It’s not half-ugly, either

By Advance Business Capital

“Hervie” (last name unknown) is a trucker whose mileage to date is 1.2 million. That’s a lot of time on the road and he seems to have learned something from every mile. Life As a Trucker, his highly readable, informative site (not a blog) is packed with knowledge, experience and advice on almost every conceivable trucking topic. Hervie is also a likeable guy who genuinely likes to help people. 

Hervie’s “Good, Bad and Ugly” 

He’s also an honest guy and one of the things that makes his site worth your time is that while he clearly loves his work, he doesn’t airbrush out the parts that suck. We recommend his observations on the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in big rig trucking. They’re all worth reading. We considered featuring excerpts from all three in this column, but we’ll only present selections from the last, which as in life, is the most interesting of the three. 

(There may be those of you who would argue that Bad is more interesting than Ugly, and so it may be, but Hervie’s post on Bad is devoted to bad truckers. It’s instructive but it also sounds a little like an effort to reform those readers who might recognize their own bad behavior. Blog4Truckers is many things, but it is not church. Our readers are on their own when it comes to mending their ways. Hervie’s post on Ugly, however, is mostly about ugly and abusive trucking companies. If you’re like us, you’d rather read a rant about employers any day.) 

Ugly: Companies Who Don’t Care About Drivers 

“Unfortunately, there is ugly in trucking just as there is ugly in every other work place. Shippers and receivers usually could care less about the driver’s never-ending rush to get loaded or unload as fast as possible. Sometimes, they even try to get free labor out of us. 

“Sometimes our very own company treats us as if we are robots behind the wheel. Some companies won't even route drivers through the house, as though we’re too stupid to know they have freight going through there. Managers, dispatchers and brokers give us bad delivery information and let the drivers do research for the right information (as if we don't have enough to do!) 

Ugly: Companies That Expect Their Drivers to Do Magic 

 “We are expected to make miracles happen. We are told to run legal, then told to get somewhere by the next morning at 6:00 a.m., this after getting loaded too late to make it there legally. We often work long hours, many uncompensated, and if not for creative time management we wouldn't get a decent paycheck. Everyone in the industry knows about this ‘slight’ conflict of interest, but there is a lack of unity and political will to do anything about it. 

“Something needs to be done to make shippers, receivers and trucking companies operate from the same page and work toward on-time appointments combined with timely loading and unloading. Everyone would win if they came together and made this happen. 

“Sorry, back to my topic. . . 

Ugly: Media that Blames the Trucker 

 “Ugly could easily describe the way the media portrays us when reporting incidents or accidents. They usually imply that accidents are the trucker's fault, even when there is no fault found or when fault is questionable. In reality, most of the time fault is with four wheelers and the trucker is blamed on a technicality (Logbook says he's wasn't supposed to be there and if he wasn't the four wheeler wouldn't have cut in front of him. What!?!). 

“Because it is more sensational for media to report truck accidents than car accidents, a lot of people think truckers are the cause of most accidents when in actually we are the safest drivers on the road. (Duhhh! Should only take a little common sense to figure that out, but don't count on it.) 

Ugly: The Trucker Stereotype 

“The ugliest thing in trucking may be the stereotypical image that the general public has of the American truck driver. Too many people take Hollywood movies for the real thing. They think we all are hillbilly rednecks who spend our days looking for lot lizards, racing each other up and down the highway, trying to outrun the police, and talking trash on the CB radio. (We wouldn't last a week on the road if we were really like that. LOL! Funny but sad.) 

Ugly: Letting Ugly Get You Down 

“Yep, Ugly is everywhere in the trucking industry! Having said that, ugly is everywhere in your life right now. Look around you. You’re just so used to it, you don't think about it. 

“Do you internalize it and let it ruin your mood? (You shouldn't) 

“Do you let it affect your outlook on life? (You shouldn't!) 

“Do you let it keep you from moving forward, from chasing your dreams? (You better not!) 

“These things are a part of life. There will always be ugly or at least the perception of ugly. 

Ignore the Ugly 

 “Any glass half empty is also half full. The choice is yours as to how you choose to view what life throws at you. The choice is up to you as to how you choose to respond. 

“But knowing what you know about the unfairness in life, you’re better able to prepare the best so that when you encounter the challenges you can maintain and keep moving forward. 

“Never let the ugly deter you from the journey. (Unless it’s deterring you from a journey to hell! LOL!) Life is full of challenges and unfairness (ugliness). Choose to navigate through them and make the best of it.” 

Thanks, Hervie! 

Hey, Hervie, we at B4T couldn’t agree more. Thanks for letting us hitchhike on your post for this month’s column and we hope those readers who may tire of our occasionally obnoxious attitude will check you out. Life as a Trucker is a great site for anyone who, like you, tries to see the glass half full. (And for you-all who prefer to see it half-empty, well, come back next month. Hear?) 

The principal source for this article was Life As A Trucker.

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