Amazon.com Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and FedEx Corp..

Estimates point to far faster growth in Web orders than in sales at brick-and-mortar stores this year and years ahead. That has pressured the operations at United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx, to put on extra staff to handle the surge.

Husband-and-wife teams increasingly are becoming common, but that too presents its own set of challenges. Kim Pagh, 45, who has been driving with her husband, Jay, for eight years, said they have spent many Christmases and anniversaries on the road. Several times, they were stuck minding loads in empty lots on Christmas Day without access to running water because no one showed up at the dock to let them unload. Steve and Sinclair review this intriguing story.

In the Q & A segment, Steve answers the some of the most pressing questions on annuities, including how they are constructed, which ones are safe, and what exactly makes them safe.