Differences between driving in the seventies and today

That guy at the counter holding court or the group at the big table in the restaurant..they actually knew their stuff and weren't bragging, they were just talking about runs, trucks and life and stuff and if ya listened closely you'd learn a little something, unlike today.

 

My first OTR Company boss told me when he hired me that he
had done every type of load that he would be asking me to do. Over time
I found that to be true.....any questions that I had he could tell me from
personal experience what to do. Learned a lot from him.....some things I
probably shouldn't have learned. Taught me a lot of tricks on how to fill
out a log book......to this day I would much rather fill out a paper log.

My current company the only people in the entire company that have ever
driven for real are one or two of the dispatchers.....in upper management I mean.
Our top boss wouldn't have any idea how to do what he asks us to do on a daily basis.

 

I don't care about what management did or didnt do, that died with the companies abusing me as a temp back in the 80's before trucking. Any kind of loyalty or that sort of snuggling with top brass is something that does not exist today. And certainly the dispatcher did not give a #### about you at 4 Pm quitting time to go collect the kids at the ball game unless you have through incompetent threatened his job in some way when Operations Manager and or Owner came down to ask him about what is going on with this particular driver, what did you do to him?

Ive fired dispatchers in the past, but you have to do it diplomatically through the Operations Management. In essence the situation is over right, I'll call in the morning from here (Truckstop) and if there is not a new dispatcher then I will be taking truck back to yard regardless of the load situation and getting myself home. So which will it be in the morning sir?

That usually forces them into a binary decision. The few times I carefully did that removed a problem dispatcher and made things somewhat easier for me in time so that I was able to pace myself and continue to be productive. I wont be delivering 8 loads overnights every 7 days constantly anymore but it will be hardly any more problems on my end.

 

Trucking was a professional job and truck drivers had respect.

 

The same can be said for most 4 wheelers on the road today. I haven't worked on a car model newer than the late 90's because I just don't know what I'm looking at any more. Until recently I had 2 Mercedes E class cars that ran great and were inexpensive to fix. Now both are over 20 years old and the computer components are starting to fail, and parts can no longer be found for them. Will need to junk them both within a year. I've managed to bypass some of the problems myself, but some just can't be worked around.

 

Back when I started trucking we only had the iPhone 4 , and no memory foam mattress pads either. These drivers today are spoiled.

 

In the 70’s majority of men where men. They knew the difference between an alternator and a generator. Now? Majority of men are.... can’t get into it on this thread.

 

Talkin bout wimmin n stuff like that n how faaassst them trucks'll go.

 

I sure miss going 15 mph up a mountain grade and 10 mph going down hmm maybe not .. no need to carry a few head bolts or spare injectors or a dozen fuses either.. a lot of people only remember the good but forgot the bad .. In 13 hours in Canada I can cover what took me 16 plus and not be beat up either

 

This is a great post- Thats What happened to me-

I started in 1989- A 20 year old,Knew Nothing- But Was greeted by Real Men Back then- Drivers from the 60's and 70's...

And These Drivers were "No Nonsense" Drivers Who I Know would be turning over in their Graves If they Knew what Laws were put into Place today, Which half make little to no sense

You Listened and Learned- Or you didn't last....

The 76 truckstops were very Nice- Looked forward to Stopping at Night- Real People,Real Conversation- Real Waitresses filling your coffee cup.

People smoked- But the Non-smokers didn't complain- Unlike today.

If someone needed a hand- You better believe the sacrifices people made.

Do I wish to go back in time? No- But I wish things are as close to "Right" as they should be-