Trucks Across America
I’ve been on a road trip all week.
Whenever I spend time driving on the interstates, what strikes me the most is the number of 18-wheeler trucks.
Most people drive during commute times in the morning and then again later in the day. Naturally there are a lot of cars during so called ‘rush hour’ times (which last longer than an hour!).
However when you’re out on the freeways during the rest of the day, it’s trucks, and more trucks rolling along. It’s amazing how many there are.
What are they doing? Resupplying anything and everything that we as a people consume. 70% of all goods are transported via semi truck!
Truck drivers transport raw materials and finished goods all over the country from manufacturing plants, retail and distribution centers.
Have you ever seen some of these distribution centers? They’re huge!
It makes me think – If those trucks ever stopped rolling, like I’ve written before, “When the Trucks Stop, it’s Over”.
You might draw analogy to the body requiring blood to flow through it’s veins. How long would it take to die without the flow of blood? Not long at all…
Major sectors affected by trucking include food, transportation, manufacturing, retail.
Trucks distribute fuel. The average gas station requires fuel resupply every 2.4 days. Without fuel, even the trucks won’t roll!
No city can feed its own people. How do you think all that food gets there? For that matter, regardless of where people live, trucks deliver food to the grocery stores “just in time” – to keep the shelves stocked.
You might ask, what could possibly affect or disrupt trucking?
The price of diesel fuel (oil).
The availability of diesel itself!
A shortage of drivers (Retention).
Driver compensation.
Truckers going on strike to an extent.
The interstate systems/roads themselves.
Grid down, and/or EMP disaster (though hopefully less likely!).
Anyway, I find it interesting to observe the undercurrent of the trucking industry as I travel. Huge population centers are entirely dependent upon them.
There are nearly 2 million semi trucks in operation in the U.S., and around 5.6 million semi trailers. (Semi trucks and semi trailers are also known as tractors and tractor trailers, respectively.)
How many trucks are being driven on the road right now? Pretty much all of them with available drivers except for those on mandatory rest time.
Truck drivers drive an estimated 140 billion miles every year, and a single semi drives about 45,000 miles a year on average. According to the Federal Highway Administration, long-distance trucks travel upwards of 100,000 miles a year.
I wonder how many people take it for granted?
I’ve traveled I-80 numerous times and in the less populated areas of western states you can see an almost equal number of trucks and cars rolling. It makes an impression on me just how dependent we are on truckers hauling odds.
Then bad weather, not even a true blizzard hits in Wyoming and the trucks stop rolling. They will block miles of interstate, the exits, the truck stop parking lots and anywhere else they can park.
But I’m thankful the drivers are there to move the goods.
And almost all the rigs you see have a ‘drivers wanted’ sign on the back.
They cannot hire enough drivers , there are truck setting idle.
I was reading an article about this just this morning. Prices on everything are set to start rising due to the fact that they can’t get enough drivers
Federal regulations have discouraged and forced many very qualified drivers to quit. It is a thankless job that has turned into a nightmare with the increase of congestion on our highways and interstates. Add the big brother computers in the trucks plus the regulations it is no wonder companies are scraping the bottom of the barrel for qualified truck drivers. The only solution will be a very big increase in wages and guess who will pay for that? Get ready!
I hope CONgress embraces the lefts “New green deal”
We will see just how fast a bunch of cities starve.
EVERYTHING that flows to a city to feed it, cloth it, heat it etc at one time or another in its journey depended on a truck running on deisel fuel, EVERYTHING that feeds a city, from start to finish relies on 18 wheelers and fossil fuels, EVERYTHING!
It is pure ignorance to think that they can replace that with electricity or some other BS. Even Bio fuels have an enormous carbon footprint, in fact, the carbon footprint to plant, grow, harvest and process a gallon of biodeisel is almost 1.5 times what is required to produce the same gallon of deisel from oil when all factors are accounted for.
Warm and fuzzy ideas are just that, ideas, they are not necessarily practical nor truly beneficial,
Perhaps a few years in the dark ages will enlighten these ignorant green new dealers
But i doubt it
Not only that, but the bio fuel has less energy in it. So, you must burn MORE to achieve the same energy output. IN addition, it takes TWO gallons of fuel to make ONE gallon of bio fuel. Further, bio fuel destroys engines.
Not only is it NOT green, it causes more waste and energy and damage, and still makes CO2…which, by the way, is meaningless.
CO2 is just a way for Socialists to enslave us and destroy America. This entire country could vanish tomorrow…and the World’s CO2 would lower only 3 PPM..when the natural, seasonal, fluctuation of planetary CO2 is 6 PPM!
We could stop the entire output of CO2 by the United States and it would make NO DIFFERENCE at all…none.
Ision
Bingo, I agree it is not about CO2 control, it is about power over the people. We have to raise the curtain and exposes these corrupt politicians.
Ision
Biofuels are nothing but trouble
Locally the company that makes it can barely give the stuff away, they have such a poor track record with quality control that NOBODY i know who was gung ho to use biodeisel when it first came out over here is currently using it anymore, it damaged more than just filters and fuel lines and voided warranties. Bad news. Plus it cost more per gallon than regular old ultra low sulfur deisel. The same company got a government contract to grow sunflowers for making deisel, the birds found the fields, birds eat more than they get to harvest even when growing several hundred acres, then they have to ship the seeds to the big island because they do not have the capability to do it locally, so the truck it to the dock, in containers, barge it to hilo or kawaihai, then they truck it to a processing facility and get 200 gallons or so from one containerload,,,,
Talk about bullshiz,, green my arse
With the money that the dems want to spend on their new green world order, we should research and build a time machine and go back and kill Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and the American democrats from 1913. MAGA !
And Algore’s father !
A friend recently gave me this statistic. I have no idea if it is correct. He stated that new york city gets between 6 and 8 thousand trucks of food per day. That is not anything else. If correct, that alone would be alarming to me if i were a resident of the city.
country:
And in NY City, I hear most apartments and kitchens are small with little storage. I have heard that some NY residents buy their food at the market each day or they eat out or have dinner delivered. When the trucks stop rolling, many of them won’t be 9 meals from starvation. More like one meal from starvation.
Daisy,
I know a couple kids who live in NYC,
Their apartments are studios in a highrise, no real kitchen, kitchen is like a wetbar, mini fridge, bar sink, built in cook top with 2 burners and less cabinet space in the whole apartment than a 72” Knaack box. They love it, all go out and eat every day and night, just see no reason to cook
Tommyboy—-seriously…how do they afford to eat out everyday? inherited wealth? huge paying jobs? always thought rent was so high in NYC that no one could afford to eat out? what the heck? (drugs out the back door, so to speak? wtf?)
