The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say.
– from “Mark Twain’s Notebook” by Samuel Langhorne Clemens
All of us here at FleetOwner are rather pumped having just learned the editors and designers on staff will soon receive no less than six “Azbee” awards for editorial excellence from the American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASPBE). Founded in 1964, ASBPE is a professional association for editors and writers employed in the business, trade and specialty press (or in what we unromantically call today “the media.”)
Four are national awards: Feature Article (”Fuel: Diesel & Beyond,” Aug. ‘07); Special Supplement (our special annual “13th” issue Can You Survive? , ” Nov. ‘07); Annual Buyers Guide (”Annual Specs & Buyers Guide,” Oct. ‘07), and Front Cover Design (”Annual Specs & Buyers Guide,” Oct. ‘07).
The other two awards are for the Northeast Region, which includes all publications based in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. FleetOwner is being recognized for the categories of Editorial/Editor’s Letter (”Editor’s Page,” July and Aug. 2007), and Front Cover Design (”New Models,” July 2007).
In any line of work it’s always nice to receive the equivalent of a standing ovation for your efforts but it is ever more satisfying when the applause comes from your professional peers.
We daresay this recognition should also please our readers. The multiple national Azbees in particular reflect the impact the combined efforts of the entire editorial and design team delivers not just now and then, but issue after issue, month after month in print, and day after day online.
Yes, OK, we like to win awards as much as the next guy.
But above all, we take pride in knowing what we do is all about you.
–chorus of Weezer’s “Only in Dreams,” words and music by Rivers Cuomo
I’ve never listened to the rock band Weezer so I can’t say whether I have missed anything. But I can honestly say I was touched by the lines above when I went a-googling the lyrics of the band, which was the hands-down favorite of my late colleague Terry Nguyen.
My search was for a kind of link if you will back to Terry so I could somehow, hopefully fittingly, commemerate his tragic death one year ago June 1st and, above all, to illuminate the short yet shining life he led.
Then it struck me that the best way to recall Terry at this time would be to share with you some of his own words.
The passage below was penned as part of an essay Terry wrote in 2007 to win one of the Young Leaders Scholarships presented by the American Society of Business Publications Editors to promising young journalists. He won that prestigious honor but died shortly before it was to be bestowed.
Please pause for a moment and reflect on what this wonderful young man, just 27 at his passing, had to say when he recalled an incident that helped inspire him to be a journalist:
“I vividly remember at UConn [The University of Connecticut] working on a story that had moved me more than any other. A music student was performing a practice recital in front of her classmates when she collapsed onstage and died shortly thereafter. I learned that she played the trumpet with a prosthetic arm. I spoke with her friends, her teachers, university officials, and her father — who at times fought through tears to speak to me. For obvious reasons, it was an extremely sensitive topic, and I got no sleep the night my article was sent to the printer.
“I bring this particular story up because I learned very early in my career the value of journalism. What I wrote has an impact on how a deceased person will be remembered, and that article is most likely sitting in a scrapbook right now. This example illustrates why I believe journalism is truly a public service — one that’s worth preserving with integrity at whatever cost.”
- Gen. George S. Patton Jr., U.S. Army (1885-1945)
While in recent months everything from speculators to refinery maintenance to the developing world has been blamed for the rapid run-up in fuel prices, it now seems the real issue we should all be losing sleep over– especially ALL branches of our federal government– is whether the world just might run out of oil much sooner than later.
That’s the message I get from some seriously sobering reports in major newspapers this morning. For example, a report by Neil King Jr. and Peter Fristch in The Wall Street Journal reveals that “The world’s premier energy monitor is preparing a sharp downward revision of its oil-supply forecast, a shift that reflects deepening pessimism over whether oil companies can keep abreast of booming demand.”
