Fuel for Thought

Passing the Torch

Whatever your beliefs are about the driver shortage, the fact remains that every industry, including trucking, needs to replace workers as they cycle out and also add new workers to help the industry grow. Each year as an industry, trucking grows and there is a real need for qualified drivers to fill those vacancies. At the same time, each year drivers will retire from the industry or move to other lines of work for a myriad of reasons and also need to be replaced with trained, qualified drivers. The key here is not to just add or replace those drivers with any warm body willing to take the position, but to add or replace those drivers with those who are most likely to fill that position for a long term career. There are plenty of drivers who have been in this industry for many years that scoff and ridicule new entrants to our industry for not knowing what they consider “the basics” of trucking. While this behavior may make them feel superior, it does nothing to improve the situation they so often complain about.

If you, as a seasoned driver, truly wish your industry and the image of truck drivers would improve, perhaps it can start with you. Lead by example. Instead of mocking the ignorant, teach them. No, it is not your job to teach others to do what you do, but how else will they learn? Of course, I am not saying to give away all your customers or to divulge sensitive information, but if you think these new drivers are devoid of “the basics” of trucking, perhaps you could help bridge the knowledge gap. If you help to make one new driver better and safer, that will also benefit the industry. A struggling new driver is more likely to leave for another job. Help them to make trucking a career, not just a job.

Wouldn’t helping a new driver be the same as boosting my competition? No. If you are a seasoned driver then you should have the experience to help with the basics and let the new driver find his or her own path in our industry.

Trucking used to be a job where a parent driver would bring their children into the industry. These children grew up surrounded by the industry. By the time they were of legal driving age, they had many years of “training” upon entry. Nowadays, many who try to join the ranks among you and your peers, had no background in the industry to draw knowledge from other than a few weeks of truck driver training school. These schools can teach potential drivers to pass the CDL exams, but they lose a lot of the nuances, traditions and etiquette of the trucking world you have been in for years. If the experienced drivers do not help to pass the torch, the flame will surely be extinguished.

See you down the road,

Greg