Traffix

When I wrote my last blog I described my misadventure in flying to Chicago. Well during my absence it turned out that I had lost a great friend. I try to keep things here either at a humorous level by making fun of myself or some of my experiences or else try to share something with you about the latest news or prospective from the never ending changes in our logistical world. This time I want to write about the only person that I ever kept in contact with from my high school years. My grade 10 and 11 English teacher Jean Naylor. Jean was my teacher and my friend when I first attended a high school in Toronto called Meisterschaft College in 1968. It was a small school of 150 students that offered a curriculum of courses that allowed students to concentrate solely on obtaining their high school diploma. The classes were small and intimate with maximum 18 students per class. The student body was an eclectic mixture of students, ranging from middle aged people making tremendous sacrifices in order to return to school to obtain their high school degree so that they could attend university and find better jobs to the other extreme, unmotivated kids who smoked weed and came to school high enough to hunt ducks with a rake. Since it was a private school if a student did not attend class there were no questions. You paid… you could attend and you learned, if you skipped class you didn’t learn.
Jean Naylor was in her early 40’s when I bounced into her tiny English class on the 3rd floor of this old mansion transformed into a very unique learning environment. I was in a classroom with about 12 or so other males mostly under 20 years old. I was one of the babies at 15. Jean taught us Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar and Macbeth. It was hard stuff for all of us but Jean made it so that we could not wait to go to class every afternoon. She made us all want to participate and she had a unique way of making all feel special. Like each one of us were her favourite student. If she could sell our crew on Shakespeare she probably could have made millions in sales using the same tactics.
I had a tragedy later that year when my father passed away in April. I will never forget the beautiful letter that Jean wrote me immediately upon hearing the news. I can still vividly recall her strong beautiful handwriting and the ocean blue ink 43 years later.
At the end of the following year Jean and her husband Hank decided to move their family to Vancouver so that Hank could take a teaching position at a community college out there. I never saw Jean again for almost 20 years but I always kept in touch by sending her flowers for her birthday in March and exchanging Christmas cards. Actually I never missed her birthday including this last one. When I never received one of her informative thank you cards I started to worry and one evening out of the blue she phoned me. She apologized for not writing but she had just buried her wonderful husband of 58 years after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s disease. It turned out that Jean just could not face life without him and she passed away last week after a sudden heart attack.
I was supposed to go and visit her at her home in Langley this summer on a trucking- business trip I have been planning. I am kicking myself that I did not make it out there sooner. It’s one of those reminders that we get about how precious life and friends are. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery so live and enjoy today.

Chuck Snow

I just returned from a hectic 3 day trip to Chicago. I normally drive to the windy city but some of my family members tried to talk me into flying. You see I have this theory that I can drive from Milton to Chicago about as quickly as I can fly there. Sure its only an hour flight but then you have to go to the airport, park, go through all of the security details along with the indignities that accompany being checked and prodded like some sort of a farm animal at a cattle auction.
Flying last minute these days no longer means that you fly at cheap prices. Quite the contrary. Last minute means you are going to pay some airline through the nose for the privilege of being cramped into a tiny seat with your knees almost up to your chin. I don’t really know how really large people can handle it when it is totally uncomfortable for me at 5’7’’ tall. Anyways I decided that I would not pay $2,000 for a round trip from Toronto but I did get a really cheap deal including a great hotel out of Detroit. So I drove to Detroit and got on my direct flight 55 minute flight and off I went….. to the tarmac. The pilot announced that storms in Chicago had resulted in the delay of our departure from Detroit. So I waited with dozens of other travelers cramped into tiny seats for what seemed like an eternity but was actually “only” 2 hours and 45 minutes when the pilot finally announced that it was now clear to fly to our destination. Darn it I almost would have been there by now had I kept driving I thought, Oh it gets better.
I arrive in Chicago and I was supposed to meet a client for a quick meeting 20 minutes north of the airport and thought I would just rent a car and drive up, see her and then return the car to the other airport ( Midway) and then go directly to my hotel nearby. I planned on using cabs anyways as all of my business was in the downtown area. And of course since I booked last minute there we no available hotel rooms downtown.
Well due to the storms hundreds of flights had been delayed and or cancelled. People went to the car rental kiosks looking for alternative one way transportation to surrounding cities like Milwaukee and Grand Rapids. I stood in line behind 3 or 4 other people and when it was my turn at the counter the rental representative told me that although I did not want nor need additional insurance coverage I was taking it because if I didn’t there were dozens of other people that wanted that car. Mom never raised any fools and I knew I was at a disadvantage so I agreed. I needed to meet with my client. Just as I was putting my last initial in the agrees to get screwed by buying extra insurance boxes another rep came up to my rep and informed him that my car was the last one available. There we at least 3 dozen people behind me by now. All of them were turned away. So I ended up paying over $175. to rent a car to have a cup of coffee with a customer and drive to Midway airport.
Expensive cup of coffee, great customer and my last flight to Chicago.

