Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

Well drivers, the IRS has ruled. Despite what the “experts” at HR Block say and the letter from my employer and a ton of logs and other paperwork to prove it, the IRS says “we” did not prove that I was OTR for 285 days in 2006. What I was doing, if not driving a truck, is irrelevant. The fact that I was, in fact, driving a truck OTR, is irrelevant. The per diem deduction is “dis-allowed” and we owe the IRS about $3000, not including future interest and penalties.

The steel toe work boots that are a “standard” job related deduction was also not allowed. Not even “work” pants or shirts. It seems that they don’t have my carriers logo or name on it, so the IRS feels that I could use them to walk around the mall on the weekend or go to dinner in them. The deduction has been “dis-allowed.” The laptop that I use in the truck, according to the IRS, should have been depreciated over time, not all at once, so that deduction has also been “dis-allowed.”

HR Block, who I strongly recommend that drivers NOT use, was very supportive at the beginning, vowing to fight this with us to the end, pacifying us that we would prevail, dropped the ball and totally screwed the pooch, so to speak. Their ineptness caused us to lose valuable time while the IRS ruled against us. The last message my wife received from HR Block was that: “it might be better if we pursued the IRS on our own.” Isn’t that just special.

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The answer is no. One minute we’re in a recovery, the next we’re not. "Our" government was providing tax incentives to buy new homes and the real estate market seemed to be on the upswing. They scraped the tax breaks and real estate sales came tumbling down. The stock market was inching toward 11,000 and even I was thinking about starting to put money back in my 401K and then I had my heart issues. The market is now somewhere in the 9000′s. The employment numbers, actually I should say the unemployment numbers stink. And Congress has gone on recess and ignored the hundreds of thousands of folks without a job and no unemployment checks since "they" didn’t extend their benefits. The so-called experts can’t figure out not only how to plug a hole in the Gulf leaking million gallons oil but have no clue as to how to get the economy back on track.

Today, while I was taking a 5 hour nuclear stress test to see if I’m able to pass the DOT physical and return to work, there was an elderly man sitting near me. Interesting and current magazines are hard to come by these days in doctors offices with everybody cutting back. So this man took five older issues of various magazines, rolled them up and put them in a bag he was carrying. An Asian woman who was waiting for a test with us asked what the heck he was doing. He told her that he loves reading magazines, but he just cannot afford to buy or subscribe to them anymore.

All his social security and meager retirement pay goes for rent, food and drugs. He went on to say what I clearly know now – that two drugs in particular along with so many others – Plavix and Bystolic – are priced so high that even physicians are telling patients they’re too expensive and to find alternative generics if available. A thirty day supply of Plavix, which is an "anti-platelet" drug that I know for a fact a lot of truck drivers are on, cost over $200 if you don’t have insurance – $48.62 if you do, depending on the coverage. Bottom line, that’s why this old gentleman is taking magazines home to read. He added that since he is here at this doctor a lot, when he’s done reading them, he returns the magazines for other to read – or – take home. I believe him.

By the way, as a quick aside, a few groups here where I live, organize bus trips to Canada for the specific purpose of buying needed prescription drugs, which are 1/3 or more less expensive there than here. There are other bus groups going to Mexico where you can get a quality surgical procedure for less than 1/2 the price. A lap band "procedure" over the border down in Mexico will cost you $5000 – here in the US – same procedure – same implant from a US manufacturer – $15,000. As I’ve told you Blue Cross/Blue Shield will not pay for it considering it "cosmetic" surgery – Medicare pays 100% – go figure.

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Here’s some important advice – if in your gut you feel your PCP – primary care physician and or (if you’re an OTR driver with heart disease) your cardiologist isn’t totally in-sync with you, then get rid of them. It’s bad enough that you have to put up with the arrogance and superior know-it-all attitude of the supervisors at your company – you don’t have to deal with it from the people you have charged with your health care. There is always a better doctor available. There is always a superior philosophy. There are always better drug options and plans to pay for them. And there are many physicians that better understand the lifestyle and health issue that are faced by truck drivers. Most important, there are cardiologists and internists that understand the stupidity of the DOT physical process and will go out of their way to legally and safely assist you pass it so you can continue to drive and earn a living.

