Surviving the politics of being a truck driver

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You have to understand the politics of being a truck driver

Ok, you have Truck Driver Training School. You have your Commercial Drivers License (CDL). You are ready to start your first job. However, like all schooling, you still have a lot to learn. And Politics is one of the areas you will need to master.

 

And before you think about Republicans and Democrats. Nope – I am talking about the people who will make your life miserable if you don’t play their games. Now before you take this negatively – it is really no different then any job you have ever had. You may not realize who they are until it is too late.

 

Here are some of the people you should learn to be nice to.

  1. Dispatcher. I can guarantee that your new employee packet will state that dispatch personnel are your immediate supervisors. As such, like all employment – you are required to treat them accordingly. Makes sense, but I am going to take it a step farther. Dispatchers are often under a lot of unseen pressure. They routinely will have all loads covered and everything will be going smooth when problems will arise. Some of the things that could be a major fire for them are (1) a key customer calling with several hot/unplanned loads, (2) trucks breaking down after already loading important freight that now needs a replacement truck, (3) another driver having a family emergency and now dispatch cover the work. The point is, when dispatch calls and says there is a change of plans – rather then rant and rave, joyfully respond that you will do everything that you can to make their life better. And here is the thing to realize – dispatchers are the people who decide who gets which (better) loads. The company may have a seniority system for assignments – but there is no system that could not be tweaked by the person at the keyboard. Be nice to dispatchers and they will be nice to you.
  2. Dockworkers. Expect these people to be arrogant with you. You should remember that these people are stuck on the dock all day. They are being hassled by their bosses to load/unload faster, move stuff around, and all the normal on the job (political) stuff. When they are driving to and from work – they have to deal with traffic. When they get home – the spouse and kids will raise their blood pressure. As a result – in their effort to feel, shall we say, superior to someone, anyone – you are it. They will berate you, talk down to you, sit on their forklift or behind their desk and look down on you. You are not important and the freight you are hauling is not important. They are important. And if you don’t realize this – piss them off just see how long you will be sitting there. And, hint – if you notice they only load (or unload) part of your load and then go to do something “more important”, you screwed up somewhere. They just showed you how much power they have by wasting your time.
  3. Other Drivers – You may think we are all equal, and you may be. But when another driver needs a favor, do it for them. Even if they don’t ask for help, if you see someone working on something and you have free time and can assist, walk over and offer. Just like every job you have ever had – someday you will need something and your reputation as a team player may be the deciding factor in how you are treated.
  4. Maintenance personnel. I will explain this one with a story from a family member. He turned his truck in for scheduled maintenance. Now, in the past, he was mouthy with the maintenance supervisor. (He actually had stated in so many words that he was a DRIVER this guy was just a mechanic.) So for several hours he kept looking for his truck in the area where they parked units after service. No truck. No truck meant that he could not go back on the board to get a load and make money. And since he was on duty, he was also burning hours. After about 6 hours, he finally found his unit parked around the corner near units the company was decommissioning for sale. When he relayed the story, I am certain he still had not learned the lesson that by talking down to maintenance, they had intentionally cost him time and money. Be nice to the people that fix your truck. Donuts may not hurt either.
  5. Payroll. Sounds simple enough, but often is not. If the person that handles your paperwork wants it a certain way – do it, even if you think it is stupid. Do everything in your power to do things exactly like they want.
  6. Training/Compliance. Again – it makes sense, but at the same time – I will reinforce it. Want to lose a day sitting in the office watching videos? Easy, just ignore any request from training. If they want you to watch a 4 hour video on, for example, HazMat – watch it. They may have a requirement that a certain number of drivers see the training. If you make it harder on them – they might just have dispatch pull you off the board so that you can watch an 8 hour video on Hours of Service and then the next day, watch the HazMat video anyway. Or maybe you don’t like something about how they want your logs completed because you know a better way. It don’t matter what you think you know. Don’t matter what you learned in school. What matters is what the person behind the desk wants.

 

In ending, it is really just common sense. Be nice to everyone you deal with. Although trucking can be fun because of the time you are basically on your own – you must still play the games of working well with others.

It is not hard, but you must lease the art of surviving the politics of being a truck driver.

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