Back on the prairies

This is the first time I've been out on the prairies since last fall. I was surprised to see the wind farm in the town of Moosomin. These farms are springing up everywhere. There was a huge one constructed over the winter south of the town of Morris, between Winnipeg and the U.S. Border.
I had also forgotten how wide open the prairies are. Endless skies. Birds everywhere. Funny how you don't recognize the beauty of something until you're away from it for a period of time.
The picture I attached probably won't capture the expanse of the prairies, but I really enjoyed the last couple of hours just rolling steadily along.
By the way if this seems like a lame ass blog post it's because I'm checking out blogging using voice recognition on my smartphone. Seems to be the working pretty well it's far as I can see. Hmmm, wonder if that means I'll be a little more productive?

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Pay per Mile vs. Pay per Hour

This post appears in the March 2011 edition of Truck News

At the time of writing this column diesel prices have been on the rise for seven straight weeks and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has newly proposed rules for hours-of-service (HoS) and for Electronic On Board Recorders (EOBR) . In broad terms the trucking industry's response has been that all of the added restrictions will reduce productivity. Drivers have responded with the feeling that reduced hours and added restrictions equal reduced miles which in turn equals reduced income. So in a nutshell we're looking at escalating costs, increased regulation, and reduced productivity for both carriers and drivers. Not a very rosy picture is it?

The business of trucking has changed but the method of compensating drivers for their investment of time and effort has not. If the movers and shakers within the trucking industry are concerned with an overall loss in productivity why not pay drivers for their time plus a bonus for increased productivity where it counts – in each and every power unit. Perhaps it's time for a different paradigm that does away with the piece rate form of compensation most of us in this industry currently live and die by. Trucking as a whole needs to take a serious look at paying drivers a fair and equitable hourly rate with the ability to earn additional income through productivity bonuses.

Think of our current pay per mile model for a moment. It encourages the driver to run the maximum number of miles in the shortest period of time, a holdover from the days of cheap fuel and loose or non existent HoS rules, but that's not today’s reality. In today’s world 'pay per mile' sandwiches the drivers need to generate income between the business' need to control costs and the enforcement of the HoS rules. Drivers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. In a highly competitive market where drivers are asked to invest more of their time in the name of efficiency but are governed by rules giving them less time in the name of safety a pay per mile method of compensation no longer makes sense.

I know that pay per mile versus pay per hour has the potential to be very contentious and I'm not coming down on one side or the other but my 'paid by the mile' income has not kept up with the rate of inflation and the HoS debate has shown no sign of being resolved since I started driving 12 years ago. I'm ready to take a look at ideas that may put more money in my pocket, improve my quality of life, add to a carrier's bottom line, and aid in compliance with the rules & safety policies that govern our industry.

There is no possible way that I can address all the pros and cons of hourly pay versus pay per mile in a single column but we need to start somewhere and the first thing an hourly rate would do is recognize commercial truck drivers as the professional journeymen that they are. The industry now has available to it through the technology of EOBR's the ability not just to enforce rules but to capture a vast amount of information that relates to a driver's performance. This technology also captures the inefficiencies in the system that are beyond the drivers control such as dock delays. Paying a driver for their time on duty as well as driving would motivate carriers to work closer with their customers to eliminate delays at the dock and all the other time wasters that have worked their way into the system over the years. This would be a big win for the driver but the argument could be made that it would be a huge cost for the carrier.

On the contrary eliminating that wasted time puts the driver back on the road keeping the freight moving. More importantly giving carriers the ability to capture hard data to measure performance provides fertile ground to develop incentive programs for drivers. A study by the Technology and Maintenance Council (TMC) of American Trucking Associations established that a truck driven using poor driving habits can consume up to 26 percent more fuel than a truck driven using fuel-efficient driving techniques. An hourly rate of pay along with incentive bonuses is an excellent way of tapping into these potential savings and its win-win. It also speaks to the need of ongoing driver training, driver recruitment, and driver retention. The time is ripe for carriers to develop and use these new technologies to empower their drivers and recognize them as business partners not just employees. Maybe I'm a dreamer. But it is possible.

Some people may be of the opinion that the golden age of trucking is past, buried by burdensome regulations and escalating costs. The freedom and joy we find in trucking down the open road is still there but the culture is changing. That's not easy to deal with.