I attended Truckworld last Friday and I must say that the OEM’s did not hold back at all when it came to putting on some wonderful displays. All of the money that they have not been spending over the past 4 years ( rightfully so) is certainly being spent now! It was really impressive from the moment you walked in and saw the amazing display of Mack trucks ( yes I am kind of a die hard bulldog fan) right to the very end of the show where the folks from Freightliner had a very impressive lineup of their newest, biggest and best.
I can only imagine the amount of planning and behind the scenes logistical nightmares that producing a show of this magnitude entails. These guys really didn’t miss a beat including such touches as black carpeting with a yellow stripe down the center. And some of you don’t think that I notice things! As far as I am concerned the only problem with the show was that the people who plan the timetables really messed up. The show times are just not congruent with many of us who are in this business. In reality if you were like me and could not attend on Thursday then you only had Friday to go because everyone knows that Saturday is a wall to wall at any truck show filled with just those people who love to look at trucks, plus the owner operators, drivers and their kids. Trying to actually visit a booth and do business on a Saturday is next to impossible. Friday being a day from hell for any trucking company owner leaves just 1 day… Thursday. So why not have the show either open Wednesday or Thursday evenings for trade management only so that those of us who operate fleets can take our operations teams down to the show without it impacting our businesses?

As I write this there is some talk in the city of Toronto about lowering speed limits throughout the city. Apparently Dr. David McKeon Toronto’s chief medical officer claimed that reducing speed limits will save lives. I totally agree with him. And so will outlawing tobacco, alcohol, junk food, sedentary lifestyles and lots of other things. But why not attack the car? Between the current gridlock throughout the city and the plans for a new above ground rapid transit system that will be completed by 2019 the city of Toronto is going to be impossible to drive a motor vehicle in anyways. I realize that they do not produce many vehicles or parts for them in the 416 area however did those people in city hall who have waged war on the car ever think about how the automotive industry has a direct impact on the economy of Ontario? Even in downtown Toronto where there is hardly any industry remaining I am sure that banks, law offices, accounting firms, advertising agencies, production houses, models, catering firms and a wide range of other service providers benefit from the wealth created by a strong automotive industry. Unfortunately the automotive industry still seems to be the undercarriage of Ontario’s economy. When the automotive industry is strong we all benefit. I remember during the darkest days of our most recent recessions when a friend of ours who was a wine merchant in Toronto had dozens of orders of champagne and fine wines cancelled by downtown Toronto restaurants just before New Years. Try getting into one of those same establishments on a Monday night now. How short people’s memories can be. I was always taught that you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. I hope these car haters can either learn that or get off their soap boxes and think of a replacement industry for the auto sector. In our industry we cringe at the thought of having to deliver or pickup cargo in the downtown area with 53 foot trailers. Not only are the automobile drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists totally inconsiderate as well as ignorant around large equipment it takes so darned long to get around because of the traffic. Lower the speed limits and it will just get worse. Do these politicians and bureaucrats just want to make it so impossible to drive in that people stop using cars and trucks completely? I just can’t imagine delivering 24 skids of paper downtown via the subway.

