Writing a blog is work. Salena knows all about it. She creates content every day. It is work to write something interesting, take interesting pictures, and edit everything to create a post. Salena has certainly put in the time and effort. On her blog she mostly talks about anything she chooses. I've thus far reserved this blog to strictly trucking related topics, but rest assured that I too have my own opinions about life and the people in it. Writing about trucking is laborious in that there's repetitive topics discussed to no end.
Trucking publications have paid writers who will cover the same material week after week. This information is important to the life of the magazine or newspaper. To me, however, writing about trucking is just me writing what I consider to be common sense. My post about being careful when driving around back alleys where wooden pallets are strewn about so as not to blow a tire on a nail for instance. This is an example of what I consider to be common sense, yet many publications would routinely run this type of article over and over again, week after week.
I don't know who they are talking to with their repetitive articles except new people to trucking. And there are a lot of new people that come into the trucking industry. In fact the turnover rate did hover around 100% for many years. These people most likely wouldn't know that the magazine about trucking they were reading had the same material in it from 2 months ago. The fact is that trucking is simplistic in its end goals, yet complicated in its regulations for so many reasons. Most of those reasons have to do with money.
To move to the topic of money, this blog doesn't make any money. It exists for two purposes. One is that it may educate people who are considering coming into the industry or are already in the industry. The other reason is simply entertainment for myself. Some people see that Salena and I drive for a carrier. The idea that I write this blog to advertise for the carrier is false. I have driven for several companies and I am simply not working with them at this time. Had there been blogs around when I was working for those companies, I would have had one.
This is a post about me to some extent and it really has little to do with trucking. I could easily make it about trucking. I could go into a rant about the lack of professionalism that exists in the industry today. I don't see the point in that though. I don't see the industry ever changing to favor those who have the highest of ideals. It will continue to spiral downward in regards to the quality of the training of truckers. The numbers of experienced operators will continue to decline thanks to electronic on board recorders and oppressive regulations.
But thanks for reading my blog! Keep on coming back. I'm not going anywhere.
1 comment:
Ed, Good Evening! I like the blog. I have to disagree with you about the lack of professionalism. The drivers that are professional truck drivers and possess that skill, and (you know it really is a skill) conduct them selves quite professionally. The problem is that with each new round of technology that comes out to make the trucking industry "Better" "Easier" "More Profitable" Oh yes and more "Safer" each one of these have come to try make the job more user friendly AKA less skill needed to do the job. And when you try to idiot proof a industry that should not have any idiots in it, this is what happens. Automatic transmission so you don't need to be able to drive a standard, nav-systems so you don't have to be able to read a map. Heck lets not even write anything on the gauges or switches on the dash let's just put little pictures so you don't even have to be able to read. Let's E-log because the drivers can't fill out a log book properly or follow the hours of services rules they need a little bell to tell them to stop. I could go on and on down the list of rules and regs. But this what happens when you set up the job to be so easy a idiot can do it, before long get exactly what you were planning for a industry full of idiot truck driver. Then common sense looks like a super power.
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