Driver's Seat View

Is it just me, or has the ATA overstepped its boundaries? As all of you probably already know, the ATA has petitioned the government to make 68 mph the law for all trucks. In talking with some drivers, while traveling this week, I find that many of them are under the impression that it will be a simple matter of just "adjusting" the proposed limiters, and that by doing so, the truck will run faster.

The fact that seems to have escaped their notice is that along with the proposed limiters will come a new law that makes it a crime to alter or modify the limiter in any way. More-than-likely, there will be a new addition to DOT inspections that includes checking your limiter for compliance. It's all electronic!

The question that keeps haunting me is: What is in it for the ATA?
To answer that, we need to know who the ATA is. The biggest members are, of course, the biggest carriers. They are also the ones who believe whole-heartedly in the "cookie-cutter" concept for trucking. All trucks look, run, and are controlled the same way. Not a bad concept if all things are equal! The more you can control a driver from headquarters, the better off you will be. After all, driver professionalism is best defined by someone behind a desk, right? Sorry, sometimes I think sarcasm is an addiction.

Remember what I said about "all things being equal?" This is where the stuff hits the proverbial fan. All things are not equal! All drivers are not the same and there are monetary concerns that enter into this equation that make slow trucks a detrement to many aspects of the industry and the infrastructure. Ask a shipper or a consignee who he or she wants running a "hot" load from coast to coast. Give him or her the choice of a 65 mph truck or one that can run the speed limit in any state. It isn't rocket science! What, you didn't know that "hot" loads still exist?

Maybe it is the fact that all things are not equal that serves as the impetus for this petition for L&L (limiters and law). Perhaps the truth is that slow trucks cannot compete for loads or drivers with fast trucks. I would estimate that the greatest percentage of fast trucks on the road deliver their loads safely on a daily basis; but that's just my opinion. I would also chance a guess that the drivers of those trucks would never consider driving a slow truck. (Maybe not even if forced to) I guess it would be pretty hard to recruit the best drivers if they have options other than driving a slow truck.

So, there it is! (or as the song says, "whoop, der it is!) Let's make all fast trucks illegal and shippers and consignees will have no choice but to use us. Let's cut back all trucks and drivers will be forced to work for us whether they like it or not. But, what about the owner/operators who count on their ability to get the load there asap? I can hear the answer now, "Let them eat cake!"

Please excuse me while I sigh! Here we are, the drivers who move America, and some desk jockey bean counter who sleeps in his or her own bed nightly (presumably, cause you never know these days) and probably has never been inside a truck, except for photo ops, is scheming on how to get a bigger share of the freight pie by turning us into robots (and all for the same price) without one thought given to the stress and ill-will he or she is creating within our already-divided house.

What can I say? Maybe we deserve it for believing that mush about "you can't get two drivers to agree on anything." If you believe that's true, or even funny, you're just as much a part of the problem as those who believe all truck drivers are foul-mouthed people with a distinct hate for water and soap, and just enough grey matter to remember the shifting pattern on a ten-speed transmission (and thus the reason for the move to automatics).

I have this strange feeling of dejavu; like maybe this was the way it felt to watch the fencing in of the open range or the killing off of the Buffalo. Oh well, there's other frontiers to explore, and if real trucking becomes a part of the past, I can always take comfort in the fact that I, and others like me, know what being a trucker was really about. Here's to the days when common sense, initiative, discretion, and guts exemplified professionalism.

Happy Trails & tudaloo

otr@cdldriver.net

Category: General

I am sure most of us, if not all, have heard of the dangers associated with stress. It is a leading cause of headaches, nerve problems, behavioral dysfunction, ulcers, and heart problems. I once read a bumper sticker, that was "meant to be funny" (quotation marks intentional) that said stress was the "need to choke the living s--- out of some a------" In other words, the ultimate form of stress release is to act it out violently. I'm sure most of us have seen or at least heard the altercations common in a truckstop parking lot. Perhaps a new driver will take longer than necessary to back into a space and the driver waiting for him or her to do so will angrily make a comment meant to deride the driver who made him or her wait. Most of the time, this will create a hazardous situation that could end up depriving both drivers of their livlihood, if not their lives, and in which there can be no winners regardless of the outcome. At the very least, all drivers are made to appear as impatient, trouble-seeking, ill-tempered, and foul-mouthed delinquents by a couple of people under the effects of stress.