You have followed my story. I had an excellent cardiovascular specialist implant my stents. The people during my three hospital stays were outstanding. But there was a weak link in the chain, that was my cardiologist. I thought he was going to be good to work with after the first meeting. He came highly recommended. After the second meeting, I quickly changed my mind. I felt as though he treated my wife as if she was a nurse working for him and I was just another damaged patient to be passed through "his" process. He had cleared me to return to work and see him again for a follow-up in four months. As I wrote earlier, I then proceeded to a local no-appointment clinic to get a DOT physical. It was not to be because they claimed my BP was too high. I should have never been there.

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Is this the best you’ve got? Well, it’s just NOT good enough. I’m driving 80,000 lbs. of truck. I am responsible for securing 48,000 lbs. – 24 tons of cargo. Sometimes the material has to be covered with a tarp that that weighs 125 lbs. There are times when I have to climb up loads as high as 14 feet. I’m allowed by law to work 14 hours a day – 11 of those hours are DRIVING – 70 hours a week. Are you really sure that I can do this with all the medications you’ve just prescribed? Have you seriously and professionally considered ALL aspects of my present condition beyond that of your own ego, wallet and patient quotas?

Many believe we have the best health care in the world. I’m not an expert that could confirm that. I am, however, a patient and as such, based on my needs, we do NOT have the best health care in the world – far from it. Because the present system is not based on treating the whole person, but providing superior ‘piecemeal’ care only, even if you have a primary care physician. The website ‘The Art of Patient Care’ says: “As physicians and nurses, we can treat respiratory failure and congestive heart failure pretty well, but we fail miserably when the problems are associated with emotional stress. Most of us seem to want to ignore these problems and walk away from them even though they are real and create great suffering for patients.”

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“And we care about the small people. I hear comments sometimes that large oil companies are greedy companies or don’t care. But that is not the case in BP. We care about the small people.” BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg. FYI – Mr. Svanberg’s compensation last year was $2.8M.

Orange Beach, Ala., Mayor Tony Kennon: “They can call me small, miniature, they can call me anything they want. Just write the check and send it to us.” On the $20 billion in an escrow fund, he joked, “They better be lucky I called off the invasion of 10,000 rednecks with their rifles headed toward England anyway.”

When I heard Mr. Svanberg’s comments, I was not surprised at all. I do not pass it off either as a problem of translation. His statement was quite typical of corporate executives in the US and overseas. Here in the US, you will hard pressed to find a CEO or other member of senior management that does not possess this arrogant “small people” attitude. You find as well at the middle management level. The perfect example of that mindset can be found in dealing with the “typical” operations or safety manager at any trucking company.

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In March of 2009 Jason Rivenburg, a trucker from New York, arrived too early for his appointed unloading time in South Carolina, and was waiting at the safest nearby spot he could find at the time, an abandoned gas station. It was while waiting to unload that he was shot and killed, all for the $7 that was in his wallet.

In December 2009  twenty-two year old Willie Pelzer, on probation for a grand larceny conviction at the time of the slaying, was found guilty of Jason’s murder and was sentenced to life without parole.

June 28th, 2010, has been designated Jason’s Law Day in an effort to secure passage of House Resolution 2156, a resolution written with the goal of creating safe places for truckers to rest or wait until they can load or unload their trucks.  If you have read the resolution and agree with it but haven’t yet contacted your representative and senator in Washington D.C. to encourage the passage of this trucker safety legislation, then June 28th would be a good day to make the call.

The resolution is now stalled in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.  So June 28th has become a call to action to get support for the resolution to push it through this final step.  Since 2010 is the  “the year of safety” as evidenced by strict enforcement of  CSA (Comprehensive Safety Analysis) 2010, an aggressive campaign carried out by FMCSA  to improve highway safety by imposing stricter rules and regulations on both drivers and carriers, it only makes sense that the time has come to assure one more aspect of truck driver safety.

The passage of Jason’s Law would lend support to all the new safety mandates since it would be a major step toward improving the safety of both the general public (no more tired drivers circumnavigating secondary streets looking for a safe place to rest near the highway) and professional truck driver (freedom from reliance upon rest areas, which have become a hot bed of activity for prostitution, drug deals and the sale of stolen goods.)

