I thought it might be time to update and tweak Ray’s rules and once again and bring some order to 2010 before we get to far along folks. Some of you might not like them, but it might be because of YOU that they have to be imposed, so think twice before you send me any snotty e-mails please! I promise that if all goes well and everyone obeys the new rules we will all sleep a little better at night and there will be less stress and unrest in the industry. Here we go

Rule One: from this point forward all pure load brokers are to be abolished, the new rule stipulates that the maximum amount of freight any company can broker cannot exceed the amount that they actually haul on equipment they own and is licensed to the same company. Many of you load lizards have no idea what it cost to operate a tractor trailer and pay a decent wage, so you’re out, unless you put some skin in the game yourself.

Rule Two: EOBR’s (Electronic On board Recorders) will be installed in every Class 8 Vehicle whose safety record shows them in the bottom 20% of the industry. Everyone else will be left alone, why bother everyone when the 80/20 rule is in effect. 80% of our grief is caused by 20% of the fools in this industry. Oops this was the proposed rule before Crash and Public citizen I.e. the railways, sued FMCSA over it. If any among us think corporate greed doesn’t override the public good, just take a look at what the railways did here.

Rule Three: The current speed limiter law in Ontario will be repealed as it applies to all trucks and will now apply to all classes of vehicles and drivers on our highways. Any driver who has more than 2 speeding tickets within the calendar year or any driver found to be in excess of 30 km’s over the posted speed limit must have a speed limiting device installed in their vehicle. The same rational applies as rule 2, 80/20 we will straighten them out or kick UM out! As a side bar it appears as though we will have to mandate that the police actually watch the highways for these folks. But, you might ask, if we did this would we even need speed limiters at all, we might be digging to deep into the common sense answer, let’s not let that get in the way here.

Rule Four: All teams can now split their sleeper birth time in 4-5-hour increments anywhere in North America. These are the safest vehicles on the highways messing with them is one of the dumbest things that was done in the name of highway safety in recent memory and should be repealed immediately.

Rule Five: All driver training schools must teach a PTDI (Professional Truck Driver Institute) course which has been certified by PTDI or their access to government funding for their students will be declined. They will be audited to ensure they are teaching to PTDI certified course that this industry needs to ensure all new drivers are safe and that carriers can use them. Imposing Speed Limiters and EOBR’s on trucks when you can get an AZ or CDL for under $1000.00 is not making any more sense now than it did with the first set of Ray’s rules some years back. Am I missing something here before we are inundated with new rules let’s fix some of the busted stuff folks.

Rule Six: From this point forward there will be no free loading or unloading period! Giving 2 hours of a driver’s time along with $150,000.00 worth of iron is a habit from the past that some camouflaged shipper, made up to look like a trucker, came up with. I had a problem with my water softener some time back, it cost me $85.00 for the Culligan man to show up and for that I got 30 minutes of his time the next 30 minutes was going to cost me another $20.00 $105.00 an hour for the Culligan man, one fellow in a Chevy van, what’s wrong with this picture? I got the guy out in 30 minutes, for $105.00 an hour! How long would it take to get a load off if we were priced where we should be for man time and equipment, not long I bet?

Rule Six: The term lumper is now abolished, as is the practice of forcing a driver to hire labor to unload a load that they don’t own. The Ministry of Labor will investigate this practice whenever a complaint is lodged. These people are workers for the receiver who owns the goods and as such should be paid by the receiver as employees and receive benefits. Any receiver found using this practice will be made to personally hand bomb every load that arrives at their dock for a month, by themselves, and of course pay the truck and driver $105.00 per hour for unloading demurrage. They’d be dropping like flies; they’d have to install defibrillators on all the docks for the receivers.

Rule Seven: From this point forward drivers’ meals are 100% tax deductible to $100.00 per day max or per dium for drivers must match exactly the allowable per dium amount granted to all government employees. This one riles me how did this happen have you heard what some of these politicians expenses accounts are. Shame on them forever messing with this I would like to make a cute joke on this subject but this just ###sses me off, the nerve!

Rule Eight: Any driver found to spend an excess amount of time in a truck stop or driver’s room repeatedly and excessively whining will be forced to leave the room and counseling on that individual will be begin immediately. I don’t mind a good rant once in awhile, but driver please! Love it or leave it your killing me with the cow tears. P.S. it is also against the rules for those same folks to write me any cry baby letters or emails, hey there my rules right.