While there are some drivers out here who really should be banned from the industry, and society for that matter, due to their selfish, rude, and violence-prone behavior, the majority of drivers who react in such manner are actually the victims of unrecognized stress.

But where does this stress originate? Some of it can come from undue and unreal expectations on the part of load planners and dispatchers. Assigning a load with insufficient time for pickup or delivery can put put an enormous amount of stress on a consciencious driver who holds him or herself to a high standard of timeliness. Experienced drivers who pride themselves on "no late loads" are good time managers and trip planners. They take into account all potential or known factors of their trip before starting out and always leave themselves a "cushion" in case of unexpected delays.

When faced with the possibility of arriving late and having to deal with the consequences of doing so, they naturally look to the cause of their dilemna and the anger caused by not being able to do anything about it because someone else caused it creates the stress that can turn ugly in a scenario like the one we just examined. These are really just secondary sources of stress when compared to the stress created by a vehicle that cannot meet the needs of the task it is supposed to perform. Why would this cause stress?

Imagine driving 2000 miles at 65 mph when the speed limit is 75 mph. After averaging your speed over 11 hours daily, it will take you one-half day longer to make the same trip at 65 mph than it would at 75 mph. Even when the speed limit drops to 65 and 70 mph, you still lose an enormous amount of time over a month's time and over a year, the time you lose turns into real money out of your pocket. If you run into delays, this only serves to worsen the problem. You cannot make up any time lost with a slow vehicle and that puts you in the "hot seat."

Several reasons have been cited as the need for "governed" trucks.

1. Safety

2. Insurance

3. Leased Vehicle Requirements

4. Fuel Savings

If safety is a concern, then why post the speed limit that high or why not make governors mandatory on all cars and trucks instead of just some since speed appears to be the problem here?

If insurance requires this, then why are not all trucks governed the same, since all trucks must have insurance coverage by law?

If it is a matter of this being required by lease agreements, why not negotiate a better one since companies who "castrate" their trucks lose at least one load production per month in comparison to those who don't.

As for fuel savings, the lost production of a load per month, if recouped, would pay for "perceived" fuel savings of a whole year in just one to two months if the trucks were allowed to run the legal speed limits in all states.

After having informally interviewed a number of drivers from different companies who govern their trucks on this subject, and my main question having been, "does the speed of the truck create any stress for you that you can perceive?" I am totally convinced that it is a major stress generator. The answer has always been a resounding, "YES."

Then, why would a company go to such extremes to limit their own productivity? Why deprive the company coffers of an additional load per month? Why make the company the butt of someone else's joke and have drivers shy away from working for you or leave your company in total disgust because of the "monkey wrench" a slow truck throws into your company's logistics efforts?

The answer can only be that there is a lack of trust in the quality of drivers a company hires. Either that, or the owners and managers are listening to beancounters who have never set foot inside a truck, yet have determined that this is the way to operate one because they view the driver as just another piece of "equipment." Not taking into account the Human side of the driving aspect of this industry has had tremendous cost ramifications in low retention and high turnover costs. Those, along with lost productivity and lost clients due to poor service ratings, have brought some major companies down in the past and I'm sure we will see some more of the same in the future.

So what is the answer? Hire quality seasoned drivers primarily and trust them to do what needs to be done with your equipment safely and profitably. Give your drivers more than mere lip service respect and treat them as the professionals they are by allowing them to decide when to use the speed of the truck to accomplish their task in a timely manner. If you need to assign slower trucks to trainees who have not yet established themselves as experienced drivers, do so and give them something to work up to.

