10-19-13

Halloween is our favourite time of year. So yesterday I put aside all thoughts of work and anything related to work and spent the day getting started on preparation for the big day by weaving a web. Plenty more decorating to do before the 31st but we have a theme to work around. Lol.

Spending all that time yesterday put my work schedule  under the gun this weekend, but that's just too bad isn't it?

10-15-13

This morning at 06:45 I rolled on to the shippers scale in Breckenridge Minnesota. When I walked in to the shipping / receiving office I was greeted with a joyful, "Hey, I was hoping it was going to be you this morning ".

I've been so wound up over my tight schedule this past couple of days I completely forgot to take into account the great individual relationships I've developed over the years and how valuable they can be when you get in a bind.

It's easy to feel like a very small cog in a big machine these days. You may feel like you have little or no influence over the events that unfold over the course of your day. I've been feeling that lack of control a lot lately. But the truth is that when a small part breaks down it usually  effects the operation of the whole machine. We often take our influence for granted.

That wonderful greeting I received from Tara this morning resulted from being generous with my time and practicing a little generosity of spirit. Put another way, I've never rushed individuals I deal with when I'm picking up or delivering freight and I've always acted as if I was a guest in their house deferring to the rules of conduct they have to follow in their workplace. So these time vampires ( shippers & receivers ) that truckers love to hate become an asset rather than a liability. But you need to take the first step and be patient.

Does this approach work with everyone? No. But most people will respond in a positive way and over time your life will get easier. Of course if one of the few fools that drive for your company show up for the next load with a me first attitude they'll undermine your efforts somewhat but not totally.

Other names for this extension of generosity and kindness? Exceptional customer service, respect, friendliness, kindness, empathy, camaraderie, goodwill, just to name a few.

This approach extends beyond the dock. You know, attitude, that word you hear at safety meetings when our interactions with other drivers, compliance officials, our dispatchers & support staff comes under discussion. :)

It's so easy to feel like you have a target on your back when you're a trucker. That's how I felt when I wrote yesterday's post, and it showed.

10-14-13

It's Thanksgiving day. It's Monday. It's a rainy day. It's been a stressful day. It's been a day that started and ended in Fargo.

The stress grew out of Saturday. The plan was to leave the yard early. But upon arrival at the yard my load was not there. It arrived just before the lunch hour. The plan called for me to switch trailers in  Grand Rapids Michigan then head to our  Winnipeg yard, switch trailers again, then head down to Breckenridge Minnesota and load at 1 pm today.

I was pretty certain logging 2800 km (1700 mi ) 3 border crossings and a couple of switches in 51 hours on an EOBR was pretty much impossible. I was right. But that didn't stop me from trying.

I attended a drivers meeting this past Friday that addressed issues of communication, attitude, and stress. Seems a few drivers have come unglued of late. I have to admit that I've been on that knife edge a few times myself this past year. More regulations, driver shortages, customer demands, juggling Canadian and American HoS rules, speed limiters, and all the time shooting for your incentive bonus. I'm surprised more drivers & dispatchers don't come unglued on a regular basis.

So you're starting to see the irony in this little story? You're dispatched on a load with little if any window allowing for fuck ups or delays and the first trailer you're supposed to hook to is late. That leaves you to explain to a shipper why you can't make it to your dock appointment, in fact you can't even make it to their dock before they close for the day, and at the same time you're  begging for an appointment first thing the following morning.

I started coming unglued last night. Today I'm giving thanks that I have a wife that is understanding and loving even after dealing with almost 35 years of my bullshit. The trucking industry should be giving thanks for our families. That's the only glue that keeps my head together out here of late.

Driver Wages - Feeling Squeezed?

A couple of interesting articles out over the past week that you may have seen circling around. The first from Overdrive Online titled 'ATRI:Cost of Trucking Fell in 2012 Due to Driver Pay Decrease'. View it here. The second from 'The Globe & Mail titled Trucking Companies:Stocks for the Long Haul'. View it here.

With all the talk of driver shortages, the need for better training, the fact that drivers are still classed as unskilled labour, and a continuing trend of saddling drivers with greater accountability in meeting safety & compliance standards that do little to improve the quality of working conditions that a driver faces each day, we now see evidence that drivers are doing what they do for less money while others reap the benefits of their hard work. I raises many questions that drivers should be asking themselves.

The industry is forecasting that mergers & acquisitions will continue at a strong pace in 2014. How will consolidation of the industry effect the driver on the front line? Will pressure on wages continue? Will we see any investment in training and education or will "safety through enforcement" continue to be the trend?

Will consolidation and the push for short term financial gains for investors see the push for drivers to become owner operators continue. As pointed out in the Globe article this "asset light" model allows large companies to respond quickly to market conditions. In other words the operating costs have been largely passed on to the individual owner operator and if there is a downturn in the market or loss of a major contract guess who absorbs the bulk of the financial pain.

It was pointed out while discussing this on my twitter feed that there are successful owner operators out there. It's not surprising that a successful O/O also has a strong set of business skills and has aligned themselves with a company that recognizes long term success is built from the ground up. But is that the focus of the large publicly traded corporate trucking sector?

There are many factors to consider but it looks to me like the trend does not bode well for the average driver busting his ass out here on the front lines pretty much 24/7. Nor does it speak to a safer and healthier environment for drivers to work in.

What do you think?

New U.S. Hours of Service Rules Create More Stress For Drivers

This post appears in the September 2013 edition of Truck News

From the driver reaction I've witnessed on social media recently, the half hour compulsory break included in the FMCSA hours of service rule changes that came into effect this past July 1 seem to have released a whole bunch of pent up frustration within the driver pool. I think it is the most foolish rule to be imposed yet. Why? Because how many drivers in North America were not taking at least a half hour break once per day either in the form of a meal break or off duty time at the dock? I've heard the word “stress” used more by drivers since July 1 than ever before.

Stress has been on my mind a lot in the past few years. If your a driver perhaps it has been on your mind too. I've been feeling stressed out despite experiencing many positive things in my life. This had me concerned to the point that I was even perusing mental health websites at one point checking the warning signs for depression. I just seem to be in a funk, a general feeling of fatigue and frustration. I'm generally not unhappy although that pops up from time to time. In a way I've been glad to hear more drivers voicing their concerns over stress on the job. I'm obviously not alone.

As I look back over the columns I have written the issue of time spent on the job comes up quite frequently, and I usually relate that to feelings of stress. I've called it the difficulty in finding a balance between work and home when the scale is always tipped towards the amount of time spent on the job. So obviously I haven't found a solution to resolve the feelings of stress. So I've been asking myself, what gives here? My wife and I have a loving relationship that strengthens with each passing year. We have a wonderful daughter and two beautiful grandchildren. The relationship I have with my employer is built on honesty and integrity and provides well for my family. When I look around at the state of the world I recognize how lucky I am and I am truly grateful.

Despite all those positives I still find myself asking the question: Is this trucking lifestyle really for me? I find myself thinking about the many things I'm missing out on as I cruise down the road. Thoughts of family, of play, of hobbies, and of relaxing and doing nothing at all. As a driver do you find yourself asking similar questions? When you get to your home time is it frenzied and rushed and does that suck some of the enjoyment out of that time?

Here's an example from my own life. Home renovation is something my wife and I enjoy doing together. Our home is somewhat of a playground for us. My wife has a flare for design and can visualize changes in her minds eye. I can make it happen. Our skills compliment one another and we really enjoy that time together. We are just finishing up a major kitchen renovation we started in the fall of 2010! Because of my recent push to see this project finished up I have not been getting to the gym on a regular basis or getting out for my regular runs. A regular exercise regimen has become an important part of my life over the past decade. I'm missing it. That limited home time has seen me sacrifice one thing I enjoy doing for another. That frustrates me. Situations like this arise time and again for me.

