It’s getting tougher to park it
Why are so many ill-informed, inexperienced people calling the shots?
Back in the 1990s, the local container haulers “shut ’er down” for more than six weeks. It was a very dramatic move that came about because company owners were undercutting so badly no driver could make a livable wage.
Five weeks into the job action Metro Vancouver grocery stores were displaying empty shelves, and it was only then that negotiations began in earnest. The ink was not even dry on the new contract when company owners were back undercutting. Drivers gave up. The industry changed overnight because of greed. Plain and simple.
It’s now 2018, and that end result is still evident. Driver shortage.
Last month, I talked about driver shortage, just one of many things that trouble this industry. We drivers are also concerned about our health and wellness. If the wheels don’t turn, we don’t earn. Most drivers, when they retire, do not receive a pension. Who’s going to pay for medical then? Many work into their 70s because of not being able to retire because of the lack of a livable wage, so they need to max out their CPP to have a fighting chance to survive after their driving days end.
Another everyday concern of ours is “parking.” Doesn’t seem to make sense, but just think about it for a second. I drive a rig with a 53-foot trail and I’m taking up about lots of static real estate. I’m looking for an unfamiliar-to-me address, so I’m driving super slowly looking for a tiny, or more often than not, non-existent number or company signage on a building located across an employee’s car parking lot. No place to safely pull off the road.
So we park on the road, hit the fourways, and start walking. Can’t turn a loaded rig around in a car parking lot, so, what’s a driver expected to do? Then come nighttime, where do we park our tractor units? Driveway at home? Neighbours of rig drivers are all members of the unofficial club called “not in my neighbourhood.” They all have the local bylaw officer on speed-dial.
To meet the demand there are landowners who will offer parking for a number of rigs, but charge outlandish rates because they know some sucker will be desperate enough to say yes and pay the toll. It usually means the driver will have to have another vehicle to take him to and from his home or parts store. Another expense just to survive.
Other drivers will work that parking lot opportunity, and help themselves to parts and diesel fuel from their fellow drivers … all under the cover of darkness. That’s right. There is no honour among drivers in an unlit, un-guarded, over-priced truck parking lot, regardless of the monthly parking fee charged. I’ve been victimized many times.
Then too, every time we turn around, somebody who has never experienced one single second behind the wheel of a rig is responsible for the enactment of more silly regulations that cost a driver more money, and allows him less time to do his job.
I’m all for rules and regulations for safety reasons, but when we drivers only see the newest and latest rules or laws as nothing short of a cash-grab, you have your own answer as to why drivers are often quite creative in expressing our feelings in sentences you would not want a lady or children to be within hearing range.
I’ve read countless reports and scanned scores of spreadsheets about the good and bad aspects of my industry.
I am almost blue in the face trying to comprehend why the suits and skirts in office buildings think their opinion is the only way we drivers can or should do our job. I just can’t figure out why there are so many ill-informed, meddlesome, inexperienced people calling the shots. It always makes me flash onto a scene I once saw of lemmings following their leaders off the side of a cliff, to their death.
I am still trying to figure out, in my industry, just who is leading who.
I could fill a newspaper with stories about life on the road, but why not share yours? Send them to Driving editor Andrew McCredie at amccredie@postmedia.com.