Chuck Snow

For months now I have been talking and writing about the severe shortage of qualified truck drivers. Well brace yourselves because the word is out that there really is no shortage of qualified drivers… just a shortage of qualified people that are willing to work for substandard wages. In the USA the average general freight truck driver earns $42,000 annually according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics and that is less than a labourer in similar job would or could earn.
Unfortunately our industry and those which we serve have all become used to what is being described as an antiquated pay system for drivers based on miles or based on a per trip basis. ( which still works out by the mile)
This system probably worked much better in previous days when roads were not congested and both shippers and receivers were so thrilled to see us that we would be loaded and unloaded immediately. Back when people that drove trucks were the highway heroes… the Knights of the road. Back when people drove trucks because we had a passion for the road and for what we did. Somehow, somewhere along the way we lost it. People became truck drivers not because they loved trucks or travelling down the highways. They did it because they could earn a living doing it. Not a bad living. And 35 years ago a driver was paid 15 cents per mile and today 45 to 50 cents. Back then drivers would load in Toronto, drive to Chicago unload, reload and then maybe sleep. A driver could drive 130- 150,000 miles annually. Todays new tough regulations make it difficult for a driver to do that. Rightfully so. The roads are much safer now than they were then. But even at 45 to 50 cents per mile some drivers it is said are having a difficult time driving enough miles to earn a decent wage. Customers of all sizes try for good reason to avoid having to pay for the extra time spent for loading, unloading and waiting at international borders. I understand because nobody wants to pay for something that they did not have to pay for previously. Our customers are all on tight budgets and are being hammered from all sides including trying to be viable in a “global marketplace”. Rising fuel costs along with rising transportation costs are making it harder for shippers on both sides of the border.
So what is the solution? Some people are waiting and hoping for another economic slowdown or meltdown so that the trucking industry can “rightsize’’ itself again. I disagree completely. That is a really awful thought which won’t create the pool of trained professionals that our industry so badly requires in order to carry on. It has been suggested that drivers in the very near future are going to have to be paid by the hour. For each and every hour they work. Whether it is doing their pre- trip inspection, driving to be loaded, waiting at a loading dock or being stuck in a traffic jam or snowstorm between here and California they are going to be paid. This is would increase the labour component of trucking costs tremendously. But eventually it could easily happen. It’s a game of who blinks first. Years ago that is how drivers were paid and what comes around goes around. If you stick around long enough in this industry you get to see things full circle.

Recently I blogged about the possible disastrous result that escalating fuel prices could create. I am not being smug when I write that unfortunately my dire predictions may very well be coming true. I just wish that someone or better phrased anyone that cares and has the power to stop this insanity can stop it before it sends this entire fragile economic recovery into a tailspin. It is like watching the start of a bad storm. First you get some wind, then some clouds and then WHAMMO the storm starts. We are well past the first winds and the clouds are the sudden decrease in class 8 truck orders starting in March. You see there was all of this pent up demand for updated equipment because very few carriers had been In the position to replace their aging fleets with new equipment since this last storm started in 2008. And just when carriers were starting to finally feel really confident in our respective markets fuel starts to escalate to a point where carriers have quickly retreated back into their reluctance to replace their existing older trucks. Everyone loses except for those few who make their living from speculating in oil and are able to constantly manipulate the markets in their favour.

On a good note I just read that Ontario is finally starting to utilize some warning systems on Highways 17 and 6 to advise drivers of animals on or near roadways. A good friend of our family just lost his brother in New Brunswick as a result of hitting a moose on a highway. Both deer and moose often frequent roadways especially this time of year in order to lick salt from the road. Apparently bears like to sleep on highways in early spring because of the warmth held on black asphalt. Once the weather becomes warmer black flies and other insects often drive animals out of the bush and onto the roads especially starting at dusk and on through the night. If you do any driving in areas frequented by large animals I strongly urge you to outfit your vehicle with one of the many animal deterrents that are currently available. They are approximately 85% effective and it could save your life.
What I don’t understand is why none of the OEM’s ( both car and truck) have not jumped on the opportunity to offer some type of built in animal deterrent system as an option. I remember that seatbelts were an option when I was a young kid. The OEM’s eventually just made them standard equipment and charged everyone for them anyways.

