COVID-19 has sent shockwaves through the global supply chain and freight ecosystem, resulting in a highly volatile and uncertain landscape.
While freight activity and product demand plummeted, e-commerce sales skyrocketed, putting new pressure on impacted suppliers, and experts called into question the agility of our supply chain. With new challenges at every turn, organizations have had to completely reevaluate their plans and strategies.
Safety is a priority at National Carriers Inc. (NCI), a diversified motor carrier based in Irving, Texas. Redefining The Road recently caught up with Jill Maschmeier, Director of Safety and Compliance at NCI and member of the Women in Trucking Image Team, to discuss the company’s best practices.
May is national Mental Health Awareness Month. It's an opportunity for Americans to become more aware of how important good mental health is to us as individuals and to our society overall. Let’s think of this in a slightly different way. What if May is Happiness Awareness Month? Now do I have your attention? Good, because mental health and personal happiness and wellbeing are connected. Personal investments in our mental health pay personal happiness dividends, while investments in mental health by employers, colleges and public policy makers pay societal dividends.
By Kelly Radi, raditowrite.com
I was up in New Brunswick, Canada, working with a group of women in the trucking industry (shout out to WIT members Day & Ross!) when I heard the news of COVID-19 causing borders to close and airlines to cancel flights. In my hotel lobby, hotel guests were uneasy and unsure about what it meant and how to proceed. Would they be able to get home? What did all of this mean? How would it affect their businesses? Their families? What would happen next?
Written by Truckers For A Cause
By Eleanor Lamb, Staff Reporter, Transport Topics
Pohl Transportation, Inc. hosted Girl Scout Troops 21202 and 20454 to participate in a Women in Trucking Girl Scout Event at their office.
By Fran Bernard
If you have always dreamed of owning your own truck, there are a few questions you have to ask. Trucks are not cheap. Even used, you can expect to pay well over $40,000. Since most people don’t have that kind of cash lying around, you may ask yourself, how should I buy my truck?
Workplace diversity is critical to maintaining a competitive edge in business today. The varied perspectives of employees fuels greater idea generation, problem solving and innovation, which overall strengthens the company. However, many companies often don’t know how to build an inclusive and diverse work environment for its employees.
This is a question I often hear when people learn that I’ve written a book that empowers women and that I speak at many women’s conferences.
Did you attend the WIT Accelerate! Conference this year? I was a first-time attendee, thrilled for the opportunity to speak at one of your breakout sessions. I arrived early enough to attend the first night’s networking party—the State Fair Bash. There’s nothing like walking into a huge conference center ballroom, brightly decorated with State Fair themed balloon art, and a thousand people in attendance. Bright lights, vendor booths, corn dogs and cocktails. And tucked between the popcorn stand and one of the open bars was a mechanical bull. Yes, a bull—as in John Travolta in the movie Urban Cowboy for those of you who remember the 80s.
On Monday, August 5, 2019, the National Transportation Institute (NTI) served as the host to a group of Girl Scouts for an education event called Trucks ARE for Girls! that took place in New Ulm, Minnesota, which is located about 100 miles southwest of the Twin Cities. The Girl Scouts, who ranged in age from six to ten years old, enjoyed a full day of activities that included learning about trucking’s role in the supply chain and the industry’s focus on safety.
Legend tells us that before she was Wonder Woman, she was Diana, the Amazon princess. She lived on an island paradise, and raised by a community of women—her tribe. They believed in her, guided her, and honored her. While Wonder Woman was gifted with many superhuman powers, I believe the support of these women was one of her greatest sources of strength.
You don’t have to be an Amazon to tap into the power of your own tribe. The people you surround yourself with can be incredible sources of strength. It’s been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Are you using your time wisely?
When you think of a strong, smart, powerful woman, who comes to mind?
For me, the answer is simple: Wonder Woman.
By Lauren Domnick, Chief Data Scientist, Omnitracs
As the trucking industry struggles with how to solve the increasing driver shortage, many companies are taking a different approach to recruiting. The demographic pool is widening as organizations focus efforts on hiring veterans and recruiting young talent out of school, but there is one key demographic the industry is ignoring. According to data from Omnitracs, women account for only nine percent of drivers. The opportunities are endless when it comes to recruiting women truck drivers, but it doesn’t stop at just filling the driver’s seat. When you do the analysis, women are a proven asset to organizations, as female drivers have lower turnover rates, fewer accidents and more miles logged.
