Life on the Road - Trucking News Blog

I’ve worried for a long time about people of today losing their ability for rational thought. I’ve also worried about the same length of time about all jobs being outsourced to Asia. An article in today’s paper, however, gave me hope: it was about a Chinese college student being bitten by a panda when he climbed into its enclosure “because he wanted a hug”. That got me to wondering . . .is it something about a rising standard of living that makes these people too stupid to live? If this is the case, then we might eventually get our jobs back when China becomes a dumb as we seem to have gotten.

About The Tools

There’s another cultural phenomena I’m wondering about, too. . .I guess you could call it “tool rage”. One day last week, I came across two small AP news bits about road rage-with a twist:

From Washington State:
“A 32-year-old Port Orchard man is accused a throwing a large wrench at another vehicle Friday while driving on State Highway 16. Witnesses also traveling westbound on the highway said the man had been passing vehicles and traveling at a high rate of speed when he threw the wrench “for no apparent reason,” the statement said. . .The wrench shattered the driver’s side window, sending glass debris flying through the Port Angeles man’s vehicle before striking him in the left shoulder. . .”. Read the rest of this entry »

I see a trend, and it is one that is probably not going to go away.  It seems that we just don’t want to do anything for ourselves anymore.  Now this might not apply to you and your family.  It does not apply to mine.  But it is affecting my family daily.

I am a gray-haired parent, my husband and I having skipped a generation, becoming parents when others were starting down the road to grandparent-hood.  So we have memories of childhood routines and rituals that today’s parents do not share.  Young people easily grow weary of stories of how things used to be in the good old days.  I admit I do like to talk about it, but I try my darndest to not end every story judgmentally, with such statements as, “Things were sure better then.”  I may think it, but I don’t say it.  I will leave that decision to the listener.

My humble opinion is that things were simpler and less expensive, and every bit as fun, when I was growing up in the 50’s and 60’s.  Take a child’s birthday party, for example.  I have always enjoyed doing parties for my children in our house, planning party games and making our own party invitations and decorations and baking our own birthday cake (or cupcakes, as the case sometimes is.)  As the kids get older they do more and more of the game planning and decoration making.
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Since it’s getting close to Thanksgiving time, I thought I would do a little research. I have always heard that the reason people want to nap after the big Thanksgiving meal is because of the turkey. If you are a Seinfeld fan, you will recall an episode where Jerry and George feed this woman a huge amount of turkey and then give her a box of wine to drink so she will get sleepy. The whole reason for them to do this was to play with her vintage toys.

Since I am not the best at science, unlike my boys, I did a little research and found out that it is NOT turkey that makes a person sleepy after that big Thanksgiving meal. In fact, one reason you get sleepy is because of the huge meal in itself. We all tend to overeat on Thanksgiving, it seems to be the “one” day we allow ourselves to splurge when it comes to eating. Or should I say pigging out?

According to one of the articles I read, it states: “So, why are you sleepy after a big turkey dinner? It’s a combination of the type of food, amount of food, and celebratory atmosphere.”

It goes on to talk about the famous L-Tryptophan that is in turkeys. This little amino acid apparently has a sleep inducing effect. However, the article does state that it takes more than just that to make a person sleepy. There are several factors involved: the amount you eat, alcohol, and relaxation.  If you eat something fatty or high in carbohydrates it slows down the digestive system. When you eat a big meal, all the blood rushes to the stomach to help digest the meal, making us feel oh so sleepy.

So the myth of turkey making you tired has been exposed. The next time you are at the buffet and eat just a bit too much, know ahead of time you will be going back to the truck a bit sleepy!

I found my graphic at: http://www.criticallayouts.com/component/option,com_rsgallery2/Itemid,330/page,inline/id,16844/catid,741/limitstart,10/.

I am not going to go into the idea of this country being in a recession or if one is looming. Some may argue we are already in a recession and some may argue we aren’t. From what I have seen in my humble little town and around the nation is companies are cutting back on expenses. One of the first things to go is jobs the company deems “unnecessary”. Although, I don’t think the job would be there in the first place if it was unnecessary, I can understand some jobs can be absorbed by other departments. The idea of being laid of is a scary one for any person depending on a steady paycheck. Big companies are not immune to these layoffs either. One could argue they are more likely to cut jobs especially if they are a public shared company and are trying to meet a budget by year end.

Being laid off isn’t easy but I think the way it happens can be a shot in the gut. How would you like to receive an email from the CEO of your company telling you that there will be some fairly massive layoffs by the end of the year? That is exactly what happened at Yahoo today. CEO Jerry Yang sent out a mass email to all the Yahoo staff indicating that 10% of the staff would be axed by the end of the year to meet their budget. Seriously, Jerry? You have the gull to give out this terrible news via email. The least you could have done was have department meetings to break the news to the employees.      Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve mentioned in several posts and even devoted an entire podcast to the career choices open to truckers. There are only a few choices within a trucking company for a driver or o/o to get off the road. Of course there’s dispatcher or in larger companies maybe a fleet manager or in the safety department. If you just want to be home at night, there are local driver positions that are sometimes available.

Sometimes you have to think a little more outside the box. My neighbor retired as a driver and now goes around to trucking, limo and cab companies setting up safety programs. He does safety and company audits to prepare companies for DOT inspections and audits.

There are schools that advertise in the driver mags about becoming a freight broker and there are drivers that broker their own freight.

Get Out of the Box

Or think completely out of the transportation box and change careers entirely, which may require some of us to go back to school. My wife went back to school to finish her degree for a new position and I’m just beginning my road to higher education and we’re both 50. Now that people are living longer, a lot of older adults are going back to school or changing careers late in life. There are a lot of people that quit or get layed off from office positions that are starting trucking careers that are in their late 40’s or 50’s.