Yes, NYC will have a problem. Small apartments with little storage space and tiny kitchens. Many do eat out a lot but you can find cheap places to eat. Rent $2500 for tiny habitable place which is why many young people share lofts (living space). Our 2nd and his wife live there as it is the hub of what they each do. It is their intention to get out of there as soon as they can as you cannot shelter in place.
Another thing that will stop the trucks rolling is legislation. Many drivers won’t enter California to pick up or deliver because of the laws regulating them. Many drivers simply park their trucks and walk away because they can’t afford the expenses of driving a big truck. A major part of that is fees and regulation.
A few years ago a law was proposed in California to keep all trucks off the roads during peak hours. That would mean six to eight hours per day that the drivers could not drive but would still be “on the clock.” If your route is 12 hours and you have to sit idle for six hours of that, it puts you 6 hours behind schedule. And since you can only “drive” for a certain number of hours, chances are good you’ll have to sit idle even longer because your hours would run out while sitting at a truckstop. If you could even find a truck stop when the dead period started.
Think of those millions of trucks, all of them trying to find a truck stop during the same period.
Trucking will definitely be affected by fuel availability and cost. But so will most of everything we use today.
So, I put forth this premise. The human population was thought to be fairly constant for thousands of years as depicted by graphs I have seen. That is, until the age of energy/industrialization – then the graph goes almost vertical. What will happen when the abundance of this energy is reduced – back to the population norm? What if this flush of humans is the anomaly in the age of the earth? Many have postulated about what the real balance should be – the number of humans versus the resources of the globe. I believe this human virus has far exceeded the natural order.
If the trucks stop we may find out what that number really is. Some say that a nuke plant in every county will satisfy our dependence on energy – I just see this as a last gasp and will hasten our demise unless we can find a way to export spent fuel – off the plant.
There you have my prognostication.
Major slide has taken out a large section of Hwy 101 just north of Brookings, Oregon. A lot of stuff travels that road. A couple of gas stations are out of gas as I type. Shelves in the stores were still well supplied except one was out of milk. Smaller trucks are being routed around it on light duty county roads. The road will take weeks to months to get fully operational again.
South of us another slide closed Hwy 101 north of Klamath. Cal Trans was able to get one side of the road open after 8 hours so delivery wasn’t too badly delayed. Bad thing about that one is it is in a section where a major slide is expected which will not be rebuildable when it goes. Hillside will become cliffside.
One other route into our area is also very prone to rock slides. Yep, we sure are dependent on the those trucks. What I do have a hard time with is big oil. I bought my F 350 Turbo diesel because diesel was cheaper than gas. Around the time of the first gulf war the price jumped and has stayed high. Correct me if I’m wrong but doesn’t it take less energy to turn crude into diesel than it does to turn it into gasoline?
For an idea of what Oregon is looking at do a search for Oregon Hwy 101 slide.
The road initially fell 2 feet where the first crack happened and as of yesterday it was over 12 feet below the grade and getting worse.
me
and so the natural disaster cycle of Cali continues – drought turning vegetation into highly combustibles, fires denuding hillsides, good snow packs and torrential rains, mud slides, …. rinse and repeat.
Yep, except for the part about drought turning vegetation into highly combustibles and for denuding the hillslide. Good Snow pack we got and torrential rains, ehh. More like slow and steady. I’ve never even come close to the torrents I grew up with in the southeast part of the country. We get mud and rock slides, They get towns that slide away downriver. That would be more like the rinse and repeat that Lauren coined a couple of years ago.
As far as these slides went, 101 runs along the coast and neither area is prone to burning as the onshore wind blows a lot of humidity into the foilage. Harder to dry out and ignite. Both of the slides were stones throw from the ocean. Oregon’s slide is much worse than the one in California.
Go to the southern states and it’s hurricanes rinse and repeat. Go to the middle of the country and its tornados. East coast it’s ice storms. All the areas have their problems.
Poorman
Yes, but many of these problems can be reduced by prepping in the larger sense.
Cali could do more to reduce fire hazards with vegetation selection and control, slope stability measures, drainage control, …
Tornado alley is fairly well known and anyone there should have more robust building construction as well as personal protection areas in homes.
Ice storm damage can be reduced by underground electrical services, tree trimming, … and personal preps to reduce the need to travel.
Without going into all disasters, my point is that we can do more to protect ourselves instead of just buying insurance so others can pay for stupidity.
Poorman;
Only real “problem” we have here is that EPA Orange River…. HAHAHA,
AND the fact Truckers wont go ANYWHERE near that thing.
NRP
You are very smart living in a contaminated zone where others hesitate to go. :)
hermit us;
Yeppers, and don’t mind that third eyeball, my MAGA hat cover’s it nicely… HAHAHA
NRP,
But, but.. that was a government funded environmental enhancement!!!!!
Minerjim
Did any of the so-called environmental engineers pay the price for that “unavoidable” disaster?
That said, they are actually looking at shipping that orange sludge from the EPA remediation, by semi truck, over to an approved landfill in Utah. (if they haven’t already started by now). I think people would be really amazed at the amount of hazardous materials being trucked across the nation, probably driving right next to you right now. (trying to keep it on topic, Ken)
Hermit US,
in reply to your question regarding any of the environmental engineers accepting responsibility. I question if there were any real engineers on the job. but the answer, “NOPE!”.
Just had a slide outside Nashville on I 24 east. Road still closed and will be for another few days.
Me; $.50 out of every dollar you pay for diesel goes to pay Federal sales tax.
The tax was put in place when only commercial trucks were using diesel as a fuel.
I’m here with you.
Luckily the 199 hasn’t had any major issues.
Our system is utterly dependent on trucking (big rigs) and the Interstate Highway system with it’s bridges engineered to handle those heavy loads. A terror attack bent on bringing that system to a halt would only need to target strategically located bridges across the country.
Dennis ,
I also think a terror attack of some type that would block major truck routes would be in the playbook of a terrorist group. Not just road bridges but also an explosive man made landslide. We appear to be in fragile times with several weak links in our supply system. Unfortunately, if something like that happens I see that as a time that martial law is declared.
It might be worthwhile taking a look at how communist countries work with their trucks. For example, in China they’ve got great highways around the large cities and those highways belong to cars during the day. Then at night, they’re covered almost exclusively with greatly overloaded, ancient trucks.
From what I was able to tell, those trucks bring their goods to the edge of the city and then people with carts and bicycles carry the loads INTO the cities to the intended destination. I’ll never forget seeing a guy on a big tricycle carrying a load of those large water bottles for water coolers. Talk about hard work. Good for the leg muscles though.