On the very same note regarding our progressive province of Ontario it seems that the MTO has finally given the green light for all truck drivers to be eligible for testing in trucks equipped with automatic transmissions. How times have changed. They used to call truck drivers gear jammers but I guess that will have to be changed to button pushers now. Sorry but I do come from the era of 2 stick Mack transmissions and still much prefer the thought of running through 15 gears on 2 sticks rather than pressing D and sitting there like a tourist. And if any of you reading this are sales reps for automatic transmission manufacturers…. don’t waste your time and effort darkening my doorstep.

I had the pleasure of spending last Friday down in Louisville Kentucky at the MATS ( Mid America Trucking Show) and I must say God Bless our American friends… they certainly know how to put on an extravaganza. Unfortunately I had to cram what needed to take me at least the 3 days into one and really you would really have a hard time seeing the entire show in its 3 day duration. It is just that large.
During my quick tour it was apparent how difficult the driver shortage down there has become. There were literally rows upon rows of booths dedicated to recruiting drivers. From my brief discussions with some of our US counterparts dry van drivers seem to be scarce as hen’s teeth and specialized drivers for flat beds almost non- existent. There were some really interesting opportunities being presented by both large and small carriers where you buy a unit and become an owner operator or lease operator immediately with little or no money down. Same old. Same old. I am sure some were possibly decent deals but unfortunately we have all heard the horror stories how some of these deals have gone wrong resulting in some poor driver working for free for a year and then losing his house.
I did have an amazing opportunity to see many people that I have dealt with in the past 38 years of being in this industry. And to top it off I was also able to meet many new contacts from various facets of trucking from carriers to third parties to aftermarket suppliers. I was really impressed with the ingenuity of some good old boys who have developed a kit to convert any sleeper cab into a day cab. With the shortage of decent day cabs on the market and an abundance of highway tractors these men saw an opportunity and they pounced on it. That is what makes our industry so unique and fuels the passion of those that live it every day.
I also had the pleasure of meeting the folks from Rolling Strong. Rolling Strong is a company that has recognized a badly needed requirement for truck drivers. They have developed a business model around creating lifestyle and proper nutritional awareness along with available fitness equipment at truck stops. I commend these guys for all of their efforts to increase improved lifestyle for an entire segment of the North American work force that needs to stay healthy in order to be viable. Guys if you are reading this I really hope that you can get your point across not just to the drivers and the carriers but to the truck stop operators who hopefully start really buying into the fact that live healthy customers can give you repeat business for years and years.
Stay healthy.

Kindest Regards,

Chuck Snow

Oil is hitting over $107. a barrel and the industry spokesmen are warning us that we have not seen anything yet. They say by summer Canadians will possibly be paying $1.50 a liter for gasoline. That means that diesel will be right up there. Is this 2008 all over again?? It certainly starting to look like it. How does our industry survive a repeat of 4 years ago combined with new HOS laws, CSA 2010 and fuel that could be over $1.00 per mile? How can our customers and their customers survive it?
Is this going to be the time that we are all forced to re-evaluate alternative fuels such as LNG at an entry level price of $85,000 extra just for the option of an engine that will burn this fuel? I have read that there is some movement from one of the OEM’s in conjunction with one of the large oil companies to put LNG trucks into fleets with the extra costs being covered by a slightly higher fuel cost. Could be a plan. However one thing still remains??? Currently there are no taxes on any of these alternative fuels. I really doubt that all of the states, provinces and both federal governments are just going to forget about the billions of dollars that they currently collect on taxes for fuel. Before I would commit to replacing our beloved diesel technology I want to make sure that we can actually afford to live with the change in 12, 24 or 36 months. History usually repeats itself. Old timers used to tell me that when diesel first came out in the early 1950’s it was 12 cents per gallon. There was no tax on it and some southern states were not really happy about not getting their share of the revenue that they were used to collecting from gasoline. Allegedly some small town southern sheriffs actually wrecked diesel tanks with axes. Now I am sure that they would never try that with LNG however the threat of the unknown is always scary.
Speaking of the old timers unfortunately our industry lost one of the smartest members that I ever had the privilege of knowing this week. Mary Molnar co-founder of L & M Truck Lines passed away this week. We got to know Mary when we purchased L & M from her son Steve a few years back. She was a real original. She came to Canada from Hungary in 1957 with her late husband and L & M co-founder Louie, and together built a very well-run trucking company for over 40 years. Mary was the administrative and financial genius and Louie was one of those trucking legends that could rebuild an engine on his driveway on a Sunday and then wheel down to Miami Florida deliver a load Tuesday, reload Wednesday and deliver at the Food Terminal in Toronto on Friday. Mary came to this country with nothing but brains and determination and she had a way of handling people that would have put Dale Carnegie to shame. We wish the Molnar family strength at this time.