Okay, so as drivers we know we can't have it all. This profession requires that you commit a large block of your time to the job. That's why it is so important that we maintain the ability to decide for ourselves how we use that time. I think the mandatory imposition of the half hour break has hit a sore spot in this regard. It's politics, not common sense. It's window dressing to satisfy the strong safety lobby that exists out there but does nothing more than place an additional burden of compliance on the driver.

As far as the stress I feel goes, I know that for the most part it is self imposed. When I stop thinking about all of the things I want to do when I get home and bring my mind into the present moment I enjoy every minute I am out on the road. When I am at home and put aside thoughts of the limited time I have available and of all of the things I won't get done and simply enjoy the present moment, again, I am able to enjoy every minute of that time. That advice I give to myself appears to be a simple and sensible solution. It's anything but.

Why We Do What We Do

This post appears in the August 2013 edition of Truck News

A Week in the Life

Despite being passionate about what you do and the enjoyment you may derive from your work, there are times when you ask yourself why it is you do what you do. It's a question that usually arises after an unusually busy or challenging time. Sometimes I experience a week on the road like this. You would think that doing a dedicated route week in and week out life would be somewhat predictable. But when you choose truck driving as a means to earn a living 'predictable' is a word that you quickly learn to treat with a good deal of skepticism.

My work week starts every Saturday morning at my home terminal in Ayr, ON. The week before my vacation in July was like most weeks for me. A bit of a scramble to get out of the house, then an hours trek to the yard, then pack my gear in the truck, then a thorough pretrip, and then hit road. I typically find myself in Wawa on Saturday nights with a 1000 kilometers under my belt. But the trucking gods had other plans. I hit fairly heavy rain showers as I headed through Toronto and the heavy weekend traffic was playing stop and go across highway 401 and then north up highway 400 to the highway 89 interchange. By the time I got up to Sault Ste. Marie I was a couple of hours behind my normal travel time and fighting fatigue. I ended up stopping short of Wawa and sleeping the night away parked in a snowplow turn around.

Waking up refreshed on Sunday morning I was raring to go but the day was going to be filled with fog and rain. The rain I don't mind but the fog is another issue. This was patchy fog rolling in off Lake Superior. At times it was so thick you couldn't see much past the front of your hood then it would thin out to a mist for a few kilometers teasing you with the expectation that you were driving out of it. That's the way it was for over 600 kilometers until I cleared Thunder Bay, then it was just misty rain that cleared up as I approached Dryden. The clouds parted just in time for me to drive into a blinding sunset.

The traffic and weather had added a couple of hours of drive time to my trip on this week. When I stepped out of my seat at the end of the day on Sunday I experienced that lightheaded mental fatigue unique to the world of driving. It's a feeling that comes with almost 13 hours of straining to see beyond and through the fog. I hate fog. I'd rather spend a week driving in blinding snow. I'd better be careful what I wish for.

Monday morning found me just east of Winnipeg with 8 drops to do. The first was a simple drop in Arborg, MB about 100 kilometers north of the Peg. After completing my drop in Arborg I headed down into Winnipeg and banged of 4 drops then headed east to Portage La Prairie. So far things had been pretty smooth. It was a beautiful sunny day and my drops were going well but that was about to change. I had some store fixtures to drop at a small retail outlet in Portage La Prairie. It turned out that it was just one man and myself to unload these blanket wrapped store counters. It was 28 Celsius outside but in the nose of my black trailer with a fiberglass roof the temperature was well into the 40's. A solid 90 minute workout. Time for a clean dry shirt.

From Portage La Prairie it was off to MacGregor, MB to drop off a single skid. This delivery was to a Hutterite colony off the beaten path south of MacGregor so it took a little time to navigate the gravel farm access roads. That was drop number 7, just one more to go.

My last delivery of the day was a 2 hour drive from MacGregor in Altona, MB. This was a delivery of home furnishings to a small retail store only accessible after hours due to its central location in town and lack of a truck level dock. Hand bomb time again, a sweaty end to the day.

I arrived at the truck stop in Morris, MB with 5 minutes left to go before my 16 hour window closed. It was almost 10:00 PM. With over 400 miles driving and 8 deliveries completed it was another exceptionally busy day. I was just shy of 38 hours total on duty time in three days. That's when I found myself asking the question, “why do I do what I do”? The really scary thing is that after 2 weeks of vacation I know I'll be itching to get back on the road.

Drivers Need to Participate in the Rulemaking Process

This post appears in the July 2013 edition of Truck News

We're now into our sixth year since the amended Canadian Hours of Service regulations came into effect on January 1, 2007. Remember those heady days? I remember being impressed by the sleep research that had been done leading up to those changes. I felt at the time that they were much needed changes and they made a lot of sense. A driver would be able to operate based on their circadian rhythm and reduce fatigue by getting a better quality of sleep/rest. It was a good plan on paper. But even though the intent was to benefit the driver I can remember twisting myself in every direction that first year to accommodate the movement of freight. It fell to drivers (and safety departments) to adapt the new rules to the existing business model. I can remember the general sentiment being, “Well, you can't expect shippers and receivers to change how they do business overnight. They're our customers after all.”

As a consequence of how these rules were implemented we (drivers) continue to love to hate them. The one size fits all application doesn't work for all drivers. The rules often hinder the efficient use of a drivers time which ends up adding to their level of fatigue. Is it fair to say we were victimized by a piece of legislation that was originally proposed to make life better/safer for the commercial driver and for the public we share the roads with? I think it probably is. In fact more and more drivers are endorsing the use of electronic recorders to enforce these rules in order to bring the rest of the industry in line. Now this is only my opinion based on my experience and feedback from other drivers, but I think it paints a fairly accurate picture.

So what happened? Why did we not benefit from all the years of research focused on the driver? Why do we continue to struggle with this legislation today? I think it is because of the lack of driver feedback at the planning stage.

For the last three years or so I have been participating in a couple of transportation health & safety groups. I've been attending monthly meetings as much as I possibly can and offering a drivers perspective on the topic(s) being discussed. One thing quickly became obvious to me. I am often the only driver in the room. So when it comes to raising driver concerns about pending legislation or rule changes that affect them, drivers are often represented by proxy only, in the form of a company’s safety & compliance department. So despite the best effort and intentions of all the other parties involved in putting forward and implementing rules that effect drivers those rules usually come up short in the eyes of the commercial driver.

There are over 300,000 active commercial drivers in Canada. That's a big number. With so much at stake am I the only one that finds it unusual that drivers are grossly underrepresented when it comes to how they are governed? How would the hours of service rules look today if drivers were represented in the planning stage in the same proportion they are represented in the industry? I think things would be different in a very positive way. But we'll never know. What a shame.

By being involved in the planning and implementation process people usually take ownership of the final product which helps to insure a positive outcome. By standing apart from the process people tend to feel the final product has been foisted on them. So it's not surprising that rules originally intended to empower drivers have left them feeling victimized.

So what is going to happen as the collection of data is expanded to in cab monitoring? Is this the direction telematics is headed in? Is this how high risk drivers will be identified as technology rolls out? How will it effect the morale of the existing driver pool and does it matter to the next generation of drivers or will monitoring technology simply not be a big deal to a new generation of drivers brought up living openly online? I think it's very important to the industry as a whole that we find a way to include a high level of driver feedback about data collection. If drivers don't buy into this expanding technology that monitors their behavior it could present another roadblock in the recruiting and retention of professional drivers.

