An Open Invitation

I am glad I found this board by accident and this section in particular.

It is refreshing to find a discussion on this volatile issue where among those who promote the spoon fed hysteria of the protectionist crowd, there are those who are injecting common sense and logic into the discussion.

I am one of the latter, and also an acknowledged expert on this subject.

I don't have a dog in this fight nor could I care less whether a Mexican truck has the authority to operate here or not. It has no effect on my job, my income or my family. What I do care about is all the lies and hysteria being thrown around about a subject and a country few know about, other than from nocturnal excursions into the zonas of the bordertowns

I also have homes in Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey, 145 miles south of the border.

With that being said;

I'll extend an invitation to any of you who bring loads into or out of Laredo Texas to give me a call or shoot me an email. You can use the contact page on my site.

Come with an open mind and we'll spend a couple of hours around Nuevo Laredo trying to find the unsafe junk trucks that some of you are convinced exist. You will see few of them.

You will see modern transportation company with modern, late model, well maintained equipment. State of the art terminals similar but tighter in and out security procedures than many US firms such as Swift and Hunt.

If you have the time, and want to pay $22.00 for a 6 month tourist visa, a trip to Monterrey could be arranged, especially if I am going home that day.

You will see modern electronic chicken coops once you get beyond the interior Customs station.

You will see 2006 and newer road tractors identical to what we drive here, although most are governed to 65.

You will see safe, courteous professional truckers around you. Family men and a few women, just like you and I.

And you'll think they were all trained by Swift Transportation, because the majority of them think their ### lights are meant to be used on a clear night. That is my only gripe with these people.

You'll also see, despite what you've been told, that Mexican highways, Federal and State, are in excellent condition. The State highways being in continual resurfacing.

You won't have to worry about "bandits"! Most of that occurs in the southern states.

You really won't have to worry about "corrupt" cops although I admit I have slipped a few a $100 peso note when caught not wearing my seat belt.

In short, you should come away with a different viewpoint on this issue.

Because in the end people, trucking is a job and it is the same anywhere you go in the world. The language might be different, some of the trucks of European manufacture, but at the end of the day, a trucker anywhere in the world, just wants to finish the day and get home to his wife and kids.

And it is no different for a Mexican. Well, maybe it is! Family is very important here. That's one reason you don't see many trucks on the highways on a weekend.

It's an open invitation to anyone providing I'm home from a run. You might learn something and your perception might change. If nothing else, you'll have an enjoyable afternoon.

Mexico is not what some would have you believe it is. I've lived here and traveled here for more than 15 years without incident.

Take care!

With that being said;

 

Yeah, and the crap you see on the border only make 10 miles jaunts each way.

I used to travel once or twice a month to Celaya GTO. I prefer, cheapskate that I am, to take the free roads where possible. More scenary etc.

About the only exception to that is the toll between Queratera y Celaya, and you don't have much of a choice there when you're in a hurry.

It's a beautiful country with wonderful people once you get away from the border.

 

Lego,

Perhaps I stated it wrong or wasn't clear about the point I was trying to convey.

I'm not saying that Mexico is crime free by any means ( and let's leave the narco wars off the table for this discussion), but we don't seem to have the rampant senseless crime down here that is occurring in the US. Crimes against persons and property for instance.

Sure, you have to use common sense just as anywhere. Lock your vehicles etc.

But down here, you see couples walking at night, children out playing in the parks, women walking to the corner store or in Centro without fear of being accosted. In many ways, it is like the way I remember it when I was growing up in Arkansas. There is a sense of security here that has been absent in the US for many years.

I think what I was trying to point out is that Mexico is not the third world illiterate country that some such as Dale Sommers and his son would try to convince you that it is.

I recall an email I got a few days ago from a man and his wife who are making a six month trip in an RV here. He summed it up in one statement.

I don't think I said that we don't care about our families. What I said was that Mexico is a "family oriented" society, where family comes first, unlike the US where most of us are caught up in the 9-5, the kids have their own lives, and families only see one another in passing.

And I was guilty of that also. Three marriages that ended because I put the job ahead of family as many of us do.

And let's face it. Most of the big companies a lot of you drive far could give a rat's ### about your wants and needs, as long as the freight gets delivered.

Let's look at the Mexican truck issue that you pointed out. It may not stop at 150 trucks, but I doubt it goes much past that. For several reasons.

There was a report out last week that cross border trade increased 11% last quarter. Last year, there were more than 4 million crossings the length of the southern border.

In Mexico, according to a 2006 report from SCT, there were 258,000 Federally licensed Mexican commercial drivers. These are the ones who have authority to operate interstate in Mexico.

Contrast that to 11 million US CDL holders. The competition is lopsided.

We've seen this past year, that the American companies have made twice as many incursions into Mexico as the Mexican carriers have made into the US.

The Mexicans are not running wild around the US. They are covering contracts they have with their Mexican customers hauling their customers freight both ways. In some cases, going back unto Mexico empty.

Their length of haul has rarely extended beyond 1000 miles north of the border. In many cases, it has been in Texas and the border states only.

Hardly the doom and gloom predicted by the opponents of the program.

And once again, everyone ignores the 1300 Mexican companies that have had authority in the US for more than 40 years.

I don't know if anyone picked up this issue of The Trucker.

Front page article is Mexico Report Card "A" for Safety.

The numbers are out. Mexican driver OOS rates for things like logbooks and English proficiency 0.65 %. Vehicle OOS rates for Mexican trucks, 7.3% National average for American trucks and drivers? 6.7% and 23.00% respectively.

This is the first numbers we've had from the program. OOIDA, Teamsters and other have tried to used skewed data from cross border drayage operations to prove their point without success.

That article is an interesting read if you get a moment. John Hill also points out something I have been beating my chest about from the beginning. That the opposition has wrongly inserted the immigration debate into the mix to mislead the public and raise peoples passions against it.

 

Thanks for the flowers guys.

Here are a few photos I put in my album that should show what a massive fraud of misinformation has been dumped on our industry by the likes of Jimmy Hoffa and Todd Spencer and associates.

All but two of the photos were taken at random in country. I probably have a thousand more on my own website in the galleries, but this will give you an idea

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...trucker/albums/real-mexican-long-haul-trucks/