Profile For Brett Aquila

Sort of feels like the last day of high-school, people you have known for years will be going their separate ways. You may bump into them around town but it won't be the same.

Wow, that really captures it well for me. It does feel that way. It's like this uneasy feeling, not knowing what to say or do, and not knowing what comes next, but knowing it's time to move on and there's no going back.

This is a little harder than I thought it might be.

Thanks to all of you for the well wishes and wonderful responses! I'm enjoying it. I'll provide a lot of individual feedback over the next couple of weeks, but for now, I want to address the main topic - whether I should keep the site up and running.

I really wanted to move on a couple of years ago, but I decided I would try to keep it running and start new projects at the same time. Two years later, that has proven to be impossible. I won't pursue business prospects that only require a part-time effort. I dive in deep and go after big goals, like I did with Trucking Truth. It will take all of my time and attention, and running this website takes an awful lot of both. The financial cost of running the servers, email, backups, databases, and all that is not trivial either. It's costly.

I agree that the information here is priceless, so nothing will be deleted. It will all be archived permanently. I have been pondering ways to make at least some of the most valuable stuff available, especially this forum and The High Road. That High Road is more advanced than people realize. The results people get from it really show its strength. The next step would have been to add AI to the High Road, but I hadn't gotten that far.

I've considered making at least parts of the forum available for download, such as a free book or something similar. I've also considered using AI to enable people to ask questions, with AI retrieving the results from the website's information. I've thought all of this over for a couple of years now.

I'm still open-minded to making at least some of this available somehow, but I haven't settled on the best way to do that. I'm happy to field recommendations if you have some.

The other big concern I have is making room for the next generation of mentors to step up and take over where we left off. If I keep this website running, it will continue to get a lot of traffic, standing in the way of newcomers.

Old School wrote an absolutely incredible book himself, and perhaps he will want to develop his own mentoring program. I know Kearsey and Turtle have YouTube channels that they use to mentor people. Many of you are still active drivers or soon to retire, and could do exactly as I have. But if I keep this website up and running, it will block some of that traffic you'll desperately need, and I don't want to do that.

So we'll keep this discussion going and see if we can't find a good solution. I appreciate and enjoy the feedback. I can't tell you how weird it will be not having Trucking Truth to nurture day and night after 18 1/2 years. I bought the domain in January 2007:

Creation Date: 2007-01-12 17:27:50Z

I don't have kids, so this will be the closest thing to becoming an empty-nester I guess!

Thanks Heavy C!

It's a bummer because I've only recently come back to the forum after taking an Internet break. I was excited to share my experience and unique perspective on the industry when I came back. I guess I'll just have to find new places to guide and inspire the next generation of drivers.

I hope you do find new places where you can help and inspire people. They need it badly, as you know. Trucking is a tough business, and it's especially harsh for new drivers. If you can get them through those first 6 - 12 months, they'll be on their way. But that's no small task. They could use a guy like you to show them how it's done.

All the best to ya.

Brett I pray whatever comes next for you serves you as well as you have served all of us.

Thank you, Jay! Sorry we're closing up shop so soon on ya, but you gave me a great idea for the thank you page that I'll put up after we close. I will list resources that I know come from trustworthy people, mostly those in our community. I know we have some members with YouTube channels, and Old School wrote an excellent book, so I'll list great resources on that thank you page Oct 1st.

Anyone who knows of great resources for new drivers can list them here in this thread. I'll make a list of them as we go. Feel free to promote yourselves if you're mentoring new drivers!

Hey everyone,

Today I’m announcing the final chapter in Trucking Truth’s amazing journey. After 18½ years of running Trucking Truth, I’ve decided it’s time to bring this incredible chapter to a close. This website will be shutting down permanently on October 1st.

What a ride it has been! From the very beginning, we set out to do things differently — to empathize, encourage, and inspire anyone who was considering a career in trucking and give them the advice and support they needed to make it through that first year in the industry. Together, we built something extraordinary that set a new standard in the trucking world.

Over the years, Trucking Truth has served more than 10 million visitors, and tens of thousands have launched successful trucking careers with help from this community. We changed so many lives, and I couldn’t be more proud of how we did it: with integrity, positivity, and a focus on helping others succeed.

I’ve chosen not to sell the site or keep it running because I feel it’s time for the next generation of mentors to step up, build their own communities inspired by their unique vision, and lead the next generation of drivers. I also want to make a clean break for myself and move on to new challenges in life. I’m leaving with tremendous pride in what we’ve accomplished here together.

But this ain’t over quite yet! For the next two weeks, I’ll be here daily. I’d love for you to share your thoughts, memories, and questions. If you’ve ever wanted to say something about your time here, this is your chance. I’m really looking forward to spending these last two weeks together.

On October 1st, this website will be replaced with a single thank you page as the final chapter. You guys can help me decide what that page should have on it.

This has truly been an incredible ride, and I’ll always carry a deep sense of pride and gratitude for what we’ve done together. Thank you all for making Trucking Truth such a special place, and here’s to the next chapter, for all of us.

- Brett

Also drives me crazy that your experience means nothing anymore unless it’s recent over the road. I have 8 years but for the past 2 and a half years I’ve been local And nobody is accepting that

That's the way it has always been. I've been in the industry since '93, and I agree that it doesn't make much sense. I never did get a straight answer from anyone as to why OTR companies don't count local experience. Maybe they figure the OTR lifestyle is an entirely different beast? That's all I can figure, because it isn't the driving part that's harder. Local driving tends to be more difficult than OTR much of the time because you spend more time in traffic, have to maneuver through tight parking lots more often, and you're doing difficult backing far more often as well.

