Episode 4 - Truck Driver Appreciation

From September 8th-14th the trucking industry celebrated National Truck Driver Appreciation Week - for good reason - Truck Drivers make the world go 'round!

In this episode Michael and Aaron talk about their favorite truck driver celebration from trucking companies around the nation and dive into some practical ways anyone can showcase their appreciation for truck drivers every day - inside and outside of the industry. 

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“But you gotta want it. It’s gotta be in your blood to do it. So a lot of folks just coming out as a job. You know, and they that's all they look at. I've been driving trucks 13 years I've been around it all my life. My grandfather owned 100…I think it was 120 trucks. When I was a kid, my dad owned 40 to 50 of them. It’s something I eat, sleep and breathe. You know, it's more of a passion than a job.” 

Michael: Welcome to trucking for millennials, where we engage with the future of freight happening now. My name is Michael Clements.

Aaron: And I'm Aaron Dunn. And we're here to help trucking and logistics professionals stay up to date and ahead of the curve as our industry evolves. 

Michael: We're connecting with every step of the supply chain as part of our mission to increase transparency and provide world class freight solutions.

 Aaron: PDQ America podcast, aka Trucking for Millennials or actually I guess it's the other way around.

 Michael: Trucking for Millennials, aka PDQ America. Brought to you by

Aaron: Yeah, there you go. Yeah. But uh, yeah. We’re back…week four. What's going on?

Michael: Well, it's football season.

Aaron: It is football season.

Michael: It's football season.

Aaron: Man and it feels great to be a Cowboy right now.

Michael: Yes it does. 

Aaron: We're undefeated!

Michael: We're undefeated 1-0 and going to the Super Bowl number six number six Super Bowl coming your way this year NFL. 

Aaron: Yes. Yeah, that was an excellent game. On…When did they play that game? 

Michael: Sunday.

Aaron: Sunday? Yeah. So yeah. It was awesome.

Michael: Great game NFL is back for all you people out there that like the NFL and for you that for you that don't that's okay. It's truck driver Appreciation Week.

Aaron: In other news, yeah. Other news. Yeah. So that's the pretty much the title of the episode. I think it's truck driver Appreciation Week. It's Top of Mind around the office right now we work to appreciate truck drivers every day. But it is this week, the eighth through I think the 14th that it is a national celebration of the truck driver and all that they do for our country.

Michael: It's wonderful because in our office, this was something that was everybody was well aware of. And one of one of our ladies came in the office on Monday we were having our team meeting and she starts passing out cards about “Here, sign these for the drivers, sign these for the drivers.” I loved it. Didn't nobody told her to do that. Nobody said you need to go get cards. Just the culture. I love it.

Aaron: Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. Shout outs to Katie. Yeah, that's great. So I've been having a lot of fun this week already. Just seeing what is happening in the social media universe in the in the space. All kinds of trucking companies, truckers themselves are celebrating Truck Driver Appreciation Week in a lot of different ways. There's cookouts that are happening, you know, giveaways at different companies…you know they're doing giveaways for their drivers…cookouts…one did a football watch party okay it was like a barbecue and all that kind of stuff football watch party for their for their drivers. I was like that's awesome unless you're a Miami dolphin fan and then didn't have a great time. 

Michael: It's gonna be a long season, y’all.

Aaron: But anyway, yeah, back, you know, away from football again. One piece of content that really stuck out to me, which I thought was just absolutely hilarious was Maverick Transportation. If you haven't, if you don't follow them or what have you. It just happened across my feed and we've got it here. Just a sampling of the greatness that this video is You have the have a moment, check out their Instagram. What is their Instagram handle?

Michael: Maverick transportation.

Aaron: Okay, so just go visit it and then look for the video. It goes to IG TV, but we're going to play the song and it's a music video that they created with their drivers celebrating the work they do. Celebrating truck driving. So yeah, let's hear it. You might recognize the tune.

Michael: haven't heard it.

Aaron: They went there, all the way there.

Michael: You gotta watch this video. Just gonna keep on truckin baby. 

Aaron: Yeah. If the audio is good to you the video is just… you're only getting half the story, half the experience because it's excellent. It's a two and a half minute long track. Michael's been humming it and whistling and all day long.