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Before I talk trucking, I just want to briefly mention what I’m referring to as the mess after the mess. That is the BP oil rig explosion and ongoing pipe leak at 5000 ft. below the Gulf. As this prime example of corporate big business stupidity and irresponsibility continues, the “onsite” Federal crisis overseer, 4-Star Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, had this to say yesterday regarding the response and cleanup: “I think they’re adequate to the assumptions in the plans. I think you need to go back and question the assumptions.” This my LOTR readers is just unacceptable. When the President was sitting on a waterside porch down in Louisiana yesterday in front of the media doing one of his folksy “down home” no tie – no jacket cum by ya’s, he said “Thad” something bla bla bla. It was Bush/Brownie all over again. We’ve heard all this before. Same place, different face. Tonight the President will address the nation at 8pm. This better be good. Read the rest of this entry »

So friends, how is your day going? Me, well, another day another surgery. I’m back home again after my second “procedure” snug as a bug in a rug so to speak. I received a call from my employer that they have to “take” my truck. I can’t say that wasn’t expected. They said, they “gave me” as much time as they could. It’s kind of like getting your car “repo’d.” The call came less than a day before I went into the hospital and yes, as I was laying down on the operating table with both of my hands taped down and all kinds of things stuck in me while Calypso music was playing loudly from the ceiling speakers, I did think about the truck and my job. It didn’t last long as I opened my eyes and I was in recovery, a better man, so they tell me. All the blockages to and from my heart have now been cleared and the passages, veins, arteries and whatever that was impeding my being even more amazing than I am have been reinforced with “stents” that will remain in me forever. With some rest and relaxation, I should be good to go in about two weeks. Where I’m going is clearly another matter entirely.

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Once again, I must admit, I am somewhat at a disadvantage because of the lack of facts and figures on the lives of OTR truck drivers. There is no available data on how many truckers have sons and daughters who have or are presently serving in the military. We have some idea of the drivers that are Vietnam Vets or have served in the military because they are quite boisterous about it. Many others choose, as is their right, to keep their service private and don’t advertise it either on their trucks or at the truck stop buffet counter.

I have mentioned in previous posts that my son was interested in joining the military. I just have to make the intelligent assumption that other drivers are in this same position, especially since the economy has tightened the available opportunities that young people have. I always write posts under the proviso that Wayne prefers me not to get too personal about my life and family. At this point, if you have read anything that I’ve written for Life On The Road, I crossed that line long ago. Many of you know more about me and how I feel about the life of a trucker than my mother does.

So I’ll honestly tell you that I have wanted military service for my son for a long time. The jobs out there will not give him the training, security or camaraderie that military service will. I wanted something similar for myself, but for a variety of reasons, I chose another road. And until recently, my son, also preferred to run a different road, in a complete opposite direction from any of the armed services. For reasons that he has not made apparent to me, he changed his mind, quite unexpectedly, about a year ago. And until recently, I, as a father, have lost plenty of sleep over his change of course. Being on the road, it has been difficult to talk to my son about what’s on his mind. It also has been very difficult to express my own worries about his future plans and his parents concern for his safety.

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One way that labor unions maintain their power is through strong political ties and in order to insure that union supporters stay in power, the union sends out a voter guide for every major election. I was a Teamster for over 20 years, and my opinions about the union have evolved and changed as I have, but one thing has remained constant, I have always found the union voter guides insulting.

I do not think anyone can argue that the initial purpose of Labor Unions was not a noble pursuit. Safeguarding pay and preserving jobs and having safe working conditions are something every worker should want and have. Some of the first Union members and organizers fought long and hard so that workers could get a fair shake and decent pay and not be taken advantage of by the greed of wealthy companies. Some of the early members even paid the ultimate price for being part of the Union.

I know that many truckers and dockworkers are part of a union. Also just about everyone in the industry has an opinion about unions. Some folks love it. Some hate it and some see it as a necessary evil. Having a powerful organization fighting for your rights as a worker is a wonderful idea. Problems arise with how it is implemented. Theoretically, business agents are actually supposed to fight for the workers. In real life, things are not always carried out, as they should be. Read the rest of this entry »