Working For A Quality Carrier

As the new year gets underway we (drivers) are faced with a host of issues to cope with. The list gets longer with each passing year. Hours of service, CSA (compliance, safety, accountability), electronic on board recorders, speed limiters, driver shortages, distracted driving, the economy, engine emissions, and so on. It is only recently that quality of life issues are being raised and recognized as having merit. Why is it that a drivers mental & physical well being is not the number one priority in an industry where a company's success hinges on the performance of each individual driver?

I believe there are a large number of organizations in our industry that only pay lip service to the health & safety of the driver. I continue to be shocked by the lack of concern that is shown for the mental and emotional health of individual drivers. You don't need to spend your life on the road to be aware of this. Spend some time surfing the internet and you can read any number of trucking blogs written by drivers detailing their experiences. There are a number of bottom feeders out there that prey primarily on the new and the inexperienced by making grandiose promises of training, compensation, and home time.

I'd like to believe that the majority of drivers share a positive and productive relationship with their carrier as I do with mine. A relationship that is win/win. Here is an example of the treatment I receive from my carrier.

By the time this column is published my father's 89^th birthday will be just around the corner. Sadly, his health is failing and it became very important that I pay a visit over the Christmas and New Year break. Until recently I did open board work and was in Vancouver quite frequently which enabled me to visit my Dad. This past fall I started to do a weekly run between southwestern Ontario and Winnipeg which provides me with more home time but keeps me away from the west coast and my Dad. As soon as I told the good folks in dispatch about my situation a trip was arranged for me to Vancouver and I was told to “take whatever time you need with your Dad”.

Now many of you reading this may think that's nothing special but in fact for me, and for the majority of drivers, this level of empathy and understanding has a huge positive impact on your morale and state of mind. I believe the way in which we are treated and the way we treat others is the path to our long term happiness, peace of mind, ease of mind, and success. The carriers (employers) we work for are one of the primary gateways to that path.

The freedom and independence we experience as truck drivers does not come without costs. Most of us have traveled down the road in isolation thinking about a loved one sick at home, a missed birthday, a family reunion your not sure you will make it to, an event you planned and now will miss due to a breakdown, poor weather, canceled load, or dock delay. Truck driving separates you from your support network of family and friends while at the same time providing you with countless hours to think about that separation Many truck drivers deal with incredibly strong feelings of angst as a result. It's a job hazard we all must cope with but it can be eased by the actions of the carrier we choose to work for.

As I finish off this column I am sitting in Golden, BC. I arrived at three o'clock this morning in the snow. It's now almost one in the afternoon, it's still snowing and the ride today will be challenging, that's just fine with me. There are new hours of service rules pending south of the border and that's just fine with me. There is a speed limiter on my truck and I'm still learning how to manage my electronic on board recorder and that's fine with me too. There are a host of issues to clutter my life throwing up roadblocks at every turn and that's fine too.

I was able to spend the last five days with the man that has shaped me, inspired me, trusted me, taught me, and loved me over the course of my whole life. I know that I may not see my Dad again in this world but he will live in my heart and mind for the rest of my life. I'm happy, content, and at ease.

The bottom line is I can count on my carrier, I trust them, and they feel the same way about me. That leaves the rest of those big trucking issues just fluff to deal with in the course of a normal day.

The Little Things

When a little thing goes wrong or just a little wonky on you it's most often not that big of a deal, you just take it in stride.  But when those little things come at you in bunches it can make you feel like tearing your hair out.

So I got away late last Saturday because I had to throw the battery charger on my truck and that made me just late enough to screw up my daily hours of service and would prevent me from the necessary number of hours of rest on Sunday night to keep me in compliance with the US hours of service rules.  No big deal, until I hit the crappy weather just north of Thunder Bay late on Saturday.  So I went into damage control mode and rather than waste time I stopped in Dryden to take my 8 hour break, reset my Canadian hours, allowing me to leave in the middle of the night so I would not have to deal with the traffic even if the weather was still bad.

That was a great plan until I stepped out of the truck at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning to do my PTI (pretrip inspection for those of you not up on trucking acronym's) and discovered the light show taking place around the top of my trailer.  All the upper clearance lights were flickering on and off along with a couple of lower tail lamps.  Probably just a bad connection I thought.  So I pulled the power cord from the trailer, cleaned & spread the connector pins, re-attached the cord and....no change....the light show continued.  I went back to the connector and gave it a good wiggle and that did it.  The lights went out altogether.  I still had lower lamps, signals, brake lights, and reflector tape (under the snow) all around so I filled out the appropriate paperwork and had no option but to deal with it later.  I had freight to deliver in 4 1/2 hours.

