What happened to old school trucking?

This thread is a good read. Im what a lot of you would call new breed because Ive only been driving for a year. I come from a family of drivers, so I know of the stories alot of you have, and remember my dads first truck being a cabover international back in 92. and I remember my grandpas truck being an old mack back in the 70s.

Its great hearing about the old school days, somethings Id like to experience like the old HOS. Ive done paper logs, not a fan of them. I like the elogs. Say what you want, call me what you want, but yeah, ill take my elog any day over paper. I drive 600+ miles a day on average, even logged a 3900 week once. Was a pretty nice paycheck. I respect every driver until I see a reason not to respect them. One thing I hate seeing is drivers treating me like crap when they know noting other than me still green. To me if you arent willing to accept that things are changing, then there is a problem there.

Yeah some things are changing for the bad, others for the good. Personally like anything you have to be willing to adapt to the changes, if you cant adapt, then the world will pass you by.

 

Best of luck to you Gunner.............

 

I hear all this "good old days" stuff and just sigh.

Cell phones, air-ride, internet over a cell phone, GPS, scale locators, cooperative apps that tell you if a scale is open or how many parking spots are left... I think those things are awesome and make things much better.

Truck drivers are the most helpful, friendly bunch out there. I'm a new driver and I'm constantly asking about load securement when I see someone with an "interesting" load, or if I'm having issues. Never once had someone be other than helpful, eager to share their experience.
I flash when its safe to come over, but not 15 feet off my nose. Sometimes I get a ty, sometimes not. Based on my own experiences over 51 years, I know that the feeling that courtesy has degraded are largely in my own head too. We all tend to not remember how things used to stink. We just remember something we like, that in reality may have been a lot less common than our memory's perceive it.

I'm a brand new driver, making good money, but I have to work like a dog to make it. That's what I signed up for. If one wants "easy" money or 9-5 hours, driving long-haul, especially flatbed, was a poor career choice.

I like this work. I take a lot of pride in doing it as best I can. Most of the flatbedders I run into seem to be the same.

 

What happened to OLD SCHOOL is that we all GRADUATED to today with new technology and life styles and the old ways are mostly forgotten about

 

There are those who cannot stand to ask a question, and those who cannot stand to watch them fail, in every industry!

 

Nice thread- thanks everyone. I bought my first truck in 1974, I was riding with my dad in his B Model Mack as soon as I was out of diapers, I've seen the changes firsthand and they're not all for the better.

 

The unity is gone, drivers were all on the same side, and had each other's back. The CB was used as a helping tool , a warning system. You can't even get a traffic report headed in the opposite direction these days.
Changes in the system, mess with a mans life, try saving every last dollar to finally make that purchase, then making that final payment , but only to find that all your hard work was for nothing. Since here in CA , it needs to be upgraded with a newer and more expensive unit then the last one you thought you'd never replace. You think the old lady is going to stick around and rough it for another few years?
Back in the day, you'd have every rig parked at city hall and make sure no shenanigans took place, but all you have now is a bunch of steers trampling over each other.

 

I came back to the road after 10 yrs. I quit when they changed the log book regs from 10/8 to 14/10. I wasnt gonnaplay anymore. Never! Oooops, back fired again. I now work for TMC, it is the most unfriendly, unhelpful, ungrateful, driver environment ever. (Driver wise, i like the company ) I attribute it mostly to the e-log, since no one has time to help or chat. Gotta go, gotta go. But you can'tget them to answer the radio either. Followed one down the highway the other day for 60 miles, till he figured his strap was dragging on his own. It's depressing, i miss the old times when everyone talked and helped each other. Maybe im just old fashion and sentimental.