I found a great list of “do’s” for precaution from an article on jobmonkey.com.  Check it out!

• “Stay away from remote rest areas, especially at night
• Keep the doors of your rig locked at all times
• Never advertise that you’re traveling alone, even on the radio
• Stay off back roads or short cuts
• Try parking close to the main door of any truck stops you’re at
• ALWAYS carry a cell phone with you”

Another great idea found is to put a flannel shirt on the backrest of the passenger seat, making the thought that you have a big husky (and mean looking) passenger with you.  I thought that was a very creative idea.  Keep your head up and be aware of your surroundings is another wonderful thought.

Trucking is a wonderful lifestyle for people who love to travel and see the country.  Just be careful so that you don’t need to have anything bad happen to you.

http://www.jobmonkey.com/truckdriving/women-in-trucking.html

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=65490461&blogId=416202996

His history is interesting enough.  He served in the 28^th Airborne Tank Battalion in World War II and came home, married Rose and they operated a trucking company they named “Roaming Rosie”.  They traveled the country together as well as staying physically active.  They boated, did skin diving, and even archery.  They had a wonderful life together.  When Rosie passed away, he moved and made new friends.  Now he has taken up biking.

Al loves to bike with his children and grandchildren.  Last year, he, his daughter, and grandson, rode the Columbus Ohio Zoo ride along with 4,500 other people.  He fell, but only scraped his knee.  He got up and finished the race!

When truck driving, Al and Rosie Weidtz’ “Roaming Rosie” trucks were known as the “Knights of the Road” and traveled though out all of the United States.  Back in 1959, they travelled from the Ohio area to the New York City and back, making a whole $100 a trip.  Times have definitely changed.

People have such interesting stories and finding this article this morning has reminded me to live.  I may sit in a cab and see the scenery, but this reminds to get out of my cab once in awhile and enjoy what I see.  Maybe I’ll take up biking someday and since I’m not quite 90 yet, I could try 200 miles a week.  Nah, I’ll stick with 5 to start out.

http://www.news-register.net/page/content.detail/id/537089.html?nav=515

Do you know what this means?  It means that fleet owners have a more simplified process of gathering information from their trucks and save money as well.  As the article states;

“Qualcomm’s Service Fleet Manager mobile resource management system uses GPS technology to give fleets visibility into their assets and provide an immediate snapshot of critical vehicle information through a web-based interface.”

Earthtimes.org wrote an article about the MRM/Driving Behavior Solution, and interviewed Norman Ellis.  He is quoted as saying:

“Mobile resource management and driver safety are vital issues to every local service fleet,” said Norman Ellis, vice president of sales, services and marketing at Qualcomm Enterprise Services.  ”GreenRoad’s unique driving behavior service offers a different dimension to our mobile resource management offering, enabling our customers to obtain more value from each of the two services.  We are proud to work with GreenRoad and offer the first combined mobile resource management and driving behavior service.”

If one of a fleet owner’s truck drivers takes risk that could hurt people or their truck, the information is instantly sent back to the office so that someone is aware and can take immediate action.  This is a wonderful program that may save lives.

Save money and have more access to truck information to protect from hazardous driving and mechanical problems.  That’s a win-win for me!

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=69729&news_category_id=52

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/qualcomm-and-greenroad-to-provide,1205165.shtml

A man’s story, which was so great it goes as follows:

“One student taking advantage of the help is Lokeni, who was laid off from his offshore oil drilling job in October.

Lokeni, 27, is now in his fourth week of a six-month commercial truck-driving program at Bates Technical College.

He said he tried to find work in the oil industry, but no one was hiring. When he researched training programs for truck driving, he thought he couldn’t afford them, he said.

“When I first found out I got into this program, I was on my knees thanking God,” said Lokeni, who lives in Parkland with his wife and 5-year-old daughter. “Job security to take care of my family – that’s what it’s all about.”

Truck driving has great job security and will be around for years to come and it won’t go away with technology.  One of the reasons I’m a truck driver.

Read more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/03/15/1109887/funds-to-spark-new-careers.html#ixzz0iLzXQwGC

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/03/15/1109887/funds-to-spark-new-careers.html

It these positive results come courtesy of the Yuma Private Industry Council or YPIC as its better known. Here is a quote from the article: “People come in with sad stories and we need to offer them hope,” said Cynthia Marshall, business services officer for the agency that seeks to connect job seekers and employers. “It’s when they come back with success stories that makes the job worthwhile.”

It is good to here that the market maybe making a turn. YPIC has offered some people hope and even a few an actual job. CR England also has job openings and as the NY Times recently mentioned, the company has many jobs to fill.

If your looking for work or wee laid of when a company made cutbacks give truck driving jobs a look and see if they are for you.

