Deliberate VS Careful

Yep that is my trailer I am following with a relief driver behind the wheel of my tractor.
Sometimes things happen, you get tied up and hit the 14 or 70 hour wall because stuff happens and you get delayed, in my case I hit both last week.

My point is we make deliberate decisions when it comes to being safe, reliable and consistent.
But most drivers think they are safe even if they are "Cooking" their log book.

Like I said, these things happen, it is YOUR choice on how you will handle it.
Every company is different, some defecate all over the FMCSR book, while others preach the book and never put the rules to use unless it is to their advantage to push a load.

I have been before a DOT/NTSB review board during my career, it is NOT fun to be a part of that "inquisition" and it is something I never wish to be a part of again.
I am pleased that where I work actually supports and enforces the rules.

Sure some drivers are crying, but I say if you have to cook the books to make a pay check, you need to re-evaluate where you are at.
Not all jobs are created equal and every company is different.
If you can't make a living being legal and safe, the day WILL COME where all your cooking of books will get you, and YOU started that fire.

It may not be you or your actions that fan the flames of their wrath and it usually is not.
It's a co worker or co workers that screwed up! They started by cooking the book a little and then they or someone else hurts or worse yet kills someone and that lowers the companies overall safety score.

The first signs are when you get pulled into every scale if you have pre pass.
Or you get inspected at multiple scales in the same state.
I have even been in the situation where the score was so bad that I left a scale after an inspection only to be pulled over and re inspected on the roadside.
I was inspected so many times one week that I made an extra 400 bucks on my check for passing all 16 inspections on a run from Kodak Rochester NY to Kodak in Medford OR.
But that made for a REALLY LONG WEEK!

That company is no longer in business, they were fined and sued into bankruptcy and were absorbed for their contracts by Prime, Inc. by December 2002.
Some drivers were fined 500 dollars per each violation occurrence by OK DOT with assistance from the NTSB.
One driver whom is no longer with us on this earth was fined $25,000 another hit the
$19,000 mark.

Never mind the fines, never mind the extra stress placed upon you the driver and the toll it takes on your mind and body. The fiscal responsibility is YOURS whether you were dispatched out by the company or not. Sure if it becomes a big deal the company will ALSO be fined but they can liquidate their assets and get a new MC number in a few days.
But where will you be?

Sometimes saying NO is the most deliberate decision you can make to stay safe and free of liability.
Sometimes things happen, circumstances make the once possible totally impossible, illegal and unsafe to operate. That's trucking, stuff happens.
Don't let those situations increase your liability.
Since you are in command, you ARE LIABLE and remember YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE!

Even if you are 5 minutes past being out of time for the day or week and you are handling your rig right, a drunk can drive into your trailer and it WILL BE YOUR FAULT! A school bus can rear end you, IT IS YOUR FAULT! A Meteor can plummet from the sky onto your hood, IT'S STILL YOUR FAULT.

You were OUT OF TIME, you have no business on the road and the lawyers will say to the jury "He was 5 minutes OVER HIS TIME, He was NOT suppose to be on the road and if he were not my client would STILL BE ALIVE irregardless of his 1.6 BAC level!

Sounds a little exaggerated? it is NOT. The lawyers and investigators from all sides will pick your logs apart. DOT and maybe even the NTSB may become involved and you will have to answer for your actions since you were in violation.
Satellite tracking, fuel and repair receipts, even your own personal banking records will be used as evidence against you to build their case.
Yes, your job can be your own WORST enemy if you let it become just that.

Remember, suing trucking companies is a overweening cottage industry these days that suckles on the teet of the trucking industry.
Do you want to be the milk or worse yet the teet?
Do you want to work for the rest of your life to cover legal bills?
Are you willing to have an even LOWER standard of living for you and your loved ones?

Also ask yourself this question, have you EVER met a driver that had a Fatal accident and a hot logbook that is STILL WORKING and driving a semi?
I know in my lifetime I have not yet met one.
So WHY do so many drivers take that chance?
Also remember, you do not want to hurt anyone, but some people WANT TO BE HURT!
They will cut you off, box you in and wreck you so they can make MONEY.
If your book is cooked, you have no legal defense for being there.
Even if someone kills themselves jumping in front of your rig in traffic, if you are legal you WILL survive and work again since you were legally going about your business.