The reporters explain that the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) is attempting for the first time to gauge the condition of the world’s top 400 oil fields. The findings won’t come out until November…”but the bottom line is already clear: Future crude supplies could be far tighter than previously thought. ”
Oil field sunset– not a pretty picture
The upshot, write King and Fritsch, is that “A pessimistic supply outlook from the IEA could further rattle an oil market that already has seen crude prices rocket over $130 a barrel, double what they were a year ago.”
I know, I know, just what we in America, land of cockeyed optimists, don’t need– more pessimism.
On the other hand, in my book anyway, unhappy news based on actual facts is not cause for pessimism.
It’s cause for action. Just what action is the real question.
That must be answered for all of us by all of those we’ve elected to wield the levers of power in Washington.
And, yes, I know they’re politicians and not miracle workers.
But I am convinced they can do much more than they have and might actually do something more than they have if enough voters applied enough pressure.
And I argue, as always, that the leadership needed to make something happen should start at the top of the Executive Branch– in the Oval Office where the sign used to say “The buck stops here.”
Where’s “Give-’em-hell” Harry Truman now that we need him again?
I’ve long been disturbed by how so many people– truckers included– still do not wear seatbelts when in a vehicle. Maybe I am a hopeless Safety Sam but I even tell my kids to stay buckled up when we pull into a gas station or wherever on the off chance that someone may plow into our car while we are assumably safely parked.
Why might I think so? Well, one of many reasons leaps right to mind. Back in my college days, several of my friends and I spent a pleasant if Scotch-soaked evening in our hometown’s Safari Pub (I think every burg worth its salt had such an establishment in the ’70s but I digress). Things got interesting after last call when we all left and headed for our separate cars.
It was raining cats and dogs and foggy to boot and partly due to that and partly due to the ample time he’d just spent with Johnnie Walker, my friend Jim (just like in A.A., no surnames here!) fairly promptly drove the front of his late-model Pinto into a rather high parking-lot curb. His speed was low enough for the little car to look hardly damaged.
But he was not wearing his seat belt and upon impact, his body travelled forward unimpeded and– not being the tallest guy around– his mouth slammed into the steering wheel. That led to a trip to the emergency room where a plastic surgeon was called in (wisely) to sew up the insides of his cheeks, which were cut to ribbons by the orthodontic braces on his teeth.
Lesson learned: Could it be any easier? Just wear the seatbelt and save yourself all sorts of pain and suffering if not worse. As for me, the only place you’ll catch me in a vehicle without being buckled up is in my own driveway.
No wonder I am thrilled to report that Lifeguard Technologies– by far the biggest supplier of seatbelts to trucking– has launched its “Click, Tug and Snug” (CTS) safety campaign to help drive up the use of seatbelts by truck drivers.
If you click below, you can see a sample clip of the nine-minute CTS training video right from here:
If you click here, you will go directly to Lifeguard’s CTS site where you can view four clips from the video to get a fuller sense of its content.
You can order free copies of the video for training purposes from Lifeguard at the CTS site by clicking on the “Contact” tab.
According to Lifeguard, the video is intended to be generic but does include instructions on how to use their Komfort Latch and Sliding Komfort Latch to make wearing seatbelts more comfortable. The company also urges fleets to equip cabs with high-visibility (typically orange) seatbelts to encourage consistent use as they make it is easy to see who’s buckled up at a glance.
And if you– or your drivers– still need convincing as to why everyone should wear seatbelts in every vehicle, take a look at what someone who really should have known better has to say on this topic:
It seems like just yesterday I was first introduced to the Modec– an electric truck headed to the U.S. from England– by a rather eccentric and yet altogether fitting indoor test drive.
The Modec gets its good looks from its mother– the London taxi cab!
I took my silent spin in a Modec back in February at the National Truck Equipment Assn. (NTEA) Work Truck Show in Atlanta and my write-up ran in our April print edition but may be read online here.
At the NTEA show, the chairman of Coventry-based Modec Limited, Jamie Lord Borwick, stated that the OEM, whose roots are in the manufacture of London’s iconic black cabs, was exploring its options but gave no definitive time frame for when it might enter the truck market here.
