Trucking Now vs. Back In The Day?

As far as music goes, try Chris Stapleton of you haven't already... It's like the ghost of Waylon and Johnny... Excellent music, best to come out of Nashville since the Highwaymen.

 

Seems there is an interest in "how trucking was", and that's great. We have steadily improved with each generation. I'd say, one of the biggest differences was we just weren't in the hurry like today. Not to say we didn't run, but there was a lot of down time, and you better take a nap, because once you hooked on to a load, you ran it out, laws be darned. ( always had a 2nd log book with 8 hrs. shown "off duty" and an empty line, which was filled out with the lights flashing behind you) Never had a problem at truck stops, as trucks would come and go on a regular basis. Most would take an hour nap, and head out again. For me, the cell phone changed everything. The 1st company truck I drove ( mid-90's) that had a phone, when that thing rang, it almost sent me through the roof. It was just a sound I wasn't used to hearing in a truck, and " where are you now"? ( 5 minutes later) "where are you now"? You had good friends, and would coordinate your loads so you could run together and talk on the CB. Made some great friends, some gone now, and we helped each other out.
Ah, the pay phone. Remember the "Watts" line? It was the precursor to the 800 #. I knew many guys, me included, that would run all night ( or day and night), get home, and call on the Watts line, ( no caller i.d. then) and say, big storm, or some delay, and get to spend time at home. We were shysters back then, you had to be as nobody did your thinking for you.
As far as pay, it was generally a low paying job. My 1st trucking job, ( late '70's) I was paid 22% of the load, which came out to be about $6.50-$7.00/hr., but we didn't think of it as a job, we had a lot of fun. I couldn't believe I got paid to do that. ( all my buddies were hanging drywall or on some steep roof, while I was boogying down the boulevard in my moccasin's, listening to Deep Purple).
Trucks were horribly underpowered, and wasn't until the 90's, I actually drove a truck with more than 300hp. But again, you got there when you got there, and there just wasn't that sense of urgency, like today.
Can we ever go back? Sadly, no. A few bad apples ruined it for everyone, and make no mistake, drugs were around, ( I was mostly a local driver, so I didn't need it, but had many OTR friends), but to be clear, the reason you had strawberries or lettuce in the store, was because some driver drove 3 days ( or nights) to get it there, and were somewhat responsible druggies ( if there is such a thing). You did what you had to do to "get 'er done". I'm glad I trucked back then, and today's trucking is but a shred of what it used to be, and the main reason I don't ever want to drive a truck again.

 

I always had a big stack of phone numbers and personal invitations to other drivers' homes for a bbq or spend a weekend. Back row barbecues were a lot of fun. Seemed like there was always somebody you could have a real conversation with about anything at all. A totally different world

 

I never ever had a problem with log books. It's quite simple, and I don't know why everybody tries to overcomplicate it. Beware of painting with such a broad brush, dude. Elogs is just more control from above. Wait till it extends into your personal life (if there is such a thing, as you already have to account to big brother for every minute of every day), then find out who is really to blame

 

Drivers don't set the pay any more than I tell the sun when to come up. I started at 16 cents a mile and made money, mainly because there were miles to be had. Nowadays every company acts like they are doing you a favor if you get 2000 miles a week. Really? What will you do the other 4 days? Deregulation killed this industry, all in the name of competition being good for consumers. It wouldn't matter if you thought you had a lock on a certain haul, even at a ridiculously low rate, somebody will come along and do it for less and you will sit with no work. Yup, it's great now

 

Hi mountaingote, when I got my union job ( the truck with the phone) they had Elogs, and it took me a while to get the hang of it, but I liked them. Being a "home every day driver", I thought they were great. There was no mistaking, "hey, this is where I was". Turn in the chip at the end of the week, Monday, get the readout, explain any violations ( always something) and sign your name.
When I 1st started, the boss would come up to me, and say, " you know, we haven't gotten a log from you in a few weeks", so you did some scratching and that was the end of it. I used to fold log books in half, and slam them in the door to keep it from rattling.

 

Amen.

 

I knew a friends dad that drove for Radio Shack in 1979. He made $48,000 a year back then. Lots of drivers still can't make that today.
And eating on the road was a heck of a lot cheaper then.

 

Well, not back in the day they didn't.

 

Hi uncleal, there were some good paying jobs back then. Everyone looked up to the UPS drivers, that claimed to make $22/hr. in the 80's. The 1st "real" trucking job I got in 1986, was hauling eggs and cheese, and got $13.25/hr. It was enough to buy a house in the country, 2 cars ( not new, though) hobbies and provide for my family (2 kids and a stay-at-home mom.) Try that today.