Simple things at home, kids need new cloths, mortgage or rent is due, utility bills are over due, what ever it is that pressures YOU, it sure is NOT worth losing your ability to be hired and generate an income for your family and yourself.
If you do it then you are being DELIBERATE about being UNSAFE instead of being safe.

Simple fact is, if you were that DELIBERATE about being safe, you would be in a better place, with a better position and maybe even at a better company because you are DELIBERATE about being SAFE instead of just sneaking past by being careful.

Sure careful is safe but it is not LEGALLY SAFE.
DELIBERATE means you will be SAFE and LIABILITY FREE or at least reduced.
DELIBERATE means you INTENTIONALLY maintain the discipline of proper operation, care and SAFETY.
It means you go on a deliver and make it HOME, with a proper pay check and less stress.
These are the reasons I have for being DELIBERATE and not just careful.




Don't get me wrong careful is a good thing, but DELIBERATE is even better!
It means you made a disciplined decision to do the correct thing instead of the convenient one.
It means you make yourself an Asset instead of an ASS.
It means your co workers will enjoy the benefits of your efforts along with you.
It means less stress, better reliability and consistent professionalism that your employer co workers and public will eventually acknowledge.

I know we all still have to eat but I am deliberate about how and what I eat.
If you like fecal matter sandwiches, then enjoy.
For Me, I like steak so I will keep on being deliberate and not just careful.

2010 Harley Davidson International Lonestar Tractor,

I took these at Chicago International.
Sorry there are no views of the interior as this truck was only for display and the salesmen ran off to lunch when I took these while waiting for a repair.

Click on the photos for full size views.

Enjoy!

Oh well, I'm Back!

Shortly after my last post here where I said "Hang On" and then it happened to me.
On 27 March 2009 I was laid off, my home terminal was being shut down.




In the off months I have had I have found something of interest in trucking land.

Crappy carriers will hire anyone, there are TONS of these places.

Good Carriers are NOT hiring, which is why I am Happy to be going back to my Superior Carriers Family.

Maybe the lesson learned is, hang in there for a real opportunity.
Or maybe the lesson can be "Don't Give Up On A Good Thing"

In any case, there are MANY places to go, they just really are not worth going to though.
Throughout my long transportation career, I have see recessions, fuel price spikes, rate changes and that along with all the regulatory changes the last decade has created and the new decade seems to be embracing.



Long ago, in the 80's trucking was a WAY different world.
Then came deregulation, air ride and power steering.
Then came the so called driver shortages, condo sleepers and the 425 Cat.
Then a recession, the 444 Cummins and the Super10 transmission.
Then a fuel spike and a drastic rate deflation, Autocar Corp closed as did Marmon Inc.
Another fuel price spike, and paperless logbooks.
Then another recession, a wake up on 9/11 in Mebane NC, a war on terror, my hometowns skyline changed FOREVER.
My Company then, Rocor Transportation Shuts down and goes bankrupt, Prime buys it in bankruptcy court for pennies.
I get another job right away, it lasted a MONTH, it went bankrupt and the dealer repoed my unit before I even removed all my stuff, Oh well.
Never mind the places in between, the ones that stole pay, the ones that did NOT take the Child support payments and send them in though my pay statement said they did it.
Never mind the breakdowns in communication with dispatchers that could not get freight out of a wet paper bag.
The breakdowns of equipment, truck and trailer.
The training in the Smith System and all the other courses out there.
The death of friends, the missing of holidays and birthdays, events and festivities.



Through all that I would not trade what I do for anything in the world.
It's not for everyone, but I love it.
Road has Ice, I am happy, I drive, I adapt and I am SAFE.
Rain, No problem!
Blow a Steer tire, Okay.
I don't care where they send me or with what load, I will go.
I will be safe and deliberate, planned and determined.
That is the job after all.
Just keep my pay right, be honest with me and I will deal with the truth and get the job done, and done right.
When I get to my customer, I will say hello, be pleasant and smile
That means safe, planned and deliberate at all times.



This is the service I provide for my employers customers.

