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It's Time To Quit Your Whining, Quit Waiting For Someone Else to Act, and Start To Do Something YOURSELF!  Click Here to Read More >>

 

Did you know that even if a Truck Driver has their spouse or even their 5 year old child in the truck,
it is against the law in some states to have heat or air conditioning in that truck if they have to idle their engine?

I don't know if I'm fired up, or just fed up. Maybe it's a little of both, but if drivers today are so
gutless they'll let some trucking company or some state treat their spouse or their child worse than a dog,
I guess they'll put up with anything.

Drivers, you had better start joining together, forming groups and organizations with other drivers in your company or in your area, and start working together RIGHT NOW!

Unfortunately I do not have the time, the money, or the resources to try and bring all of the drivers or anyone else in this country together on my own, so I'm not going to do it for you, and neither is anyone else.

I don't care what union or trucking organization you belong to, how much you pay in dues or membership fees, or if you drive a triple digit large car with your name on the title, or you drive a Swift, Schneider, J.B. Hunt truck, or any other company truck. Every Trucker has to put aside their differences and start working with each other.

You can send all the money you want to any group or organization there is, but until each and every one of you start standing up, talking to each other like adults on the C.B., at the truck stops, at your terminals, your yards, at the docks, and anywhere else you're at, and you start forming your own small groups at your company or in your area, and then start getting those groups to start working together, I will guarantee you that things are only going to get worse.

I know I've fought tooth and nail for over 20 years now to try and get drivers to start working together before it's too late, and I've had no problem stating my opinion and either cleaning out a company truck or walking away if the company I was with introduced a new policy that I didn't think was fair or equitable to the drivers, but now I'm on the verge of hanging it up and saying to hell with the whole industry.

I was talking to a friend of mine on the phone when I got home from my last run, and he told me another Driver friend of his had called him asking for help. This Driver told my friend that the company he drives for had enacted a new policy stating that if Drivers idle their trucks to have heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer, they would be charged for the fuel the truck used.

My friend did what he could, and that was to remind the other driver that there is strength in numbers, and he should talk to the other drivers that worked for that company and rally together to take a stand and refuse to drive the companies trucks until the company changed the new policy. While the company may not like this, they would have to choose between firing every driver they had on the spot (and try to explain to all of their customers why their freight wasn't being delivered) and try to hire new drivers A.S.A.P., or agree that the new policy was unfair and revoke it.

So did it work? I'm sure it would have, but the driver told my friend he didn't think he could do that, hung up, and that was the end of it.

This is getting ridiculous. Do office workers get deductions taken out of their paychecks if they want to have heat and AC in their office? Do warehouse and dock workers have to take a pay cut if they have fans running to help keep the temperature inside the warehouse tolerable? Is Wal Mart going to start charging their employees for the cost of each stores utility bill? That truck is the Driver's workplace, not their home. I don't care if diesel reaches $20 a gallon, these no idling rules and laws are getting out of hand.

No wonder the big trucking companies would rather hire someone fresh out of driving school than hire me. If they tell me I have to freeze to death or sweat my butt off when I'm trying to sleep or relax, and all for the privilege of driving their truck, I'll make it very clear what part of their anatomy they can stick their truck in. I guess the driving school graduates or drivers with minimal experience might actually think this is how Trucking is suppose to be and put up with that crap.

I don't care how much experience you do or don't have, TRUCKERS ARE HUMAN BEINGS, AND WE DESERVE TO BE TREATED WITH A LITTLE BIT OF COMMON DECENCY! WHEN IS ENOUGH GOING TO BE ENOUGH!?

The average turnover rate in the trucking industry is around 140%, second only to the waitress industry. Most drivers would rather bounce from one company to another looking for that greener grass on the other side of the fence than take a stand and try to improve the conditions where they're at.  There is no greener grass any longer.  Accept that fact and start working together to make things better where you're at!

Many of the people that have only been driving a few years have no idea that while Truckers may never have been treated with a high level of respect, at least there was a time we were treated like human beings.

A lot of trucking companies won't let the driver idle their truck for heat and air conditioning at all, but I'll bet that the companies office building has heat and air conditioning. I've pointed that out to a few people in a management position at some companies, and asked them if it was because the company thinks a dispatcher or anyone else is somehow better than the Trucker Drivers that work for them. Their response? They said of course not, but they have to keep the offices temperature controlled because of the computers. So in other words, they feel Truckers are more worthless than a computer.

Did you know that now a dog has more rights than a Truck Driver does?

It is illegal to idle your truck in some states. Regardless of the outside temperature, or whether or not there are any facilities like IdleAire available that offer these services (when's the last time you saw an IdleAire hook up at a dock you were sitting at?), and it doesn't matter if it's just the driver in the truck, or they have their spouse or even their 5 year old child in the truck, it is against the law to have heat or air conditioning in that truck if they have to idle their engine for it. I've heard that California is even trying to make it illegal to use an APU, and these units were designed exclusively to reduce idling.

But don't worry, if you have a dog, a pet mouse, a pet rat or any other animal, the ASPCA says that it's cruel to make that animal suffer without heat or air conditioning, so you had better idle that truck and keep it comfortable inside for that animal. This is the REAL reason so many companies still allow riders, but no longer allow pets.

Think about that. As a Trucker, these states, shippers and receivers (Wal Mart for example), and even the trucking companies you're working for are telling you that not only you, but YOUR SPOUSE AND YOUR KIDS are a lower form of life than a dog, a mouse, or even a rat!

Driver, it's bad enough you're letting your company tell you that you're a worthless piece of trash that's lower than any other animal on this planet, and worth less than a lousy piece of computer equipment. It's sad that you'll stand by and be told you're so worthless you don't deserve to have heat or air conditioning when you're parked trying to relax or sleep, and that the money it cost in fuel to idle that truck is more important than your health, your comfort, your safety, and you as a person.

But if you run for a company that tells you that you can take your wife/husband or your kids with you, but you can't idle your truck to provide them with heat or cool air when you're stopped, that company is telling you that your wife/husband, and your kids are as worthless as you are.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but you can call me what you want and I might put up with it. Insult my wife and I don't care how big you are, how tough you are, and whether or not you can beat the tar out of me, you'd better have God on your side, because He's about the only one that's going to stop me from tearing into you.

Driver, I'm going to tell you plain and simple, and I'm going to say it straight up. It's no wonder so many of you
won't stand together and fight back. If you're so gutless you'll put up with that, then you really will put up with anything.

 
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