Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/740514
Cover Story 40 November 2016 BestDriverJOBS www.bestdriverjobs.com looking for smaller and lighter haulers once they climb in the cab. "For the tractor guys, we just need to get them behind the wheel," he says "They're used to what they have. That is a vocation where they can be pretty loyal to the trucks they already have, but it just takes time to have something like [F-650 and F-750] out there in the field and feel comfortable when you're towing 30,000 and 40,000 pounds every time." Ford's heaviest Super Duty and its 6.7 liter diesel engine has already begun to carve out a niche in several applications, Koester says, including beverage delivery, moving companies and car haulers. "The guys who actually haul [Ford's fleet cars], we put two tractors with them and they're running five-car haulers with them," he says. "They're going across the country, up and down through the mountains, and it's work- ing great for them." Anthony Gansle, Peterbilt's on-high- way marketing manager, says the shift toward smaller trucks is what led the company to develop a 58-inch sleeper last year. "There is certainly a measurable trend toward fleets wanting the flexibil- ity to spec trucks with smaller sleepers to accommodate more regional routes and new logistical strategies," he says. "Our customers wanted the same Peterbilt quality, comfort and amenities drivers expect but in a smaller sleeper size, and the 58-inch sleeper length has been received very well." Making sense of the switch A conversion to something smaller isn't something that should be done from a gut feeling. Steve Gilligan, Navistar's vice president of product marketing, says those decisions should be made with caution. "A few years ago, we started seeing a migration away from larger sleepers to smaller sleepers," he says. "What was driving that was there were fleets that were trying to blur the line in what they considered regional-haul and long-haul trucks." The movement toward a common spec for those fleets, he says, caused more issues than it solved. "I think there was some movement with fleets that wanted to standardize their specification and move to a more common single specification," Gilligan adds, "but the same fleets that initially did that found it was causing them to have other issues, primarily in the area of driver retention." As a result, fleets that pushed toward a single spec had to diversify back to both what would traditionally be considered regional-haul trucks and long-haul trucks. "Fleets want to provide more ameni- ties, more perks for drivers," Gilligan says. "That's a consistent theme I think also on vehicle specification. If a guy can have a flat-top shorter sleeper ver- sus a full-height walk-in with a larger bunk, which one would you prefer to drive for?" But large sleepers don't necessar- ily have to be an advantage in driver