The Trucker Newspaper - November 15, 2018

Perspective November
15-30, 2018 • 16
Letters
Reader says he is tired of people
boasting heritage over hard work
The double standard in America is widening
and it is a crying pity. I see one trucking
outfit based in Georgia that broadcasts the
pedigree of the owner in big letters on their
trailers to inveigle potential shippers to patronize
them. It reads, “A Native American,
Woman-Owned Company.”
I chuckle to myself when I envision the
upbraiding I would be subject to were I to
announce my bona fides on the side of my
rig in a shameless attempt at self-aggrandizement:
“German-Syrian-Irish, Male-
Owned Company: Please Patronize Me For
My Heritage.”
Of course, I’d never get away with it. I’d
be vilified, ostracized and roundly shunned
by the beautiful people, i.e., the folks who
seek “fairness” in an unfair way.
Last century an American leader said,
“… they will not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of their character.”
Just because a roll of the chromosomal
dice made some human a female or a distant
ancestor was a full-blooded Cherokee (two
traits that this human had absolutely no control
over), does not mean you should be rewarded.
Do a good job transporting freight
and your company will probably excel on
those merits.
—Thank you,
G. Ganssle
Owner-operator
Mayflower Transit
Franklin, Massachusetts
Driver says he doesn’t trust any kind
of drug tests, either hair or urinalysis
Regarding the hair-testing bill, opioids
always showed up in a urine test. It showed
up as opium/ heroin Panel 5 plus 2 drug test.
Now with a hair follicle test, I can see the
driver shortage becoming a seriously real issue.
I do not trust any of the tests. I know for
a fact that the two drug tests at my location
were faulty because when the tests were ordered,
two of the employees told me they
would likely show up as positive because
they smoked pot the night before the test.
Both showed up negative for drugs. One
of my employees was taking Percocet (oxycodone
plus acetaminophen) and it showed
up as heroin two years ago. They … had to
see the script and the doctor had to write a
letter.
I think it strange that lawmakers do not
have to be drug tested, yet the common folk
cannot be trusted. There will always be a
drug problem as long as there is a supplier.
If they are serious, go after the suppliers and
you will see a reduction in drug abuse.
Follow the money. That will tell the true
story.
See Letters on p17 m
HOS, parking, ELDs top ‘issues’ survey 3rd year in a row
Lyndon Finney
editor@thetrucker.com
Eye on
Trucking
If only it had been the lottery.
You may recall that in the November 1-15
issue, we made a prediction that when the
American Transportation Research Institute issued
its “Critical Issues in the Trucking Industry
— 2018” survey on October 29 during the
American Trucking Associations’ management
Conference and Exhibition, that the top three
concerns within the driver audience would be
the same as in 2016 and 2017: Hours of Service,
truck parking and the ELD mandate.
Sure enough, that was the case.
Cha-ching.
We’re waiting for the quarters to come
pouring out of our desktop.
The order may have changed from year to
year, but the issues did not.
Of course, as we reported in our Page 1
story in this issue, there were some disparities
among the responses of professional
truck drivers, motor carrier executives and
other trucking industry stakeholders, the two
larger audiences for the survey (drivers and
executives accounted for about 90 percent of
the respondents).
Truck parking was the most blatant disparity.
Drivers rated truck parking as the No. 2
issue, the other two audiences rated is No. 9.
For each of the top 10 issues listed, there
Carriers don’t actually park the vehicles
or have to sit on parking lots or streets
waiting. Drivers in their equipment have to
park. Not surprised [at the rating of carriers].
It just shows how much of a disconnect
there is between those doing the job
and those sitting in the office that go home
daily.
— Ben Massey
were three strategies for dealing with that
particular concern.
Here are the strategies for truck parking,
which ranked No. 5 overall:
1. Identify strategic locations on the National
Freight Network for new or expanded
truck parking because of increased traffic
congestion and industry/regulatory changes.
A majority of survey respondents (50.2 percent)
have indicated that identifying strategic
locations to expand truck parking capacity is
their preferred strategy for addressing the pervasive
shortage of truck parking. In particular,
re-opening shuttered parking facilities and
investing in new facilities are the most direct
strategies aimed at alleviating the chronic and
growing shortage of truck parking.
2. Educate the public sector on the safety
consequences that result from closing public
parking facilities and/or failing to expand
truck parking availability. The Jason’s Law
Report first brought attention to the safety
risks commercial drivers face as a result of
the truck parking shortage, and more recent
research continues to quantify the safety impacts
of an inadequate supply of truck parking.
ATRI’s truck parking diary research
quantified the frequency in which drivers are
forced to park in undesignated or unauthorized
truck parking locations like highway
shoulders or on-ramps, with 48.7 percent of
drivers reporting that the parking shortage
leads them to do so between three to seven
times per week. As such, this is the preferred
strategy for 38.2 percent of respondents, up
from 29 percent in 2017, as a growing number
of industry stakeholders hope that educating
state and local officials on the critical
The American Transportation Research Institute recently published its list of the Top 10 trucking
concerns for 2018. The survey showed the top 10 as identified by drivers and motor carrier
executives. Drivers listed truck parking as No. 2, while motor carriers listed it as No. 9. Why do you
think there is such a disparity between the two groups when it comes to truck parking, and why do
you think the industry has been so slow to address this important issue?
Twenty-six years behind the wheel and
the disparity continues more now than any
I’ve been associated with. For example,
one of my operation managers didn’t believe
I-90/94 ran through downtown Chicago.
Of course it does. The manager couldn’t
understand why driving through Chicago
on a Friday afternoon was a problem. The
disconnect stems from not understanding
what is, and what management thinks it is.
— Robert Rowe
need for safe truck parking facilities could
lead to new investments.
3. Research the role and value of realtime
truck parking information availability
and truck parking reservation systems. Leveraging
technological advancements to develop
real-time truck parking solutions was
the preferred strategy for a small but growing
percentage of respondents. The share of
respondents selecting this strategy increased
from 7.2 percent to 11.7 percent, reflecting
the considerable public sector interest and
investment in these systems.
Driver retention was No. 3 overall issue
and on the subject of recruiting and retention,
the survey mentioned that many carriers
have (some more than once this year) increased
compensation packages for drivers,
including salary, bonuses and benefits.
We wondered if the compensation increases
were attracting new drivers or just
causing a churn in the existing driver pool,
knowing that among large truckload carriers,
the turnover rate is almost 100 percent.
We turned to Rebecca Brewster, president
and COO of ATRI for the answer.
“The question of whether increases in
compensation packages leads to more entrants
to the industry or just exacerbates
churn is difficult to quantify, but at the end
of the day, the driver is coming out on the
winning side of that equation, whether experienced
or new entrant, as we see increases in
sign-on, retention and driving performance
bonuses as well as wages and benefits,” she
told us.
Let’s hope these enhanced benefits packages
will entice new entrants. 8
When the vast majority of office employees
have never been in an 18-wheeler, they
have no concept of what we must endure
on the road every day. Perhaps they compare
our situation with finding parking at
WalMart, or any other big box retailer. We
can try educating them as long as they’re
open to learning.
— Tom Balaz