Trucking makes headlines; tell us what you think

drivers

Trucking has been making headlines of late, and not just in traditional media like Truckers News and our sister site Overdrive.

Just a few days ago, Rolling Stone stopped reporting on Eminem, Pink, Justin Timberlake, and Lady Gaga long enough to offer a long piece titled, Death of the American Trucker, which asked, “Will automated trucking be Trump’s greatest betrayal of his blue-collar base?”

Today, the public radio program Hear And Now broadcast a piece titled, Trucking Industry Struggles To Cope With Growing Driver Shortage.  The piece opens with, “America needs more truck drivers. The trucking industry is facing a growing shortage of drivers that is pushing some retailers to delay nonessential shipments or pay high prices to get their goods delivered on time.”

And, not long ago USA Today began publishing a large and damning series called Rigged, about issues facing drivers serving the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The series has led to the City of Los Angeles this week suing several port trucking companies over pay and working conditions.

During the Hear And Now broadcast, Werner Enterprises CEO Derek Leathers said, “Being a truck driver was something that carried a certain level of honor with it. They were kind of the ‘knights of the road,’ and we lost that somewhere along the way, and I think often trucks are portrayed as sort of this negative reality on the road.”

Tell us what you think:

  • Has Trump betrayed truckers and other blue-collar workers?
  • Will automated trucks eventually replace drivers like yourself? When? Five years? 10? 20?
  • Are truckers no longer seen as “knights of the road”? If not, why not?
  • Finally, what should the non-trucking public know about you? Not about the trucking industry or about trucking companies, but about you, the driver?

Use our comments section below to weigh in.