Michael: Definitely worth going to watch.

Aaron: Yeah. So yeah shout out to Maverick transportation for that.

Michael: And shout out to all the companies who are saying thank you to their drivers this week. 

Aaron: Yeah, yeah, good for them.

Yeah, exactly. And you know, it, it really…I really understood how important this week is to our industry. Today or yesterday, I had a conversation with a driver. And, you know, again, we try to reach out to the drivers that hit our yard, you know, on a on a daily basis, you know, and just get to know them a little bit better. And during my conversation with this particular driver, I asked him or I told him toward the end of the conversation, I said, ‘Hey, you know, it's Truck Driver Appreciation Week.’ He didn't really know I don't think. But I said, you know, just wanted to let you know, we appreciate you. We appreciate you the work that you do. And he looked at me, and he was like, Thank you. He goes, you know, outside of the trucking companies that I've worked for in the past, that's probably the second time that I've heard that in my 40 years of driving. And that's like, that's unbelievable.

Michael: And it's not hard to say thank you. 

Aaron: It's not hard to say thank you. But like outside the industry nobody does. Even though they're totally responsible for everything, everything that we have, for the most part, so if you know thank a driver think of driver today thank of driver this week. It's super, super important and I hope that guy you know, really did know I meant it you know that I definitely appreciate what he does because the more I'm learning about this industry, the more I'm learning about how important their role is to our nation's economy. And that's what this show is about today. So I've put together five ways to appreciate a truck driver is really what I put together and you know, inside the industry or outside the industry, there's definitely different ways to do that. And then Michael, you put together one, that's…

Michael: We've got a few things that we just do as a brokerage that, you know, starting off as a carrier, we felt like we wanted to definitely be different. And so I got a few things we’ll share that are more or less what we consider our competitive advantage as a broker.

Aaron: Awesome. So some stats like just real quick that I put to get like a pull from Trucking Moves America Forward, an excellent, you know, just driver advocacy organization. I've got some of that here and I'll kind of work it into mine as well. But you know, one that I just just saw that that didn't really it didn't stick out to me this morning was the preponderance of research studies which that's a that's a word for it. It's probably the first time I've heard that but studies find that car drivers are principally at fault and approximately three quarters of fatal car/truck crashes. 70 to 75% are usually the cars the four wheelers fault, the four wheelers at fault and I mean It just goes to show how safe truck drivers truly are, even though they drive more than anybody else. But I'll just go down the list real quick, just kind of get down, get down to it. So one thing, one, the first way to appreciate a driver is to know their value to know their value in the economy. And that's something that kind of went dark on my, on, you know, for me for a large amount of time before I really got into the industry. I've said it before where I didn't really notice, of course, you notice trucks on the road because you have to, but I didn't really notice their impact. When I was on the highway or wherever I was, when you know, outside the industry was just a big truck. And that's, you know, it was just, that's all it was. But now that I've, you know, been in the industry, I'm starting to pay attention to what kind of trailer it is, what kind of truck it is, where they're coming from, or you know what might be you know what kind of freight and what they're hauling and all that. And then I start to understand a little bit more about Oh, who, who that person is in the cab. And it's just started to compound, you know, as you know, months go by of how important these people are to our economy and 80% of the freight 80% of 80% of the US communities depend completely on trucking to deliver the goods and services or the commodities that hit the city. So, I mean…

Michael: Rural America says thank you trucks.

Aaron: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. And not just rural America. You know, I mean, cities, of course, too, you know, big, big suburbs every, I mean, virtually everybody, you know, relies completely on trucks to deliver everything that that they have. Another stat that I saw was I think it's 70% of America's freight is dependent on trucks, you know, there's some air and there's some rail. But 70% of that is trucks. But it's, it's pretty amazing when you think of it in that way of how much stuff is completely 100% dependent on a driver. So that's number one reason or number one way to appreciate a driver is just to understand their value. So number two is to get off the dang phone. I took a I talked with another driver today. And I asked him I said, you know, what are some ways that people just anybody can show their appreciation because, you know, it's not every day that you see a driver you know, for most people or you know, get close contact with a driver. So he said number one is get off the phone. He says he was he was saying he was telling me about how he was like, you know, in the 80s, he'd been driving for 35 years or something like that. But he said, you know, in the 80s, you know, you you'd watch cars kind of swerve and, you know, not respond really well, and you knew that they were drunk. But now you see cars that swerve at 11am. And you know, they're not drunk. They're just distracted. And they're on a phone. They're just paying attention to their cell phone and not the road. And he said, that's the worst. That that's his biggest pet peeve. And it's not just a pet peeve like a petty annoyance. It's a life or death situation because he does heavy haul. You got 75,000 pounds behind them. And if this person's scrolling through Twitter, it's really really,

