the trucker stereotype

Who you calling...........old?

 

you left out: has rotten teeth

 

This was not the image in the past

Why is it everyone thinks this UNKEMPT image of truckers just popped up out of nowhere.

There has been DIRTY , SCRUFFY truck drivers since trucks were invented. Back then it was hard to stay clean , you FIXED your own truck , changed your own tires , no TRUCKSTOPS with showers. Today things have improved but still see them.

See more spending $20 to play some stupid game but no way spending $5 for a shower , or spend all afternoon polishing the chrome & stainless in the heat then decide its time for dinner , nice and sweaty sitting at the counter. Or outside of the truck is TRUCKSHOW ready , inside looks like a squatters hovel and driver looks HOMELESS.

How many CRY they aint wearing no uniform , but rather old jogging pants , running shoes , greasy old ball cap and BIG BUBBAS BAR BQ tshirt covered in XTRA sauce..

 

Indeed, that has been the image, or one of the images, and it's been around for awhile. It goes back to the general negative image of transportation workers (wagonmen, sailors, drayage workers, railroad workers). Try this: ". . . an uncouth, swearing, discourteous, horn-blowing, don't-give-a-#### truck driver is the personification of the trucking industry." (from a 1935 newspaper article about the trucking industry). Take a look at 1920's/1930's/1940's photographs of truck drivers. The image is staring right back at you. You'll see a few uniforms too. The phrase, "If you've got it a truck brought it" (truck, not trucker) was coined by the ATA in the late 1930's to get people to accept the (ever-growing) presence of trucks in their lives. The uniforms were part of an attempt to dispel the long-standing image.

Oh, yeah, some drivers were pigs long before they climbed into a cab. They're not pigs because they drive, they're pigs who drive. I'd guess that we've all met a few.[/QUOTE]

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...-albums-me-picture10158-69675-pig-cart-lg.gif The proof

 

Uniforms were sort of self introduced by EX airforce / army pilots after WWII who liked to swagger around in their service jacket and hat , many companies adopted the look.

 

We are talking about stereotypes, remember?
Not how most of us actually are.

 

Broken link?

 

Stereotyping is derived by those drivers that drive slow trucks in the fast lane and refuse to move over for faster traffic whether it is another truck or a car. All drivers remember this behavior and are less likely to share the road as in allowing to merge or change lanes in front of them.
Ever wonder just why that 4 wheeler has to be in front of you?It is most likely because a slow truck was drag racing another slow truck and held that 4 wheeler up for miles and miles.
Get that slow truck out of the way.

 

I decided to go park at a local truck stop and do a visual survey of the first 500 truckers that came past. The results are out and you are partly correct.What may surprise you is how many drivers are not that old and the number with out beards.