Community Colleges

For those drivers and owners that aren’t falling for the recruiter’s hype and are wondering how to change careers when trucking is all they’ve known for years, there are alternatives out there. Personally, I checked out my local community college and was shocked to see a lot of their classes are completely online. If you haven’t decided exactly what to do, a community college is a good place to start. Several not only have academic classes, but vocational classes as well. A local choice is great if you plan on continuing college you’re credits will be easily transferable.

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Mom doesn’t like to fly alone so I went with her to Ft Worth last weekend to visit my sister. As GATS was going on, and I cant handle the walking around an event like that requires right now, I sent my brother-in-law out to wrangle me a ticket to the “Drive and Deliver” premier. He and I went down to see the movie.

I have to say, its pretty hard to impress a couple of old company drivers with a truck, but this documentary is well-put together and accurately reflects the long-haul lifestyle in several realistic yet sensitive vignettes. People may call this “branded entertainment”, but International has done a really good job with this documentary. The camera work is excellent and the road scenery makes every driver start looking for familiar landmarks (we all know you cant watch a movie with a highway in it that doesnt make you automatically try to identify your location). The editing is a credit to a talented director. No special effects needed, plenty of scenery and excellent selection of strategic shots.

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After only 493 days, the merger of Sirius and XM, the nations only two satellite radio broadcasting companies, has been approved. Finally. The thing is, during the months that have passed between the merger request and final approval, a lot of things have changed.

The price of fuel has skyrocketed, the economy has slowed, and a lot of drivers, as well as consumers in general, are feeling the need to rid themselves of expenses deemed “non-essential”. Even if the merger is handled properly, and I have no reason to believe that it won’t be, the merged company will still be fighting an uphill battle to reach profitability.

Most of the people I’ve spoken with, that were opposed to the merger, were opposed because they felt a merged company would stop providing “edgy and innovative” programming. I don’t pretend to have any special insight but logic tells me that the opposite will be true. Consumers have a variety of choices and, considering the fact that some of them are free, I don’t really see how a subscription service can survive in the mobile entertainment environment without actively seeking the edge and pursuing innovation.

Time will tell, and I truly believe that consumers will be well served by the merger but I have to admit, there are a lot of questions yet to be answered. While a June 13 letter to the FCC promised “Programming Options” the companies have only offered this proposal as an indication of the actual options to be offered.

Additionally, there are questions regarding radios and related equipment. Within the merger agreement, the companies are required to open the market to manufacturers. This should bring a lot of great products to consumers but, alas, if you want to take advantage of the pick-and-choose programming, you’re old satellite receiver will likely be relegated to the scrap heap.

The merger’s approved; let’s hope that the combined company becomes stable and profitable by providing high quality programming and a wide variety of consumer options.

It’s been a long time coming, roughly twice as long as the FCC normally takes to perform a merger review, but it looks like a decision is finally on the horizon.

The primary factor in prolonging the review has been the fact that the FCC originally granted licenses to XM and Sirius on the condition the companies never merge; and government regulatory bodies are loathe to make 180 degree reversals. Their thought, back in 1997, was that a merger would stifle competition and result in a condition in which satellite radio consumers weren’t well served.

But the Department of Justice Anti-Trust Division, the folks charged with reviewing proposed mergers, so as to prevent potential monopolies, issued a statement that begins with the following statement:

“Evidence Does Not Establish that Combination of Satellite Radio Providers Would Substantially Reduce Competition”

I’m not entirely sure, with a decision by the DOJ (issued March 28, 2008) indicating a lack of anti-trust issues, why it’s taken so long for the FCC to bring this matter to a head but it may be that they had additional concerns. FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said, on June 15th,

“As I have indicated before, this is an unusual situation. I am recommending that with the voluntary commitments they (Sirius and XM) have offered, on balance, this transaction would be in the public interest.”

Soooo…just what might those voluntary commitments be?

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When my oldest son turned 15 I knew I was in trouble because it meant time for Driver’s Ed. Well my youngest son just turned 15 in April so here we go again. Why am I discussing Driver’s Ed? Because I think there is something very important that all high schools AND driving schools should include in their courses. Safety awareness around big trucks!

I was very curious when I took my oldest to school on a summer morning when he had Driver’s Ed. Why? Because there was a Wal-Mart truck parked in the middle of the parking lot with all these signs, arrows, cars, people, and even measurements marked off. I thought maybe there was some sort of big truck training going on and didn’t give it a second thought.

By this time, my boys had already known all about blind spots because believe it or not we have literally made them sit in the seat of our truck and look in the mirrors so they could see or not see things. So when my son got home that day he was very excited to share that Wal-Mart was actually there teaching the kids to be safe around big trucks! Can you imagine that? I thought it was so cool!
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When did the trucking bug bite you? I remember exactly when it bit me. It was the summer I was 12 years old. My dad was a mechanic for a very small trucking company (I’m talking maybe eight trucks at the most!) when he gave me my first ride in a truck. It was a cabover Kenworth, with NO air ride seats. I could deal with the “nice” body jerking, stomach hitting your back, jarring of the seat, but seeing the road that close - no thank you! Then I got my second ride in a big truck a few days later. Another Kenworth. I do not remember exactly what model it was - but I do remember it was red, it had air-ride seats (YES!), a stove, fridge, TV, bed, wow - that was a truck!! I vowed that day I would drive one!

Do I drive one? No - not yet. But Lord knows someday I will as my husband has been teaching me slowly but surely how to. Heck, I couldn’t drive a stick shift until a year ago! I do know how to hook and unhook a trailer - I like to help with that, even cranking the dollies.

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