Why a strike? The CSA 2010 will cripple trucking.

I spoke with someone at OODIA about the weight issue. There was some discussion about those who had body mass over a certain level would need to have a sleep apnea test. According to him, it is not part of the CSA. With the co-president on a fat tirade I would not be surprised if they did include it as part of our medical.

Perhaps this is what it will take for people to start taking better care of themselves. Although I would like to see more people take better care of themselves, I don't see a reason for the government to get involved as long as a driver can pass the DOT physical.

 

We all know how hard it is to take care of yourself on the road. I weighed 135 when I started w 1 compnay. I didnt put my inverter in so I could have my fridge and micro right away and gained 15 lbs. You can only eat so many salads.

 

I keep my weight about the same. I try to eat right and stay away from the buffet. It takes a little more effort, but is worth it. I always try to have vegetables at least once a day. I often have fruit with breakfast.

 

From what ive heard counting calories is the best way to keep the weight off. I started driving 4 years ago and weighed about 150lbs now im up over 200. Granted im getting olders of course wich is no help. I believe the DOT is going to keep on with all these bs rules and regs, changes, and anything they can come up with to f.u.c.k up a drivers life. They say its about safety. I dont think so, its all about the money and how much revenue they can generate from the transportation sector.

 

If you want to keep your weight down on the road then you need to watch your portions and eat a balanced diet. Take it easy on the carbs. Carbs are basically anything white, such as potatoes, breads and pasta. You can really eat pretty much anything as long as you don't over do it. I would also stay away from snacks and sweets. It seems that those I see who weigh the most are the ones who are buying big bags of potato chips and other types of candy. Drinking water can also help keep your weight down. I usually drink water with meals. I also have a large container that I keep in the truck filled with ice water. I don't think that any food is really bad for you. It causes problems when we eat too much of any food. You can eat off the buffet, but most have too many carbs and not enough other types of vegetables. That is one reason why I usually stay away from buffet's.

 

CSA 2010 could not definativly adress the effects of BMI and sleep apnea and did not include that in this recent ruling. The subject got a pass. Not saying it won't be addressed in the future.
According to the title to this thread it addressed truckers striking. Okay so where did the concern for this go? Did it evaporate with the new elections and everybody thinks the Tea Party is gonna dip a few leaves in the water and give you something to drink that will calm your concerns about how your gonna feed your families and pay for your house? Pay for the rising cost of fuel? Regulate the amount of money the brokers take from the load you haul because you really don't have a choice but to accept it? Do I really have to build an extensive list here on how our industry is going to hell?
Without input on folks figuring out why we are hauling freight for minimum wages, why the DOT is out on the road fining our butt to the poor house and brokers are robbing us of the wages we deserve, and the government is regulating US and not the people we serve, this is nothing more than just a gossip thread and with zero effect.

 

I would expect the BMI issue to gain steam and be addressed shortly. My guess is that they want to see how many drivers will be eliminated with the new CSA rules before they do anything else that will further reduce the driver pool. While I would like to see drivers more fit, as long as a driver can pass the physical he should be allowed to drive. Just another baseless excuse to add more rules and gain greater control.

The biggest enemy the trucking industry has are drivers themselves. Some issues that confront the industry are a direct result of driver behavior. We may not like it, but it is true. We see urine bottles lining truck stop parking lots and mindlessly thrown along roadways for someone else to clean up after them. There are many places where truckers are no longer allowed to park due to some trashing the parking area. I can't blame some of these people who now prohibit trucks on their property.

We do have some legitimate issues. States are short of cash and trucking is an easy target. Rates should be higher, but as long as owner operators and carriers take the cheap freight there is no reason for shippers and brokers to pay a higher rate. Some brokers do take more than a fair share of the line haul. The reason they get away with it is due to a lack of good negotiating skills and business acumen of owner operators. I have known some who would haul for fuel money as long as they don't have to sit. While I think some brokers take a bigger share than they deserve, I don't see that the government needs to jump in and start regulating rates. We got away from reglated rates in the late 1970's. The last thing we need are more government regulations. If the government comes in and regulates broker rates then what is to stop them from regulating carrier rates? If you don't like the rates being offered by brokers then don't do business with them. Find brokers who do offer better rates or find your own shippers. There are other ways to deal with this rather than bringing in more government involvement.

If you want better rates then you need to learn better negotiating skills or find other lanes to run that pay better rates. There are too many people who own trucks who know nothing about running a business. They can't seem to get away from being a truck driver. When you buy a truck and either lease it to a carrier or get your authority you are in business, even if you drive the truck yourself. As long as you only consider yourself a driver you are going to have problems. Being in business involves more than just driving.

As a business owner you need to possess a different set of skills. Driving is the easy part. Surviving and making a profit is something else.