Planned safe reliable and deliberate transportation of the products and commodities that they require, when they require it.
I don't chose the place and time, but I do enjoy my job in between the lines and the hour hands.
So now in 2009 with the holiday season fast approaching, I am happy to be getting back on the road.
Happy to have a job at a place that has the old fashioned and the new in balance.
Joyous over the fact I am going to be in the company of professionals and not hacks.
But most of all, I am grateful I can put all the hard knocks behind me and move on now.

I'm not the twenty something year old I use to be, trucking around NYC and peddling freight and produce off the Hunts Point Docks and North eastern farms from New Jersey to New Brunswick Canada.

But I am a wiser forty something year old trucker that knows how nice some of these things we have today are.

A/C Air Ride and Big Sleepers, Flat Screen TVs, Internet Access, APUs and Idle Air.

That's all fine and dandy, but I Still long for the good from the "Good Ole Days"

But I do long for the days when things were a little simpler, a little more reliable.


I will report to my new terminal, shake my Dispatchers hand and ask "What do you need done?"
Because after all, that is all it should take.
A handshake and a kept word. Nice and simple.
Maybe it never was this simple back then, but it seems it was and the job got done.
Not with contracts and lawyers, advisers and managers but with just a simple handshake.

Maybe that is the attitude we all need these days.
Seal the deal and get it done right.
Maybe, just maybe then, we can remove what sucks the life from some places and people and look at more than just Number One, or the bottom line.



Maybe we need to teach ourselves that honesty and hard work gets the work done.
So here I go again, wish me luck and I'll see you on the road somewhere.

We Mourn The Loss Of.......

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who
has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was,
since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He
will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the
worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend
more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children,
are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but
overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy
charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended
from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for
reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the
job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly
children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental
consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could
not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an
abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses;
and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a
burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to
realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in
her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by
his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.
If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do
nothing.

Economic Vacation Time!

In todays economy thousands of drivers have more free time than ever before.
As a driver that hauls chemicals, I am pretty much 4 to 6 months ahead of the curve when it comes to how work flows and ebbs.

Right now, it is SLOWER than it was in December. Usually work ramps up for everyone by the end of February yet here I am massing time off with 13 days off if the last month alone.
This was well worse than the past Christmas Holiday season.




What does this say for the economy as a whole?
It tells me, hang on, it is only getting worse.
I haul all the base chemicals that are used to make everything from deodorant to dashboards and NOTHING IS MOVING!

There is no new business out there and all the old business has cut back production from 50 to 100%
Chemical plants around the country are closing, laying off staff and trying to hang on while Americas drivers and families stand by and do what they can to pay the bills and feed their kids.

The climate in the Washington DC circles act as if NOTHING has changed yet here we are, with little to do.
They pass pork filled funding, call it stimulus and drown us all in an indebtedness we do not deserve or want!

Trucks and drivers are the pistons, cylinders and crankshaft of Americas huge economic engine, right now, as a chemical hauler, I have no fuel since I have no real work. THE AMERICAN ECONOMIC ENGINE IS FLOODED WITH PORK AND STALLED OUT AT THE EDGE OF AN CLIFF!

There will be an explosion of work, but I myself do not see it coming my way until at least July at best, September at worst!
How long can some of us hold on? How long can you HOLD OUT?
Now is the time to do what you can to ride out the REAL Stall that is Yet to show it's self!

Remember, Chemical companies run about 4 to 6 months ahead of the rest of production.
If the chemicals are not flowing, NOTHING is being made!
This means a HARD Christmas Holiday and a very rough new year coming ahead!

I hope I am wrong, but for now, it's how I see it.
I hope you take heed and prepare for tomorrow, NOW!

The View From My Office

On The Road

Its a small small road!

Welcome to my blog!



This will be an all about trucking, people, places kind of blog.
Believe it or not, trucking is a service business and you WILL deal with all types of people places and things.
Weather conditions, delays at stops, everything!

If you have someone that came by and did a roadside repair for you in a timely manner and you want to give them kudos! This is the place!
If you have questions and need answers, drop a note!

Want to know how to deal with a dispatcher?
Changing companies?
Want to buy a new rig?
Thinking of a different type of trucking!




Lets talk about it here!
This is for ALL OF US, the American OTR Driver!
Their Families, Friends and Co Workers!
We all work together, we ALL Share The Small Road!