If you heard or read the latest economic report card for Ontario, our province which for years has been the manufacturing heartland for Canada is in horrendous financial shape. Yes I guess we had them all fooled including most of our politicians… everyone has kept on spending money like drunken sailors at a port. We have been pointing fingers at our American neighbours on how we know how to manage our finances and now via Don Drummond a well-respected economist hired by our provincial government the truth comes out. With all due respect for Mr. Drummond I think that his negative economic prognosis was most accurate however I feel that his suggested cures for our financial malignancy are totally destructive as well as punitive to those Ontarians who are the most vulnerable and most contributive to the future of Ontario.
The suggestion that more lottery and retail liquor outlets be opened while they increase classroom sizes, raise gasoline taxes, charge for parking at GO stations, raise electricity and water charges will do nothing for the long-term economic health of Ontario. If we follow these suggestions we will have more gamblers, more drunks, need more hospital beds, jailhouses and police officers to deal with the increased consumption of alcohol. Increase in gas taxes, hydro and water will result in punishing those very people who are struggling to make ends meet, the very ones who go to work all day, buy a home, pay their taxes, try to educate their kids. Not to mention how increased energy costs could put the last nails in the coffins for what is left of our struggling manufacturing base.
I wish that I had all of the answers for how to solve our current economic situation. But one thing I can tell you is that we are never going to solve this problem by creating new ones.
I have learned that from this industry and seen that mindset destroy many companies. You actually have to look well beyond what appears to be the easiest solution. This is a very complex problem and problems of this magnitude can only be solved by making fundamental changes to how things are done without decimating the human side of the equation. You could not cure someone’s cancerous tumour by ripping out their heart. The people and the industry are the heart of Ontario. I certainly hope that our provincial leaders consider that when trying to fix this mess.

There are always challenges in this industry some of them we seem to create ourselves, while others are created by government bodies and then there are those that our customers try and create for us. Let me tell you about this week’s challenge. We load a soap product daily from 2 locations in the Toronto area destined to the USA. The first one is from a congested loading dock at the rear side of our customers packaging facility. It is crowded, cramped, difficult to manoeuvre into but yet the driver is allowed to stand in a 8 x 8 cage ( similar to one that would house a wild animal at a 4th rate zoo in a 3rd world country) and you can watch if you look very carefully how many pallets are being loaded on your trailer. The second location is a brand new 3rd party facility with a yard so large that you could easily swing a set of 53 foot doubles around. The only problem with the second facility is that when our drivers arrive they are instructed which door to back into, chock their trailer wheels and wait in their cabs while they are being loaded. More facilities are prohibiting drivers from being on their docks for both safety and security reasons. However how are we supposed to verify accurate piece or pallet counts if we cannot see what is being loaded on our trailers? Well, we sign Shippers Load and Count or SLC beside our drivers signature and under carrier law that is supposed to protect us from being responsible for product that is not on our truck at the receiving end. And to top this off when we arrived at the both delivery facilities in the USA neither would allow our driver on their receiving docks either. At our final delivery we were 2 pallets short. What happened to the 2 missing pallets??? Were they not loaded on the trailer at the 3rd party in Ontario or did the first delivery take 12 pallets off the trailer instead of 10?? It is still a mystery. Over $5,000 worth of product missing.
And what did our customer do? He sent us an intent to claim form and then arbitrarily deducted $5100 from our next cheque.
There are protocols in which to handle freight claims and this customer knows better. Unfortunately perhaps he has become one of those Canadian shippers who is inundated by pesky outbound freight providers that promise the world for free and as a result forgets the value of a true logistics partnership. We advised him that we were not going to be liable for freight that we cannot count and if he was going to try to hold us responsible for cargo amounts that we cannot verify then we would have to stop providing services to him immediately. Outbound freight may be hard to find sometimes but nobody in our industry should have to stand for that abuse. We had to do this once before over another matter pertaining to a consistent packaging defect they were experiencing and we were asked to return after several consecutive carriers were not only having the same issue with his product arriving crushed but were also unable to provide the on time service criteria that is so critical to his customer’s supply chains.
In today’s world where both shippers and receivers need to work with being safety conscious and CTPAT compliant I can understand why companies cannot afford to have strangers in their facilities. However if we are going to continue to have strong supply chains in the future we need to somehow address an across the board protocol so that these types of challenges are solved forever.