If you want to have a strike you need some sort of organization and someone who can speak for the organization. Every cause needs a spokesman. The Teamsters were successful in the late 70's when they shut the country down. At the time the Teamsters were strong and we didn't have nearly the number of owner operators as we do today. It was a much different mindset. If you ran during the strike you could find a cinder block hanging from a bridge that would come through your windshield. Some who ran were shot at.

There isn't much of a union that represents drivers. Union member only make up about 7% of the workforce. That isn't many members. Owner operators don't have a union or organization to represent them in this type of endeavor. The closest thing to a union is OOIDA and they are not a union. They are a good resource and do address some issues, but they cannot call for a strike. They are not a union.

There was a time when drivers stuck together. It was more like a fraternity. Today, it is very fragmented. We have people from many different backgrounds. People are mostly out for themselves with little thought given to their fellow drivers. Many would rather sit in their truck playing with their ipod or computer than talking with fellow drivers or doing something constructive that could make things better.

If you want to shut the industry down about the only way is to stop the fuel trucks. If you organize the fuel drivers and get them to shut down then you could stop the trucks from rolling. Without fuel, nobody moves. Or, you could use some of the old Teamsters tactics. You could call for a strike and give fair warning to those who violated the strike. You could find cinder blocks from bridges at windshield level and take pot shots at those running. But I don't think you would find too many who would be interested in putting themselves at risk for a strike.

The ATA has their own agenda and it isn't for drivers or owner operators. The ATA seems to want to get rid of the smaller carriers. Their support of the EOBR's and speed limiters are only a couple of things that they have pushed. Neither are in the best interests of smaller carriers or owner operators. It is a means of limiting competition. The ATA and large carriers have also been instrumental in getting the CSA program up and rolling.

Not to put a damper on the discussion, but I am not sure what you have in mind or what you want to accomplish.

 

What I would like to see is some serious discussion here on how truckers could take better control over their industry. I agree that government control isn't the best formula but as you pointed out, we are way too fragmented it seems to bring about a concentrated remedy as a group. I understand. "Be carefull of what you ask for".
I turn down cheap freight constantly. They offer me a rate that pays for my fuel and I laugh at them. I deserve to be paid for my efforts and my investments. PERIOD..!!! However, I feel like I am alone in this endeavor because 5 minutes later the load is off the board and someone is pulling it. For FREE. Be it an individual or a large carrier, someone takes it and makes it even harder to convince other O/O's that it's worth their while to stand firm and fight for something that is only right.
This kind of stuff is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many issues we are confronted with that if we did join together and stood up for ourselves, we could make this a much better work enviroment with a better chance at making a profit.
I'm at the end of my year here and instead of looking back with a nest egg put away calling it my gains for the year and a part of my retirement, I am sitting here wondering if I will even be able to pay my taxes for the year.

 

You are not alone in turning down cheap rates. There are some of us who do the same thing. I agree that there are a number of issues which directly concerns all of us. With so many owner operators in the industry, each is an independent businessman. Some are better at it than others. That is part of the problem. Some people will go out and buy a truck and as long as they can buy fuel they will keep moving. They think little about profit. They believe that if they have cash flow that they can survive. Most likely don't even know their break even point or how to calculate it. The other problem is with some of the major carriers. Some will take anything that they can get to pay part of their operating costs to get back to their customers who have much better paying freight. While I understand their thinking, I think that it is flawed and it does harm the entire industry. In my way of thinking, each load should pay a fair profit.

Cheap rates are an issue that continues to plague this industry. Things haven't changed since rates were deregulated. I can't do anything about what others will haul a load for, but I can decide what I it will take for my truck to haul a load. I can make a decision to pass on cheap freight, sit or deadhead. We can all make the same decisions. It is frustrating knowing that some people will take a load so cheap. I was in the northeast several weeks ago. I was offered a load for less than $1.20/mile. Before I got off the phone with the guy someone in his office booked the load for about $0.75/mile. Even the guy to whom I was talking could not believe that someone would take a load that cheap.

Fighting cheap rates has been a losing battle. When I go to an area where I know rates are cheap, unless I have something booked in advance, I will deadhead to where I know that I can get something that does have a decent rate. Unfortunately, I am in the minority. There are more who are willing to deadhead out, but many who will take what they can get, thinking that something is better than nothing. They rationalize that if they can put something on the truck to defray some of the operating costs to get to a better freight area that the numbers will come out. The problem with doing this is that rates will remain low. Some of those who take these cheap loads will go bankrupt or lose their truck. That is the way the free market works. Even with the low rates in some areas, I would not want to go back to regulated rates by the government. They can't even balance a budget. I don't want them to determine my freight rates. Even if they did regulate rates, some would still cheat and haul for lower rates just to get the business. The last thing we need in this industry is a larger bureaucracy or more regulations.

