inbound
An old adage has it that where some see problems, others see solutions. The lat-
est example of that is a California high school’s creative response to the nation’s
growing shortage of commercial truck drivers.
To help meet skyrocketing demand for qualified truck drivers, a high school
in Patterson, Calif., said in February that
it had opened a truck-driving program
for its students and the general community. Patterson High School’s commercial
driving course helps students develop the
knowledge and experience necessary for
the truck-driving profession, the school
says. Through a partnership with the
regional transportation firm Morning Star
Trucking, graduates will have the opportunity to obtain free behind-the-wheel training and even apply for seasonal
employment to help them pay for college, according to a promotional video.
The year-long course includes 180 hours of classroom instruction, demonstrations, hands-on exercises, and simulator experience, ultimately preparing
students to take the commercial driver’s license (CDL) written exam. The
truck-driving course is the latest logistics industry initiative to come out of
Patterson High School, which in 2016 opened the Supply Chain and Logistics
Training Center, an academic facility that offers four classrooms and three
working warehouses to prepare students for jobs in the sector.
Reading, writing, and really big trucks
Sports fans across the country showed up bleary-eyed to work last month after
staying up to watch the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea. The
games’ aftereffects weren’t limited to sleep deprivation, however; they apparently unleashed some creative impulses as well. For example, one warehouse crew
was so inspired by the improbable gold medal run by the U.S. men’s curling
team that they set up a virtual Olympic ice arena on the floor of their busy DC.
The results of their “match” can be seen in a lighthearted video from Chico,
Calif.-based Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. The video stars three steely-eyed employees clad in Lycra cycling jerseys and padded gloves in the company’s trademark
pale green, wearing winter hats promoting the brewery’s “Celebration” India
pale ale (IPA).
In the opening scenes, two bearded, burly men twirl push brooms and perform bicep curls using beer kegs for barbells, while lift trucks cruise through the
aisles behind them. Suddenly, their partner calls out “Hurry, hurry, hurry!” as
she crouches in the familiar curling position and launches a keg of beer mounted
on a wooden dolly across the floor.
While her partners furiously scrub the cement in front of it to melt the imaginary ice, the keg smashes into another wheeled keg, pushing it out of the camera
frame. One of the men quickly snaps a tap onto the keg, and the beer begins to
flow. The 26-second video ends with footage of the players clinking their glasses
in a rowdy victory toast, while the phrase “Please drink responsibly. And no
doping.” scrolls across the screen.
No stones needed! Beer keg curling comes to
the DC
The Owner-Operator Independent
Drivers Association (OOIDA)
has called on President Donald
Trump to meet with “real truckers” to discuss the government’s
electronic logging device (ELD)
mandate. In a Feb. 5 letter to
the White House, OOIDA’s acting
president, Todd Spencer, urged
Trump to meet with “Americans
who actually drive for a living”
and “who helped get you elected”
to talk about the mandate, which
took effect Dec. 18 and which
OOIDA has fiercely opposed.
Spencer said in his letter that
small-business truckers like those
represented by OOIDA were
“frustrated and disenchanted”
by the administration’s failure
to overturn the mandate. “While
your administration has done a
remarkable job rolling back sever-
al excessive trucking regulations,
professional drivers are perplexed
and disappointed that their shouts
for relief from the disastrous elec-
tronic logging device mandate
have not been embraced by the
White House,” he wrote. “This
$2 billion Obama-era regulation
is the most costly, disruptive, and
controversial trucking mandate in
the history of our industry.”
Since December 2017, the gov-
ernment has required virtually all
trucks to be equipped with ELDs,
saying the devices will ensure com-
pliance with regulations governing
a driver’s hours of service behind
the wheel. However, OOIDA has
argued that the tracking devices
do not improve highway safety,
but rather increase carrier costs
and violate drivers’ privacy rights.
Federal courts have dismissed
those complaints, leading the
drivers to petition the president
directly.
Truckers petition
Trump for ELD relief
