How were the 'Good ol Days' different

Respect!!!

 

Knights of the Highway

 

It has not really changed all that much, there were just less idiots before !!!! And before I could earn a decent living, I mean decent. I missed the good ol' days, maybe I'll catch them next time around........

 

Things started changing around the time of de-regulation.
Some of the changes I actually like. It use to be very hard to get back hauls.
Lets say I was delivering a load from Buffalo to Detroit. I had my authority to get the loads out of Buffalo, since that was my area.
The problem was that I was not allowed to pull freight out of Detroit. So I had to dead head back to Buffalo after I delivered.
The cost associated with this was covered in my rates for the load out. Which was dictated by me or my company, not by the shipper or receiver.

Another thing that bothered me with the regulations.
Lets say I wanted to get another truck to help cover my contracts, and maybe pick up some new freight.
In order to be allowed to purchase that truck I had to prove there was a need for it. If you could not prove the need, then you could not buy the truck.

A positive about how the industry was regulated was that nobody could go and just lowball your rates and steal your freight. That was illegal. So rates were fairly consistent, and did go up slowly year by year.
Since deregulation rates have been pretty stagnant. They went way down initially, but crept up some over the years, but not much. Now with the economy where it is, and way too many trucks on the road the rates are back to where they were in the 80s. So we have gone backwards instead of forwards.

Also in the "Good ole Days" drivers were much more professional than they are now. There were not nearly as many drivers as today, and since that was controlled by the regulations the pay was good and they really earned there jobs. Many wanted to get into trucking but it was not as easy as it is today to get into. Drivers were respected because of what they did and the professionalism they showed to the public and to the shippers and receivers.

Many other changes occured with deregulation, that was just touching on a few of them. Also remember that the Interstate Highway system in this country is fairly new. Really only being to where it is now in the last 30 years or so. Drivers that had authority to go close to coast to coast were rare. Most of it was regional, since you had to apply for the authority to run in each state that you hauled in.
Now drivers are looked at as little better than migrant farm workers. And sad to say that many drivers do nothing to try and help that view.

 

Grew up in trucking, parents had their own business back in the 60/70's. Drivers were treated with respect and the same was extended back to the company. There was pride in doing the job well and doing it safely. Guess nowadays there isn't any industry/job/whatever that garners and generates respect of human beings. Just read some of the threads here and it's obvious as to what changed.