We still have too much capacity in some areas which prevents rates from going up. In a free market, rates will rise until someone takes the load. As fuel continues to go up we should see more carriers and owner operators shut their doors. If that happens when freight availability is at a peak then we will see rates rise due to market forces. Again, that is the way the free market works. Arrow would take loads cheaper than most and they are out of business. They ran a good company into the ground. I believe that it was Maverick that was hauling freight out of south Texas for as little as $0.50/mile at one point. The market will take care of itself. No business can survive long by taking freight for cost or less.

It would help to educate owners. That takes time. You might try to organize them, but as business owners that is not likely to happen if a union were to get involved. If you could get enough to commit and get enough publicity you might get some who would be willing to use some old Teamster tactics, such as hanging cinder blocks from overpasses at windshield level or take shots at trucks. That might slow things down a bit, but I would not recommend it. It worked for the Teamsters in the 70's when they shut the country down. You might even try to start an association geared toward smaller carriers and owner operators. That would also take time and would necessitate a substantial amount of participation.

There are so many who operate on a shoestring that they don't think that they can afford to sit for a few days on a strike. Their overhead is so high and with them running for such cheap rates they are not likely to want to sit for a week or two.

I don't like to sound so negative, but I have been at this for a very long time. I have heard drivers talking about strikes since fuel first started to go up. That has been some time ago.

There are some things that can and should be addressed. A handful of the major carriers have managed to sponsor a bill that was written by the president of Maverick. He got Senator Pryor in Arkansas and Senator Alexander of Tennessee to put the bill forward. If passed it will require everyone who owns a truck to have an EOBR within 3 years. The next step is speed limiters. The only ones who benefit are the larger carriers. Drivers and owner operators could take a few minutes to send letters, email or call their elected representatives and tell the what they think. Drivers could communicate on the feds website about the new hos rules. Politicians do respond to public opinion. The ATA has an agenda and it is not to the benefit of smaller carriers and owner operators. Unless people stand up and act, they have no one to blame but themselves. We will all suffer the repercussions.

If you want to force changes then you need to be organized and have a strong spokesman or leader. There would need to be a central clearing house for information to be gathered and made available. Media would also need to be utilized. Lack of communication has been a problem with previous instances where a strike has been called. There are many who are willing to whine and complain. Few are willing to act.

 

"It is clear a lot of carriers were late to recognize the scope of CSA 2010," Chris Burruss, president of the Truckload Carriers Association, said in an interview during the group's annual meeting here Feb. 28 to March 3.

Kevin Burch, outgoing TCA chairman and president of Jet Express Inc., said CSA 2010, along with economic recovery and an aging workforce, was part of "a perfect storm" that would rapidly bring the driver shortage issue back to the forefront.

Gregory Feary, a managing partner at the law firm Scopelitis, Garvin, Light, Hanson & Feary,
Indianapolis, said CSA 2010 could make driver retention more expensive, because all carriers will look for the higher-rated drivers, who also might seek better-paying positions with competitors.

Feary compared highly rated drivers to free agents in professional sports who can command signing bonuses because of their talents. Jeffrey Davis, vice president of safety and human resources for Jet Express Inc., Dayton, Ohio, offered a blunt assessment of the burden facing the industry. veryone knows that the recession has created a capacity overload in the trucking industry. According to the OOIDA Foundation survey, State of Your Economy, many members have parked their trucks or revoked their authority and leased on to a carrier.

For the first time in many years carriers are reporting that there is very little turnover as drivers are finding it difficult to switch carriers.

As the recession eases most carriers are talking of expanding their business but remaining "asset light" which means they are not going to invest in new equipment but expand through hiring of owner-operators, expanding their brokerage and intermodal use.

Most large carriers have reduced their personnel to cut cost and often that is the recruiting and training departments. It will take time for those departments to regroup and recruit as business grows.

The new CSA 2010 will certainly have an immediate effect on carriers as they, not drivers, will be held accountable for their safety management performance.

In the past only crashes and O.O.S. were counted and listed for SafeStat but now the various violations that drivers may incur often because of faulty equipment provided by the carrier, dispatchers that demand driving when out of hours and shippers/receivers that leave drivers stranded and out of hours will be considered against the carrier rating.

The scores are given to the carriers not the driver, although large carriers would have you believe this will severely affect the driver capacity there has always been an abundant supply of drivers.

What there has been and perhaps will be heightened is the need for good professional drivers. The carriers that have been concerned with their driver's safety and have compensated their drivers with good pay and respect will thrive while those that have chosen to pay poorly and disrespect their drivers will suffer the fate they deserve.

For good professional drivers and owner-operators this can be a win-win situation as carriers will need to offer better safety management, respect for drivers and better compensation.

The carriers protesting the most may have difficulty in finding good drivers as drivers will now be able to look at carrier's safety management systems and choose the carrier who has the better safety management scores. The scores are the new DAC for carriers and surprise-surprise they don't like it.