Rule Ten: The most important rule is in fact the golden rule of common courtesy and respect. Any shipper/receiver found to be demonstrating less than acceptable level of manners or reasonable facilities for drivers will be surcharged an additional $105.00 per hour as penalty to be paid in cash at the time of unloading.

Well that’s all the room I’ve got I do have many more rules that are just as important if you’ve got some that you think need to be added to Ray’s rules please feel free to post them right here on this blog. This is a work in progress!

YT
Rjh

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Driver #1: I'm just like every other driver out there plying the 401 corridor: I hate to back off the throttle since I'm governed at 99kph (love that word "governed" instead of "speed limited--Right O gov'ner check, my black box, eh what?"), even more so, I hate to make a brake application when unnecessary, but I really dislike having to throw on the binders just because buddy has been out in the left lane for 20 minutes, creeping up on me the last 5 exits. During that time I've passed four trucks and one car (ok I drive at night), now he's closing in and getting a few lengths away and I come across a few real slow pokes in the right lane, a three-legger and a tanker and a car as well in the mix. Am I right to pull out in front of him even though he may have to put on the brakes?

Driver #2 In my opinion making excessive lane changes is dangerous and unnecessary. When I'm going to pass somebody I get in the left lane and stay there until I've done my business and passed who I want to pass. The four wheelers I don't care about, they can do whatever they want behind me. The only time I'll pull over for them is if they've got a red and blue flashing light on their roof. If I'm driving in the left lane to pass someone, and another truck pulls out in front of me and I have to put on the brakes, I consider that an unsafe move on the other driver's part.

I think both drivers have a point, and there's a little of both in most truckers. Usually, if I'm involved in a marathon passing session with another truck moving a fraction of a km faster or slower than me, I'll back off and see if the positions realign, but I'll pass a slow guy on a hill to keep my own momentum going...Sometimes I'll notice someone slowly making a move at the top of the Kingston hill and they'll catch me in Napanee. Then I'll blow by them on Wooler hill and the dance begins again. But I have to say that it's pretty polite out there most nights. Drivers give you lots of room. But I don't think there's any excuse for a professional driver sticking in the middle lane all the way through Toronto, and you see it not infrequently.

Last night I noticed a guy reading a book with the dome light on, and driving quite well actually, and another truck driver who was all over the road whenever he got past another vehicle. Most likely sleep deprived but I suppose he could have been drunk (actually they drive quite similarly). This guy would get past a truck or two alright and then would be floating across the lanes, or straddling both alternatively. I noticed he pulled over at Coutrice Rd. hopefully for a short sleep, it's just too bad I can't mention the company name, but I did chew him out pretty good on the radio, even though he probably wasn't listening.

So blah blah, and drive safe, as they say grammatically incorrectly.

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Very few, if any, segments of the trucking industry have emerged unscathed from the recession of the past two years. But it seems dump truck operators are a particularly hard-hit bunch.

Gord Balford, an owner/operator in the Barrie, Ont.-area called me the other day to dicuss the sector’s many problems. He has sold his pup trailer and parked his Western Star gravel truck, because there are too many guys running their trucks for $70/hour and even major customers are exploiting the situation.

Making matters worse, he said companies are dragging their feet when it comes to paying drivers. He said one company just paid him just last week for work he did for them in August.

Balford said the final straw for him was when he bid what he felt was a reasonable rate on a job hauling wood shavings - but someone else came along with an end-dump and undercut his rate by a full 50%. That’s when he put his pup up for sale and parked his rig.

“This is how cutthroat it is and it’s getting worse,” he told me.

The obvious answer to the problem is that it’s simply a matter of supply and demand. Just like in the freight business, there are too many trucks chasing too little work. But wait a sec, what became of all the federal stimulus spending we were promised? I got the sense there’d be a new building going up on every corner, every mile of roadway would be getting an upgrade and gravel pits would be running low.

Instead we hear of rate wars, owner/operators selling their equipment and parking their trucks and companies that require their services taking months to pay up.