I don't have a ready made solution to resolving this communication problem but it is becoming more important than ever that drivers be involved in the planning process. If drivers truly want to feel like partners in the process rather than victims of circumstance they need to step up and take a seat at the table.

Loss of Independence, Freedom Causes Drivers too Adopt Victim Mentality

This Post Appears in the June 2013 edition of Truck News

It's become increasingly difficult over the past decade for drivers to maintain a positive outlook day in and day out as they go about their daily business. I think the greatest challenge that drivers face in this industry is to not subscribe to a victim mentality. But unfortunately I think that a great majority of drivers do just that. Many drivers appear to believe that decision making is becoming increasingly out of their control, whether it is decisions made at the company policy level or decisions made at the legislative / compliance level. In an industry that markets commercial driving as a career providing a high level of freedom and independence to the individual that's a big problem don't you think?

I'm into my fifteenth year now as a long haul driver and I've met some of the most creative problem solvers in the guise of other drivers over the course of that time. But these days it seems the outlet that trucking has provided for that creativity and independent thinking is drying up. I think in large part that is due to how the trucking industry is adopting all the technological changes. I believe the driver has a lot bigger part to play in how technology is adopted and deployed than what we currently do. Whether we are talking about engine emissions, telematics, or EOBR's, the operations, safety, and compliance side of trucking see technological advances in these areas as positive whereas drivers see these as the opposite.

Okay, I'm painting both sides with a very broad brush here so cut me a little slack. Let me see if I can use my own experience to make a few points.

Let's start with emissions systems. First off let me say that I believe the intent behind the adoption of this technology is sound and I'm all for leaving a better world behind for my grandchildren or at least a world that offers them the same opportunities I've had. But eliminating pollution of any type is ongoing and repairing damage already done through past activity is a long term endeavor that all of us will have to pay for. The free ride on the fossil fuel train is over. But that doesn't mean all the hardship should fall on the shoulders of one group, such as owner operators. Freight rates have to increase to cover added costs. Fragile economy or not, consumers need to bear the true cost of getting products to market. Period. This technology comes with a price tag for the positive changes we all benefit from in the long run. We're all consumers, we should all pay. If you disagree with me on this point that's fine. Let's move on to how I think this effects a drivers freedom and independence.

It was not many years ago that the engine in your truck was free from any form of electronic gadgets. No electronic control modules and no sensors. Like any mechanical device they were not too difficult to understand. Mechanical controls can be seen and fairly easily understood. The relationship between working parts is fairly obvious. For a driver, especially a driver that owns their own truck, maintaining that piece of equipment was simply part of the driving job. It was a part of the job that many of us took pride and pleasure in. The ability to service and maintain your own equipment added to the freedom & independence you would experience on the road. A driver would not find themselves sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow because the engine had shut itself down.

This past winter I've experienced down time as a result of DEF pump failure, DEF dosing valve failure, and cracked DEF hoses. In each instance the only indication I have of a problem is a check engine light and a malfunction indicator lamp lighting up on my dash accompanied by a loss of power of at least 25%. I have no idea how long I can drive before the engine derates even further. I have lost all independent control over my equipment with no means to correct it myself. Only other drivers can relate to the immense sense of frustration and stress this brings on.

Drivers are also experiencing this sense of 'loss of control' in other areas. The introduction of Electronic on Board Recorders and the ensuing expansion of telematics within the industry is leaving drivers with the feeling that big brother is watching every move and decision making is increasingly being removed from the confines of the cab to the home office. This translates to a loss of independent control the driver experiences and hence the loss of the sense of freedom that is a integral part of attracting professionals into this field.

I'll come back to this topic next month and dig a little deeper into that victim mentality we seem to have fallen into.

The Importance of Having a Support Network

This post appears in the May 2013 edition of Truck News

So you found that deep desire to make a lifestyle change, then you took it one step further and put a plan together to tackle that change. Doing this filled you with energy and motivation for the first month but you're discovering that implementing that plan each day is not so easy. When you woke up this morning your first thought was of how little time was available to get to your first drop or pick. The morning walk you planned is going to have to wait. You were going to follow up that walk with cereal and fresh fruit in the truck. No time for that either. A reheated breakfast sandwich from the truck stop along with a coffee on the fly is how you start your day. That's a bit of a step back for you.

After looking after the morning business you'll take a two hour break and have that walk along with a healthy lunch. But you're delayed at the shipper and dispatch just sent you a message, your pick up appointment has been moved forward this afternoon. On top of that it's starting to rain. You're not going for a walk in the rain, even if you did have the time.

Now you're hungry, frustrated, and short on time so for lunch you opt for the meal deal at the restaurant across the street from where you are parked. You can go for that walk when the day is over and you'll keep dinner to soup and salad that you have in the truck. That will make up for the breakfast and lunch plans that didn't pan out as you planned. At least you hope that's the way the rest of the day will go.

Does this sound familiar? Despite all your best intentions and desire to do a better job of caring for yourself trucking will always throw roadblocks in your way. You can't be blamed for throwing up your hands on days like this and telling yourself it's simply not doable, but it is, believe me. These are the times you need a network of support to help you along.

Support can come in many different forms. One of the best things you can do to support yourself and keep yourself motivated in the short term is to measure your progress. Recording your weight and calculating your BMI (Body Mass Index) once or twice per month is one of the simplest ways to track progress. Recording your RHR (Resting Heart Rate) once per month is a great way to track improvements to your cardiac health from those walks your taking. Simple things you can record on a calendar and look at each day to remind yourself of the benefits to the effort your putting forth and to keep you motivated.

One of the greatest supports can come in the form of your smart phone or laptop. I've mentioned a number of times the importance of counting calories and a smart phone application makes this quick and simple to do. Not only do these apps track your calories in & out, and the composition of your food, (fats, protein, carbs etc.) most of them also have a social media aspect to them. You can share information on your progress with people of your choosing. This is a fantastic way to find support. It adds a challenge in the way of a little competition with friends and gives you some people to share with when you are facing difficulties in sticking to your program.

What about the carrier you work for? Do they support a healthy lifestyle for their drivers? They should because besides being the right thing to do for their employees it also is very beneficial to their bottom line in. Do they have an EAP (Employee Assistance Program) you can make use of to meet your weight loss goals, to help you quit smoking, or to help you deal with the daily stresses you face?

What about your family? Have you included the people closest to you in your plans? Again, this is an area that social media can play a strong roll for truck drivers and their families. I use Facebook as a means to stay in regular daily contact with my immediate family. It's one of the great advantages we have over drivers of the past.

Networks of support are almost endless. The Canadian Cancer Society, Heart & Stroke Foundation, your local Y or health club, as well as all levels of government, just to name a few, have vast resources of information and personnel available to you.

It's no easy feat to spend your life on the road and care for yourself at the same time. Taking that time is difficult to do, I speak from experience. Yet every time I take my wife into my arms and look into her eyes I am reminded of the benefits the future holds for me by caring for myself today. There's no bigger reward than that.

Don't Set Sights Too High When Striving For Better Health

This post appears in the April 2013 edition of Truck News

Last month I introduced you to my personal doctrine that has improved my health and quality of life on the road. This personal wellness program has three principles. First you have to answer the question; 'do I really want to change'? If you answer yes then you should move forward and identify your own personal desires, passions, and ambitions that make up that lifelong aspiration for change. I talked about this last month. The second principle is to develop a flexible plan, I'll address that today, and the third principle is to develop a support network.

The trick that I have learned over the years is not to set my sights too high. I've learned that all my short term goals are subject to change and need to adapt to the constant changes that occur in a truckers daily life. This is the essence of a flexible plan. The last thing you want to do is to add even more stress to an already stressful life.