Michael: It's really bad. When you drive down interstate you see it left. Every time you're passing somebody. It's almost there's somebody on a phone. It's I can believe it. And these truck drivers can see people on their phones. That's what I think is there. They're they're elevated. They're higher than than us in our four wheelers. Yeah, on Interstate so they can see the crazy people that are the crazy drivers that are on the phone, which I mean there's there's a lot of folks out there that use phones and don't have any problem with using it on the road. But it's pretty nice to think that really, you don't even have to go tell a truck driver Thank you just get off your phone.

Aaron: Exactly, exactly. Because that that really speaks volumes when somebody's just actually attentive because unfortunately, it's becoming more and more rare that somebody is actually paying attention to the road ahead of them and the cars beside them and the trucks beside them. And yeah, the stat that's connected to that is you know, it's 29% truck drivers have an overall crash rate 29% lower than that of other vehicles. So it's a third lower than other people and mainly, you know, like I said just earlier, it's just it's mainly because of cars when truck drivers do crash. Not all the time, but most of the time, so get off your dang phone. It really bothers me when people are on their phone, they miss a green light, or they're slow to a green light.

Michael: And then they go when it's yellow, and you're still stuck in the light turns red. 

Aaron: Oh, oh my gosh. Anyway, number three. The third way to make a truck driver feel appreciated is to give them room. So allowing plenty of space this is kind of like common sense. But I didn't realize this is a this is might look bad on me. I took a defensive driving class once because of speeding or something like that speeding ticket while ago. And it was the first time it was that defensive driving class that made me realize how important it is to give them room. And from that point on, I really you know, I didn't know the value of truck drivers but I knew how important was for me to pass very, very quickly, to give them plenty of time to realize like where I am on the road and when I'm preparing to pass and give them enough space to see me before I pass in front of them. So you know, knowing sharing the road in the right way and giving them plenty of space to move around

Michael: And being mindful too is whenever you pass trucks, let them get back in the right hand lane. If they're not in the right hand lane trucks don't do not like to be passed on the right side. And that's a major blind side for them. So, you know, if you want to stay safe, keep yourself safe, but also be courteous to the truck driver, don't try to zoom past them on the right side. Just let them get back in the right hand lane and wait and be patient go down the left side.