Maybe that’s how the “greenies” would like America to be.
Stephen
That would be one heck of a long bike trip into the largest cities, LA, NY, …
Whew ya got that right. Driving through Nashville where I24, I65 and I40 converge is a real pain certain times of the day. A driver was on the news one night and described why the congestion was so bad. I do not recall exactly but it had to do with new regulations on how long a driver can be on the road. This regulation puts the drivers on more of a daytime route instead of late night driving. Someone out there can probably explain this better.
When I was teaching the boys to drive one of the 1st things was to respect the size and weight of a semi. Stay away from their blind spots and if you see a blinker and you can do so, let them move over. Blink your lights to let them know you see them needing to change lanes.
I think of the disaster movies with all of the semis sitting blocking the roads. Quite a visual and it comes to mind at times when driving.
I also consider the impact if New Madrid shakes apart the bridge outside of Memphis that crosses the Mississippi. The route would have to go north I think, on I 55 and south on I 10 or there abouts.
Interstate 55 and Interstate 40 meet in Memphis, TN. There are two bridges that cross the Mississippi River in Memphis. Around here, they’re referred to as the new bridge and the old bridge. One is predominantly for I-55 traffic, the other for I-40. It is possible to swap highways after crossing but it’s annoying and troublesome. There is not another bridge across the river for quite some distance.
A simple accident on either of those bridges can snarl traffic far into Memphis for hours.
Several years ago, blm and antifa took advantage of this and blocked one of the bridges. As a result, a young girl died because the ambulance transporting her was stuck in traffic. To my knowledge, nobody has been arrested for that, and the police did little to get the protesters off the bridge and get traffic moving again.
I was told years ago that every major interstate highway bridge that crosses the Mississippi River has it’s own nuclear warhead targeted on it by Russia as it would devastate troop and supply movement for years to come if the bridges were destroyed.
There is rumor of an upcoming trucker strike, and if they simply parked a few rigs on those major bridges, they could bring most commerce to a standstill.
I tried truck driving once. Still have my CDL. Most who know me would testify that I’m no snowflake, but the rules are insane. The drivers are caught between their dispatchers, the dock managers where they are picking up or delivering, federal rules, and state D.O.T. departments. Company trucks are targets for “accidents” by people looking for a lawsuit payday. Drivers are out in all kinds of weather, and getting stuck in traffic can cause a driver to go over on their service hours- potentially getting into serious trouble.
When I was training and driving, Dispatchers would call on your personal phone to give illegal instructions and routinely demanded that the driver break the law. Why? They are responsible for getting those loads moved and they’re not the ones looking at fines and losing their license. No records of what was said in a voice call. They would contact drivers via Qualcomm (an in truck device that handles text) to give drivers legal instructions. Dispatchers go home at the end of their shift… everyday. Add an ever changing sleep schedule, weeks at a time living in a truck, very poor diet options, uncaring companies, uncaring dock managers, pay based on “moving guide” miles instead of actual miles (moving guide miles are almost always much less!) and one can see why there is a shortage. And those are only a few of the problems.
Even with the new electronic log books, many drivers get screwed routinely. Wait pay, load/unload pay, etc. gets forgotten or denied. There is a driver shortage for a reason. It’s not as viable a career path as it used to be. The drivers are the middleman in a battle between the trucking industry and the companies that need freight moved. Whatever the problem, It’s almost always treated as the drivers fault.
If a big enough percentage of the drivers decided to just stop their trucks for a day or longer, I honestly believe it would cause serious problems for the entire country very quickly. If something happens to stop the trucks such as a natural disaster, war, etc., I think those serious problems would manifest within hours.
Brad
I am not familiar with trucking as such, but can a driver/owner make a living sort of freelancing thereby avoiding all the company control?
Brad, did not pick that up on the map. Last time I crossed the Mississippi was in 1995 going out to New Mexico. One thing for sure New Madrid could shake the crap out of any bridge in the area should it happen like 1811 and 1812.
i live practically on top of the new madrid fault and if/when it happens its not going to be very serious. I believe there are practically small earthquakes every day, some you cant even feel but they are registered at the memphis center.
Ditto that. I worked for a trucking broker for a year (as a dispatcher) and it was absolutely infuriating how they were treated. I was totally miserable, primarily because I refuse to lie and lying was expected. Treat the drivers like dirt, tell them what they want to hear and let someone else clean up the pieces.
Treat the drivers with respect and they’ll treat you with respect, but I didn’t see any of that. The company made mouth noises about the truckers being their customers, but when push came to shove it was the trucker’s fault. If they couldn’t blame it on the truckers they blamed it on dispatch.
Brad, I used to drive over those 2 bridges routinely…had to leave home to find a job in west Memphis… My brother was An OTR road driver until they regulated him out of health compliance.. He received dispatch orders often that were not legal and they often shorted his pay.Charging him for the tires, and other items required to keep a company truck operable. If the truck broke down, he was left sitting for hours…unless he also became a mechanic and fixed it.
Drivers should not be required to UNLOAD a trailer. they have delivered the load. When someone orders a product, company should unload promptly. or forfeit the load to driver.AND pay company for delivery. It s not the drivers fault their dispatcher gave them the wrong date, insufficient drive time , there was an accidnet or snow storm that shut down highway for 12 hours.or there is not enough dock space. I worked on a receiving dock in a large whse, and have perspective from independent unloading company . If a company can not receive in a timely manner they should get more employees or add more space to put materials hey order. .
A big quake at new Madrid and the other faults ( 2 more?)in that area can do much damage, they run in and along the river ..the river could go away into a crevise, or it could become miles wider. The soil that seems stable could be moved and whole areas can disappear down a sink hole. The drill points across the midwest have been acting as relief valves for the pressure transfers across that plate. Go to Dutchsinse for updates on current changes. and accurate projections of what and where to expect changes. He is amazingly accurate.
Honestly I find it completely crazy how the “shepple” think.
As Tommyboys semi-rant went, they have NO idea how fragile this country is and how extremely easy a handful of terrorists or democrats ‘could’ take the trucking industry down to its knees.
The trucking industry is absolutely enormous with the amount of goods it delivers everyday 24/7/365. Even more shocking is the Roads Infrastructure they use, as some have already pointed out, take out 3 highways to, oooohh let’s say NYC or LA, and you have a full shutdown of commerce there. These cities have what 3 days MAX of supplies?
We often talk of SHTF, well here is one for you, shut off all the Traffic Lights in a city and see what happens to traffic, AND trucking, nobody will be moving faster than a snail’s-pace.