My first goal was to quit smoking on my 40^th birthday, I viewed this as a birthday present to myself. After multiple attempts over the years I finally got that monkey off my back I promised myself that first year that I wasn't going to worry about what I ate and I wasn't going to start a high intensity exercise program. I focused on quitting smoking and didn't worry about the rest. I did have a second goal on that birthday morning and that was to be in the best shape of my life by the time I reached my 50^th birthday. I didn't know how I was going to reach that goal exactly, but I had 10 years to figure it out. That's definitely not setting your sights too high.

Six months in I felt I had the smoking habit beat. I'd been packing on some weight but I had given myself the freedom to not worry about that hadn't I? But If I could beat the smoking habit I could control my diet couldn't I? I started to think about what I was eating and how much. At 9 months in I bought a calorie counting program for my PDA (before the era of smart phones) and started tracking what I ate. I wasn't dieting, I was just eager to establish some new goals when I reached my 1 year non smoking anniversary. Success was building my self confidence in reaching the 10 year goal I'd set. I still had 9 years left and I was on a roll. But then I hit a big obstacle.

Changing my eating habits was far more difficult than quitting smoking. I never have to smoke again but I have to eat everyday and I love food. It looked so easy on paper when I input my weight loss goals into a software application. But that application doesn't account for the deep emotional ties I have to what I eat and why I eat it. Cutting my calorie intake down from over 3000 calories a day to around 2000 per day was a big shock. In our line of work how do you lose weight and change eating habits you've developed over a lifetime without setting your sights too high? I struggled with this problem for years. Calorie counting showed me that empty calories, fat, sugar, and salt were coming from the comfort foods that had become staples in my diet. Common sense told me I should be eliminating these foods and replacing them with healthier fare. But I depended on these foods to pass the time, to keep me awake, and to reward myself for the long hours I worked. It was years before I came to accept that the short term sensory pleasure I gained from these foods was the primary cause of my long term suffering with obesity. Not setting my sights too high when it came to weight loss and changing deeply ingrained eating habits was a long and difficult lesson to learn. I'm still learning.

What I eat is one factor in the weight loss equation, the other factor is exercise, not just to aid in weight loss but to improve my cardiac health and overall physical health at the same time. How did I find the time to exercise in a truckers day? Again I was faced with the challenge of not setting my sights too high, and constantly adapting to find the right mix.

I attained the goal of being in the best shape of my life by age 50 but it wasn't just because I had a flexible plan that adapted to my daily circumstance. That plan is sandwiched between two powerful sources of motivation. First is the passion, desire, and resolve to live a healthy life. Second are networks of support to get me through the daily grind. That's what I'll look at next month.

Achieving a Healthy Lifestyle Begins With an Aspiration

This post appears in the March 2013 edition of  Truck News

I closed off my February column with a commitment to sharing some thoughts about how I keep myself motivated to exercise and eat right while dealing with the rigors of the trucking lifestyle. I started laughing at myself over this. After all I'm a truck driver not some sort of motivational guru. There is no sugar coating the fact that it is as hard as hell to put in all the hours we put in as professional drivers and still find the time to exercise and prepare healthy meals. The availability of time, or lack of it, is most often cited by drivers as the reason we don't take better care of ourselves. I don't disagree with that statement at all. It's a fact.

The irony is that successful professional drivers possess the personal traits required to create the time in their lives to make that lifestyle change. Professional drivers are self starters, they have the ability to plan and organize, they have the ability to solve problems as they arise, they are able to roll with the punches, they are patient, they are tenacious, and they posess a high level of commitment.

I can share three things with you that I have learned since I smoked my last cigarette in the fall of 2000 and kicked off my quest to improve the quality of my life. These are not mind blowing ideas or practices. I haven't developed some sort of revolutionary health plan. To me these three things are just common sense.

• I have maintained an aspiration to make healthy choices and practices a priority in my life.
• I have an ongoing and flexible plan to adopt those healthy choices and practices.
• I have developed a support network to help me stay focused on those healthy choices and practices.

So you see I don't have any big motivational secret or quick fix solution to the health challenges we face everyday as professional drivers. In effect I don't allow my personal health and well being to be less important than the freight I handle everyday. When I started it didn't look this simple or straightforward to me. It was a messy struggle that started with a deep desire for change.

I often say that there is no point trying to make a change in your life if you don't want to change. It's why I use the word aspiration and not goal or objective. To aspire to change speaks to an emotional need, a passion, an ambition, a deep desire. It's often a significant emotional event you have experienced that triggers the deep desire to make a change in your life. For me it was a noticable decline in my health between the ages of 38 and 40. I described myself at that time as a train wreck just waiting to happen. I possessed, and practiced, all the high risk factors associated with heart disease. I believed then that if I didn't make a change I'd be lucky to make it to retirement. It was a very emotional time for me. I think it was the first time I had come face to face with my own mortality. So this is where my aspiration to make healthy choices and practices a priority in my life comes from. It is a very powerful source of motivation for me. It's a place I have left behind and will never go back to.

So when it comes to your health and well being what is your greatest aspiration? Forget about how you would accomplish it at the moment, forget about goal setting and planning. Don't think about having to exercise or quit smoking or change your eating habits. Put those thoughts aside for the moment. Just picture yourself 5 to 10 years down the road. How do you picture yourself? What would you have to change in your daily life to meet that aspiration? The answer is different for each one of us. It takes a lot of introspection, a lot of time being brutally honest with yourself to answer those questions. It's not comfortable for most of us to do. It's far easier to leave your life on cruise and wait until you run into something.

But having a lifelong aspiration is the 'Big Idea' and it won't resolve all the issues you face in the daily grind of a drivers life, or any life for that matter. That's where devising a flexible plan and developing a support network comes in. This is where you do all the hard work, especially at first. The trick I learned is not to try to do to much, not to set your sights too high. Slow and steady wins the race when it comes to forming new habits. More on this next month.

Why I do what I do

I have two very good reasons that keep me out here trucking everyday. The first is that trucking is just downright fun. The second is that it supports the first priority in my life, my family.

March 6th was my 34th wedding anniversary. I was sitting in Minnesota waiting on a load to be lined up to get me home. Being several hundred miles away from my wife, trucking didn't seem like so much fun.

For the last couple of years I've been coming to grips with the joy I derive from doing the work, the frustration of being separated from my family, and the need to earn a living. I usually sum these feelings up as my love & hate relationship with the trucking industry.

For quite some time after the birth of Nate, my grandson, I found myself in a deep funk when I went back out on the road. I developed a strong attachment to the idea that happiness only existed for me when I was at home with my family. Embracing this thought while I was driving brought me a great deal of misery.  But I did not recognize this at first. All I could see was that work was keeping me away from home and I felt that was the source of my discontent.

It was little Nate that reminded me of something I already knew. He showed me that peace, ease, and happiness in your life are found in the present moment. Little children have no knowledge of a past to live in. Little children do not spend any time fantasizing about the future. They spend all of their time in the present moment and delight in the sensory input of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

It's a good lesson to learn. Because having fun on the road is all about living in the present moment, no matter what the conditions. Worth thinking about.

A picture is worth a thousand words. Below you can see my wife Debbie and I all gaga over our newborn grandson Nate, me walking my daughter Mandy down the aisle, and Nate just a few days ago enjoying his apple slices.

I'm a lucky man. No doubt about it. I have three very good additional reasons to do what I do.

Fatigue and Exercise

I was working out with a personal trainer at the gym last Friday morning. That's something I've been doing twice a week over the past year. I've come to enjoy the frank discussions we have about my personal health and wellbeing as I recover between working sets. It is a benefit of the training sessions I never anticipated.