As it is right now, companies with governed trucks are frustrating their drivers and creating a dangerous and unsafe situation that is just as volitile as the one created by foolish drivers who run 80 and 90 mph when given the right to run 75. When you combine the foolish drivers and the slow trucks, you get an idea of why there is so much stress-related anger displayed on the interstate highways of America.

One would assume that most companies are not aware of the stress created by their slow trucks, but I have seen a warning message sent by operations to a truck that exceeded its idling time that said, " if your idling time is not reduced promptly, your truck will be turned down to 60 mph." This tells me that inside personnel are fully aware of the effects of slow trucks on drivers and are willing and ready to use them as threats to ensure compliance with their policies by the drivers. It makes me wonder how many heart failures, breakdowns, acts of violence, and other medical maladies governed trucks have already caused due to the inability or unwillingness of these companies to render to their drivers the due respect of letting them DRIVE!

Only those drivers who have been there and done that will actually be able to relate fully to what has been written here. But I am confident that we are in the majority and that is why it is important that we bring about this change. In the end, it will be a change for the good of all concerned. To all of you who still drive those slow trucks, let someone know how it affects you and see a doctor if it becomes necessary. Maybe if enough of us do so, they will "GET IT!"


Happy Trails!
otr@cdldriver.net

Category: General

Greetings to all who drive trucks for a living. In spite of the fact that there is a lot of "hate & discontent" going on out here on any given day, I believe there are many more drivers who go about daily doing their job and waiting for things to get better.

I am one of those drivers! There are many things within the industry that I see as inequitable or just plain wrong, and I do not subscribe to the foolish myth that, "you can't get two drivers to agree on anything." I'm actually suspicious that the myth itself was created and has been furthered by those whose interests are better served by a lack of unity among drivers. No! I'm not a conspiracy buff either.

I just see certain things that could be done differently to create a more productive workforce in our end of the industry. I am convinced that it takes a driver to understand a driver and there are those who may not see the difference between a driver and a person aspiring to become one. Do I say this as a way of making fun of those who have recently entered the driving profession? Not unless I want to pretend I already knew about trucking when I first began. That was not the case. But this is not my bio, so suffice to say that I was as green as a cactus back then. We all began somewhere and grew in experience up to where we are now.

Here are the facts:
1. America's needs are served by truck.
2. Trucks that drive themselves have not yet been invented.
3. Any company whose business is trucking cannot make a dime
without drivers.
4. Drivers are a trucking company's most key asset.
5. Drivers are still relegated by most trucking companies to the
bottom of the totem pole in terms of input and importance.

In the field of Human Resources Management, it is a given that key employees are any company's direct connection to success or failure. Yet, our industry had 130% turn over last year and will probably average about the same this year if not more. Most owners, directors, and managers look to pay issues when trying to stop the bleeding. In doing research on the retention issue five years ago, I found it cost the average company from $5,000 to $12,000 per new driver hired on average when all associated costs were figured in. At the time, I was recruiting for a small Indiana-based trucking firm. Retention was not a priority issue for the company at the time. The research was dismissed and the company is paying more today for new ways of getting the message out that it needs drivers.

Is there a genuine answer to this dilemna? I very much think so. However, I don't think it will be found within the "inside" personnel at most companies. As much as the thought may appall some company owners, directors, and managers, there is going to have to be a paradigm shift, if not a complete overhaul, concerning the part drivers play in the decision-making process. The industry is at war with itself and certain victors will emerge triumphant when the smoke clears. Unless we drivers assert our rightful place within the industry, we may end up waiting still longer for things to get better. No one is going to give us anything. We must claim that which is rightfully ours as key elements in this industry, and as long as we do so in all fairness, who can object or keep us from attaining our objective?

We have the power to achieve our goal if we can just stop thinking in "old school" terms and realize who we are and what we have. To the nay-sayers who cannot fathom this reality, let me just say, "get out of the way and let those of us who know we can do so."
I'm just adhering to what that old trucking adage says: "Either lead, follow, or get out of the way."

Next time: Rolling Stress Mills

Happy Trails!
otr@cdldriver.net
[www.cdldriver.net]

Category: General