Truckers News

August 2010

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the quality of the driver has dete- riorated, but I will just say a few more things. Every Sunday I try to find a place to watch NASCAR on TV or maybe even get to the track. I won’t bother any- more. I’ve been sit- ting here for a few days at a Love’s, and I have a NASCAR race right in front of me. What is wrong SOUND OFF Submit a Letter: Send letters to Truckers News, Attn: Randy Grider, 3200 Rice Mine Road NE, Tuscaloosa, Ala., 35406 or rgrider@rrpub.com. with you people? You are in a truck- stop, not a race- track. You are in a congested area with limited visibil- ity and people walk- ing around. What on God’s green earth do you need to be grabbing gears and doing 40 mph in the lot for? Seriously, I saw a driver actu- ally smoke his trailer tires yesterday, he was going so fast. I was taught, as a rule of thumb, not to go any faster than a per- son walks. OK, maybe that’s a lit- tle slow, but I understand what I was being told. Ten mph is plenty fast. That parking spot won’t go anywhere, and if it does, there are plenty more — trust me. So have a little common sense and slow down before you kill somebody. I’m not meaning any disrespect to any of us. I’m just a driver who is concerned about our future. Be safe. Steve Sawicki Lake Placid, Fla. DRIVER SHORTAGE IS LIE Please stop spreading this fallacy and fairy tale about a driver short- age! There is no such thing! What there is is a shortage of good com- panies willing to pay a fair and decent wage for the hours and days spent doing the OTR sector of this career field. There is a shortage of companies that will treat you like a human being and not like a piece of equipment. You need decent home time so you can actually have a life outside of trucking and to maintain your 10 TRUCKERS NEWS AUGUST 2010 Tweet Us: Hit up Truckers News’ Twitter page at twitter. com/truckersnews to provide quick and easy feedback in 140 characters or less. family life. This shortage fallacy is all drummed up by major compa- nies who would like nothing more than to have cheap foreign labor imported to fill the trucks that they have sitting around. (Just because you bought 15,000 trucks and cannot fill them doesn’t mean there is a shortage.) They would love to have labor that doesn’t care about their stan- dard of living. What you have is a churn- ing problem in this industry. James Maxwell Kansas City, Mo. INDUSTRY NOT THE SAME After 22 years in an 18-wheeler and six more in straight trucks and con- crete mixers, I was laid off April 1, 2007. In the time since then I have been told I have been out of a truck too long and don’t have enough OTR experience in recent years to qualify for a driving job. Even with the local job I had I ran 80,000- 90,000 miles a year for the last 8-10 years. I am thoroughly convinced com- panies want trainees and/or illegal aliens to drive their trucks for less money. Experienced drivers want and deserve more than trainees and might stay and retire, costing com- panies more than inexperienced drivers. I will be 50 this month. This is a different trade than it was when I was 19 and starting out. I am going back to being a mechanic like I started out. At this age I should be making my case for retirement, I am jobless, home- less, broke, divorced and start- ing over. I’ve been cheated out of a lot of bonus and wage dollars as well as reimbursement money. I love trucks, the hands that drive them and the places I’ve been and seen. But with new regs, rules and a shaky economy, why would any- body want to come into this trade? Charles Williams Paris, Ky. WHAT DO YOU ENJOY ABOUT COMING TO TRUCKING SHOWS? See all of the new products. Getting new ideas. Seeing all of the new stuff you can have for your truck. The new prod- ucts kind of give you new ideas for your own truck. — Kelly Eckhardt, Lander, Wyo., independent owner-operator I come to look at the parts and the differ- ent products they have at the booths. Mostly, APU units is what I look at. That’s what I’m interested in. — Luther Acker, Compton, Calif., independent owner-operator I like looking at the old trucks they have fixed up. Then, checking out the new designs on the new trucks, seeing the new features and innovations they have been working on. — Omar Diaz, Carson, Calif., dispatcher for California Transport Looking at every- body’s work — we come to see the trucks in Pride and Polish. — Floyd Johnson, Reno, Nev., independent owner-operator The Pride and Polish trucks. I like to look at the different levels of customizing. I like to see all of the dif- ferent people that come and check out what the vendors are offering. — Arnold May, Anaheim, Calif., independent owner-operator

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