Ron Singer is the president of the Alberta Construction Trucking Association (ACTA) and is also a columnist for Truck West magazine. In this month’s columns, he identified several issues facing construction truckers in his home province. They’re the same everywhere in this country –except maybe Vancouver which is buzzing with pre-Olympic activity.

Ron says gravel trucking rates are down 10-30% in Alberta, depending on the region. It used to be you couldn’t help but make money if you had a gravel truck in resource-rich Alberta. Now, the industry is being put to the test and it is not responding well. Singer says he’s noticed a steady decline in professionalism and ethics within his own industry, which he notes is in correlation with the steady exit of the more experienced drivers who’ve had enough and hung up their keys.

In Alberta, the ACTA at least has a plan. For starters, it’s been surveying construction truckers across the province to learn about their most pressing concerns and to determine what they’re getting paid. It also developed a Code of Ethics and Standards that all of its members must adhere to. Next up, and this is the big challenge, the association hopes to get buy-in from all construction truckers. Singer feels that if everyone in the business unites, they can force some real change when it comes to rates and working conditions. We’re not talking about union organization and we’re not talking about price-fixing – his group is just asking guys to respect one another out there and demonstrate a level of professionalism and courtesy that seems to have been waning in recent years.

As we’ve seen with Obama, promising change is a lot easier than actually delivering it. But gravel haulers need to work together and buy into a common vision if they want their rates and working conditions to improve. Think it’ll never happen? There is a precedent for this. The Truckers Association of Nova Scotia (TANS) is a pretty effective little industry group out east that looks after its members and has even convinced government to agree that a certain percentage of trucks on any taxpayer-funded job site will belong to independents.

Nova Scotia dump truckers are not without their problems, but there’s a level of respect among them that’s almost non-existent in many other parts of the country. Singer says TANS is the model ACTA aspires to. I wish Ron and the ACTA well in their endeavour to raise the professionalism of their own industry. It’ll be worth watching and, if successful, celebrating.

EDITED TO ADD PICTURE: Here's a picture of the dual/use vehicle Norm alluded to. How about it? Would you consider running a gravel truck with a removable dump body if it provided you the versatility to haul freight/logs or other commodities when things are slow?

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It was just the other day and some business associates and myself were dscussing the Economy, Transportation and what difficulties we face. One was a Lawyer, One was a Stock Broker, One was a Self Employed Management Consultant and then me a Transportation LIFER.

It occured to me that not only we each faced difficulties, but they were all related, connected and yet distinctly different at the same time. Talk about SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION. The lawyer was representing a company, who had declared themselves bankrupt. yet they owed carriers HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. The management consultant, was stuck with a major problem HOW TO HANDLE THE PASSING OF THE TORCH (since it is Olympic year and here in Canada) from generation to generation to generation. The company not only did not have a succession plan in place, the children were not remotely interested in the business. They were involved only because their parents wanted them to be. The Stock Broker sat back listened and then told us, well we never had a recession and we are better off than most countries, we have a great economy. Then they looked at me.

I am neither the Oracle of Mississauga, nor am I an Economist or a Banker or Lawyer. However, I am a pragmatist and deal with the result of the problem. As those of us in this industry realize, if it is your house, on your house you are wearing it, or eating it, it arrived by truck. We are the first to see any and all problems of the economy. I went on to explain, that transportation is not that complex really and yet it is ONE HECK OF A BELLWEATHER TO USE. My first comment was that the Canadian Dollar Is way to high, for the good of our economy. Our major trading partner is the United States of America. For us to succed we cannot afford for the Dollar to be any hgiher than $0.80 to $0.85 exchange. Why ? Simple! The American public do not need to buy form us or deal with us with goods costing so much. The result we export less to the United States. Impalance of trade. Less exports to them, yet our Imports are still fairly stable from them. This means of cousre, we have more goods coming home and less goods going down. The rates should reflect it. DO THEY? IF NOT, WHY NOT? Well I will let all the experts figure that out.

The stock broker laughed again and he told us all, Transportation stinks as an industry to invest in, it is a loosing propostion from the word go. I beg to differ. I think it a great place to invest in. If you are investing in your company. I am not convinced that stocks in the Transportation Sector are that great an investment, however. Funny enough the stock brokers comment was coming of course from someone who gets our money when we buy and when we sell. Sort of a built in market. Even on line investing they still charge both ways. They get your money no matter what. Then the lawyer and I discussed a couple matters.