Aaron: Yeah, excellent. Number four is hot shot trucks are truck drivers too. And just a shout out to the hotshot truckers out there. Just wanted to put that in there. A bunch of hot shots. Uh, you know we do a lot of flatbed hauling, help Hot Shot drivers here at PDQ. And, you know, working here, it's made me realize that, you know how, how many drivers there are out there headed to west Texas or, you know, wherever they're, they're headed and they're hauling some heavy stuff. And, you know, you might take that for granted if you're, you're not in the industry you don't understand, you know, the weights and stuff like that. And you're just like, Oh, well, it's, it's just a, you know, it's a full size pickup, it's not that big of a deal, you know, but there's a lot of weight that they're towing behind that a lot of times, even if it's, you know, like a lawn trailer or something like that, you know, it might not be, you know, real heavy equipment, but its equipment that impacts how they maneuver on the road. And if you take that for granted, and don't, you know, and let that kind of let that slip by, then it could really be a bad thing and an unsafe situation that you find interest in really fast just because you're not paying that close attention. So remember that, you know, anybody that's got a trailer has limited visibility limited, that they can't stop as quick, that kind of thing. So it's just another way to appreciate a truck driver, just understanding that the Hot Shot truck… even though it's not a…Class A vehicle, you know, it's not the biggest rig on the road, they're they're playing a really important part in our economy. And then number five is simply to tell a truck driver today, Thank you. It's really not that hard, especially in this day and age. I mean, we've got, you know, we're on you know, if you follow the PDQ America account on Instagram, we're connected to a lot of drivers on that account if you're not connected yet. You know, I invite you to join us there but You know, if if somebody who's not directly, you know, in a trucking company or something like that, if they could just find themselves like on an app and simply look for a driver, we have plenty again on, you know, connected to us. Or just hashtag truck driver and find a few people and just give a comment somewhere, you know, if you can figure out that their driver and just say thank you, they would appreciate that. One week out of the year one, you know, it would take five minutes, as long as you're not driving, you know, do it. And I think that's that that can make, you know, a measurable impact on a driver’s day. An interesting stat here is that one of every 16 people in the US are in the trucking industry. And, you know, it's, you know, 16 you know, it's more than a dozen, but that's still like a handful of people. I think there's about 16 people, you know, in this, you know, in this office, essentially. So at least one person around you probably in the workplace, works in the trucking industry. So you're closer to the industry than you think you are, if you feel like you're outside of it. And, you know, this is an industry podcast, so a lot of people are probably listening and they're in the industry, so they know, but at the same time, you know, it's, it's one of those things where you can be an advocate for the industry by sharing with your friends, you know, this type of information on how important drivers are, just to get that awareness up a little bit. And that's what this week is all about. So just reach out to the drivers that you know, or the family of drivers that you know, and just tell them, thank you or do it digitally. So that's, that's, that's my piece. 

Michael: Man. That was wonderful. And I think all those things are ways that anybody can take a truck driver or do things that demonstrate on the road that we appreciate what they do. And nonetheless, these folks are working for everybody. If you're on the road and you use goods in this country. therefore, you know, these folks are working for you. So there's…let's just try to be as thankful as we can and say thank you when we have the opportunity and like you said stay off those phones. 

Aaron: Exactly. Awesome. So Michael, you had a different view you wanted to put a your particular spin the PDQ spin on it so well. 

Michael: So PDQ, we started off as a as a trucking company, originally a hotshot trucking trucking company in 2013. And midway through 2013, we got our first big truck and started hauling loads. Long story short, the first time we hauled an out of state load, we carried sailboat fuel all the way back from Ohio. That wasn't fun and you find out real quick that that's not a feasible way to truck in America. So I got a postcard in the mail. And it was from a load board. And so we joined a load board and I learned real quick what brokers were. Now they were keeping us loaded coming back from Ohio. But the customer service wasn't what I expected it to be, especially for the person who was taking the risk hauling 47,000 pounds of God knows what down the road. So you know, those were things that that we saw as an opportunity, as we were in the trucking industry and we were getting busier, it was getting really expensive to continue buying trucks. And so we applied for our freight brokerage license and, and, and really not just because we needed to move more loads, but I saw that as an opportunity for us to offer a better service to the carriers in America. And, you know, there's just a few things that we really go to the core with that I felt like really irritated me whenever we were just solely a trucking company. And there's just a few things that we really try to do to show the truck companies that we appreciate them and the truck drivers and you know, one of those is TONU, truck order, not used. That's one thing that PDQ we do not, we don't ever have someone have to argue with us over a TONU. If we've put you on a load, and that load is no more, even if we just sent that rate confirmation five minutes ago, you're still going to get paid on that TONU from us. And that's, that's just something that we do out of, out of what we feel like is we guaranteed you something we told you, you were going to be able to do something you planned your day around it, you planned your driver’s day around it. There's a handful of things that happen whenever you get on a load. And so if that broker cancels on you, you're going to be looking for something or you're going to want something and we found that not a whole lot of brokers out there would even would even entertain the idea of a TONU until we came across one broker, that one time they canceled a load on us, and we hadn't even gotten there yet or anything. And they’re like, Hey, I'm going to send you 100 bucks in the mail, and I was thinking well, that's cool. I've never had anybody do that before. I think you know, and so whenever we got started on ours, I was thinking that's exactly something that we want to do. We want to offer that, TONU. So we do that as appreciation, the drivers, but also it's, it's only it's actually the right thing to do versus just holding out on him. I don't I don't agree with folks that don't want to pay TONUs on loads that they booked. The next thing is detention time. And this is a big one for folks that work with brokers. We really have a zero tolerance policy in our office with arguing with trucking companies and others with detention time. Now, we're not just paying detention to everybody that asked, but if someone's waited over two hours, they're going on the clock, and our shipper’s going to be put on notice. And if we have shippers that don't want to pay detention time, we don't want to work with them. And I know it's easier said than done sometimes to do that. But we really try to stick to our guns on that detention time and do right by our carriers. Now, do they always agree with the rate? No, but that's part of the negotiations in the trucking industry. But I think the strong point here is though is that we do paid attention time and we hardly will ever argue with a trucking company or a truck driver on that. And last but not least, our value or number four value in our business is Communication is essential. And we try to practice clear communication with our carriers. And we feel like if everybody's kept in the know we're not holding out information on our carriers, they're not holding out information on us. That's one way we can really say thank you and make their day better. And really just we practice in our offices…tone of voice, don't get short with truck drivers. Let me tell you something you're in front of a computer. You know, this is how we talk in offices and you're in front of a computer. You're looking at a screen all day, you're going to go home to your family, you may get to go work out you may get to play with your dog, you're going to get a nice meal at home may order a pizza…A truck driver doesn't have that luxury. He's going to be he's going to get irritated by your tone of voice and then you get to go home and have a Holly Jolly good time while he's asleep at a truck stop in the back of his truck. So I tell our folks to really be sure you can put yourself in their shoes. And before you want to get uptight with somebody or get testy with them, just check yourself because really, the tone of voice I think goes a long way with truck drivers. And we really I tell everybody, I want you smiling. Every time I come through here, I want to see smiles. Even if you're not having a good day. It's no reason to drag someone else down who's over the road. So we really try to have a good tone of voice clear communication. We pay detention time and TONU, and we hardly will ever argue with anybody over it. That's how PDQ America says thank you to our carriers and truck drivers.