The YumaSun.com article can be found at: http://www.yumasun.com/articles/job-53748-services-ypic.html

I recently had a discussion with Gary Petty, President of the National Private Truck Council (NPTC), and Gary Girotti, Vice President of Chainalytics’ transportation practice, about private and dedicated fleets.Why do companies have a private fleet? According to a survey by NPTC, eighty nine percent of the respondents cited “to achieve better customer service to key customers” as the primary reason. Cost reduction and improved flexibility was cited by 16 percent of the respondents, while 5 percent mentioned that they transported specialized commodities and had limited options to use third-party carriers.I was somewhat surprised that customer service, instead of cost savings, was the top driver for having a private fleet. Mr. Petty provided other statistics that shed additional light on this finding. Several years ago, NPTC’s survey showed that customers were demanding, on average, 98 percent on time delivery (OTD). In the latest survey, this metric has trended up to 99.5 percent. In addition, the definition of OTD is becoming more stringent: * 11 percent of the survey respondents are measured to a 1-minute delivery window; * 13 percent to a 10-minute window; * 9 percent to a 15-minute window; * 17 percent to a 30-minute window.Two-thirds of NPTC’s members benchmark the performance of their private fleets against for-hire carriers. According to Mr. Petty, private fleets usually perform better. As an example, he referenced one company that ships 10,000 loads per month via its private fleet, and about the same amount using common carriers and dedicated fleets. Using the same scorecard for the private fleet and the outsourced alternatives, the private fleet is the best choice for this shipper from a cost and service perspective, particularly for delivering to key customers on high-volume lanes.The large disparity in driver turnover between private fleets and common carriers is one possible reason why private fleet performance is better. According to Mr. Petty, private fleet turnover is 12-14 percent per year versus as much as 120-140 percent per year at some trucking firms.Imagine my surprise when I later talked to Mr. Girotti of Chainalytics, and he declared that if you were deciding between starting a private fleet versus hiring a dedicated fleet, you would have to be “crazy” to go the private fleet route. According to Mr. Girotti, there is usually no difference in performance between private and dedicated private fleets. However, if you already have a private fleet, it probably makes sense to keep it. One of Chainalytics’ services is transportation master planning, where it helps companies make transportation network decisions by analyzing various transportation options (private versus dedicated fleets, fleet sizes and equipment options, continuous moves, backhauls, etc). In order to accomplish this, Chainalytics reviews (line by line) a company’s transportation budget and conducts an activity based costing assessment. When a granular, “all in” cost analysis is completed, Chainalytics often finds little difference between private and dedicated fleets. While an LSP may have a margin of ten percent, the LSPs tend to do a better job at truck maintenance, can perform DOT compliance more efficiently, and tend to pay drivers less.Further, many of Chainlalytics’ clients believe that a private fleet achieves better customer service. However, in Mr. Girotti’s view, these are often qualitative, subjective impressions not backed up by any quantifiable proof. Finally, while he agrees that private fleet driver turnover is much lower compared to common carriers, it is not significantly lower when compared to dedicated fleet operations. Dedicated fleet positions are the most desirable driving jobs offered by LSPs because drivers go out and come back the same day. Girotti knows of firms that have had dedicated fleets for over a decade with little driver turnover.So, which is a better choice, private or dedicated fleets? If you talk to a practitioner, like Harry Haney, Associate Director of Transportation Operations at Kraft Foods, the answer is both. Kraft Foods operates both private and dedicated fleets, and it benchmarks them against each other and against “one-way” contract carriage. Kraft’s experience has been that private fleets, when sized and deployed properly, deliver a cost and service advantage.

Here is a link to the quoted logisticsviewpoints.com material from above.

http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2009/08/28/private-vs-dedicated-fleets/

We felt it was necessary to to point out that truck driver was also included in the list of jobs you can get right now! CR England is looking for experienced truck drivers and also individuals who are ready tomake truck driving jobs their new career. CDL careers are in high demand and are an exciting way to see the country.

Here is the information that Timeout Chicago used in it’s article to discuss the job of Truck Driver.

If you love hitting the open road, get trucking. “It’s a good career;
we’ll always need trucks to deliver things to stores—you can’t have a
plane pull up to Target and unload,” says Eddie Boik, a truck driver
for fund-raising company Market Day and a truck-driving instructor for
Mega Driving School (6105 W Belmont Ave, 773-804-0500).
Skills needed Not prone to road rage, responsible, clean driving record
Requirements
21 years old (for interstate travel), must pass a Department of
Transportation drug test and physical, a valid Illinois driver’s
license for light trucks and a commercial driver’s license for heavier
loads
Starting salary $29,653 (heavy and tractor trailer), $18,851 (light/delivery services)
Pros
“You don’t have a boss hovering over you,” Boik says. “You’re
independent out there.” And the trucker’s hat will be the real deal.
Cons
“There’s long hours and you’re away from home a lot,” Boik says. “It’s
a major responsibility to drive a truck that’s 26,000 pounds empty,
because you not only can hurt someone, you can kill someone.”

If you want get more information about CR England Trucking Jobs, or cdl training Visit  http://www.CREngland.com . CR England is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a  SmartWay Transport Partner.

Here is the TimeoutChicago Article:
http://chicago.timeout.com/articles/careers/77436/get-these-jobs-now