Overdrive

February 2018

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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Voices 8 | Overdrive | February 2018 The beginning of a new year is always an oppor- tunity to leave bad habits behind, set goals and wipe the slate clean to begin again with tags, taxes and license fees. Woo-hoo! (Tell me again why we do this?) When this one turned last month, I took stock of the fact that our daughter was critically ill for most of 2017 and only recently has im- proved to the point of being on the road to recovery. I can't adequately express the level of gratitude we have for her improved health, so I won't try. Let's just say we are very thankful our girl made it. As far as our kid being sick, 2017 can stuff it. She won. Two other things I'd like to see left in 2017: The phrase "level playing field" when used in any trucking context. It's an immediate clue that the speaker knows little about the industry. I have it on good authority it will be legal in 2018 to throat-chop any individual who makes a trucking statement that in- cludes "level playing field." That may be a filthy lie, but it shouldn't be, because the amount of carnage strewn about the highways would be pretty dang thick if every single trucking company operated on the same playing field. Lord help us if every independent owner-operator had a crash frequency equal to some of the trucker-mill fleets. Talk about a terrifying playing field. Be happy we don't all "get on the same level," and quit saying it. It's dumb. The all-time most-hated claim: "driver shortage." I fervently have wished a painful death for this one each and every year I've been affiliated with the trucking industry. The assertion there is a driver shortage should be punish- able with a swift kick in the hind-quarters. That it's not yet remains a disappoint- ment. However, I have no- ticed more people question- ing the bizarre reasoning in which a 100 percent-plus yearly driver churn is associ- ated with fleets that claim a "driver shortage." It makes no sense, y'all. Never has, never will. Please, for the love of ev- erything sane and true, let's stop saying it. 2018 holds a lot of promise: Rates are increas- ing, and drivers have come together again and have realized they have a voice if they choose to use it. That's a good thing. There are still a lot of issues to contend with, and there always will be; it's trucking. Keeping a positive momentum and leaving as many negative things as we can behind is how we move forward. Let them truckers roll. Things to leave behind once and for all Wendy Parker chronicles her journey on the road with her owner-operator husband, George, in the George and Wendy Show blog on OverdriveOnline.com. OVD_0216_FC.indd 1 1/29/16 10:23 AM " There will never be a 'level playing field.' That's the way it is, get over it. As for 'driver shortage,' 2018 is going to be a bloodbath. That's why the mega-fleets want autonomous trucks. I've gotten offers of 62 cents a mile. That really still is not enough. You should also get an hourly wage loading and unloading someplace in the neighborhood of $20 an hour. In 1971, the first- seat driver was a dime a mile, and wages have gone up about or over 10 times since then. " — Jeff Pearson, via OverdriveOnline.com " If you have a 150 percent turnover rate for drivers ... how can you say you have a 'driver shortage?' You have plenty of drivers — you just can't keep them for some reason. " – Lily Bee, commenting at OverdriveOnline.com about what many feel is the onerous use of "driver shortage" to describe what is really a retention problem. To read Todd Dills' in-depth analysis of this topic, google "driver shortage alarm Overdrive." " I'm in favor of the 'Throat Chop law'… LMAO. Aw, shucks, now that song popped in my head — 'Everybody was kung fu fighting. " — MrBigR504, via OverdriveOnline.com

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