Old timers, was it really better before technology?

I still don’t use or own a GPS. No need for one.
I do have a couple of notebooks filled with directions I’ve gotten over the years.

 

36 years in myself 10 as an owner op and still love my job most days. I am not thrilled with all of the new things potentially coming down the line. I like my 2015 Glider with an 18 speed, CB radio turned on and my carrier required ELD (I don’t run hot) so the ELD works better for me than paper did. I don’t mind that the carrier I lease to requires a forward facing camera as it tells the truth about what actually happens on the road. I DO NOT like the recently announced idea of my carrier requiring a driver facing “event triggered” (not sure I believe it will only be event triggered) in 2024. I won’t switch carriers just yet until I find out if they are truly event based, but I am shopping new carriers. I used an atlas and other driver’s directions the first 24 years, but wouldn’t take anything for my GPS now mainly for the traffic updates because I usually go to the same places every week. My rig isn’t governed and I almost always drive at or slightly below the speed limit, but if speed limiters are enforced it will likely be time for me to stay home. Nothing lasts forever and change is inevitable so I either change or I move on. Not sure which I will do at this point.

 

Logs on computer
Manual transmissions.
Everyone spoke english.
Mom and pop restaurants.
Traffic was half what it is now.

I don't know why the 2018 I drive doesn't shut off. But I'm not complaining.

 

1st, welcome aboard. Always nice to hear younger drivers interested in the past. The job you have today has little, if anything related to the past. Equipment, communication, laws that would make us quit( and I did), and of course, the worst of all, distracted drivers, all make for a very different job. In the past, just getting there was the job, sometimes insurmountable odds, but we did it, with no help whatsoever, except from other drivers. THAT, I would say, is the biggest difference, your fellow drivers. Today, with equipment that rarely breaks, and cell phones, it's entirely possible to never need any advice or help, it's a push of a button away. Food too. Back then, some of the mom&pop truckstops had the best food, all for $3.95 PLUS, they filled your thermos. Tube tires, 2 lanes, no air dryers, wedge brakes, no a/c, poor seats, spring ride, 238 hp( when new), watts line, load boards, chain drive wallets( many loads were cash), CB radios, but the best part? Your buddies were there to help. Thanks, pal, you just made our day.

 

Free coffee
No problem finding parking
Drivers helping each other
Restaurants
Good money
Free coffee
Sexy/sassy waitresses

 

I remember the days of pay phones and check calls, cost me quite a bit of money. Load was gone before I could get it confirmed. Sittin at a table with a phone and everyone in the place knowing what your bidness is. I still use an Atlas, no GPS on the dash. But without my I-phone I’m out. Paper logs makin 5 look like 10 a rod from the pedal to the pump and no Cruise Control is all about my bidness. Learned a lot of things in them days like traveling an staying outta sight outta mind. Had a lot of fun back then, those days are gone and I’ll never be able to have em back. In the same breath no one can ever take them from me. Just a kid tryin to keep up with a few ol buzzards that could run you till your tongue hung out.

 

I want a mix of both.

30+ years ago when I started, I had several shoe boxes of city maps, one laminated road atlas(truck edition), more places to hide my alternate reality log books than the DOT could find (ran 3 to 4 during the busy times), a dry erase board in the sleeper so I could keep track of where I stopped for the night (and where and when I had to be with the load). A big shift lever in the floor and an AM/FM in the dash, plus a CB that could reach out an touch someone in different parts of the state. My kids were also popular because they were able to call home from school using my own 800 number and they had pictures of all the places all over the country they took when they rode with me. No 34 hr restart, and no 10 hr break (only had to do an 8hr break back then). And I had an ice chest that needed a new bag of ice every other day. No inverter or cooking appliances (because you sat down in the restaurant to eat)

Now, I still have an atlas somewhere, I have a truck GPS (which I call my Nag-a-Gator or my 2nd wife because I don't listen to her either), I have a cell phone and Google Maps with street view. E-logs and a nanny box called a Peoplenet. Along with a company dash cam that only shuts off after being parked with the engine shut off for a while(because we have APU's and diesel fired bunk heaters). I still have a shift lever sticking thru the floor with this truck with 13 gears to pick from (but it's the last one I'll have since the company's new trucks only come with an auto). I have 2 fridges, one built in one portable. And all sorts of cooking appliances since most places only have artery clogging fast food. And I still have a CB, and an AM/FM, but it doesn't even have a CD player(but I don't even turn it on because I enjoy the hum of the road growl of the engine)

I would keep the stick, my CB (even though it's only a stock unit with no upgrades), cell phone for Google Maps, the GPS to keep track of how far I have to go, the truck atlas in case I break my GPS and cell phone(although after all these years, I have traveled to every corner of the country more than once, so an atlas wouldn't be that helpful), I would keep the modern cooking appliances so I don't have to eat fast food every day along with my APU and bunk heater(my body has gotten use to being able to sleep without a vibrating truck engine rocking it to sleep). Along with my fridges.

Stuff that I am on the fence with...ELOGs(I can take 'em or leave 'em since there is a 34 hr reset and PC), company dash cam(outward facing only)

Stuff I could do without...the nanny box(like Peoplenet or our new Samsara units)

 

No plexiglass in the office. You talked face to face with everyone. Even drink beer with the owner in the garage Friday afternoon.

Long haul trucking, not OTR. Run like hell Monday-Friday 5000 miles, but got home Friday afternoon and off til Sunday. The home for 3 days a month stuff, IMO is the most damaging thing to YOUNG drivers. There’s absolutely no reason why so many of the megas (it’s mostly the megas that do it) keep you guys out for months on end. Even if you guys don’t have a home, you still should have to get out of that truck for a couple days a week.

Zero handholding. Zero cattle prods in a truck. They call them ‘driver aids’, but those are cattle prods. Put a moron behind the wheel, set the cattle prods on Moron Control Monitoring, and hope for the best. If you’ve ever spent any time in a trucking office, you will hear about the crying whining drivers.
“But Six, I am a safer driver with the cattle prods.” You are a moron. Enjoy your cattle prods.

On the other hand, if you enjoy learning, you can do everything online. Fantastic! Whatever it is that you want to learn, you can learn.

 

Trucking was a lot less stressful compared to today. I had to chuckle about your map question. How in the cornbread hell do you think we got from point A to point B? My preference is a 13 or 18 speed, and all my trucks for the last 20 years have been 18. Paper logs by far.

 

That’s my favorite line too, How did you get around with no cellphones or a GPS?!
I do like the advantage of a cellphone but I also remember up until a few years ago they were useless in most of the country.
The problem today is a severe lack of communication in the industry, thus the number of big pile ups and stupid decisions.