Maybe they've found that local guys who go OTR don't last because they're used to being home. I don't know. It is a bit puzzling.

I drove for 15 years and loved it, but then I decided it was time to move on permanently, so I didn't renew my CDL back then either. It forced me to move on to something else.

Be real damn sure you're done with trucking before you let that CDL go, or you'll likely be facing an expensive and time-consuming process of getting it back, and who knows how that would affect your chances of getting hired.

Things will have to play out for a while yet, maybe a few months to a year, but if they continue to crack down on non-English speaking CDL holders and immigrants, things will swing back in the favor of drivers again.

Correct, its not an immigration issue, its a national security issue and a wages issue and a safety issue.

Exactly!

It's also about protecting our industry, bolstering our economy, and preserving our culture and our way of life.

There are right and wrong ways to approach immigration and allow foreign workers to participate in our society. We already have laws to protect us, and they need to be followed.

Many experienced drivers here have called out the headlines about driver shortages as fake news, and for good reason. The 'driver shortage' is the perfect excuse to demand the allowance of foreign drivers and reduced CDL requirements, neither of which is in the best interest of the general public, current drivers, future drivers, or the overwhelming majority of people in our country.

The cost of transporting goods is a tiny percentage of the overall cost of goods on shelves. We don't need to reduce the cost of shipping overall because our industry is already incredibly efficient. We can move 23 tons of goods 3,000 miles in a climate-controlled environment on very short notice in two days for a few thousand bucks. That's incredible!

Our industry is phenomenal. Trucking is one of the last great American blue-collar jobs, and it's the ultimate American adventure. If people want to be part of it, they can earn their way into our industry, just like we had to.

I have absolutely nothing against immigrants; my family was exactly that a few generations ago. But we did things the right way. We came here legally, learned the language, earned citizenship, abided by the laws, and assimilated into the Amercan culture. I see no reason we can't expect the same from others.

You must be 18 to drive a commercial vehicle for the purpose of Interstate commerce. I would support a law that requires you to be a U.S. citizen to do the same. That would protect our wages and defend trucking as one of the best blue-collar careers in America, one of the few left that pays a salary that can support a family.

Well, Zerohedge has once again posted an article highlighted how dangerous the highways are with the dramatic increase in CDLs going to non-domiciled immigrants during the last administration.

Not only have they flooded the industry with unsafe foreign drivers, but they've actually reduced the standards for getting a CDL in many places.

Here is a link to the article:

American Truckers United Issues Dire Warning On 'Unsafe' Highways Amid Flood Of Migrant Drivers, Crashes

Here are a few of the most important facts highlighted in the piece that really stuck with me:

• Concerns over Unvetted Drivers: ATU has found that truck-involved incidents and fatalities have been on a steady rise since 2016, and the correlations with federal immigration policies under the previous administration saw a spike in non-domiciled CDLs.
• ATU revealed that Walmart and Amazon displayed navigational signs at their trucking hubs in foreign languages
• ATU has previously noted that the Biden-Harris regime "bragged about bringing 876,000 new drivers into the market, effectively doubling the average annual output of new drivers."

"Our highways are no longer safe. Reckless immigration policies and weakened licensing standards have unleashed a deadly crisis on our roads."

- Shannon Everett of the trucking advocacy group American Truckers United

Self-driving trucks are not currently a threat to safe highways or driver wages. Flooding the industry with immigrants is the greatest threat to our industry. Just ask the business owners in landscaping, farming, and many construction trades what would happen to their businesses if they had to pay wages to American workers. They would go bankrupt in short order.

But it's worse than that. They're not making more profits than they would be with American labor, because their competitors are using foreign labor as well. There is no advantage to be gained from something if everyone is doing it.

• Hiring foreigners does not increase your profits for long.
• It ruins good paying jobs for American workers.
• Foreign workers send their wages home, draining our economy of the spending that would have come from those wages as well.

The trucking industry is still an amazing blue-collar opportunity in our society today, one of the few remaining ones left. It's a career that will challenge you, one you can be proud of, and it's an adventure like no other.

I strongly believe the current administration is fixing this problem, and companies are already looking harder for drivers than they have been the past few years. I think they will dramatically reduce the number of foreign drivers back to what it was historically, and our great industry will continue on as it has for many decades.

Time will tell.

What do you guys think? What have you seen lately on the highways? Has anything changed over the past six months since the new administration took over?

Wow, PJ. So you encountered drivers that could speak little or no English at EVERY Weigh Station???

So it certainly doesn't sound like an exaggeration that a significant percentage of CDL holders out there are immigrants now.

I've said for years that self-driving trucks are not the concern, but I worried about bringing in immigrants for cheap labor, just like they've done in many other industries. Well, it's here now, but will it last? Time will tell.

I can tell you this - almost no one has been looking for new drivers for the past two years or so. This past month, people started calling me again. If Trump's team stays in charge and can focus on this issue, I think they'll clean it up pretty well. It's not rocket surgery. But if they don't get it cleaned up, wages will drop hard.

I have noticed our office people are being asked to do more with less personnel.

That's funny, because one of the majors recently told me, "I was told to try getting more without giving more."

I said, "Well, you wouldn't have a very business-savvy boss if he didn't expect that sometimes."

I think almost everyone is trying to stay conservative in this volatile environment, but I believe enforcement is having a positive impact on driver demand (and hopefully salaries) and will continue to do so for the coming months and years. As is often the case, fixing the mess will take longer than creating it.

It's incredible that they gave almost one million non-domiciled CDLs to immigrants in an industry with three million drivers.

What have you guys been seeing regarding roadside checks in recent months? It's summer, so enforcement always goes up with better weather, but do you think this administration is pushing enforcement harder than the last administration?