Letters: Keeping LTL Drivers, Still Not Made in USA, Weight Limits
These Letters to the Editor appear in the Nov. 15 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.
Keeping LTL Drivers
I read with interest the letter from Colin Young about keeping less-than-truckload drivers — especially the part about management thinking it should take you only so long to go from point A to point B, without taking into consideration traffic flow during different parts of the day or other unforeseen circumstances (click here for previous letter).
I have been in this industry since 1966, when I started out as a 26-year-old greenhorn driver. In 1974, I decided to go to college and study traffic and transportation management. For the next 24 months, I went to school and I also worked full time as night dispatcher for one of the largest refrigerated carriers in the country. That worked out great, as I could study at work.
It wasn’t too long before my name went from the bottom of the call list to the top. The drivers would call me because I would answer my phone — rather than the more senior dispatchers — and they knew Chuck would not holler at them or call them stupid because I knew what it was like to be on the road and have problems.
My sleep pattern soon became 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. with three or four wake-up calls. I didn’t mind it, though, because that was what I was going to college for — transportation management. When I graduated, I decided I was going back on the road for a while to get some rest. I bought my own truck again and never gave it up.
I am of the firm belief that one of the prerequisites to being a dispatcher, driver supervisor or driver manager — whatever title you want to call them by — as well as safety people and all other people in operations who deal directly with drivers, is that they should have to spend anywhere from eight to 12 weeks on the road with more senior and better drivers so they can see what it is like.
As Young said in his letter, they should have to learn how to load and unload, do vehicle inspections, adjust brakes and perform all the rest of the duties of a driver.
In June 1995, I bought a new truck. In August, I went down with major back problems, and my doctor pulled my physical until I saw the orthopedic surgeon. In October, when I finally saw him, the surgeon told me what needed to be done. In January, I went under the knife.
Fourteen weeks passed before I was able to get my truck home and go back on the road. Luckily, I had a friend who was a retired driver and jumped in and ran the truck for me. I gave him all the revenue above the expenses plus $100 per load.
I had some good contracts and regular customers I hauled for as an independent. I went back on the road in April 1996 and decided in August of that year that I was done and sold my tractor and trailer for $10,000 plus what was owed on the tractor. The trailer was paid for.
I started my own company at that time, doing financial recordkeeping, fuel tax filings and other related services. I also started doing computer technology.
That is why I feel the way I do about people in authority over drivers. I have been there and done that. At 70 years old, I am going to start enjoying life now.
Charles Onsum
Owner/President
Golden Eagle Enterprises
Madison, Wis.
Thank you, Colin Young — very well said.
A certain Canadian carrier used to have (and still may have) a corporate policy in place whereby every operations staff member had to spend one week riding along in a truck (and sleeping only when the driver slept), and every truck driver had to spend one week in the operations/dispatch office.
This is — in my humble opinion — the only way to gain respect for the other person’s daily (or nightly) duties.
It’s a shame this is not being practiced across the board in this industry.
André Perret
Fleet Safety/Compliance Professional
The Road-Scholar
Hamilton, Ontario
Still Not Made Here
This is in reference to the letter “Not Made in the USA,” which noted “the exportation of American jobs by our major corporations to foreign countries — in particular Mexico and China, but many others as well — for cheap labor, larger profit margins and larger returns on stocks” (click here for previous letter).
Thank you for having the guts to print that clear and concise analysis of how America got into the position it now finds itself.
When we have a party with a leader such as Mitch McConnell stating that the Republican party’s No. 1 priority is to destroy President Obama, something is radically wrong. Ford Motor Co. said Priority No. 1 was quality — not to destroy General Motors or Toyota Motor Corp. — and look where Ford is today.
Isn’t the focus of elected officials supposed to be to do the best they can for the betterment of all the American people? While we are fighting among ourselves for power, the world is getting traction against us in many areas where that should not be happening. For a country of so many supposedly smart people, we sure have a bunch of boneheads, many of whom are in powerful positions.
It’s obvious that greed and power dominate more than ever in America.
The writer of “Not Made in the USA” is a shining star with clear vision in a sea of muck.
Allan Berger
Consultant to the Trucking Industry
Houston
Weight Limits
The writer of the letter headlined “Raising Weight Limits” (click here for previous letter) takes “strong exception” to the “current stampede” toward higher weight limits. Unfortunately, the letter disregards a couple of pertinent facts, particularly regarding operation on the interstate highway system.
Some states, such as Vermont, already allow truck weights in excess of 80,000 pounds on state highways, for various reasons. Allowing higher weight limits on the interstate takes traffic out of our downtowns, saves time and fuel and puts heavier vehicles out on the highways, which are built to take those loads.
Vermont and Maine currently have a one-year pilot project, which we hope will be extended by Congress in coming weeks. The pilot allows trucks of as much as 99,000 pounds — with the appropriate number of axles — to use the interstate highways in those two states. By almost everyone’s account, the pilot project has been a big success — more productivity, less heavy truck traffic in our downtowns, reduced driver fatigue and tension, and increased profitability. What’s not to like?
Here’s the point — allowing more weight on the interstates, particularly when heavier vehicles already are allowed on state highways, makes a lot of sense. Maybe the “stampede” toward higher weight limits, at least in some cases, is a stampede toward the “OK” corral!
Edward Miller Jr.
Miller & Smith LLP
Attorneys at Law
Northfield, Vt.
Editor’s Note: Edward Miller Jr. is the lawyer and lobbyist for the Vermont Truck & Bus Association.