We were discussing the challenges I have been facing over the past few weeks surrounding the issue of fatigue, both physical and mental. One  of the things that came up was that despite the fact I was feeling really tired and worn down I was experiencing times of feeling relaxed and content while at the wheel.  And it's happening more frequently lately. I'm not saying that improved physical fitness is the panacea to all the hurdles and pitfalls we face as truck drivers but I believe it is a major contributing factor.

What else should we be paying attention to as professional drivers? How about sleep, home time, and diet for starters. In turn, all of those things contribute to the state of our mental health and & emotional well being.

Even More on Fatigue

So it turns out my little experiment with taking more frequent and shorter sleep breaks between shorter drive times did not work out as well as I had planned. It works to get you by but using it over a longer period of time only adds to my fatigue, it certainly did not alleviate it.

The last 3 or 4 days have proven to be a refresher course in sleep and fatigue. The point that has been driven home is that there is no substitute for me when it comes to the natural circadian rhythms my body falls into. The bottom line is I need to rest at night and work during the day.

I found myself to be completely worn down when I got home on Monday. It made it easy for me to see how high levels of fatigue add to your daily stress. It made it impossible for me to meet all of my goals for the day. Frustrating when you have been looking forward to that time off at home.

A Short Week to Reduce Fatigue?

So I'm doing a switch this weekend in Northern Ontario. I try to do that once each month because it gives me some extra days off during the week. I leave on a Friday night and get home late Sunday or early Monday morning. It's all part of my plan to reduce my own fatigue and spend more time with my family. It works pretty well if everything goes according to plan. Of course everything always goes according to plan in the trucking industry. Lol.

This weekend there was a major winter storm in southern Ontario so I didn't get away until late on Friday night. Terrace Bay is approximately 1270 kilometers 1 way from my home terminal. I arrived in Terrace Bay at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday and my switch arrived at 01:30 on Sunday morning. Normally I would complete the switch by taking 2 full 8 hour breaks between 3 driving shifts. But because of delays this weekend I have ended up having to split my sleeper berth time and take a series of shorter breaks between shorter driving periods.

Although I don't feel too bad right now the question is how will I feel tomorrow at 4 o'clock in the morning when I arrive at the terminal. Do I go straight home or take another nap in the truck? How will this affect my time off this week? I guess the answer will come tomorrow, and the day after.

But for now it's time to jump in the bunk and try to get a good solid 3 hours sleep so I can get up and drive the last 5 hours to the yard. *sigh*

"That's trucking". Lol.

Fatigue

I'm finding that as I age I have a continuing problem with sleep debt. It's an account I just can't seem to bring into balance. I've been experimenting with different ways of acquiring the required amount of rest I need. I'm finding that shorter periods of rest more frequently appear to be the answer for me. But at the same time I'm having great difficulty fitting that into a very busy schedule and meeting all of my a obligations.

Truck driving is a frustrating profession when it comes to getting the amount of rest you require. For many drivers a work day does not have a fixed starting and ending point. Working day shifts and night shifts within the same week disrupts the sleep cycle. Fatigue is so common place that most drivers don't even recognize they suffer as a result of  it. I believe it is the major contributor to poor diet, lack of exercise, and stress on the job for professional drivers.

The problem is there are so many contributing factors to driver fatigue that finding a solution seems insurmountable. This is the problem I have been facing over the last 1 to 2 weeks. So many of those contributing factors are beyond my control and I tire of hearing from people within the industry, "that's trucking". In other words, they don't have a solution either.

Frustrating stuff.

Don't Get Discouraged if Your Healthy Living Goals Have Been Derailed

This post appears in the February 2013 edition of the Truck News

So how are you making out with those New Year resolutions you made? No doubt there was more than a few drivers that resolved to shed a few pounds, take a daily walk, or cut back on the junk food. If you resolved to adopt a healthier lifestyle then you may be doing all of the above, or at least you intended to do all of the above. It's not easy..

It's been over a dozen years now since I started to change how I live on the road and every year I seem to fall of the healthy living bandwagon for a period of time. That time usually falls during the winter months when the days are cold, daylight is in short supply, and the snow and slop on the roads presents an added obstacle to going for a walk or run. As a result I would usually pack a few pounds back on in the winter. That's the way it has been for me. I'll say it again, it's not easy.

Last year I was determined to break that cycle of loss and gain. I decided to get a health club membership with a national chain so I could at least get on a piece of cardio equipment a couple of times during the week as I did my regular route. It worked. I still don't exercise as much during the winter months but I get enough exercise to maintain my conditioning and feed my need to be active. It's become somewhat of a positive addiction for me now. If I don't get it I feel downright crappy, not just physically but mentally & emotionally also.

It's incredibly difficult for drivers to find the motivation to get out and do something physical everyday. After being in the seat for 12 plus hours each day there's no getting away from that feeling of exhaustion. A meal, a shower, and sleep is what you really crave. It takes a huge effort to pull on your walking shoes and step out the door for a brisk walk when you feel that way at the end of the day. The irony is that the meal, the shower, and the sleep is so much sweeter if you walk of the days stress first.

One of the great advantages that non drivers have is that they are able to exercise with a friend or as part of a group. This is a great way to stay motivated because you have made a commitment to another person and it adds a little healthy competition to your workout. Changing your eating habits, dieting, and exercise is much easier and much more enjoyable if you are able to share the experience with a friend or group and feed off one another's success.

There is nothing I enjoy more than trucking for a living. I'm quite certain you wouldn't be reading this copy of the Truck News if you didn't enjoy it too. But when you start struggling with health issues resulting from all those years in the seat and you decide to do something about it you can easily become frustrated by the difficulties you face in making the necessary changes in your life. Most often you will find that you say to yourself: 'I just don't have the time or the energy'. Finding that motivation within to push yourself out of your comfort zone is very difficult. But it's worth it.

So I thought for the next few columns I would share some of the things I've used over the years to keep myself motivated when it comes to healthy eating and getting a few hours exercise each week. Making lifestyle changes needs to be for life. The changes you make need to be enjoyable. The changes you make need to address the issues that are feeding the stress and discomfort in your daily life.

As a driver I don't believe there is a quick fix to health issues that we may have developed over a lifetime. My own experience bares this out. I've already said that every year for the last 12 years I've been challenged come winter time to stay on my program. What I do believe is that if you have a desire to find that “feelgood” feeling that comes with a healthy body and mind then it's never too late to make changes in your life. If you made one of those New Year resolutions that I opened this column with and you've fallen off the wagon, so what? Climb back on again. Don't be solely focused on short term goals and quick fix solutions (like rapid weight loss). Instead, picture yourself 5 or 10 years down the road. Then you can start taking the smaller steps toward a healthier lifestyle that your busy life will allow you the time to take.

Coping With Stress at Home and on the Road

This post appears in the January 2013 issue of the Truck News

I've been feeling pretty stressed out over the last couple of weeks. The reason being our 16 month old grandson was undergoing a major surgical procedure. Despite the fact this procedure was planned well in advance and not an emergency it still weighed heavily on my mind as I drove. I found myself wishing for bad weather so that I at least had a distraction to occupy my mind. When things are easy out here I often find that my mind has a mind of its own. It will take off into thought and fantasy when given a 'what if' scenario. Having a loved one in hospital is the perfect 'what if' scenario isn't it?

Well let me tell you, that little grandson of mine has had a stranglehold on my heart since the day he was born. No matter how many times I grabbed hold of my mind and pulled it back into the present moment over the past couple of weeks all my mind wanted to do was chase down every dark thought that would arise and blow it out of proportion. Independence is one of the great attractions of the trucking lifestyle for me but there are times when personal circumstances transform that independence into nothing more than a feeling of helplessness. That was the source of my stress over the past few weeks. I'm sure many drivers can relate to that feeling.