My worry is when, not if, TSHTF and it’s not an EMP or sorts, and people actually do have a working Truck/Car and the cities run out of supplies, where do you think those 320,000,000 are going to head?
Let’s look at it a little differently, what if the Economy decides to take a 50-75% dump, and all of the sudden those Truckers are no longer getting paid? AND cannot afford fuel to run the trucks; anyone want to guess what Billy Bob is going to do with that truck load of food? Ya dang right he’s going to head fome with it to feed his own family, wouldn’t you?
Ok one more time, your buddies in Congress pass the “Green New-Deal” do NOT think it’s impossible, They take all the cars and trucks off the roads, they outlaw Gardens and cow-farts. They eliminate Air-Travel and are going to rebuild EVERY building in the US.
OR the Communist/Socialist/Liberals/Democrats gain more and more power….. Anyone here ready to live like Venezuela? Do NOT think it can’t happen, there is a HUGE movement to remove the constitution.
Those trucks WILL stop running, your dam right they will, BUT of course FEMA will be there for us all…. Right?
SO YES the trucking industry is valuable, and very fragile, this Country runs on the backs of those Truckers, Be nice to them. AND get the hel! out of their way when the need to change lanes.
The Green (actually Red, as in Communist) Deal is laughed at for the ridiculous idea of eliminating all forms of transportation, how is that done? How are you going to transport food & goods? The plan is to evacuate the countryside and force everyone into high rise apartments and high density housing which the Chinese experimented with, and failed of course. The city-prison concept is portrayed quite well in “The Hunger Games”. Cameras everywhere, poverty, forced obedience indoctrination, a highly secluded and privileged elitist ruling class.
Chevy;
Please don’t think that those Dam-o-Crats won’t shut down Trucking to gain even more power.
Look at the power that Bartender Congresswoman is gaining, ‘it’ and Burney Sanders. Those POS’s don’t give a dang about the people, all they want is more and more power.
Seriously I think they would be happy with Ven’s economy and the crushing of the people.
What does that have t do with Trucking? Simple, shut down the transportation, aka Trucking, and the Country fails.
NRP,
I agree, shut down trucking and the country is in trouble. But let’s for a moment pretend that Politicians forced a ‘transportation shutdown’ by some ’emergency government order’. I’d bet “dollars to doughnuts” that at least 1/2 of all truckers would take it as a challenge and drive anyway, with, I might add, the support of the populace and the county sheriffs in most states. Maybe the states on the left and right hand coasts would come to a standstill, but the “flyover” states would do very well. Just my thoughts.
Minerjim;
Hence a very good reason to live in the Fly-Over states.
Bill Jenkins Horse;
Yes Sir, and ya ain’t seen nada yet…..
Chevy, the Green New Deal is actually Agenda 21. “Retrofitting” all existing structures really means demolishing them and forcing everyone into tiny (200 sq ft) apartments and houses in the city. They have been promoting these tiny homes for a few years now on tv. They have it figured out how you can get by with few appliances, bunk beds, pull-out tables that store when you want room to walk, etc. There is so little room in them that if you weigh 200 lbs, you won’t fit in your tiny house. Good news, as we’ve seen in Venezuela, under socialism you will quickly lose 40 of those excess pounds — so you might fit, barely.
DaisyK you are so right, A-21 has been updated with Agenda 2030, full blown global C-ommunism. The DemoKKKrats are fully behind that and have infiltrated the educational system so that those grade schoolers now do not learn the 3R’s, but rather social justice, i.e., Communism.
Hope Billy Bob isn’t carrying a load of kitty litter!
Yeah maybe we need to send the Dems some giant truck loads of litter for their, you know………………….
It is a good thing trucking is still fairly decentralized, ownership, drivers, … Just wait until the corporate consolidation move gets a true hold of this industry. Many industries have already fallen into this trap, so it may just be a matter of time until some foreign owned corporation controls when the citizens of this country eat.
It’s starting. When working dispatch for a trucking broker (middle man) we ran into a lot of problems with the larger distributors/receivers making arbitrary rules–like the driver couldn’t pick up his own trailer after being unloaded but had to pick up the next available trailer. If there was a recognizable company (such as Palmer trucking, England, or whatever) then they would pick up the next trailer with that logo. But the independents were left out in the cold, with the company expecting them to pick up some piece of trash trailer when theirs was brand new. Lawsuits resulted in them having procedures for bypassing this new rule, but that was obviously a short-term stopgap.
A lot of the new guidelines/procedures are aimed at the big companies, leaving the independents out in the cold.
True story. Denver, winter 1982. Massive snow storm stopped semi truck transportation from delivering food to the stores for 24 hours. I witnessed two ladies fighting over the ‘last’ loaf of Wonder Bread in a grocery store, almost coming to blows, and eventually destroying the loaf in their struggle. All the while surrounded by shelves of flour, canned goods, etc. This is the exact time that I decided to take on the “lifestyle” of what would later be termed as a “prepper”.
Miner, I read as my bread rises. Not surprised at all. Makes me think of my nice next door neighbors a many years back. Had potatoes in the garden and pulled a plant for their very cute little kids to have for supper. Still had the red taters hanging on the roots. The daddy came over and said I did not where potatoes came from!!!!!! Sigh…………
For me it was carrots. The kids were fascinated by the idea that food could come out of the ground.
Didn’t see any comments from a Trucker. Here goes, all the comments about getting the goods to market, three days worth of food, costs of fuel, etc. are true. At the peak of the energy crisis I was paying sometimes almost a thousand dollars to fuel up. I had saddle tanks, 2X120 gal. Many drivers considered their drive/commute/gas stop/parking much more important than any truck they might block. There was a lack of common courtesy on the road. It takes a long time to accelerate to highway speed when you are fully loaded. In case it’s not obvious, it also takes a long time to stop. I realize I am preaching to the choir here, but maybe you can tell a friend, if we really are “that” important, please show us the same courtesy you would show any tradesman you would hire to do a job for you.
Woodchuck
I guess I should have addressed my question to you as well as Brad. Can a owner/driver make a living freelancing thereby avoiding some of the company control?
Hermit us,
They have an Uber app now for freelancing truckers. Yes you can make a living, I know several freelancing truck drivers but its getting harder and harder. And I know you don’t want to hear this or probably don’t believe me but a lot of truckers aren’t stupid and know automation is coming. There is a reason truck drivers are in high demand right now but they probably won’t be for long… Also, don’t forget drone delivery is already a thing. And if you think Amazon isn’t paying our congressman big bucks to roll that out right now, then you are living under a rock. Amazon is rumored to be releasing same day drone delivery in 25 cities in 2020…
Hey Compromise
None of your drone or driverless crap will happen in low population fly-over country – not enough critical mass. Not enough profit with high risk.
