Happy Monday

I decided I had better leave southern Ontario last Friday night in order to cope with all the weekend warriors heading up into cottage country. Problem was my load was not ready until it was too late to leave so I ended up joining the fray on highway 400 anyway come Saturday morning. That resulted in lost time that added up to me running five minutes over my drive time getting in to Winnipeg on Sunday night. Kiss that months safety bonus goodbye.
So I've only got five drops but one has been decked and the receiver has no loading dock so I'll have to go somewhere and undeck it before making delivery. Another one requires a delivery appointment that wasn't arranged. They also only receive until noon. (Yes, that's right, NOON! !) I'm also supposed to switch wagons with a driver that has Brandon, Winkler, and Winnipeg deliveries to do first leaving me with Duluth and Green Bay to do tomorrow. Umm, yea, sure.
So after making my calls early this morning to deal with all that I did what any normal person would do. Strapped on my running shoes, filled my water bottles and went out for a run for a couple of hours.
Like a slow running stream drivers have to flow around obstacles not try and climb over them. We wear them down over time.  Bwahahaha.
Until all the players in this industry learn to work together recruiting professional drivers will continue to be a hot issue. We're growing weary of the nonsense.

Hot & Hazy

It's hot and hazy up here in Hearst. The Weather Network is telling me that it feels like 32°C with the humidity. Feels like a hell of a lot more than that sitting in my black truck. The wind has picked up as the temperature has increased. Swirling eddies of dust blow across the now empty parking lot here at the Husky truck stop. As you can see there is not much of a view. I'm waiting for my switch, unable to sleep anymore in the light of day. I will have fulfilled my time off requirements for the day by the time my switch arrives. In theory that makes me well rested for the 11.5 hour drive back to the south. Of course I know better. The last 4 hours will test my stamina.

I've been giving some thought to the panel discussion on driver incentive programs that I will be participating in this coming Tuesday. I attempt to participate regularly in the monthly meeting of the Central Ontario Chapter of the Fleet Safety Council but it's difficult as a driver to make the time available. Available time is at the core of my position regarding incentive programs.

Time to work, time to sleep, time to play, time to eat, time to prepare food, time to exercise, time to plan, time to put your feet up and relax, time to participate in community, time to be a husband, a dad, a grandad, a friend, a neighbor.

Time is in short supply when a truck driver needs it the most yet is abundant when a driver is least able to make the best use of it. That's the position I find myself in this afternoon. It's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I'm kicking myself because I volunteered to do this switch. I'd had a long week last week running home doing multiple pick ups in South Dakota and Iowa, but there was plenty of freight to move and too much time off makes for a light pay packet. That was my reasoning. Seemed pretty rational at the time. But now that I find myself in the position of feeling tired before I start and face the prospect of working through the night and having to sleep when I get home in the daytime, well that totally screws up my time off and plans with family.

So this is a core issue the trucking industry needs to address somehow. Taking the hours of wasted time on the road and making them available for a drivers personal use outside of his or her workplace (truck). Simple? Not at all. But necessary.

We need profit sharing based programs that promote efficiency and communication across the whole industry to start tackling this issue. As long as drivers are left sitting on evenings and weekends absorbing the inefficiencies of the Monday to Friday workweek while still meeting delivery expectations at a personal cost to themselves, the driver shortage will continue to deepen until it reaches crisis proportions. It seems like we're almost there.

I love to drive and love the sense of freedom and independence this work brings to me. But not at any cost.

The Work/Life Balance

For the past several months I've been struggling with the inordinate amount of time this trucking life takes away from the rest of my life.  Actually it's not that it takes away time so much as it consumes large chunks of your time even when you are technically "off duty".
Tonight is a good example. I'm parked at a shipper's dock waiting for morning only because the shipping documents are not available. The freight is ready to go. So here I sit, not working, but in the midst of an industrial area enjoying my evening just the same way anyone would at home after a hard days work.
If you detect a note of sarcasm you would be right. This is an example of situations that can drive you a little nuts out here on the road. The result of this delay will have repurcussions effecting my personal and family life for the next week to ten days.  Recognizing the frustration and anger that arises within me as a result while choosing not to react to it is a difficult lesson to learn. Just when you feel you have a handle on the unplanned you discover otherwise.

There are many different aspects to what makes a life "balanced" and they are worth investigating. A life lived out of balance is a stress filled life. And a stress filled life on the road is neither healthy or safe.