Why CSA 2010 and E-Logs are a good thing.

I have to disagree on some points . Thirty years ago drivers chose trucking as a profession because they really wanted to be truckers , not out of desperation because there seemed to be no other work available . We did not have 90% of new drivers leaving the industry within a year . Thirty years ago carriers were owned by people with a background in the industry that cared about company image and cared about their employees . Too many carriers today are run by bean counters that give profit and low operating expense a priority . Drivers are just another expense that has to be kept to a minimum .

 

Uh...we are talking about the same late 70's/early 80's when we were in the middle of a recession with over 10% unemployment?

 

20 to 30 years ago you did not have company pushing people through driving schools or training like they where going out of style like we do today. Say what you want but the new drivers today are nothing like they where back then. Thats why so many want eobrs because they can not think for themselfs and the computer can do it for them. Just read an article in a trucking magazine i get where drivers were saying how they love there elogs because it saves them time and they do not have to think about what they have left to drive or work the elogs do it for them. If your brain is that slow you can not figure out how to do paper logs and simple math is that hard finded a diffrent job.

 

Please don't mistake,me for an EOBR cheerleader. I am not. But don't try to blame this all on newer drivers. The people coming out now weren't falsifying and violating ten years ago, when this brainchild was being first written.

 

Drivers did seem to be more conscientious when I first started. We helped one another and carriers were mostly run by their founders. Most had an open door policy where any driver could walk in to the president or owner's office and talk with him. That is not likely to happen these days. Making money has always been important in this business, as with any other business. I think much of the difference from then and now is that the soul or heart has gone out of many of those same carriers.

Most of the founders of the older carriers have retired, passed away or sold out to investment groups. The founders understood that the drivers were the backbone of their business. They understood that without good drivers that there would not be a business.

You can't learn how to drive a truck from a textbook. This is a profession where you learn by doing. You get in the seat, turn on the key and start shifting gears. In some ways it is more difficult to get into this business. Insurance companies now control the recruiting office. Many smaller carriers would be willing to hire inexperienced drivers were it not for the restrictions placed on them by insurance companies. With so many people being sue happy, most are apprehensive about hiring anyone that the insurance company won't cover. Years ago, insurance companies had much less say in our hiring.

Personally, I think we learned better before the advent of truck driving schools. I also feel that we had a higher caliper of driver. The main reason is that so many of the schools and carriers who train new recruits bring in so many new drivers that they don't adequately train the ones that they have and often times they are put with a mentor or trainer who has little more experience than the new recruit. There are some new drivers who are conscientious and really try to do their best. They take pride in their equipment and try to learn as much as they can about this business.

When new people only enter a profession as a last resort or because there are few other choices, then the entire industry will suffer. The new drivers will eventually take the torch. Those of us who have been around for many years will find our time more limited due to the time we have left. I do hope that there are enough who want to do a good job and learn that they will be able to make it a better industry than they were left. There will be many battles to be fought, mostly with government regulators and corrupt politicians. There is no room for defeat. Carry on.

 

20-30 years ago diesel sold for what?
20-30 years ago trucks cost what?
20-30 years ago did you make a call from the table in the diner or from your cell phone?

The movies today are nothing even close to the movies "back then".
How many other examples of "back then" v "now" do you want?

I really can't believe, or even come up with any concept, that the EOBR's were conceived by any driver! I'm pretty sure it was a governmental idea promoted to the ATA (we all know the ATA represents companies not drivers) and that the companies accepted with virtually little argument.

The "computer log" programs were conceived by drivers/former drivers that wanted a computerized version so they wouldn't have to haul the "coloring books" around all the time. They even pushed and prodded the FMCSA and other agencies (state) to accept the computer version. Which could be where the E-logs idea started within the government (FMCSA).

If that is true of "other drivers", does that make it mandatory that YOU must follow their decision? No it does not...as of now, you have a choice if you are independent, if not, and you are with a company that is "experimenting" or "toying with the concept"...you are still on paper logs.

To this statement...I really don't know how to respond...except; 20-30 years ago drivers weren't as educated as they are today! 20-30 years ago, did you have a computer or phone that you could respond to, or create conversations on, in a format like TTR? Probably not....since TTR wasn't even a "drip in your boxers"!

 

Don't forget to push that soap box back under the podium so the next poster won't trip!

 

I first got into this industry because it was my dream. I came back, partly out of desparation (being unemployed for 6 months will do that) but also because in the back of my mind, I always missed the road, even after 11 years.

 

Precisely. Whose truck are they going to get in? Yours?

Isn't that what you want? Or would you rather it be you have to either know somebody or be related to somebody like the Mafia?

And why did you get into it? So you could be away from your family for weeks at a time? I'll wager you got into it for exactly the same reason they are: for money. Some, like you and I, found we love what we do. Many found they don't, but it pays the bills and it's all they know...and count the days to retirement.

But not from somebody who can only insult, belittle nd harass them.

And the point of this is? Does this make you somehow a better person than the ones you supposedly want to take the torch from you? How do you expect to light a fire inside someone's heart when you consistently lock them out in the cold?