Truckers aren’t that important and no one wants to do that job in the future. Thats why automation is rolling out. Younger people don’t want trucking jobs. When asked why, most people say self driving technology would replace them.
I know this will get a lot of angry comments but don’t get mad at me. Amazon, Walmart, McDonalds are all rolling out automation right now and no one seems to notice. Amazon had a self driving delivery truck in our neighborhood the other day. Automation is here and its here to stay.
Automation is fine until it gets a glitch or hacked . Both will happen .
Then the younger generation will starve waiting for their hot pockets in front of their game stations…
Flat tires and mechanical breakdowns happen now anyways. Delays are a part of life Bill Jenkins Horse. Automation will overcome these obstacles too. Younger generations are opting to grow their own food more and more. We had 3 agrohoods pop up recently here and almost all residents are millennial and gen X.
I know this will get tons of hate because its a very socialist idea but I see a trend of off grid living becoming very popular. Lots of people switching to solar, wind or geothermal energy systems. And lots of yards have gardens full of vegetables. I love seeing the self sufficiency but its a very socialist idea.
Hey Compromise
No one is criticizing you so go easy on the attitude. Hats off to anyone that work towards self-sufficiency. I would love to see a garden in every yard, every city common area, roof-tops, … best think that could happen to our country. And think of the resource saving in trucking fuels, traffic, food stamps, …
WHTC,
I can see your viewpoint on autonomous driving semi-trucks. It is new, somewhat exciting technology, that everyone kind of hopes takes off. If history is any judge of what will happen, I believe self-driving vehicles will have a place, but it will be limited. I see it in more off-road applications (surface and underground mining for instance, they are doing it now.). Maybe more applicable to short delivery routes. Long, over the road travel, not so much. too many variables like weather, road conditions, etc. They will still need drivers. What I do see happening sooner is semi-autonomous driving systems being integrated to help human drivers drive more safely and efficiently. Much like auto pilot systems in aircraft. I think that fully automated systems (pure robotics) will be implemented to a greater extent into traditionally strenuous and hazardous jobs well before we have to worry about robot fleets ruling the highways. Economics comes in to play in it all of course. time will tell. May you live in interesting times.
Minerjim,
I agree to an extent. If trucking company trials are any indication of future applications, the lead car will be manned and on autopilot and the subsequent trucks will not be manned. So 1 driver could drive with 3-5 trucks. Robots are good at following and if the weather or conditions change, the lead driver takes over to lead the pack.
WHTC,
Yeah, in the long run that is going to be a non-starter. A human driver will take more chances than a robot set to “play it safe”. In the end, it may not be economically feasible over the long haul. As I mentioned before, short, repetitive hauls might be where they excel. Hazardous loads will still be done by human drivers, perhaps with robotic system help. No one is going to leave hauling fuel, explosives, or haz-mat up to a computerized driving system, just not going to happen, IMHO.
MJ,
Dangerous cargo is a different game entirely. I understand that will never be automated but that isn’t really relevant as that makes up such a little percentage of cargo hauled. There will be cargo or conditions that make certain automated trips economically or technically unrealistic. That doesn’t mean the majority can’t benefit.
The vast majority of trucks drive food and then consumer goods such as Walmart stock. With all the new farming technology coming out, I think food transportation will drastically decrease. I am growing bananas and coffee in an area with a cold winter and they are thriving! But that’s a whole other topic on its own. As local production of goods increases, hopefully demand for transport decreases.
Every form of so-called renewable energy except wave-driven is unreliable. Solar doesn’t work when clouds obscure the sun, wind turbines don’t work when the wind is not blowing, and the perpetual-motion machine is still under development. and electric cars SUCK in most of the country where temperatures regularly fall below freezing (or zero). What about the future of the driverless car ? That will be determined by the liability question of who to sue after an accident. And I can’t believe that a large number of people will want to live off the grid and grow their own food. Good luck with that.
Yep
That yep was for BJH.
NOT for WHTC
Nothing easier to hijack than a driverless truck. It is not a controlled environment out there on the road.
I bet you I could hijack a truck from a sleeping driver much easier. Automated trucks don’t stop. When is the last time you robbed a moving truck?
Hey Compromise
How hard to roll a rock onto the highway, cut a tree onto the road, throw some nails, gravel pile, … many ways to stop a truck.
Look I hear you, it’s really easy to stop a vehicle. So my question is why isn’t that happening now? I mean you could theoretically throw a tree in the road, force the truck to stop and shoot the driver. But that doesn’t happen, so why would it happen with self driving trucks? Im not saying it won’t happen but it seems like its the same scenario now. Hell if I was a trucker held at gunpoint I would give up the truck. My life isn’t worth it.
Compromise
It’s called armed robbery, murder, – possibly a witness. And we are not at that point of social collapse, yet.
hermit us;
Now ya know he’s just keep going till he pizzes you off…. again.
BTW, welcome back WhatHappenedToCompromise. You do realize we’re discussing SHTF stuff….. right?
don’t feed the troll
NRP the article is about truck drivers. I feel this is relevant. I am not trying to pizza (safe word right?) anyone off. I am simply offering a different viewpoint. Its good to have your views challenged to mold your opinions. I like to hear other opinions even if I don’t agree or partially agree.
NRP
I will even give a snowflake a chance give a rational argument until this person displays a total lack of common sense, knowledge, experience, …
Schwann’s delivers our pizza with a real driver, no automation there, and it does have to stop. If it were driverless and stopped in river city to deliver a pizza or some of those little potato pods, it would get mobbed in socialist Venezuela, especially during Mardi Gras with all those unemployed truck drivers swarming it and tipping it over like an old guernsey cow in Iowa where they’re not going to fool anyone into voting for a guy like that one feller who was going to change America by bowing down to dictators all over the world. Get my pint? I mean point?
Chevy,
We have an automated food truck driving around delivering food right now. All ingredients farmed by us too. No robbery issues and its been several months. You know what the solution to preventing theft? Reasonable prices. Our food costs less than McDonalds but is much healthier and safer.
WHTC
Wow bud. (sarc)
“Truck drivers aren’t really that important.,….”
So what did you purchase this past week that WASN’T delivered via semi/semi driver?
Joe c,
Well I grew almost all the food I eat myself and I’m not really into consumerism so not much truck deliveries here.
