Trucks at Work Blog

“We think there’s a misunderstanding about CSA out there in the law enforcement community that’s hurting the driver.” –Dale Corum, general manager, Mercer Transportation Co.

Just about every year, right before the Mid America Trucking Show gets rolling, I take an hour or so to slip over and visit Mercer Transportation Co. and chat with Dale Corum, the fleet’s general manager for over three decades.

Typically, we talk about how the flatbed freight business is doing and the big issues of the day affecting Mercer’s corps of hard working owner-operators.

In terms of the former, things are great. Demand has outstripped capacity for the first time in a LONG time, Corum (at right) told me, with the number of loads Mercer’s hauled in each of the last three weeks exceeding the company’s best week ever – a record set back in September 2008.

“For every load we move, we’re missing two others because we don’t have the trucks to haul them,” he said. “Military goods is still the top freight we haul,, followed by machinery and building materials, especially steel. The [residential] housing market is still a few years away from recovery but we’re seeing a big revival in commercial construction – that’s what’s driving the demand for building materials.”

In terms of freight by region, the West Coast is still struggling but on the whole freight is plentiful across the U.S. right now, Corum reports – an upswing that’s been gaining strength since January of last year. “There’s a lot of freight out there right now,” he added. more

“We’re not the ‘knights of the highway’ in the minds of people anymore, are we? Yet everything we’ve done as an industry over the last four decades should make our claim to that title even stronger.” –Chris Burruss, president, Truckload Carriers Association

It’s been said by more than a few folks inside and outside the industry that the “knights of the highway” title once bequeathed to truck drivers in the now-dim-reaches of the past doesn’t apply anymore.

Many old timers might rue the disappearance of this hallowed moniker, but certainly not the next generation preparing to pilot big rigs for a living – at least according to the naysayers’ view of things.

Anyhow, others rightly note that the motoring public sure doesn’t view truckers through the prism of “knighthood” at all. Besides, the average “four wheeler” out there is more liable to curse or cut off an 18-wheeler more than anything. It’s just a rough and ramshackle world out there on the blacktop, with little time for concepts such as “honor” or “compassion.”

So it would seem, at the end of the day, the title “knights of the highway” just doesn’t fit the truck driving profession anymore.

Just don’t tell Brendon Finn that … or the recipients of Goodyear’s “Highway Hero” award … or, frankly, the thousands of others like them out there on the asphalt lending a helping hand before going on to deliver their loads of freight with a rarely a word of thanks extended or expected. more

“The number one and number two reasons for driver turnover are lack of appreciation and lack of respect. The upside with this is that it doesn’t cost you anything to fix this problem. The downside is it requires a big culture change to fix it.” –Kelly Anderson, president and CEO, Impact Transportation Solutions

Well, I originally planned to post this post last week (plus scheme the schemes and line the lines, too, but a poor joke only those who followed Pete Townshend’s solo career in the 1980s will get) but due to a variety of reasons, it got delayed to today.

Yet, perhaps appropriately so, for we’re on the eve of the Mid America Trucking Show now; an annual event that brings in thousands of truck drivers from all over the U.S. to Louisville, KY. Big rigs will be parked side-by-side as far as the eye can see and the evenings outside the massive Kentucky Expo Center will be dotted by gatherings of friends old and new to catch up on the trials and tribulations of driving a truck for a living.

[As an aside, Larry Wright, a long haul driver for TL carrier Schneider National, recently shared some thoughts on the challenges of piloting big rigs up and down the asphalt. Although it’s a Schneider-produced video, I think many drivers – even owner-operators – share Larry’s perspective on things.]

