Why I Quit Driving a Truck

I drove a truck in the United States for over 20 years, during that time I learned a lot about the supply chain and why we are having so many problems today. One of the problems with our supply chain is a thing called (JIT) Just in Time delivery system. This is when a product is ready to be shipped from the manufacturer to the store, it has to go through several steps to get there. 1st it is loaded onto a truck and shipped to a warehouse, where it is unloaded and transferred to another truck to be shipped to a distribution center (DC), and then it is transferred to another truck before it finally arrives at your store.

Each step requires a truck, a driver, and lots of fuel. The biggest issue is fuel, the price of fuel has more than doubled since President Biden took office. His total disregard for the consequences in his zeal for clean energy. His total commitment to getting us off of our dependency on fossil fuels is a big mistake. This is the biggest reason for the high fuel prices; not the war in Ukraine, or any other reason this administration gives.

The increase in fuel prices has led to inflation, which is hitting low- and middle-income Americans the hardest, inflation is also causing a lot of drivers to leave the trucking industry. Trying to support, basically two houses, limited parking at truck stops; and increased abuse from both shippers and receivers; also, the failure of many companies to increase pay to meet the rising cost of everything. It is getting harder and harder to find and keep quality drivers.

Long hours were spent waiting to get loaded and unloaded. The ever-increasing traffic on the highways. Trucking companies promise quality home time, but then they never get you home. Drivers sit at a shipper all day waiting to get loaded, then they are expected to drive all night to be at a receiver 300-400 miles away between 0700-0800 the next morning.

When my wife got sick and went into the hospital, it took the company I worked for almost a week to get me home. That is when I decided it was time to get off the road. Mine is just one of many stories about why drivers quit. These are just a few of the reasons drivers quit.

Companies used to think that drivers were a dime-a-dozen, in other words, if a driver quit, there were plenty of drivers waiting to take their place. Not that way anymore. Of course, now the industry is experimenting with trucks that drive themselves; and corridors for them to operate in. Imagine that, a vehicle weighing close to 80,000lbs going down the road with no driver, with just a computer in control. Automobile computer systems have been being hacked for years, I can only imagine what would happen if the system in one of these trucks was hacked, especially by a terrorist. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good companies out there, I just got tired of always being some were else when something happened at home.

I quit driving a truck because I got tired of being treated like a second-class citizen. Law enforcement does not need a warrant, not even probable cause to search your vehicle. There are law enforcement officials who believe because you are a truck driver, you are doing something illegal, you are a criminal. For many in the law enforcement community, truck drivers are nothing more than a way to generate revenue for the state.

I like what I am doing, writing these posts. I enjoy doing the research for my post on the Constitution and other topics.