WHTC
“Well I grew almost all the food I eat myself and I’m not really into consumerism so not much truck deliveries here.”
Yeah well I’m not talking home deliveries.
I’m saying how did you get materials to build greenhouses, fertilizer, coffee beans, banana trees.
I’m perplexed.
No transportation what so ever was involved???
And you seem a slight different in your postings….almost pleasant.
New meds?
Our local WalMart now has drive-up pickup– there are employees in the store loading rolling racks of yes green plastic crates with various sundry items, little electronic pistol in hand– you use an app to order stuff, go pick it up & sign a digital receipt… (some stores also deliver– maybe soon to be done automatically by JohnnyBagBoy©…)
Joe c,
The only thing we bought for the greenhouse was the clear roofing material which we bought from a local store and a couple bags of Portland cement which was mixed with earth we dug up to make bricks. Seeds were all bought from local seed supplier. Yes I know they had to get it from a truck likely but hey we now never need seeds again because of clones and we produce our own seeds now.
We don’t use fertilizer. Is that a thing? Do people use chemicals on their plants? I rarely even water mine because of the method I use to grow it and have never added any chemicals.
db,
I was talking to my mother the other day about the Walmart pickup. She was saying that people she knows that use it spend less. Why?? Because they are not going to the back of the store to get milk and picking things up on their way. The pickup service just gives you what you order.
WHTC,
Just curious…
How many pounds of coffee and bananas are you growing in a cold climate?
Right now, it’s just 2 sunken greenhouses 20’x10’ each so it’s not much. However next year we plant to start scaling up. Our yields were successful and all we did was use geothermal techniques to keep the greenhouse above freezing. I think we did about 100 pounds of bananas and 50 pounds of coffee. Bananas and coffee companion plant very well together.
I should note coffee took years to yield and bananas often are only annual.
WHTC,
What longitude are you at? Elevation?
Minerjim,
That farm is in Kansas and it’s roughly 2000 feet above sea level. If you’re interested in geothermal greenhouse farming go to YouTube and type Nebraska farmer oranges. Dude is growing citrus fruits in Nebraska and explains all about it.
BJH, I have seen the video on that . This guy has an awesome set up.
WHTC,
Question, just curious as I have no idea. From the coffee beans picked on the plant to putting in the coffee maker, what is the weight loss? Example: 5 pounds fresh picked beans to 1.5 lbs after roasting.
Woodchuck
First off
Thank you for being a trucker.
Secondly
I believe courtesy has gone by the wayside, for anyone.
People don’t have the common courtesy for farmers on the roadway either, let alone anyone else.
Ever really want to know what it would be like…. wait till the next winter storm warning in the suburbs and then go to the grocery store. Sheer panic…. and soon most the bread, milk and eggs are gone along with many of the other perishables.
I was on an infrastructure protection committee after 9-11 and the feds estimated that if the trucks stopped rolling their would be food riots in the high density population areas within 72 hours.
And yes, there are many people who buy food on a daily basis with little to NO food in the house for emergencies. It is not just urban folks either, was at a conference in Hartford CT a number of years ago just after a Sandy went through… you would have thought the world ended. People were talking about how they ran out of food due to the streets being blocked for a couple of days. One said he and his wife only had a few cans of soup to live on for 4 days. They were very angry that someone did not come around to “help”.
Asked what they would do if the same situation lasted for a few weeks or maybe a few months……. they laughed…. but one came up to me afterword and we discussed a few things…. that family is now a lot better off.
However, 99% of those family’s have not improved their situation.
LEO2211
Believe this is your first posting I have caught. Welcome to the site, great advise to those who heard your words of wisdom.
Amazing that many ‘hear’ your words of warning but do not listen with the exception of that one. That is one more that will be better off then his neighbors.
Thanks Antique. I not one for giving a lot of advise… found through the years if someone is not asking… directly or through their actions…. it usually falls on deaf ears.
Plus, by the time I get to the site to read articles…. I would just be rehashing the same comments of other. Read a lot, it’s good to know there are many others out there that share my……. way of life.
LEO, the 99% have not improved because they believe uncle FEMA will save them next time because they complained about bad service this time. So uncle FEMA will fix things for them. Hehe
It would not take long for city folks to go hungry when the trucks stop delivering food. The few people I know living in big cities don’t have more than a couple days food. If that!
It’s easy and convenient to shop daily or get food from the local restaurants.
If the food can’t get in and they can’t get out that spells real problems if it went on for any length of time.
It would be a logistical nightmare to try to feed everyone in New York City.
And if the disaster is wide spread?
Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse would be on the menu in short order.
Fifi and Benji too.
It is painful to see how clueless a large segment of the population have become here in the USA.
That’s why I do what I do.
Prep,learn,do…
Stand My Ground,
what do you mean “Don’t feed the Troll”?
Don’t be ‘a-scared’! I’ve been an underground miner for years and years, been dealing with trolls on a daily basis. :-)
There’s a particular individual who keeps coming around, hiding under bridges. Plays the same games every time and eventually gets banned. Then comes back under a new IP address.
Lauren;
Yep… wont take long.
Minerjim
Your a better man than me. I was in a cave in. I can’t make myself go into a cave or a mine or anything underground, just to afraid. I’ve tried to over come this fear, but the incident was just to traumatic, and I was only 18, so I didn’t have much life experience with that kind of danger. I didn’t panic, but panic was only a breath away
Stand My Ground,
I would not say that I am a ‘better man’ than you, I may be ‘dumber’ yes. I did go back in. I have been ‘slabbed on’, nearly fell down a shaft once, nearly taken out by a premature blast, and overcome by carbon Monoxide too. But I went back in. I would have to say you are definitely the ‘smarter man’ by not going back underground. Hat’s off to you Sir.
The trucking industry is our, now, life-line.
Before it was the rail-line.
There is at least three, once major rail-lines, in my area alone that have been torn up.
(Used to love to hear the train going through not but three miles away.)
The trucking industry shut those lines down, now modern tech and newer .gov regulations will eventually shut down trucking.
I live near a couple major rail lines. The trains are a busy day and night. One thing I don’t understand is why rail is not used more than it used to be. I could see a train delivering goods to the outskirts of a city and trucks making local deliveries throughout the city. Instead, goods are transported half way across the country to a distribution hub and then put on other trucks for local delivery. I can understand the time aspect for perishable goods but TV’s shipped into a port could be taken to Iowa or Nebraska by train instead of trucking it all the way. I grew up in an area where almost every major business (factory, plant, or mill) had a rail spur to a dock. The dinky town I grew up in used to have a milk plant (milk from local farms) and a tomato cannery (both are long since gone). They both had rail spurs. Even small surrounding towns had a rail spur for delivering goods. Now a days, nada.