With that in mind, let me share with you some of the thoughts expressed by Kelly Anderson (quoted at the top of this post) during a talk he gave at the Truckload Carriers Association annual conference not too long ago here dubbed The Driver Recruitment Crunch. more

“Bottom line: a driver is entrusted with a $140,000 tractor and trailer and often times well over a half million dollars worth of cargo, and then he’s treated like a second class citizen by the shipper, the consignee, his dispatcher, and the very citizenry he’s serving.” –Steve Myers, Moser Motor Sales, Berne, IN

I can usually count on Steve Myers (quoted above) to cut right to the chase on any number of covered in this space, but one he knows particularly well concerns the oft-discussed “driver shortage” that’s now plaguing many segments of the trucking business after taking a nearly three-year hiatus.

That’s in part because – besides being extremely sharp – Steve drove an 18 wheeler for 16 years to make a living, hanging up the keys in 1994 for the best of reasons: to spend more time at home with family.

“The pay was OK – not great, but OK,” he told me by email. “But the attitude, at the time, was that there were plenty of drivers, and that getting a seat filled was no problem.”

And it’s that lack of respect towards the truck driving profession – which has only worsened in the decade and a half since Steve left the business to sell Fords for a living – that’s really crippling the industry’s ability to recruit and keep drivers.

“I can think of all kinds of reasons for someone to make driving a career; I can also think of many reasons that a person should stay as far away from 18 wheelers as possible,” Steve told me.

“Bottom line: a driver is entrusted with a $140,000 tractor and trailer and often times well over a half million dollars worth of cargo, and then he’s treated like a second class citizen by the shipper, the consignee, his dispatcher, and the very citizenry he’s serving,” he added. more

Trade shows often offer a chance to see what new products and services are being readied for those working in the trucking business. And sometimes, if you’re lucky enough, you’ll get an opportunity to see these products in action – and at the 2011 Truckload Carriers Association (TCA) convention, such good luck befell me.

Take the “Road Squad” for example – a fleet of 400 light-duty trucks strategically located throughout the Travel Centers of America chain of truck stops – a chain that includes TA and Petro Stopping Center locations. Now, while I didn’t get to drive one of these vehicles, I did get an in-depth tour regarding their capabilities, courtesy of Michael Lombardi, TA’s executive vice president for fleet sales and fuel supply.

The important take away from fleets here centers on the design of these “Road Squad” trucks. Knowing what’s on board (diesel fuel, tires, a variety of parts, air for re-inflating tires, and its “jump start” system) gives carriers and their drivers and idea of what kinds f jobs these vehicles can perform when they arrive on scene. more

“By almost every measure, we are stronger and safer as an industry than we’ve ever been. And yet the popularity and the image of our industry is not what we would like it to be, nor is it what it should be.” –Chris Burruss, president, Truckload Carriers Association

Normally, on this day, I write a post dedicated to my favorite saint, as today is of course the day set aside to honor the memory of Saint Patrick and how many of his characteristics – especially his willingness to go forward in his mission despite the dangers and the odds being stacked against him – are shared by those working in the trucking industry.

While I won’t be writing such a post today (though you can certainly read my past paeans on this subject by clicking here) I would like to share with you part of a speech given by Chris Burruss, president of the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), at that group’s annual convention this week.

Just by way of background, Burruss is no Johnny-come-lately to the trucking business – or to the kinds of rigors those working in this industry must undergo.

A former Marine, Burruss spent eight years as vp of the Missouri Motor Carriers Association, then five years as president & CEO of the Tennessee Trucking Association, before becoming TCA’s president in 2004. more

“Can we live within a $230 billion highway funding bill? Keeping spending within those limits will require a narrowing of the scope of the federal transportation program.” –C. Kenneth Orski, a public policy consultant and 30-year veteran transportation expert, on the proposed funding levels for the next six-year highway bill

The future funding levels for surface transportation needs in this country could be reduced pretty significantly based on the policy direction being followed by Republican John L. Mica , the new chairman of the House of Representatives’ Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

This is not necessarily a good or bad thing, I stress, but it does mean that serious strategic thought now needs to be applied to how we go about maintaining and expanding U.S. transportation infrastructure.

