The Truckers’ Report flatbed Hall of Shame.

Like it or not, legal or not, I understand why a company would make the driver buy their own tarps and straps. I’ve seen brand new gear ruined on the very first load because a driver is lazy or ignorant.

Was talking with the boss man the other day and he asked about tarps. Our normal place we have used years, Sharps Tarps, is roughly double the cost of the tarps at Tri City Canvas. He asked if I thought thwy were worth the price difference. I brought up how after a few years the d rings start rotting off the sharps tarps because they use tarp material instead of webbing like tri city does.

he laughed and said “a few years? We are lucky to get 6 months out of a set of tarps.” Well if that’s the case, might as well order the cheaper ones. They are just going to get trashed anyway.

 

Are they company drivers or lease ops?

 

They charge both company and lease ops for their equipment. They promise to buy it back if you leave but they don't mention that they only pay 20% for used equipment. Of course when a new guy is picking up equipment, a lot of it is used. If you object, they tell you they've had a lot of quitters so they have to give you some used stuff.

 

I wonder how the lifespan on that equipment compares to other fleets that don’t charge for it.

 

A couple points (excellent post, BTW) :

That not knowing the WHY is a problem across all aspects of industry. We are failing badly at teaching critical thinking and encouraging intellectual curiosity, and it shows. But that's largely a political discussion restricted to the sandbox.

You touched on the issue of trainers not properly understanding what they're training. That's the bane of trucking, IMHO. You can go thru the training genealogy of vast segments of our industry and not find a single capable trainer. Too many of those often poorly-trained trainers see it as merely a revenue increase with little concern for proper training.

And as far as steer weight, the shift to setback axles started the shift, but it seems it really took off with the extra weight introduced by the aftertreatment systems. I'm sure the desire to be able to keep the tractor/trailer gap smaller was also a driving force with the box fleets, in this age of insane fuel prices.

 

This is key. For more than my lifetime we, as a society, have made choices that discourage critical thinking and out right punishes intellectual curiosity. We bemoan the lack of 'common sense', but common sense is based on a common understanding of the facts/situation. What's really lacking is critical thinking applied to everyday life.

 

7 years in and I’m still learning. Haven’t lost a load and haven’t been hit in the back of the head with a load yet. Have messed a lot of stuff up with reefers and vans though. And I had a bull run head first into a gate trying to kill me, stumbled to the ground, got up, spun and ran head first into the gate again and broke its neck during my brief stint hauling cows.

worst thing I have had happen hauling flat/step was getting hit in the face with an edge protector that fell off the load while pulling my straps off.

securing loads is 99% arbitrary DOT #### and 1% common sense.

its the 1% common sense that will get you, every time.

 

Dear heavens...do you know if the driver lived?

 

No idea ‍