What's become of the American independent trucker? Can he survive the increasing wave of bureaucratic intrusion
 For long-haul freight movement in North American, railways play a central role for the simple reason a than a half dozen in a train crew can move several hundred containers thousands of miles while a single trucker can only move one box at a time.
Yet a truck always figures into the story somewhere along the line, usually at the end of a journey or its beginning. The long haul must begin and end somewhere to complete the ultimated objective - door-to-door delivery.
In the war on trucking to make them more expensive and less competitive than rail, an alliance of environmentalists, safety lobbyists, feminists (often one and the same), Teamsters, state regulators, and ironically, even major trucking companies are arrayed against the humble trucker. The not-so-humbler trucker in the big companies appear to play a counterintuitive role as they are bent on having soaring compliance costs drive smaller players out of business and so increase their market share. This is not so much a conspiracy as it is a coincidence of mutual interest, with all unwitting allied demanding tighter control of smaller independent owner operators.
Despite this, trucking's good points continue to shine through at the points of intermodal transfer, from truck to rail, or at the other end, from rail to truck. Here shippers face major expenses because it's never the 1,000 miles that costs the money, but the 100 feet of intermodal transfer - as anyone who has moved house will attest.
That means that trucks trump rail over 500-mile stretches and sometime even in uneconomically territory beyond that simply so shippers can simplify the process of getting freight from A to B, rather than A to B, then B to C, and finally to C to D to achieve D2D.
This shipper preference has resulted in a steady campaign to undermine the strength of trucking and truckers, which has long attracted males who don't mind the travel and the danger involved in long-haul over-the-road work. After all there was no life like it on the highways and byways of North America. It was a world of adventure song and story, which traditionally attracted young men just out of high school.
Or rather it did, until the regulators came and demanded cleaner, newer and more expensive trucks, insisted on spy-in-the-cab Electronic Logging Devices (ELD) and strict working regime where one would had to rest where the clock dictated whether one needed it or not. The fusspot nanny state had come to a field where it was not wanted by its practitioners.
Then independent harbour truckers were forced to work for larger companies to satisfy and number of malcontents sponsored by the Teamsters union, wanting to increase their numbers. Not just in the US, but Canada too where hundreds of harbour truckers, unable to meet rising compliance costs, and were driven out of the harbour business, to provide larger operators with greater market share.
New rules that prevented 18-year-olds from becoming inter-state truckers until they are 21 came into force. To some, this is a bid to get women those US$70,000 a year jobs, after they have been disappointed in love and had children to support when they were over 21. Young men, who were ready to start work at 18, but could only take trucking jobs that did not take them across state lines, found such jobs hard to get as they were taken by older drivers now wanting to be closer to hearth and home.
Young men prevented from taking the available over-the-road jobs that are going begging drifted into other work in a world demanding university degrees for almost any job other than those demanding the lowest skills - perhaps contributing to the rapidly spreading opioid epidemic.
Meanwhile, there is a bill before Congress called the "Promoting Women in Trucking Workforce Act" to establish a body within the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to achieving this.
The bill sponsors say the trucking industry "should explore every opportunity to encourage the pursuit of careers in trucking by women".
One might ask why? Women truck drivers were 83.3 per cent more likely than men to be delayed six or more hours on the job was the finding of a study by American Transportation Research Institute. "Men aggressively insist on action at pick-ups and deliveries, but women patiently wait their turn. It's simply a case of the squeaky wheel getting the grease," said the institute's vice president Dan Murray.
What many suspect will be the enactment of fresh rules depriving men of their freedom of action so every driver - male and female - must be delayed six hours so that gender equality can be achieved. And, of course, the hiring of a battalion of parasitic inspectors to enforce the rules. Such is the accompaniment of every regulation. So why would this be different.
While there is - or at least was - adventure on the road, it is also dangerous. In fact, it is the single most dangerous profession there is. According to the US Department of Labour, more truck drivers died while working than the combined total deaths of police officers, loggers, construction labourers and aircraft pilots. In addition to the danger of highway driving, there are increased health risks from poor diet, irregular sleep patterns, and lack of exercise.
Some call truck driving the loneliest job, and for good reason. Weeks on the road away from family and children can stress the most even-tempered person. Combine that with delays at shippers and receivers, unsympathetic dispatchers and ill-timed breakdowns. Even with the risks associated with driving, it appeals because it is more than just a job. It takes a complete lifestyle change and requires a serious commitment to be a successful over-the-road driver.
Truck drivers must have some mechanical skills, good map reading skills, possess good time management skills, and have good people skills. They must have authorisation to pull tankers, double and triple trailers, or haul hazardous materials. In addition, a driver must pass a driving test demonstrating driving ability, backing ability and parking skills.
Truck drivers must be familiar with numerous laws and regulations from governing agencies such as the US Department of Transportation (USDOT), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), and must have a working knowledge of each states highway rules and restrictions and must comply with rules concerning hours of service.
Because of the nature of the job, a truck driver cannot maintain a regular sleep schedule. Sometimes, a driver may sleep as much as necessary and at other times, not at all. Before driving, the driver must complete a pre-trip inspection. A pre-trip inspection is a detailed, systematic examination of the truck.
On a macro level, its been said that there is shortage of truck drivers. While it is true that more and more are leaving the field as the life has become onerous are regulations crowd in ostensibly to make the occupation safer and more human, they tend to have the reverse effect subtracting any fun it might have had. While this makes the trade more girl-friendly, it is unlikely to attract females in sufficient numbers to replace the departing males. All the while rejecting incoming males below the age of 21 for inter-state trucking where the shortages are acute.
In a dream to make the railway the king of freight, every attempt is being made to make it more difficult for the small independent trucker to compete. The current US administration has taken a number of steps to rectify the regulatory situation, but the question remains: Are such efforts too little too late? |