I received a call today from an old friend of mine who has one of those rare government jobs where he is actually paid to think. You see this person has an abstract way of looking at things and obviously some bureaucrat sees the brilliance behind the man. That is all I can give for a “bio” and that is all that is needed. He was asking me about my thoughts regarding having transponders in all trucks under the guise of helping us be more efficient and helping all of the OTR providers in saving fuel by being more efficient. Yes he may be smart however it is rare that you receive a call from someone from a government agency ( friend or not) that says I am here to help you. I told him that we have enough intrusion into our day to day operations and if he was really serious about helping us to become more efficient and save the environment ( maybe some baby whales too) he needs to get off his duff and start making some noise about cabotage. Yes just as I was for deregulation 35 years ago I am now putting it out there in the name of efficiency and yes in the name of saving fuel …. Let’s scrap all of the cabotage rules that were created for another era. For those out there not familiar with this term “cabotage” is the transportation of goods within the same country. The airlines were able to have some of their cabotage restrictions lifted under their open skies agreement. It is high time that we did this for trucking too. I would love to see an “open roads agreement” created between the USA and Canada.
For example under current law when we have a load going from Toronto to Memphis TN and we stop in Indianapolis IN. to deliver half the load we then travel the remaining 469 miles with a 53 foot trailer that is half empty. We are prohibited from picking up and delivering within the USA and the penalties are much too strict for any operator in his right mind to break those laws. Our laws in Canada are no different. An American trucker that delivers 12 pallets in Windsor and has 12 or 14 remaining on his wagon destined to Ottawa or Halifax or Vancouver must travel with that remaining trailer space being vacant.
Through the years I have heard dozens of truckers’ folklores about how one can legally provide domestic transportation on the other side of the border. I once even paid $150. to attend an OTA meeting several years back where 2 very expensive lawyers in flashy suits explained how to do it legally in both countries. I can be guilty of scepticism at times and at that particular time we had a fleet of US trucks and drivers on our fleet. I purposely got up and grilled the Canadian lawyer about what he has just told his audience because frankly I did not believe it could be done. In front of 100 or so of my competitors or brothers he repeated himself on how it could be done. So 3 months later when the opportunity arose and we had a good old boy from Illionois empty in Calgary we loaded his unit with a load destined for Toronto. He wanted to bring it through in bond via the US as he wanted to stop for service and his reset near Chicago. When he went to the border ( in those years you still had to stop at Canada Customs prior to arranging a US bond) and when he walked into the customs office in Coutts Alberta …… “we were in a heap of trouble” as my driver advised me when he called. The customs supervisor from Canada Customs said in no uncertain terms were we allowed to travel from point to point in Canada with a US truck and driver even on a bonded load. I called the lawyer immediately and have never heard so much double talk, jibberish and BS from a professional of any type in my life. He sounded like the nightmare used car salesman portrayed in movies. In the end we needed to have a Canadian tractor and driver pull our load and we found a cross border shipment for our man.
So if we really want to move forward and be efficient and save fuel let’s get rid of these archaic cabotage laws. Canada and the USA are the worlds 2 largest trading partners. We have had a free trade agreement with them for over 2 decades. They are our best friends, our neighbours and trade partners. It will work out for everyone in the end… the driver, the customer, the truck owner, put less trucks on the road, save fuel and who knows maybe a few baby whales somewhere along the way.