Having just attended the Mid America Trucking Show (MATS) I had the chance to sit in and listen to the FMCSA Breakout Session. Elaine Chao, Secretary of Transportation and Ray Martinez, Administrator of FMCSA addressed the trucking. There was talk about improved infrastructure, semi-truck parking availability, and finally hours of service revisions. It seems as though increased flexibility is poised to return to the HOS from what I could glean from Elain Chao’s talking points.
For many in the room, this seems like a massive win for trucking interests. To me, increased flexibility is more of a victory for the shipping community. From my standpoint, the more rigid and restrictive HOS becomes …. the more valuable my time becomes.
Ever since I have been in the trucking industry, I have heard my fellow professional drivers complain about how no one values their time. In general, flexibility increases your available time, if you go into the simple economics of the matter and look at time as a traded commodity the more you increase the supply of time the less value in regards to compensation it will have in the market place. So, the question in the end is?
Do we want to increase the supply of time or do we want to replace time in a more valuable position by limiting its availability?