Improving the industry

by Jimmy
(Kingman,AZ)

Lets start with the improvements that have been made. First off the trucks are so much improved from the 60's and 70's. Remember cab overs? 36in sleepers and team operation? Spring ride power units and trailers?

No c/b radios,no cell phones, no qualcomms, incomplete interstate highways, axle scales in many states, as in stop, start, stop etc. Check calling twice a day at a certain time. Man was that fun if you were going thru a big city at check call time.

How about no card readers on the fuel island? Here's one you'll like. What did we have before private showers? Let me tell you. We had one shower room with 3 showers in a row and one bench to put your clothes on. You might say military style. You couldn't be bashful! Oh, and there were no showers for the ladies.

All these Flying 'j' truck stops have mostly been built in the last 15 years. Same with Pilots, Loves, Petros. There are some older than that. All the T/A's were 76's. All the 76's had sleeping rooms you could rent, but you had to use the public restroom. UGH!

If you delivered in Chicago, more than likely you were at some old rundown warehouse where you blocked the whole street to get into the dock. And we only had 40ft trailers. Then they allowed 42ft, then 48ft, and finally 53fters.

How's this, 73280lbs maximum weight in the central part of the U.S.. We called it the iron curtain.

So as you can see, things nowadays are much better. Can they get any better? Actually when the industry was regulated prior to about 1980, things were better. Most older hands will tell you that.

I think the co's should set rates to make a decent profit. And stick to it. The railroads, airlines, ocean freighters set rates and you pay it or you don't ship your product. Fed/ex, UPS set their rates. You pay it or not. It's up to you.

So we have better highways, nicer truckstops, much better equipment and communications, more modern warehouses, fully equipped condos to cruise with, weigh in motion scales, pre/pass, better get home policys, higher speed limits, truck washes and service centers a plenty, passenger ride along authorization, but still the turnover rate is pretty bad.

I say the problem is two fold. People getting into the biz don't have enough info to know what they are getting into and the trucking co's aren't doing all they can to keep the drivers happy. Look for my blog re: from managements eyes.

Just one suggestion for dispatch. How about a choice when dispatching loads to drivers. Something like "hey 457341, I have a Ca load and a Nv load and a Tx load. Which would you like?"

That's my two cents worth......Jimmy