I guess the first was, his take on the LACK OF PROTECTION FOR CARRIERS, FROM COMPANIES GOING BANKRUPT. He wondered why Carriers are not secured creditors. I wonder, if shipments travel on a B/L and Transfer of Title of the goods does not occur until the Transportation Charges are paid in full, why we are not considered Secured creditors? Perhaps the government should take a look and change the rules somehow. Then he discussed Contracts and shipper versus broker, versus Insurance claim contracts. Funny enough he agreed with me, Any claim whatsoever, it is illegal to offset the amount of the claim against any past freight charges owing to the carrier. The amount of the claim itself is one and the same. It becomes and is integral to the claim. It is included in the amunt of the claim. We then discussed DUE DILIGENCE DEFENSE with regards to many issues, facing carriers today in Ontario courts.

All I can say is "MAKE SURE IT IS DOCUMENTED , MAKE SURE IT IS IN WRITING, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PROOF, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLOSED AS MANY LOOPHOLES AS YOU CAN, LISTEN WHILE IN COURT AND SEE EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE TRYING TO PROVE. For the most part, if you can prove you have done as much as pssible to inform, enforce and reenforce time after time after time, you have a chance. Of course it is always up to the court to decide who, what, when, where, and why. Do not be afraid to ask for their proof, ask for all of their evidence, ask for them to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. Of course this is COMMON LAW, in Ontario, in Quebec CIVIL LAW prevails, which means you are guilty until proven innocent. Even worse Due Diligence does not hold water, in United States.

What could Mr. Harper really do? Well I know I have a great idea. Instead of relying on his economists, bankers, cabinet ministers, and his very close confidantes, for information and then of course closing down parliament. Why not come to us? The people who see day to day what is really happening. Ask us for Ideas, suggestions (Polite ones), our take on the economy, our take on what really ails the economy. Get into the real world. However, when was the last time a Politician actually did what they promised, while running for office. Talk to some of us in the business world who see the real matters, UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL.

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Has the recession permanently changed the way we do business? It was one of many questions posed to a large panel of trucking executives at the latest Ontario Trucking Association convention but I thought it perhaps the most important one.

There was a great deal of soul searching following the question as executives recounted the most significant lessons they’ve learned during this most gut wrenching of industry downturns. Several executives said they realized just how little customers understand about what goes on behind the scenes to pull off a delivery; a reality that’s not helped by many motor carriers who not only neglect to educating their customers but who are too often willing to devalue the service they provide just to land a contract.

Many pointed to excess capacity as the root of the industry’s current troubles and called for a workable plan to flex the fleet during downturns but to not do so on the backs of owner/operators.

On the positive side, some executives pointed out that having their back against the wall the past two years has forced motor carriers to work harder to gain efficiencies and find cost reductions that don’t compromise safety. As one executive eloquently put it: It has been a very cleansing opportunity to be able to hit a reset button.

Naturally, the general feeling was that they’ve learned important lessons they won’t soon forget. I hope they’re right but my personal impression over the past 20 years covering the transportation industry is that lessons learned during hard times start to fade as economic fortunes improve, thus sowing the seeds for future industry setbacks. Yet it’s encouraging that the industry is having this discussion and influential executives are willing to openly debate the strategies that proved to have such disastrous effects during the downturn. The OTA deserves credit for creating the forum to make such an exchange possible.

This year will continue to be volatile time for trucking companies and there are still lessons to be learned. So I think it important to continue the discussion on the industry’s future. Those of you interested in doing so may want to follow me to Winnipeg this February 17-19 to the Future of Trucking Symposium. I’ll be kicking off the event with a presentation entitled, The North American Trucking Industry: Where we are and where we are going. The symposium itself is designed to analyze how trucking will evolve in response to changing freight movement patterns, environmental concerns, fuel price volatility, and labour availability over the next 20 years. Several prominent industry figures will be speaking at the event, including Clayton Gording, president of YRC Reimer Express Lines, Don Streuber, president and CEO of Bison Transport, and Claude Robert, president and CEO of Robert Transport.