This blog post is one in a series by Women In Trucking member uShip that celebrates women in the logistics industry. Inspired by International Women’s Day (March 8, 2019) and Women’s History Month (March 2019), uShip is sharing inspiring stories of women in trucking, whether they’re behind the wheel, booking shipments on a laptop, or making decisions in the boardroom.
By Sandy Long
Sit back in any truck stop or rest area and you may see a vast array of pets, from birds to snakes, brought out of trucks for a bit of fresh air. The most common are dogs and cats, though I have seen some exotic pets on the road.
There are many benefits to having a pet on the road. They relieve stress and loneliness, get the driver out of the truck into the fresh air, and can provide security. I had a cat on the truck at one time who would nip me on the hand if someone came near the truck while I was sleeping, so even they are protection at times. My late little dog Lillian Russell was with me for 12 years and racked up over a million miles. Now if I was out of the truck, and anyone came near, she would raise some serious sand. However, if I was sleeping, she too would sleep hard depending on me to wake up if there was a problem, only then would she raise sand.
There are drawbacks to having a furry pet on the truck. Shed hair gets into everything and will clog up AC filters if inside the cab. Dogs, cats, and birds can cause seen and unseen damage to the truck itself. At my last company, who had a no deposit pet policy, there was a driver who had a duck on the truck, yes, a duck! He carried a plastic tub that he would put water in when he had time and allow the duck to swim in it. That duck was well trained to follow the driver anywhere, and the driver let him do so often.
Two problems, while the driver made accommodations in the truck for the duck, the duck was not potty trained, so left a trail where ever he went, and the driver would take the duck into customers to show him off. That caused some issues for sure! The other problem did not arise until the driver moved to another company in the winter time. The boss had his truck detailed and assigned it to another driver. When the weather warmed up, the new-to-the-truck driver started to itch. The boss called in an exterminator to see what was the problem. It was bird mites and the truck had to be fumigated. No more ducks are allowed at that company.
Being on the road with a pet takes more responsibility, observation, and control than having a pet at home with a fenced yard. One has to scope out any area before walking the pet for any contamination on the ground or obstacles to the pet and the driver’s health. Many of these things are found in the grass at the back of truck stop lots, sadly. Used drug paraphernalia for instance, used prophylactics, body fluids and matter, and spoiled food to name a few things. Then there are the bad things for pets that nature provides, nettles, stickers, burrs and thistles, fleas and ticks, not to mention fire ants in the south and snakes all over in tall grass. One of the worse things that can be easily overlooked is antifreeze that has been dripped or leaked on the ground. Antifreeze is deadly to animals, even a lick of it off of their paws can kill them.
Some folks do not think and will walk their animals where they should never be walked. Two of the worst places I have seen this done is on the fuel islands on the concrete, and the other was at a grocery warehouse where the woman took her dog under the trailer while at the dock and allowed it to do its business, and no, she did not clean up after it. It is no wonder that some facilities will not allow pets on the property.
I would not give up the years that I had Black Cat or Lillian Russell with me on the road for anything. To be honest though, chasing Black Cat all over a truck stop when she would jump out of the truck, only to find her sitting on the step of my truck waiting on me, was annoying. Furthermore, with Lillian, having to get out of my nice warm truck in minus 60 degree wind chills to allow her to do her business was not fun either, or in the pouring rain, or blistering heat. However, the unconditional love and their silly antics made my job easier for the most part and my life fuller.
Only you can decide what type of pet you want to have. I hear hedge hogs are becoming popular. However, think of the pros and cons of having a pet on the road, make sure your company allows them, and be a responsible pet owner. They are worth the trouble.
By Sandy Long
According to statistics, 79% of all accidents involving semi-trucks are caused by car drivers. Few, if any states, require car drivers to learn during license testing about sharing the road with semi-trucks. This is an area that patently needs addressing. Who better to do so than a truck driver.