Aaron: Excellent. Excellent. Yeah, it's really, you know, it's been it's understanding that actually, there's a human in that driver's seat. Yep. That you know, has their own responsibilities and loved ones and, you know, personality and, you know, values and all that kind of stuff that you know, if we create too much distance, then we start to other that person and that's just not that's not right. So, you know, it's, it's about really getting to know those people. And that's really why we do the driver profiles and stuff like that. So people know on our social accounts and stuff so people know the people behind the wheel. And, you know, it's always illuminating. It's always, you know, inspiring, frankly, to talk to drivers who like the one today, you know, three and a half million safe miles 30 years of dedication to his craft. And, you know, he's damn good at

Michael: You know, I'm not sure that the United States of America isn't the greatest country on earth without the trucking industry. I mean, this industry has made our country these truck drivers that are that are on the road are the ones who helped build this country. The war machine of World War II doesn't happen without trucks. We don't get goods and we're able to mass produce in this country without trucks. We can't feed the world without trucks. This is the most important industry in the entire world is transportation and to be able to be in it and to be able to say thank you to these truck drivers and the men and women that make it happen every say every single day is a privilege. And it's really a privilege to be a part of this industry with them.

Aaron: Man, I couldn't say that any any better. You really, yeah, exactly. Exactly. And I think if more people, if more people had that perspective, you know, that perspective of you know, what, had a broader perspective on the value of a truck driver in the role that a truck driver plays every single day in every American's life. Then, you know, some of these frustrations and the issues that we that the industry has that you know, FMCSA and other organizations and are trying to fix would have happened years ago but you know…You can't, you know, change the past we can only just move forward. Yeah. So well said.

Michael: Well, I think the future is looking bright for trucking and thank you to those truck drivers out there and what a great way to do it better than Truck Driver Appreciation Week and at PDQ it’s truck driver appreciation day all the time.

Aaron: Excellent. Thank you truck drivers. Thank you truck drivers, anything else you got?

Michael: How about them Cowboys?

Aaron: For what it's worth.

Michael: I'll sneak that in anytime I get an opportunity.

Katie: Hello, this is Katie from PDQ America. I wanted to invite you to join our newsletter, The Transmitter. If you'd like to receive the latest trucking news, industry insights and other valuable information every week, visit go.pdq america.com/podcast