If truck drivers got paid according to their inherent value to the economy, then there would probably be much less of an issue with driver retention. I’ll cast my vote for ” driver appreciation day “. Some of the best drivers that you’ll ever meet are in coal country. Although there are great drivers all across the country, as well. Trucks deliver their own parts for repair, fuel for the truck and the driver ( food ). What keeps ’em on the road and rolling? A good mechanic! ( might be off-topic, sorry 😯)
Right on!
Chevy
You mentioned pizza, an ACDH said I should tell you about what happened during the snow storm.
First of all the city did not plan for anything happening..lol!! It was not going to snow that much, well it put at least half of the city out of power. When it came back on in certain parts of the city finding a hotel with a room was miracle, we lucked out. That day was Valentines day, I decided I was to tired to drive out for dinner and ordered a pizza.
When it was due to arrive & did not, I called the business. They ran out of dough because of the power outage/Valentines Day and NO deliveries until after 10pm that night, if they were able to deliver. Did I want wait, no. Walked next door to the steak house where I ordered a meal to go, an it was wonderful.
Yes, I lived through a truck delivery fiasco. Getting family to understand that it can & will happen is another story.
Just got back from visiting our daughter across the country. We beforehand told her she needs to be prepared for our visit by having some food on hand. When we got there she had 3 cans of tunafish, spices and dried peppers on the shelf and in the refrigerator she had salsa, and cranberry juice. She only had a bag of potatoes because we had requested it, never eats them. She has lettuce sautéed with egg whites for breakfast. She stops at the grocery story every day for the evening meal. She drives her car down to the reserve tank to 5 miles left to go before refueling. When I discovered we only had 5 miles left while in a traffic jam crawling slowly over 40 minutes and voiced my awareness of that she thought I was a worry-wart. She is not poor. She doesn’t use salt, her toilet flushes with 1 pint of water. Tries to flush. She doesn’t have a microwave, or a toaster oven and no more than several light weight frying pans and several pots. No canned goods in the house, some bananas, ice cubes, she did have a little olive oil but no ketchup. We went food shopping so we had something to eat for that day but when we got food for the next day she thought we were peculiar. She never listens to the news, does not have broadcast or internet TV news and does not look at any online news websites and is only very vaguely aware of who is president completely unaware of anything going on in the country or the world. She is not dumb, she is highly successful in her field. I fear she is typical.
What does this have to do with trucking? A lot, there are a lot of people like this and if shipping closed down for a day you’d see black Friday on a massive scale.
Chevy….gosh, how did “she get like this”? Does not sound like she comes from this sort of home. We too, were invited to visit someone. Invited to arrive at supper time. This person had even less in their fridge and cupboard than what you related. This person also was NOT raised like this. — Did not know what to think. Thought maybe it was a ruse to get us to stock the fridge and cupboards? — Just pretended we did not notice. (ate when we were out touring around). This person had also been well fed many times at our home. No idea if these folks are clueless? Ruse to get one to stock groceries for them? Brain dead? As you say, do wonder what this person/your daughter would do in event of SHTF or Truck stopping, or even prolonged storm etc…
oh yes, it was not a case of poverty re this person either. Quite well fixed etc..
“How did she get like this”…..
She is in her early 30’s, single, highly motivated. Has been all over the globe, no fear of any place or any activity. Maybe it’s me that’s missing something, it would all be well and good if she didn’t live on the brink. But so much for her, in the event what would it look like if there were a city full of people like this in the event of a shortage? Even a short term shortage? Would these highly motivated gotta have it now people do whatever it takes to get it now?
Chevy….sounds a LOT like the person I speak of. Female, similar age, similar attributes, etc.. wow
My friend is just like that. We went to Chicago last Thursday and he made a comment as we arrived in Chicago, “Holy Cow, we have only two bars left on the gas gauge (he drove). I was a little upset but figured we were ok and would fill up when we crossed back into Indiana where gas was cheaper. Ohhhh NO, we got back into Indiana and he kept driving past gas stations next to the interstate. I’m like, dude, we need gas. He finally stopped and the gauge said he had 9 miles left. Yes, 9 freaking miles. I made sure to bring gloves and a hat for the weather. He just had a coat. I mentioned many times to him about not running the gas so low and that he should at least have some winter gear stored. I didn’t say anything at all this time because I realized it was like talking to a cat. He is my best friend but completely clueless.
A friend of mine (smoker) wanted to get several cartons of cigs. This was during our snow storm and was probably the first day of the brave going out anywhere. Due to the storm and trucks not being able to get here there was a 2 carton limit.
I drove a bobtail delivery truck to different towns– you would have to always plan your parking, the lanes you needed to be in, where to fuel, rush hours…
I never did get a full CDL- I do always try to give a semi the full right of way, because I can imagine what a pain manipulating that trailer can be.
I often take road trips around WA, OR, ID, and have one coming up in a week to CA. Outside of cities/suburbs, and esp. in the mountains have seen more trucks than passenger vehicles the past couple years. Those trucks are big! I always flash them into a lane. It’s always appreciated and gives me a little feel good moment.
Here around the farm not many semis; more in town servicing the few stores. Most of our big trucks carry logs, shake blocks, cedar shakes, and other wood products. Closer to town (ocean harbor) there are container trucks and car haulers. Most fuel in/out of port travels by rail. There is a severe shortage of drivers so we have to deal with illegals and folks w/o their CDL sneaking around the windy backroads to avoid highway patrol and weigh stations. Someone dumps a load of wood at least once a month, usually where the narrow main road curves just as it crosses a waterway. Haven’t noticed panic buying around storms. If trucks stop rolling, and it’s the week or two before SNAP benefits hit their cards, it might take a few days to empty the stores. Nearly a quarter of the county is on SNAP.
AOC wants to shutdown cars,trucks and airplanes. She wants to remove the use of cows that is part of our main diet that feeds America. So if they shutdown trucks that deliver food and cows that feed us, how long before we become Venezuela ?
Well, I’m going to go drive my truck now and eat a burger while driving just for AOC. LOL
When AOC shuts down petroleum production, she will need to consider how food production will take place, since most farm equipment runs on diesel fuel. Too bad she cannot think more than one step ahead with her plans…..
Oh, but don’t worry–her handlers can. She’s either really stupid or she’s being used by some really smart people. My guess would be both.
