Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/82527
Overdrive 'fit for duty'? VOICES OUR FUTURE IS WALMART Response to our August cover story on large and small fleets' efforts to recruit Iraq and Afghanistan vets to their ranks brought no shortage of debate, from kudos for highlighting military service members to worry that Overdrive was helping "bottom feeder" carriers exploit vets. I'm really disappointed in Overdrive. The original magazine was oriented to owner-operators and drivers. I expected more than an ATA newsletter. Luring vets to CDL mills and megacarriers that are referred to as BFIs ("Bottom Feeders Inc.") in trucker forums is dis- graceful. with high turnover. And you try to help them exploit veterans? Inexcusable. You've shown where your dedication is. Vets deserve better than an indus- try that has over 90 percent turnover and stagnant wages that haven't increased in 10 years. Do some research, vets. Major carriers have fewer trucks in their fleets than they had five years ago. The only reason they need thousands of driv- ers is because thousands of drivers quit. A 90 percent turnover rate means a carrier with 5,000 drivers has 4,500 replaced each year. Vets have been trained to get the job done no matter what the odds. I think they are a perfect fit for the trucking industry. They already have families that know how to deal with the absences from home. Kudos to the large carriers that see this! As for [Gaskill's] negative comments about trucking, five years of stagnant wages is the reality for most industries, thanks to the economic bubble that popped. Bottom feeders? Like we say at our com- pany, "Life is a mirror, not a window. Responsibility lies with both parties unwilling to look at themselves. Trust is the key: drivers who can be trusted to get the job done and management that does what it says and respects the driver. Vets get it. Companies will too – divorce is expensive! I am grateful to be in trucking! One thing for sure, it is never boring. Thanks, Overdrive, for highlighting our vets! – Deborah Johnson, Caldwell, Idaho " Turnover is like divorce. 6 | Overdrive | October 2012 The biggest problem in the indus- try today is low pay and rates due to CDL mills supplying a surplus of desperate wannabes to megacarriers – Rick Gaskill, Owensboro, Ky. Traveling through Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming reminds me that as crowded as the world may seem some- times, there are some truly wide-open spaces out there. We can go for 100 miles and never see another human, gas station or (gasp) Walmart on some of the state routes through the West. The scenery is as breath- taking as it is dangerous and scary. I'm eternally watchful for unusual animals and human- oids, because I'm pretty sure there are aliens in Texas and Sasquatch roams free in Oklahoma. The aliens don't even try to hide anymore – they blend right in at the 17 million Walmarts. And that's just in Texas. I have it on good author- ity that Walmart is planning on building a Walmart next door to every Walmart already in operation. As a matter of fact, the new political party slated to take over the United States is, you guessed it, Walmart. The future landscape of America is Walmart. Eventually we will all live in the parking lots of Walmart. We'll grow our food in Lawn and Garden, dress in jumpsuits fashioned from plastic Walmart bags, and hunt our meat and fish in the Pet Department. I understand that teddy bear hamster is pretty tasty, and if you boil black mollies long enough, the bones get soft and easy to chew. ence riding along with her owner- operator husband since May. For more from Wendy Parker, find her daily George & Wendy Show on the Road blog posts via OverdriveOnline. com. Parker's been detailing her experi-