Coincidentally workplace stress within the trucking industry is the topic of a meeting I will be attending in January. After my experience over the past couple of weeks I've been pondering other issues we face within our industry that add to our stress.

The issue of driver health is a source of stress in many different ways. The fact that a license can be revoked if a minimum health standard is not met is something that many drivers have to face as they age and their health declines. Many drivers are the primary wage earners in their household and a health issue that cuts a drivers career short a decade or more ahead of planned retirement can be catastrophic for a drivers whole family. This is a topic many of us don't address until it is too late.

Our families are aging also. Death and dying isn't something our society does a good job of addressing. So it is usually a source of great stress within most families. In many cases a persons death is usually preceded by a period of time that requires hospitalization, or home-care, or some form of assisted living. This period of time can go on for weeks, months, or years. For a driver and their family this can be incredibly stressful since the driver is on the road most of the time. So a drivers partner or siblings end up taking on most of the day to day responsibility for the family member that requires the care. This can be a huge source of stress within families. Would it not be beneficial to help drivers and their families prepare to face these issues before they arise in order to minimize the stress?

We can thank our lucky stars that we don't have to deal with illness and end of life issues on an ongoing daily basis. When it arises we deal with it. Rather it's the little things in life that we miss out on that can be the most stressful. These are the things that we often assign a priority behind that of working and earning a living. Things like family birthdays, anniversaries, a family gathering, sporting events for our kids, school events, and the like. These things are very important to us and numerous. We plan to be there for as many of them as we can but even the best laid plans go awry. Equipment breaks down, loads are delayed overnight, weather gets in the way, and so on. If your a driver you know the story here. Sometimes you just can't make it back in time despite your best efforts. I don't think there is anything worse than disappointing your spouse and children. A broken promise is a breach of trust within our families. It's a job hazard we all deal with and a major source of stress in the trucking workplace and within trucking families.

This is definitely not an exhaustive list of stresses we face as truck drivers. On top of these personal issues the global belt tightening continues to add stress to all our lives. Drivers are held more accountable for their actions than ever before. We seem to be working longer and harder and reaping fewer benefits. Lots of stress to go around. I certainly haven't found the magic bullet to slay this monster.

All we can continue to do when we get up each day is to suck it up, paste on a smile, and keep on trucking.

Professional Drivers Caught in the Middle of a Perfect Storm

This post appears in the December 2012 edition of the Truck News

Well, here we are heading towards the end of another tough year. Still lot's of economic uncertainty to go around and austerity measures are all the rage. Is that what we have to look forward to in 2013? I sure hope not. Maybe we should all get together and form a 'Truckers Bank', then we would be too big to fail and someone would come along and bail us out. Just a thought.

Yes, 2012 has been a real grind for me. It's not that I don't enjoy what I do but I spend more time on the job for the same money I was earning ten years ago. I feel like I'm treading water and I'm not sure if I can keep it up until I reach retirement age. For me that's 15 years or so in the future. That's a difficult thought to face every morning. Finding the time to rest, relax, and recharge is becoming more difficult with each passing year.

I'm an optimist at heart so I have a difficult time sharing thoughts about our industry that at first glance appear to be coming from a negative centre. But that's not the case. I, like most of you, recognize that the trucking lifestyle is unique. It's not a job you start at 9 and finish at 5. It requires a strong commitment, work ethic, and self discipline. Although you have to except the fact that you will be away from home and family for extended periods you should still be able to have the time over the course of each year to meet the obligations to your family and to yourself.

Over ten years ago I started on a course that saw me give up tobacco, adopt a healthy eating regime, lose a pile of weight, and take the time each day to get the exercise I need. By eliminating all of those high risk health factors I feel better, at least physically, than I have at any point in my life. Yet I still feel the daily stress from the time crunch. It's not without irony that the time I have to take to get the exercise I now crave, and the time I take to prepare healthy food choices, and the time I take to rest when I need it all add to that feeling of stress that comes from not having enough time in the day. So is a healthy lifestyle part of the trucking lifestyle or not? Many carriers, including my own, recognize the importance of this issue but we still have a long way to go on making sure all drivers at least have the opportunity to take the time to invest in their health if they so choose. The trick is to be able to do it without giving up any of your income stream.

Also over the past ten years we have seen stricter enforcement of hours of service laws, the ongoing adoption of electronic on board recorders, the implementation of speed limiters, laws put in place to control distracted driving, and much tougher laws in the States to rate carriers and drivers. Soon we may also see legislation that requires testing for such things as sleep apnea. Drivers no longer have the option to cut corners to get the job done. Doing the job right, doing the job by the book, requires taking the time to make sure all your ducks are in a row all of the time. So again, the trick is to also do all of these little extras without giving up any of your income stream.

Drivers are not the only ones finding themselves stretched a little thin. Carriers have faced very tough competitive pressures over the past four years along with increased costs and the challenge of finding seasoned drivers to get the job done. There has been a lot of pressure on driver salaries as a result. We seem to be caught in the eye of a perfect storm.

So what is 2013 going to bring us? Probably more of the same. I think what we really need is some imaginative thinking. Hours of service laws, implementation of electronic on board recorders, and carrier/driver safety ratings are definitely not going to go away. We need to find some creative ways to use those laws to benefit drivers directly when it comes to issues of health and time management. I think we spend far too much time looking backwards at what used to be and trying to reclaim successes of the past rather than looking forward despite the current gloomy view. It would be nice to find our way out of the eye of the storm in 2013 wouldn't it?

Preparation is Key to Surviving Winter Driving Season

This post appears in the November 2012 issue of the Truck News

Winter driving season is upon us. With a few clicks of your computer mouse or a few touches of the screen on your smart phone you are able to find any number of websites with a list of winter driving tips for truckers. The biggest concern for most drivers, especially those not exposed to winter conditions on a daily basis, is skid prevention and recovery. So I thought I would throw my opinion and experience into the ring on this topic. It's a good one for sure.

First let's remember that most collisions occur under ideal driving conditions. That is, on dry roads during daylight hours. Why? Because under those conditions it is quite easy to become complacent and/or distracted. Collisions, over 90%, are a result of driver error. The wonderful thing about driving in hazardous conditions is that a driver is focused on the task at hand, fully in the present moment, paying attention to everything that is going on around them and using the defensive driving skills they have acquired to maneuver safely down the road.

So I won't get into describing the defensive driving skills we should all be applying 24/7. So what's my formula for skid prevention and skid recovery? First, never allow your rig to 'break traction' or 'lock up'. Second, maintain a calm and relaxed demeanor at all times. Simple and obvious advice right? But not always so easy to put into practice.

Many folks start to feel stress at the thought of driving under winter conditions. That stress starts with the body tensing up, the grip on the wheel becoming tighter, and extra effort made to try and discern every detail when visibility becomes difficult. You can combat this by being conscious of it. Breathe deeply and relax. Have confidence that by applying all the defensive driving skills you have acquired you will provide yourself with the time and space you need to navigate the road safely. Navigating any road covered in snow and ice safely is a matter of maintaining traction at all times. That is never 'breaking traction' or 'locking up' by hitting the brakes too hard, by making sudden steering maneuvers, or by accelerating too hard for the conditions at hand. Those conditions vary widely and are impacted further by your gross vehicle weight and how that weight is distributed.