The symposium will also feature a panel on future heavy-duty truck and engine technologies, i.e. selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). Speakers will represent some combination of the following organizations: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); Daimler Trucks (Detroit Diesel Engines, Freightliner and Western Star); Volvo/Mack Trucks; Navistar/International Trucks; Terra Environmental Industries or Yara Industries and Pilot/Flying J Travel Centers.

For more information, contact Kathy Chmelnytzki at 204.474.9097 or at transport_institute@umanitoba.ca
I hope to see you there.

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Congratulations to all who participated in the Shell Rotella Wowtrucks Calendar promotion! The promotion is now closed and everyone should have their calendars within 2 - 3 weeks.

With the 2010 Wowtrucks® Calendar proudly on walls around the world.. its time to focus on this year's Wowtrucks competition to get into the 2011 Wowtrucks® Calendar!

Once again 3 spots will be available to be won at each of the four major shows across Canada. Here are their dates & locations:

June 19/20: Pro-Trucker Magazine Alberta Big Rig Weekend, Westerner Park, Red Deer, Alberta

July 29 - Aug 2: Rodeo du Camion, Notre Dame du Nord, Quebec

Full Details on www.wowtrucks.com

3 Winners at each show will be taken on photo shoots after the show, utilizing the great landscapes each of these areas of Canada has to offer.

If you'd like information on making the 2011 Wowtrucks® Calendar your company calendar email me at david@wowtrucks.com

Bring on summer!

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A couple weeks ago I laid helpless in my dentist's chair with a power drill down my throat. Rob, my dentist of several years and a towering figure launched into something he was obviously very convicted about that day.

“Dave, I really don't have any guilt charging you today. We're renovating our house and I just got the designer's invoice and wow.. he's sure not afraid to billl” No matter what I thought of his outburst, I wasn't in a position to argue.

Ironically and thankfully Rob's designer launched a curious and positive chain of events. Because the designer wasn't afraid to charge, Rob had no trouble charging me and Rob's Power Drill Manifesto affected me later that day as I went to quote a prospect I really wanted.

You see the temptation would have been for me to go in with as low a price as possible with the reward being that I might actually make some money down the road with more business. Rob's manifesto reminded me to just ask for what I was worth.

Getting what you are worth. What a concept.

For many of us it may seem like some sort of far off dream.

It is a concept that so many business people that attend my Communication & Leadership seminars struggle with.
It is a concept I have to keep myself honest with on a daily basis.
Having served the Transport Sector for close to 20 years I also recognize it as one of the primary issues that needs to be addressed in for a return to health of this vital sector in Canada's economy.

Let's face it, the consequences of not getting what you are worth are many:

Loss of Self Esteem

Anger

Frustration

Financial Struggles both on a corporate and personal level

and biggest of all: a Negative Attitude.

A negative attitude to those suppliers or clients we feel aren't treating us as well as they should be which spirals us into a negative and toxic relationship.

I have to always remember this personal and corporate truth:

I am always in control. No one can undervalue me unless I let them.

I am extremely fortunate to mingle with some positive leaders each and every year in the concept of getting what you are worth in the Transport sector. They are many of the men and women who win their way into the annual Wowtrucks® Calendar I photograph and produce. Wowtrucks® is my way of combining two personal passions, photography and people.

I take 3 trophy winners from each of the 4 major show n shines across Canada each year and together they form Canada's Big Rig Calendar. The calendar, even more importantly than showcasing really cool trucks also showcases really cool people. To me the image of the truck is simply a portrait representation of that person. Your clients/prospects get images of your truck(s)/fleet every day. What do those images say about you or your company?

Many of the Owner Operators who win their way into the calendar are not afraid to ask for what they are worth and they tend to get it. Yes, they are not completely immune to swings in the economy, but even in tougher times they are still making more than their counterparts who don't get the concept of asking for what you are worth. In tougher times, they may make more than their competitors as they may choose to do less, and not accept business that is demanding them to work for far less than they are worth.

Here's the chain of events that are common to their stories:

1) They take pride in their Rig and their fleet.

2) Customers start to associate that with pride in a job well done.

3) They deliver on their promise. Loads delivered on time, safely by drivers who are happy to be there and care about the client.

4) Long term positive relationships form and clients recognize the value of dealing with them.

5) That value translates past a $ per mile cost and they aren't under the same constant pressure to match bottom market pricing at all times that their peers are under.