Okay, now I had six easy drops in Winnipeg then switch with a driver at the Husky truck stop in Headingley.  Not so fast Al.  Everything was rolling along until the 5th drop which was 6 4x4 skids of freight to a warehouse.  Easy right?  Nope, wrong address, 3rd party warehouse facility.  Had to wait for the guy to show up after I phoned him.  The guy receiving the freight was also as dumb as a stump and could not provide me with concise directions to the dock door.  3 hours folks.  I routinely lump off floor loads faster than that.  Okay, Okay, I took a deep breath got the last drop off did my switch and then I spent an hour dealing with the wiring issue.  I thought it was the plug on my light cord that was corroded and I was right.   So I spent an hour screwing around replacing that.

It was now four in the afternoon and I needed to book 10 hours off duty before I could cross the border.  Good, after 14 hours I needed food.  Oh, I forgot to mention, I had to be in Breckenridge, Minnesota at eight the next morning to pick up a full load.  I wanted to be a truck driver because......?

It's the little things that can get to you.

Snow Drifts & Dead Batteries

Another winter weekend.  It's getting blurry out here.  The week's are blending together, time is getting muddled again......I just realized the days are actually getting longer but I couldn't see the sun for all the blowing snow.

Delay yesterday because I had to throw a charger on the truck when I got to the yard....yes....the block heater was plugged in and there was power to it....no....the fridge was not left on & all the lights were off.  Must be gremlins, winter gremlins, invisible & sneaky winter gremlins.

So that delay made for a late arrival last night (early, early this morning actually) in White River and a later start this morning and that all means that when I arrived here in Dryden - which is still at least 4 hours from Winnipeg - in the early evening I'M TIRED!!  It's also snowing, the roads are crap, and there are a serious number of nervous Nellie type drivers out there right now.  My patience is gone.

So I had a meal and now I'm hitting the sack hoping that when I leave in the middle of the night the snow has stopped, the roads have been plowed, and all the ijits are at home in their beds.

I won't hold my breath.

Winter Sucks......Kinda

I woke to the drone of the engine at five o'clock this morning.  It has been my constant companion on the road over the past few weeks.  A reminder of the bitter cold.  I laid in my sleeper berth just listening, hoping I would slip back into sleep.  No go.  Winter wears me down in its own subtle way.

Over the past decade I have discovered exercise as a positive force in my daily life.  I'm not overzealous about it or subscribe to it as my new religion or anything like that.  I find that it clears my head of the cobwebs, relaxes me, and allows me to attain a quality of rest I don't get when I'm not on the exercise bandwagon.  I fall of that wagon every winter, a victim of the reality of our Canadian winters.  It's another way that winter wears on me.  I should have bought a health club membership for the winter but then I'd probably be stressed out because I could never get to the club to work out on a regular basis.

I've posted about the winter blues in the past and here I am again, like a broken record stuck in the same groove.  At least I'm no longer laying in bed stewing in my own juices of discontent.  Now I'm writing about them, spreading the misery around.  Ha ha ha.

Spring is around the corner along with a healthier outlook.......maybe I should have bought those snowshoes.  Hmmmmm.

Grumpy & Belligerent

One of the things that truly sucks about being a truck driver is that you can't phone in sick when you always wake up at work.  That's an issue when your in need of a sick day.  I'm not sick.  I'm just feeling that tomorrow would be a good day not to work, because I don't want to.  Waa, waa, waa.....poor me.

It must be that whole winter blues thing rearing it's ugly head that has me feeling more than just a little po'd tonight.  It was actually a pretty good day, until the temperature dipped below minus 20 again, it got dark early, I started feeling really tired and, well, so it goes I guess.

The whole month of January has been that way.  Am I a little bitchy?  You bet.  Even when I've been at home I've felt so worn down that I have done little more than sit on my ass and think about what I have to do.  Just thinking about stuff tired me out.  Oh god I'm getting grumpy and belligerent in my old age.  Time to go to bed & sleep it off - I hope.