Social Media and Trucking

One of the attributes of a professional driver is that he or she is "seasoned". That means he or she has learned that driving for a living isn't all joy. There are negatives to contend with and contingencies that one may never see coming.

Seasoned drivers deal with these on a daily basis without blaming and "flaming" the carrier they work for unless the carrier has a tendency to expect the driver to make up for those negatives and contingencies. Theoretically, a 62mph truck should average 682 miles in an 11 hour period. And if the driver could keep the "pedal to the metal" all 11 hours without ever stopping or slowing down; that would be an accurate calculation. But given that many things can, and others must, occur in 11 hours, which will diminish that average, a true average is about 45mph on a bad day and 55mph on a good one.

There are still companies out there that expect a driver to "fudge" or "get creative" with his or her logbook to negate the effects of unexpected contingencies on runs. Those who do are hailed as "runners" and those that stick to the rules are hailed as "whiners." The punishment for "whiners" is to be relegated to a list of drivers that gets only loads with excessive time to deliver; or, short loads only. Worse than that, is having to pick up a load with good miles on it, just to turn it over to another driver who supposedly needs a load home or to a team that has complained because they are not getting enough miles. Teams are "golden children" with OTR carriers. With driver pay being based on miles driven, this can really affect one's pay negatively for that week.

When there was no recourse for these and numerous other inequities that exist is the Trucking Industry, drivers just got frustrated and moved on to another company that operated much the same regardless of the fact that all their "hype" in their advertisements in trade publications promised that they were the ones who would respect the driver in the morning.

Today, the driver that is connected to an entire virtual community is not the exception; but the norm. One of the things new entrants are asking on forums is, "What is the best technology to stay connected while on the road?" That means drivers are interacting online in real time. They are capable of posting actual events almost as they happen and can not only document them with still pictures but also with video.

Every driver can now post his or her comments to any number of social media outlets. Here is the clincher: These are drivers from distinct companies perhaps facing the same inequities. It is worse yet when too many drivers from the same company complain about the same inequities. This can either form a consensus that there is a problem in this area; or it can be ignored while retention takes a seat at the back of the bus.

Does social media matter? Not as much as it will in the near future! With the transparency that social media provides for all entities; all entities should be fully conscious that bad driving habits, as well as, bad company culture, will not remain hidden for very long. In that respect, social media is a double-edged sword. It sort of acts like a lock; it keeps honest people honest! I fully believe that social media will make or break drivers and trucking companies of today and tomorrow once it becomes fully recognized for its potential.