6) Because they feel valued they continue to take pride in their Rig and Fleet

7) Go to Step 1

At this point I know a few of you will be thinking to yourself “Earth calling Dave! Earth calling Dave! Nice on paper buddy but my clients will never pay me what I think I'm worth and there's not a thing I can do about it. If I don't take the business at those lower rates there's another company that will in a heartbeat.” I hear you and reality says that that all to frequently you are absolutely right.

And while the answer is slightly more involved than the straight forward path I'm going to suggest: The basic solution path I would encourage you with is:

*Provide value to your clients (1000's of ways to do this aside from cost per mile)
*Ask for what you are worth.
*Potentially walk away from clients who won't pay you what you are worth.
*Let your competitors take that business at non sustainable rates and drown.
*Be happier and thrive in a very competitive industry.

The alternative is accepting less than your worth and in a nightmare scenario actually surviving. Surviving as an unhappy, underpaid, overstressed supplier of transport services complaining and blaming everyone around you for your circumstance. Even when the reality is it was a choice you made and continue to make. This isn't just transport, we've all seen this in every industry.

If you provide value to your clients and go out and ask for what you worth, the absolute worst thing that can happen is they won't recognize it and that you transfer your skills and talents to a marketplace or industry that will.

And while that type of attitude takes courage and sounds harsh: we all recognize that there are way too many in the industry today just “hanging on”. Thats not healthy neither for the sector nor for them.

I've been party to many a conversation enviously mocking another industry, perhaps a supplier, because they're not afraid to pass on costs, charge what they need to etc. Similar to the “It must be nice” manifesto I got from Rob. “It must be nice” would be the common opener to those conversations that we've all heard and likely all participated in at one time or another. We're envious of people who are not afraid to assert their value.

If that applies to you today, be encouraged that “ nice” is not a pipe dream and may not involve ditching the transport sector! It simply boils down to choices we make where we are at. I passionately believe that you and I deserve to get properly recognized for the services we provide: both financially and otherwise. If each one of us were to take that message to heart and go ask for it, it would radically change the face and health of the transport sector in Canada today.

If you need encouragement, just envision your dentist with a power drill down your throat.

David Benjatschek is a professional speaker/trainer on the topics of Leadership & Communication. Find out more by visiting his website: www.marketbeamer.com

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Really, I can't think of a topic that's more polarizing to the trucking community. And I should start by declaring my bias: working truck driver and IBT member as well as a freelance writer. In a past incarnation, I used to joke that I paid union dues to Jimmy Hoffa Jr., wrote copy for Conrad Black, and hauled sliced bread for Gaelen Weston. These days I'm just a peon in the Purolator linehaul network and I've never been politically active with any union or local. So the following is my opinion and doesn't represent anyone or anything. My brief survey of a few Challenger drivers below is unscientific and anecdotal in nature.

But Teamsters Canada president Bob Bouvier's vow to organize Callenger Motor Freight of Cambridge, Ont. might have less substance than his strident press release would have you believe. True, Challenger is in expansion mode and possibly some drivers are being courted by Teamsters, but the unionization process is never easy and this is a tight company with some very loyal employees.

My job puts me in contact with a variety of Challenger drivers almost daily and I'm always happy to ask them what they think. Everyone of them has heard about the Teamsters initiative, and the response varies from mild interest to disparaging comments.

“A union like that is only good for lazy drivers,” one Quebec driver told me. Well, not exactly, but a union environment makes it very difficult to fire drivers, and family companies faced with the prospect of a unionized work force are loathe to give up control of personnel issues.

The other side of the coin is that carriers paying top dollar don't have any trouble finding good drivers. Ideally, the lead hand system allows work to carry on without the presence of management. The drivers are supposed to be the best and most capable and should know what doors to fill, what runs have to go, etc., without the presence of a supervisor.

Another Challenger company driver, a former Teamster, told me he liked the job, but thought the base rate was a little low. Another man, a newly hired owner operator from the west coast told me he liked all the extras, free showers, laundry, etc. He added that his recruiter was incredibly attentive to him whenever he called in.

Stats Canada figures indicate that unionized drivers make a bit more than non-union drivers and work slightly less hours. From my perspective, after working for driver services and random carriers, I went gunning for the best paying jobs and they were usually union fleets.