Cat 6 & Lauren
She could be under the impression that the food magically appears in the stores that is why the do not require those delivery trucks. Children believe it ‘magically’ shows up—why not ouch. 🙄
I am beginning to wonder how many times her mom dropped that girl on her head, a little snarky this morning. lol
If or when the trucks stop delivering food to New York City for a few weeks or months, there will be a massive die-off of O’Crazy-o Cortez’ constituents. With any luck she will be among them. MAGA !
Maybe we could retrofit the tractors to run on Cow farts. At least until the cows are banned. After the cows are banned, well, I guess it is a bicycle with a cart to haul goods. When it comes to plowing the field, I have some relatives that are as big as a horse (they are not in shape either) to pull the plow. The problem would be convincing them to put on a harness.
Just put a fart-port in every chair in the government buildings, use mandatory. All that compressed hot air goes to a generation plant. Could run most of the country that way.
INPrepper
ROWL thanks
Defcon,
Its saturday, im going to drive my truck to town, fill up a couple more drums of deisel for the tractor n truck, buy some more beef and bacon then go meet a friend to look at a wean bull calf and a heifer, im going to do my part!
STNGD
Tommyboy, AOC would be proud of you. LOL
AOC and all others like her want to shut down all petroleum use, while they all jet around the world to their global warming seminars.
Tommyboy
Do me a favor.
Drive by your governors mansion and put the hammer down on that diesel. Let the bellowing black exhaust overwhelm them. Don’t forget to fire up that charcoal grill in the back, with the Don’t Tread on Me flag flying high.
My family works in oil transportation and they are now in OK looking for work because TX oil is slowing down. I know that’s the ebb and flow of the industry, but I hope it’s not an indication of a larger slowdown in the economy.
T, it comes and goes. I used to work in the Eagleford (around San Antonio) and when it slowed down, the Permian (west Texas & NM) picked up. People just went elsewhere. Same thing in Wyoming. When natural gas slowed down in Wyoming, people left and went to North Dakota.
I’m not in the US but see the same thing here in the UK,trucks & more trucks,we have very extensive railways here but they are not used for freight these days used to have a few goods wagons on trains,drop goods off in centre of towns,all done by vehicle now.
Many comments here about who is driving the trucks and a reference to trucking being a thankless job, soon to be replaced by robots:
Many people driving trucks are people of first generation immigrants to this country who can obtain a job after a relatively short training and schooling time commitment with some understanding of English butt does not require full mastery of the English language or a college degree. It is a skilled profession and the drivers deserve our respect and gratitude.
Another group that drives trucks are those that live on the margins of society, may have a sketchy past/criminal record of property crime misdemeanors or recovered drug offenders. Frequently they get these jobs through their parole officer much like the grill man at many chain coffee shops in California’s Central Valley.
I have met many people that drive trucks and the above statements are not meant to cast aspersions on those that drive trucks. I was not good enough driver to manage an 18 wheeler though getting a temp job loading and unloading trucks in my younger years at a cargo terminal was always an option. Still is these days only thing that has changed is the company you work for.
Now I work in the medical field and I see much the same tendency there as well. The nursing assistants long-term are people from foreign countries that need a job with minimal amount of investment of time, blood or treasure. The wage and benefits must be good enough to retain people and there must be an incentive to move up/promote within the organization or to lateral transfer.
I try to be the nurse that many aides want to work for. #1 reason for good retention rates: Treat my people with respect of coworkers no matter which nation you come from and by what name you call God.
WHTC brought up some points. The people that drive trucks/fix trucks are part of this nations critical infrastructure. This nation and the world in general will need people to do the dirty/thankless jobs for a long time to come while others dream of a brave new world where drones and robots to the dirty jobs and the heavy lifting.
Message to WHTC- Don’t flush people out of the equation yet. We still need people to wipe the backsides of others, take out the trash, change diapers of others and do the jobs that need to be done every day. Driving an 18 wheeler is still one of those jobs. The hospital I am working in is still looking for good people to work here.
A certain un-named “special” individual is just trying to stir up trouble.
Be gentle Lauren. Their world is very fragile. Any upset of their mind set can be devastating. It’s possible to save them from themselves, but it takes years of being slowly exposed to facts and truth. Faster recovery is possible, but it involves getting a job and taking on responsibilities.
Lol
Or being hit alongside the head by “real life.” Sometimes that works.
Message to fans of robots and drones:
Within the past 5 years, my hospital obtained Medication Dispensing Machines ( made by Pixis or Omnicell). The only thing they bring about is a reduction in the amount of employee theft of pain relievers and other narcotics. It also tracks or catches the person diverting the meds through an independent camera within the room or keystroke tracking of employee ID code.
The addition of automation within the hospital medication room has not reduced humans within at the hospital. Instead it created a whole new classification of workers that have jobs going about fixing the machines.
We have not had a reduction in the numbers of pharmacists or pharmacy techs either. The job of the pharmacy tech has changed as they are now restocking the medication room vending machine.
To top all of this off: This last weekend we had a critical staffing shortage where many workers were mandated to work 16 hrs before they could go home. All because too many human workers decided they did not want to show up for work on a Friday Evening.
Many issues in this world will not be solved by drones or robots.
I will give you one example of the sickness infecting our country.
An acquaintance worked in the mines. Camp life, booze, gambling, … only home with wife the occasional week. He got hit by a slab on his shoulder and was slightly injured, but enough to get on partial disability for life. A good social services worker recognized that this person could be retrained to become a productive worker in the trucking industry. So, after over $20,000 in training, including mountain driving, he was handed a regular 8 hr one way route, then a layover and the same back. This was something called “pin to pin” with no loading or unloading duties. He was home several nights a week, received full benefits, good wages,… and the load was maxed going out but empty containers returning. The only condition was that He was not allowed to smoke in the truck and was not to have drugs or alcohol in his system when driving.
The dirt bag could not live with these conditions and chose to sit on welfare/disability instead.
It is time to cut welfare for the able bodied, even to the extent of starvation, because there are many good jobs out there, that many people are too lazy to do.
Have to add, this person only held this job for a few months. And further, I saw he was not disabled in any way because I helped him frame his house and shop. I thought he was one that could be trusted when the crap hit the fan – I was very wrong – lesson learned.
Too many of his like out there.
I’m assuming he probably voted demicrap?
Not a political snowflake, but only a welfare abusing scumbag that we all have to support – and this is Idaho (who would have thunk)..
Hermit
Isn’t that the way some have been taught?
Take the easy- er route.
Second, third generations of family welfare.
I gladly helped a hired work investigative team on my neighbor.
Bad back. Couldn’t work. Was going against the employer for his ‘injury’.
But yet he could go hunting, dragging deer, building blinds, etc.
Too many flakes out there.