At this point it's important to recognize that you can only gain winter driving experience by actually getting out there and doing it. When you know conditions are going to deteriorate you may want to consider adjusting your trip plan to drive at night. This sounds counter intuitive but potential hazards are greatly reduced at night due to the lack of traffic. This can provide you with a great opportunity to hone your winter driving skills. This in turn can build your confidence and reduce your stress. An added advantage is that it also helps conserve time lost to the poor conditions. The bottom line is that there are a lot less obstacles to negotiate at night.

Scale every load that you pick up and adjust your axles to maximize the weight on your tractor tandems. Making good decisions about braking (including use of engine retarder brakes), acceleration, and steering is dependent on knowing how the weight of your rig is distributed over its different axle groups. A couple of winters ago a buddy and I made a trip from southern Ontario to Edmonton. I was loaded with 30,000 pounds on my drives and 20,000 pounds on my trailer tandems. My buddies load was just the opposite. Every time we hit snow cover on the roads he struggled to maintain traction on even slight grades. I had no problem and didn't experience wheel spin on any part of that trip. This is a great example of how variable factors must be taken into account during the winter months. No situation is the same twice.

Be sure to pull your trailer(s) through every corner, all braking should be done prior to entering a curve. I was traveling on highway 17 in the Kenora, Ontario area a few days after a major storm had moved through. Conditions were sunny, cold, and dry. That was the case until I came around a curve with a steep rock cut on my left and found myself on snow pack. With a light load on I started slipping to the outside edge of the curve and the guard rail. By staying calm, staying off the brakes, maintaining a light touch on the fuel to keep the drives turning, and by making small steering connections to keep my rig in line I was able to make it through the curve, barely. It was an adrenaline rush I wasn't planning on that day.

Those are just two of the winter driving experiences I carry with me and put to good use every winter. Plan well, and expect the unexpected.

Applying the 'Smith System' of Defensive Driving to Everyday Life

This post appears in the October 2012 edition of the Truck News

Sometimes you just need to step back and view the world through a different lens. I was reading over The Smith System for defensive driving and started thinking about how we can apply those proper seeing habits to the issues we face in our professional and personal lives just as easily as we can apply them to our physical world.

The first seeing habit we develop is to 'Aim High in Steering'. As professional drivers we know that by looking at least 15 seconds ahead we allow ourselves the reaction time we need to adjust for the changes ahead. So I asked myself how often do I look 15 years down the road at my own life and the industry I work in? The answer was not often enough.

The second seeing habit is to 'Get the Big Picture'. As professional drivers we depend on our peripheral vision to detect movement which we then investigate with our central vision and react to appropriately. There are hundreds of issues we face everyday effecting the path our lives may take and I had to ask myself if I was was getting the big picture here? Am I just letting current events carry me along without even noticing their effect on my daily life?

The third seeing habit is to 'Keep Your Eyes Moving'. If we develop a fixed stare while driving it is sure to get us into trouble. We need to keep scanning and picking up on all that movement fed to us by our peripheral vision. Do we do the same thing in our personal and professional lives? Think of the fixed stare we have developed around issues such as hours of service, electronic on board recorders, and speed limiters.

I started making these comparisons because I had just watched Sebastian Thrun's 'Ted Talk' on Google's driverless car. It's a short video, just go to You Tube and search Sebastian Thrun. It's fascinating stuff and it put me on to a lot of different reading material regarding technology, transportation infrastructure, and where we may be headed over the next couple of decades.

So you may be thinking, come on Al, you don't honestly believe that trucks will be moving freight down the road without a driver behind the wheel do you? Call me crazy, but yes, that's exactly what I'm proposing. It's not going to happen for some time but we already see signs of automation moving in that direction. Anti-rollover technology and advances in braking systems are one of the first steps, parking assist that allows a car to park itself is becoming all the rage with auto manufacturers. The agriculture industry has been rolling out automated sprayers and combines that use GPS to map a field and then complete the job without further input from the operator. Pretty cool stuff all of it. The potential benefits are huge and that in itself will continue to drive innovation and implementation of this type of technology. Watch Thrun's video and apply some of his observations about this technology to the trucking industry and you'll see what I mean. So that brings me to the last two steps of the Smith System.

The fourth seeing habit is 'Leave Yourself an Out'. Or, protect yourself from being trapped by errors of other people. If you don't practice the first three seeing habits diligently you will always find yourself boxed in, putting you in a situation that leaves you dependent on the actions and reactions of others.

The fifth seeing habit is 'Make Sure They See You'. If the people around you are not practicing those first three seeing habits you can wake them up by making sure they know you are close by and aware of what is happening around you. As drivers we do this by flashing lights, blowing the horn, or making eye contact. In our daily lives we do the same thing by networking, tweeting, facebooking, blogging, writing letters to the editor, voting, lobbying, joining business groups, etc.

I can't help but think that we have developed a fixed stare surrounding the hours of service issue and it's close cousin the electronic on board recorder. These issues are in our immediate field of vision, just a few feet in front of us. That fixed stare is preventing us from seeing the issues further down the road that require our attention now so that we have time to react accordingly. We're not getting the big picture. We are being reactive and not proactive. That is effecting our daily lives in the present moment and we are feeling the anxiety.

These five simple seeing habits are a great way to view the world we live in as well as the road ahead.

Tuning Out Isn't Always The Best Solution

This post appears in the September 2012 edition of the Truck News

I have been reading a variety of blog posts this summer regarding citizenship, community, and democracy. Most of these blog posts have been investigating the reasons why fewer and fewer of us participate in the democratic process and the feelings of isolation and lack of influence many of us are feeling these days as a result. It was a blog post titled “The Myth of the Silent Majority” written by Glen Pearson that really got me thinking about the challenges the trucking industry faces and what our responsibilities are as individual drivers to influence positive change. Glen summed up the silent majority this way:

“How can drawing in people to care more about their community possibly be wrong, especially in times of great transition or challenge? And how can the presence of a silent and ambivalent majority possibly stand as a viable excuse for the lack of citizen accountability? The presence of a majority of citizens refusing to face impending struggles on behalf of their own community is hardly a testimony to the vigor of the democratic legacy.”

A week or two before reading Glen's blog I was sat in a line of stalled traffic on highway #17 west of Kenora. The 20 kilometer long line of traffic was a result of a fatality accident that had occurred near the Ontario / Manitoba border. I learned this by turning on my CB radio. But it wasn't long before the trash talk started over the radio at which point I joined what I believe to be the silent majority of drivers and turned my radio off. CB trash talk is all about bigotry, hatred, ignorance, and fear. Those feelings have found fertile ground for some in the changes that are taking place around us.

There isn't any doubt that the trucking industry is in a time of great transition and that we are all facing huge challenges as a result. The shortage of qualified drivers, holding drivers to a higher standard through stricter enforcement, exponential growth of technology, the push to adopt that technology in the cab, pressure to improve productivity, pressure to hold down wages, and the impact all of those things have on our lifestyle add to our feelings of angst.

Much of the bigotry and ignorance that prevails over the CB airwaves revolves around immigrant drivers. It has more to do with a fear of change within the North American trucking culture than with driving skill or knowledge. Leaving your homeland and moving to another country with a vastly different culture and lifestyle is about pursuing a better life for your family and it is something that is incredibly difficult to do. I can speak to this with some limited experience. My family immigrated to Canada from Great Britain 45 years ago. Although I was still a child at the time I can still remember the challenges we faced as a family despite sharing a common language and similar cultural norms. The last thing an immigrant family is looking for is a free ride. My parents saw Canada as a land of opportunity that could provide a better life for their family and it certainly did. But there were no guarantees. Success came through hard work and commitment. These are two qualities I believe all people striving for a new beginning in our country share. I think the silent majority would agree with me on that.