There’s also a real need for speed where such new “strategic thinking” regarding highway funds is concerned, for many of our roads and bridges are in bad shape, with today’s highway networks handling a lot more traffic than ever intended.

It’ll be a tricky business, navigating between the needs of overstressed infrastructure and a smaller money purse for taking care of business, too. The video below that looks at how these two issues collide in the state of Texas sums in up pretty well.

C. Kenneth Orski, a noted public policy consultant and 30-year veteran transportation expert – a career that included a stint as associate administrator of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration under President Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford – believes we should see a new six-year surface transportation bill this summer, but one of remarkably different size and scope than the $556 billion behemoth proposed under Democrat James L. Oberstar, the former transportation committee chairman who lost his bid for re-election in his home state of Minnesota last year. more

“The ongoing struggle to maintain growth in a slowly recovering economy, coupled with a host of new challenges and issues, has resulted in the insurance industry adopting a ‘bearish’ attitude toward economic growth.” –from a recent Deloitte LLP report entitled Insurance Industry Outlook: High Hurdles Loom in 2011 & Beyond

The news on the economic front is becoming decidedly more negative as high oil prices persist and other metrics indicate the recovery is becoming increasingly more “fragile” – certainly not the sort of things truckers want to hear right now.

Take the Ceridian-UCLA Pulse of Commerce Index (PCI) data released for February this week. Touted as a “real-time” measure of the flow of goods to U.S. factories, retailers and consumers, the PCI slumped 1.5% last month after a 0.3% loss in January – effectively wiping out the strong 1.8% gain posted in December 2010.

“The PCI performance in the first two months of this year suggests weakness in some parts of the economy,” said Ed Leamer, chief PCI economist and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast, in a statement. “Nevertheless, our outlook for 2011 is for continued economic recovery – we expect U.S. GDP [gross domestic product] to grow at the historically ‘normal’ rate of 3%, accompanied by a persistent level of high unemployment.” more

“I’m runnin’ coast to coast out on the Interstate … hauling heavy loads that just can’t be late … but there’s no doubt about it, there’s no place I’d rather be … highway fever has got a hold on me.” –from the ballad “Highway Fever” penned and sung by Terry Wooley

You know, the trucking industry is the source of an awful lot of creative inspiration for writers, movie makers, and of course musicians – especially musicians.

If you’re as old as I am (and that means being in the “creaky” years) you’ll no doubt remember such trucking classics like Convoy by C.W. McCall (the pseudonym for William Dale Fries, Jr.) or East Down and Bound by the late great Jerry Reed (a personal favorite of mine).

Yet there’s a whole host of other artists out there – the famous and not so famous – that are tapping the rigors and rewards of daily life in the trucking business to craft a new generation of hard-hitting songs about the blood and sweat of the men and women piloting the big rigs across America.

Take Leland Martin, for example. He’s captured the essence of driving trucks for a living in a recent tune of his called Workin’ Class that you or may not have heard. You can practically feel the gears shift listening to this one:

If you’re lucky, you’ll be able to meet Martin at the Mid America Trucking Show in a few short weeks here – and get to listen to some of his songs live, which to me is the best way to music like this. more

“For mileage fee program designers, [our] study findings imply that they should carefully consider both current and future urban form patterns when estimating the outcome of such [mileage fee] programs, such as the likely revenues collected from mileage fees or the potential for congestion relief.” –Zhan Guo, Ph.D., assistant professor of urban planning and transportation policy at New York University, the lead researcher for the Mineta Transportation Institute’s report on Oregon’s mileage fee pilot program

So … could the use of so-called “mileage fees” help reduce traffic congestion in the U.S. – especially on urban roadways – without affecting the flow of highway infrastructure upkeep funds typically generated by fuel taxes?

Well, the state of Oregon set up a pilot program a few years back to answer this very question … but the answers, gleaned from a study of Oregon’s pilot test conducted by the Mineta Transportation Institute, were in some cases quite unexpected. more