What would change?

There used to be a time where drivers wore uniforms. Some still do, like UPS and WalMart. Policemen wear uniforms, firefighters wear uniforms, nurses wear uniforms. Truck drivers wear sweatpants, flip flops, and wifebeaters in public places. What happened? Where's the professionalism?

You're driving down the highway, see blue lights on your donkey. You hit the shoulder, and this guy walks up, wearing sweatpants, flip flops, and a dirty wifebeaters with a badge pinned to it. And he has a gun. If you had a gun, you would shoot first.

Or your preteen daughter is in the hospital. A doctor walks in wearing sweatpants, flip flops and a dirty wifebeaters and he's talking about examining your little girl. Your first thought is to pick up a chair and open his head with one swing.

See a problem? How can you ever expect to be taken as a serious professional when you look like a bum? Why are there so many bums in trucking? Somewheres, they read that they can go to CDL school, get their license, and actually be a professional driver. All you have to do is fork out $5grand, pass a stupidity test and presto! you're a professional.


Now all he has to do is win the repeat that has eluded him his entire life. Foul, sloppy, smell like a sewer, but wants respect. If you don't have any respect for yourself, how is it that you expect others to do so? You're a steering wheel holder.

 

Not to excuse poor hygiene/appearance, but you are comparing apples with oranges. Those other professions you mentioned pay well, and command respect. It's hard to motivate someone making peanuts to be real professional. You get what you pay for.

You mentioned Walmart and UPS. Those drivers make good pay, drive good equipment, and are treated as professionals. Most OTR outfits treat, and pay their drivers like scum, so they look, and act like scum.

 

Certified Nursing assistant, life guard, fast food service (food safety certification), licensed day care provider, construction material tester.

Just to name a couple off the top of my head.

 

You are correct, the " professionalism " left this industry as the old school retired and left, as a whole, they were cleanly dressed and actually cared about them self's and had a high self asteem about there job and took pride in it. I have ran across some pretty decent young drivers with the old school attitude.To bad there are not more of them. It's to bad as the trucking industry has sunk to the bottom of the barrel and the drivers that you have discribed are the scrapings of such a barrel. My .02 worth......

 

you think this is limited to only driving a truck?

 

CNA requires schooling first and pay better than truckers make I know my sister is one, I don't know what you mean by fast food service I can get a job a mcds with no schooling they give you a shirt and hat that I see them wearing with stains all over daily, day care depends on city and state, where I live you can open a day care with no schooling no back ground checks. contrustion material tester, what the heck is that.....

so now that we have cut all but one that we don't know what you are talking about out of your quick list lets see what others you know of....

 

If they called it skilled labor Jethro Bodine would have a big smile on his face because he just got a whole lot smarter!

 

I call BS on your statements, Get pulled over by and ohio officer. they will tell you that you are a professional and should drive like one. Truckers are the backbone of this country and every country. If you buy it at some point it was on a truck. take all those trucks off the road and nobody can buy a thing, nobody can ship a thing. you go back a thousand years to the roots of trucking. trucking has been around longer than trucks have, it was just a different name. back in the days of kings it was called carvens with wagons and a pulling animal be it a horse camel donkey or other animal to pull the freight while a handler insured safe transportation of goods from one city to the other. There is a high skill level required to be a trucker. yes schools push out drivers everyday, that does not make them a trucker just a wheel holder, coming out of a truck driving school and into a truck is like a can finshing school and starting there hands on training in a hospital. You say that a trucker requires no skill than lets put your grandkid behind the wheel of a rig and see how well they do going down the highway or through the city during rush hour.

 

Now to the Ops question If the DOL official gave truckers the label of skilled trade, it would mean that we could work for salted penuts instead of plain. lol but yes we could make a better living with less fight. But than the government would lose a lot of control and regulation over us.

 

How about the Pony Express, talk about the early expedited freight day's......