Yet now I hear tell from William Doelle, director of business development for the young truck maker’s U.S. operation, that “in part owing to the favorable comments from journalists, and our winning the innovative product of the year [award] at the Work Truck Show, we have moved up our U.S. launch date… We are going to launch a select fleet of 50 Modecs– or more– in Washington DC starting in January of 2009.”
According to The Wall Street Journal this morning, the Fed chairman has “endorsed a ‘quickly’ implemented fiscal stimulus package, saying it would complement the Fed’s efforts to provide monetary-policy insurance against an economic downturn.” The Journal also reported that in prepared testimony, Bernanke “repeated the pledge he made last week to enact ’substantive’ rate cuts if needed to counter the threat to the economy posed by fragile financial markets and weakening employment. ”
Way to go, Ben! What’s more, according to CNNMoney.com, our Lame Duck in Chief has indicated that he will support an economic stimulus package– even though it will mean making nice with the Frustrated Majority up on Capitol Hill.
On the other hand, we keep hearing that the $14-trillion– or some such unfathomable figure– U.S. economy is akin to the battleship that, no matter what harm’s way it is steaming into, cannot be turned on a dime.
Even so, there is such a thing as psyching people up. Americans both indiviudally and collectively as businesspersons are more apt to do what they can to help our economy if they feel the government is in there with them, shoulder to shoulder, trying to keep things moving at least forward.
By the way, The New York Times is running an extensive profile on Mr. Bernanke. It may be worth a look-see, if like me, you ever wonder much about how the hell things actually happen in this great, grand country of ours.
Where the money is…
SPECIAL BONUS !
Courtesy of Reuters, here is the Head Fed in Talking Head mode:
Jim Hoffa, general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is no doubt a busy guy, especially these days what with a challenging freight environment impacting the union’s rank and file (and, yes, all of trucking), serious concern over hours-of-service reform or lack thereof, not to mention everything that must go in to the negotiations for new freight agreements with carriers.
But he is also committed to stopping Mexican trucks from rolling across the border and made his point in person earlier this month. According to the Teamsters, the union rallied with Hoffa right up front at the Otay Mesa border crossing near San Diego on December 5th to show they oppose “letting unsafe trucks from Mexico drive on U.S. highways.”
Exercising the right to free speech at the border
Hoffa declared that, “Mexican drivers don’t have the mandatory training that U.S. drivers have. Mexican drivers don’t have to meet the same strict drug-testing requirements that U.S. drivers do. Mexican drivers don’t have to comply with U.S. rules on how long they can drive. So someone could drive 10 hours in Mexico before arriving at the U.S. border and then drive another 11 hours inside the United States, even though U.S. rules don’t allow 21 hours of driving.
“I totally reject the argument that the Teamsters are against Mexican truck drivers,” Hoffa added. “We are against the companies that exploit them and the governments that don’t live up to their responsibilities to make sure the highways are safe.”
Based on the cold hard economic news that is peppering us like ice pellets of late, Santa Claus must be planning on delivering nothing but coal this Christmas Eve. That’s not all bad. Even though you can’t play with coal much and you sure can’t eat it, you at least can burn it to help hold down the heating bill that will soar as high as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer this winter. Too bad you can’t fire up a truck with it.
Just the other night, Brian Williams ended the NBC Nightly News on a decidely sour note: with a report dubbed “Slow Going” that posited that when sales start to slide in the the RV –or “Motor Home” to the aficionados– industry it’s an indication the general economy is heading for a ditch, too. Apparently this year RV sales were down 10% and they’re expected to drop another 5% next year. The silver lining in the land yacht, though, is that if you’ve ever hankered for one and can actually afford one, now is probably the best time ever to get a deal on one!
