Drivers rightfully complain about a lack of respect. You read about this lack of respect in almost every trucking magazine. Let’s take a look at this from a different perspective. Respect is a two way street. Respect your equipment. Respect the people you are working with. Do other people see you acting responsibly? Look at yourself through the eyes of others.
Last evening while sitting in my Cascadia and getting prepared to go to bed, I noticed a driver entering the parking area where I was parked. Beside my truck was the last parking space available in the lot. He noticed the empty space and began to position himself to be able to maneuver into the parking spot. Instead of going to the end of the row where he could easily swing the truck/trailer around to enter the space, he instead turned the tractor sharply and drug the trailer around in a tight pivot. This practice of twisting a trailer on a dime is very hard on the tires and equipment. I thought to myself “I’m sure glad that I am not paying for those tires.” I wonder how many times this driver makes this maneuver?
Watching this driver make his move to park reminded me of my own personal experiences when I had leased on drivers pulling my trailers. My requirements were that if you dropped a trailer, you must first get permission from an authorized person in order to park in that location. Next, it was your responsibility to put a king pin lock on the trailer to make sure it was properly secured. (I provided each of my drivers with a king pin lock for this purpose.) One day, I received a call from my driver who needed me to pick up his trailer due to a repair issue on his truck. Therefore, I went to the establishment where he was parking and noticed that the king pin lock wasn’t on the trailer. I decided to go inside and talk with the manager of the store to check and see if my driver had permission from them to be parking at the location. The manager explained to me that he was getting upset at this guy parking every weekend in his lot. My driver never had a conversation with him, nor asked permission to park in this location. Needless to say, I was not very happy. I took the necessary measures to make sure that this didn’t happen again.
I had another issue with one of my drivers using the trailer brakes to stop the entire truck in order to save his own brakes on his truck. (The trailer was mine that he was pulling.) My trailer had anti-lock brakes on one axle which meant if he pulled on the brake lever too hard, it would flat spot the tires on the non anti-lock brake system axle. This resulted in overheating the brake shoes and drums causing them to wear out prematurely. This practice is not only unsafe but costly to an owner.
There are more examples I could give on this subject. The point I’m trying to make here is that it’s not always one sided. Respect and value are a two way street. My perspective comes from being on both sides as a driver and owner.