But every month $61 from my paycheque goes to the IBT (I'd be curious to know how much stays in Canada and how much goes to the head office in Washington). Make no mistake, Teamsters are a big corporate union and historically have been able to get a good rate for their members. But it's not the only union model in Canada. If I remember correctly, roughly just under 20% of truck drivers are represented by a union in Canada. Besides IBT, Steelworkers, CAW, UFCW and Chemical Electrical and Paperworkers all have a trucking component as part of their membership.

No company welcomes unionization: it's too much trouble, it will reduce profits, they'll ask for too much, they'll be too strong and shut the plant down in the event of a dispute. But there are potential benefits to a union model. A collective agreement spells out exactly the duties and responsibilities of employees and management. And although the grievance system my be time-consuming, once a company gets to a certain size, it helps to have a standard disciplinary protocol in place. After a labour board ruling a few years back, Mackie Moving Systems of Oshawa, Ont. was organized by Teamsters local 938 and, unofficially, I don't think the process was particularly painful for either party.

Are drivers better off in a union? From my perspective. yes, but only very slightly and it really depends upon your situation. Some owner operators would never consider working for a union while others don't have any problem with a collective agreement. The Challenger drivers I talked to weren't exactly hopping out of their trucks to sign a union card

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CSA 2010 is coming! For all Intents and Purposes it may as well be here. Have the authorities started to hand out more violations than ever before YOU BET THEY HAVE. More audits than ever before, YOU BET THERE WILL BE. More training required, YOU BET THERE WILL BE. LEVEL PLAYING FIELD, SURE WHEN PIGS CAN FLY.

What it comes down to is basic and fundamental. As long as there is cheap freight and some carrier is going to move it without caring about the revenue, or actual cost to run the freight, then all the competition can BE DAMNED. However when we as carriers continue to get 8, 10, and 12 page, contracts thrown at us for hauling a load that pays, $500.00 and the so called customer is relable and trustworthy, funny enough they are also carriers. They have the same basic costs as we do. Perhpas higher Perhaps lower, but in essence costs to run a truck are within pennies the same for all carriers.

Why then, does one of the largest 3 P.L.'s in the world continue to operate thinking it is doing carriers a favor by offering to them a load for $1.00/mile or $ 1.10/mile? I know someone will move it. That is the big mistake. Actually the bigger mistake is the mentality that is in our industry. This mentality is Well we make more on Head Haul and loose on the Back Haul ( OR VICE VERSA). Hogwash! I say our costs are our costs. Push the so called Logistics companies out there, to sell higher rates, and pay hgiher rates. Do not let Load Brokers offset claims against freight charges owing. THis is illegal and the freight charges of course would be pro rated and become part of the claim. I know a carrier who told me about a QUEBEC based load broker tell them "TOUGH (WELL YOU GET THE IDEA), I'm not paying the freight charges, and I'm deducting the money for the claim off of other revenue we owe you." This practise is illegal and yet it thrives and flourishes in our industry.

Thanks very much. What we need is an industry where such companies can be reported, use the information and stop dealing with them. What is even more amazing is that the shipper, or consignee is usually not even aware of the illegal practise that is going on. Instead of concentrating on CSA 2010 let's start concentrating on what it will take to survive another year! What it will take to discuss some new topic this time next year! Stop sending out these ridiculous contracts and expecting carriers to sign them. More importantly, CARRIERS SHOULD STOP SIGNING THEM OR MAKE CHANGES TO THEM. If you need the freight, do you really need the headaches if something goes wrong with the load.

Basically most of the contracts put all of the onus on the carrier, and then we will get hopefully in 45 or 60 or more days get paid. REMEMBER THE MOVIE NETWORK "WE'RE MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE" Only by sticking together will it happen. Entreprenurial ideas work. Starting a new Trucking company will work, However selling or buying freight at the lowest price possible just to take the freight from a competitior is a license to go out of business faster than you started. Take your cash flow projection and sit with a banker, THEY WILL EXPLAIN IT as well. If you cannot show them yourcosts per mile, and the money left over at then end of the day, Will they lend you money?

REMEMBER IF YOU SIGN IT, IT IS A BINDING CONTRACT.

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