There is much room for improvement in how the rules around safety and compliance are enforced. There will always be debate about the validity of some of those rules and whether they are necessary at all. But the fact is that laws governing conduct and the rules of the road need to be in place. Many of those rules have been put in place more for the benefit of the commercial driver than anyone else. I think it may very well be a silent majority of drivers that prefer they are limited to a 70 hour week.

As a group we drivers often complain about the lack of camaraderie today in comparison to the 'good old days'. That feeling is fueled by negative talk over the radio. Many of us have dealt with this by simply turning our CB off. But is that the right approach? Ignoring that attitude certainly doesn't make it go away but at the same time, I admit, that when you engage with drivers on the radio it usually degenerates into a pointless shouting match. It appears that as individuals there's not much we can do to stop or at least tone down the trash talk. I think we can agree there is a silent majority of professionals out there. But in our silence are we allowing the voice of the minority to dominate? Ignoring it certainly does not seem to be making it go away.

Sometimes A Good Incentive Program Isn't About Money

This post appears in the August edition of the Truck News

Truck NewsI wrote last months column prior to participating in a panel discussion on the topic of driver incentive programs. This months column is the post discussion installment.

The event took place at the June 2012 meeting of the Central Ontario Chapter of the Fleet Safety Council. Driver incentives were presented from the perspective of Owner, General Manager, Safety Manager, Dispatcher, Driver, Fixed Operation Staff (dock, warehouse, shop, administration), and Insurance.

The diversity of ideas that break out when you have a broad cross section of people from across the industry coming together to discuss a topic common to all is fascinating. But what is also apparent is that drivers are under represented in these discussions. I find that at these events I am often the only active driver in the room. That is not a criticism or complaint but an observation that in our industry the people in the best position to offer feedback leading to improved efficiency & productivity are most often not in the room to air their concerns and ideas. We live in a time that has been coined as the 'golden age of communication'. We definitely need to find a way to move the discussions that take place amongst drivers on the CB and in the truck stops to the offices and board rooms of the trucking industry.

The second thing that was apparent to me was the age of the participants. Most of the meetings I attend are dominated by the boomer demographic. It's not just the driver pool that is aging. Fresh faces bring fresh ideas. The youth that carriers are attempting to attract to the industry have developed a different set of social skills from the boomers that currently dominate the trucking industry. Have you noticed how we (boomers) tend to take new technologies like social media and twist it into a form we are comfortable with? The youth of today live their lives openly on the internet with few inhibitions or limits and adapt quickly to the rapid changes that are taking place around them both technically and socially. We boomers with our depth of experience usually feel we have much to offer but often forget we have much to learn. The best drivers, the ones that have decades of incident free driving, will often say that the day you think you have seen it all is the day that you should hang up the keys. We need to apply that principle to the industry as a whole.

Am I starting to sound a little negative? Just a bunch of non driving old fogies sitting around making decisions for people doing a job that they are out of touch with? Sorry about that but the fact is that as I cruise across the highways and byways listening to other drivers that is not an uncommon complaint. But it is a complaint that is unfounded in many ways and stems from the communication divide that has developed over the years between drivers and support staff. Owners and managers truly have the best interests of drivers as their prime concern, those that don't do not remain in business for long, especially in our current economy. That is the third thing that stood out for me in our panel discussion, the quality of incentive programs that are in place out there and the genuine concern for the well being of drivers.

What do some of those incentive programs look like? Programs are as diverse as the companies that make up the trucking industry. Many still focus on safety & fuel bonuses as prime motivators. What some people may find surprising is that the most powerful programs we discussed were not monetary based but focused on wellness (driver health) and recognition. Recognition was identified as the key in every successful incentive program. We all want to be complimented and rewarded for a job well done no matter what our position is. So there is definitely no rocket science behind incentive programs. It's simply about treating people well and recognizing them for their accomplishments and those programs work far better when the primary players participate in the process from start to finish.

Some of the fastest growing programs right now are the health and wellness programs. This is a reflection of our aging demographic. There have been weight loss challenges between different companies to motivate healthier lifestyles. Some companies have brought in third party players to administer healthy lifestyle living programs that will aid drivers in developing new habits for eating, exercising and addressing the psychological issues we face in dealing with these lifestyle issues.

All in all it was heartening to see the energy and time that is spent by owners and managers to care for their driver pool.

Why Profit Sharing May Be The Ultimate Incentive Program For Owners & Drivers

This post appears in the July 2012 edition of the Truck News

A few months ago I was asked by the central Ontario chapter of the Fleet Safety Council if I would like to participate in an upcoming panel discussion about driver incentive programs. I accepted, always eager to offer my two cents from a drivers perspective. As thoughts about this topic percolated in my mind over the months I've had quite some difficulty coming to any type of concrete opinion on what a driver incentive program should look like. The best place to start is to gain some understanding of what is meant when we talk about driver incentive.

If you look up a dictionary definition of the word 'incentive' you will get back something to this effect:a reward offered for increased productivity. Increasing productivity is usually associated with an increase in the volume of work performed (usually accomplished by investing more time in the job), performing the same volume of work at a lower cost (fuel savings, accident free), or meeting a higher standard of performance(improving CSA scores or Carrier Rating). The reward to the driver is most often a financial one.

What I find really interesting is that an increase in productivity requires an investment of additional time by the driver. Yet in recent years changes to Hours of Service legislation (HoS) and use of Electronic On Board Recorders (EOBR's) has tightened control over a drivers time. At the same time most of us are still payed by the mile and by the drop. This system was put into place to encourage productivity also. Run more miles, do more drops, and you get payed more. But that system was put into place when HoS rules were loosely enforced or non existent. So what we have now is the operations side of our business still paying drivers by the mile encouraging them to work as quickly as possible in the name of productivity and incentive programs that are designed to slow us down and work more efficiently & safely. This presents somewhat of a paradox for drivers. It's no wonder that drivers often express the feeling that they are stuck between a rock and a hard place because the expectations of the operations side of the business and the safety & compliance side of the business clash. So as a driver are you going to place your efforts on the operations side that pays you 40 cents a mile every week or on the safety and compliance side that presents you with the potential to earn up to another 2-6 cents per mile each quarter, if you meet the criteria? It's no surprise that many drivers feel it's just not worth the effort. Maybe we're well past the time of looking for a new means of paying drivers for their efforts as well as developing new incentive programs.

What if I'm more interested in earning the same money but doing it in less time allowing me more personal time? Is there an incentive program out there that will do that? Perhaps. Some companies are implementing profit sharing programs. These programs present the opportunity to involve all employees, not just drivers, in the incentive program. They have the potential to foster greater teamwork and break down communication barriers between departments. A profit sharing program fixes the cost of an incentive program as a percentage of net profit for the company so it aids in financial forecasting and planning. But it requires diligent and consistent messaging from all levels of management to front line employees. Everyone has to be working towards the same goal. I've learned over the years as a driver that communication with front line employees is not a strength that this industry possesses. That's not a criticism it's a recognition of the difficulty we all face in developing relationships with one another when we rarely see one another. That lack of social interaction is difficult to overcome in an industry that keeps managers and workers thousands of kilometers apart most of the time. A successful profit sharing program depends on constant interaction between all employees if there is to be a payoff. That payoff has the potential to be no less than a satisfactory set of HoS rules that recognizes the need for flexibility in a drivers daily routine and an end to downloading inefficiencies such as dock delays to the driver.

As an aging driver I find that I am increasingly frustrated by the lack of time I can spend with my family and invest in my own personal well being. Issues of driver health and wellness are coming to the forefront and facing up to this reality is what incentive programs also have to address. It does not seem reasonable to me to ask an aging driver pool to invest even more time in the name of productivity while expecting them to take more time to care for themselves. You just can't have it both ways.