But were the hand-wringing over RVs not enough to chase away dreams of sugarplums and whatnot so early this holiday season, yesterday came word via The Wall Street Journal that both GM and Ford plan to drastically cut back production early next year “reflecting toughening U.S. economic conditions and mounting challenges keeping their turnaround efforts on track.” Specifically, GM said it will slash production 11% in the first three months of ‘08 compared to the year-earlier period and Ford said it would reduce its first-quarter production forecast by 7.4%. The newspaper noted that those two were not alone: “Chrysler previously announced it will eliminate production shifts at several plants in the first quarter.”
OK, so we all (or me anyway) can live without an RV. Even the RV head honchos NBC interviewed admitted as much. But when the Big 3 automakers are rolling back production in the face of economic hardship, well, that gets my attention.
So much so I think it’s time to write a letter to Santa. For starters, I will ask him for a dose or twenty of intestinal fortitude. That will come in handy as I wait for my second request to be fulfilled next November– a new POTUS whom we can hope and pray will get this country to pull together and start moving again on all fronts.
Believe it or not, I tried three times to respond to the well-reasoned comment made by Don to my previous post using this site’s comment function (You can try it below). And each time my words spontaneously disappeared. Maybe it was operator error (highly likely with this operator) or maybe the computer just did not like what I was saying, but here’s hoping Number 4 is a charm—and to be doubly sure, I am posting my reply to Don as this blog entry, which uses a whole different mechanism.
Anyway, what I have been trying to say is that I agree pretty much with everything Don said, which, if I am summarizing correctly, amounts to sheer wonderment at the fuss being made about trucks from Mexico daring to cross “our” border.
Turning to the Teamsters, let me just say right up front I happen to believe trade unions have just as much right to exist and to advance their agendas vigorously as do corporate entities. That being said, I don’t speak for this union or any union or corporate entity for that matter so I can only imagine why the IBT is beating the anti-Mexico drum to a pulp. My guess is garnering publicity has something to do with it.
I agree that the Sierra Club, an organization I happen to have respect for, is sure barking up the wrong tree this time. And I will even go out on a limb and suggest that if Mexican carriers are to be successful operating here over the long haul, they’ll want to run equipment—and employ drivers— that will enable them to truly be competitive with U.S. carriers on service and not price alone.
As for the overall economic impact of letting Mexican fleets truck here and our fleets truck there (and the same applies in my book to every trucker and conducteur de camion in Canada!), I say again let the chips fall—or fly–where they may. That is what free trade is all about.
And remember, it cuts both ways– or three ways in this case. You can be sure there are industries in Mexico and Canada that are not thrilled with having “their” borders fully opened to American competitors. What also comes to my mind is a quote made famous by John F. Kennedy: “A rising tide lifts all boats.”
We might also try asking ourselves if we are of the land of the free and the home of the brave, why pray tell are so many of us so afraid of a little competition?
Maybe just maybe the court decision throwing out most of the “new” Hours of Service (HOS) regs now in effect for truck drivers will lead to real reform of those dreadfully outdated rules.
And maybe we were on the right track with our April print-edition cover story titled “When to Drive, When to Sleep” in which I argued rather forcefully that placing simple limits on hours will never fix the very real safety problem truckers face– fatigue at the wheel.
Today’s HOS rules are incredibly divorced from the workaday world of truckers engaged in serving a 24/7 service economy. For one thing, the scary truth is that if drivers did not fudge their logs as much as they do even more of them– and more of the motorists sharing the road with them– would wind up in crashes. And let’s face it, forcing drivers to drive while fatigued or pressuring them to cheat the law doesn’t do much to make trucking an attractive career choice, either.
I said it then and I will say it again here: Does trucking care enough about the safety of its 3-million plus drivers and the millions of its ultimate customers its drivers share the road with to do the right thing and work for meaningful HOS reform?
Indeed, one way to look at this latest court decision is to view it as giving the Feds and trucking interests alike one more golden opportunity to step up to the plate and work together to usher in real regulatory reform that puts safety first and foremost.
