The thing is that freight will have to be moved in some way. One way or another or more probably several others, people will still be moving freight. I really can't see the demise of trucking in the forseeable future.

I'm really sorry to hear of your situation. I've known two folks with autistic children, one that is in really bad shape. Don't know if I would have been a strong enough person to handle that in one of my kids.

Thanks, Big Don, it is tough. It is toughest when you see a normal looking kid, and the potential he has, but he cannot interact in any normal fashion. He is belligerent alot, and his autism makes him seem like a brat, or extreme a-hole. He is also a huge kid. 3 years old and 53 lbs. That isn't fat either. He looks like a wrestler. People think he's five, and look at me like I'm a bad parent If I don't stop him from acting a certain way. He can't be stopped. You just have to put up with a lot of behaviors. I am told by the teachers who work with him that there is hope he can attend regular school at some point. He is moderately autistic, but very functional. Anyway...

You guys are probably right. Trucking will survive. That's cool, because I have always wanted to do it.
Now, a quick question. My father in-law gave me the impression that you can only haul for the big carriers as an o/o if you have a very new truck, like 3 years or newer. Do they require a new truck, and if so, how new must it be?

I used to to one-on-one behavioral therapy with austistic children. Part of the work involved socialization in the real world. Two of us would bring this boy out. We would pray for a tantrum-free day. We often wondered why the cops were never called as we restrained this boy or made him do things against his will. On a happy note, the years of intensive therapy were tough but he started kindergarden in a regular classroom and did well.

My Grandson has Autism he's 2 years old, but we didn't realize there was so many different types. He never speaks unless he wants to and then he'll blurt out entire sentence as clear as can be. Other than that he has basically made up his own launage and it took us all awhile to figure it out. He goes off in his own little world at times, he will socialize with other kids fairly decent and then he'll do somthing mean to them and 5 seconds later like he never did it. He's extremely intelligent, you can see the look on his face figuring things out, he gets a bizzare look. He cherishes me which makes me feel good.

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You are really into this team thing. I think I've seen other posts by you referring to teams. Man, I hope you are wrong cause Team is the last thing I want to do!

Its just my opinion of where things will go in the future, forced upon us by super restrictive HOS that companies and drivers alike will not be able to afford any other way of business.

I'm with you, I don't want to team. Even with my best friend.

I MIGHT be able to with my wife.

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[quote=Switching gears again, I still think the rails will start to step up their role in transport. Just because they can't deliver a load on time now, doesn't mean that they won't be able to in the future. The rails are government funded also, so they can just take our money to make all the necessary upgrades to everything. Isn't oil supposed to be on the downward slope of supply in the next 10-20 years? That's a big window, but I don't think anyone is in a hurry to tell us how long it has left. We do have a lot of coal left, (i've heard up to 2000 years) and can make diesel from that at a cost a bit more than what we pay now. All these things drive the economy, which trucking services. I feel like the slightest disturbance to energy could really effect how many trucks there are out there.[/QUOTE]

Coal is a no go politically and environmentally, however much the coal industry would like to sell the huge American and Canadian reserves, but hybrid trucks seem like a no-brainer certainty in the near future. Trains are Diesel-Electric Engines. Why aren't trucks? With an electric engine, all those gears become unnecessary, and the number of moving parts is reduced by hundreds to just a handful. While trains can and will grow, trucks will still be required to transport from train to customer. Also, note that trains are probably no more subsidized than trucks, really. Maintaining/expanding highways is a lot more expensive than installing train tracks.

Yeah, I have wondered how long until hybrid trucks are the standard. I wonder how much more efficient they would be. I guess the trade off of just how efficient vs cost of totally changing over to them is why they aren't standard now.

This reminds me of the newest hybrid suv commercial I saw. The father of the family had to point out that his suv was a hybrid, and some twat said "Wow, it's so big, though. That's a hybrid?!" Like making a large hybrid is some technological miracle.
If you want to wow me, put a self contained, computer regulated nuclear reactor in something so I can drive it for years without stopping--basically like a submarine.

People keep complaining how "bad" things supposedly are. When i first started 14 yrs ago. i had no power steering or A/C and peddled all day for $12hr which would equate to $450 to $600 per week depending on hours wasn't too bad for 93'/94' wages.

Now, i'm doing regional dedicated DC to hartford for $337 per round trip. Easy gravy run, no touch. The trucks, while they could still use improvments in terms of comfort are as well equipped as any car on the road.

The sleeper enviroment could use some improvement as well as the irregular scheduling, but those things were that way 10 yrs ago.

While i do believe in rail, and like the idea of rail, it is not the answer; We will not see any appreciable increase in freight being put on the rails.

To be continued............

I agree that this "just in time inventory" makes trucking more reliable than rail, but do notice on the tracks near my home a large number of empty truck (or full?) trailers be hauled by flat cars.