Profile For Garth M.

This whole thing will take years to play out as far as new manufacturing goes unfortunately

Yeah and there are reports of companies already moving to US which means flatbed will increase with construction.

Wait n see. China is having protests due to jobs being affected.

Dont get me wrong but was Biden president in 2016?

WOW, what a shocking revelation for the trucking industry. I'm floored by what the last administration did and the recruiting nightmare that's about to hit the trucking industry in the coming months. It could be a massive crisis.

Here is a summary of an article by Zerohedge titled, Biden Handed Out CDLs Like Candy... Now US Highways Are A Public & National Security Nightmare:

The U.S. trucking industry has faced a dramatic shift over the past decade, driven by policy changes that loosened driver standards and flooded the market with migrant truckers, culminating in rising safety risks and economic strain for American drivers.

• In 2016, a federal memorandum waived enforcement of English proficiency requirements for CDLs, loosening standards for truck drivers.
• In 2021, the Biden administration introduced the “Trucking Action Plan” to address a claimed driver shortage, initially targeting veterans, women, and minorities.
• By 2022, the Biden administration boasted adding 876,000 new drivers—doubling the usual annual rate—shifting the plan’s focus to issuing non-domicile CDLs to refugees and migrants.
• Between 2022 and 2025, the industry gained over 300,000 drivers despite over 100,000 small and mid-sized U.S. carriers going bankrupt in an ongoing downturn.
• Since 2016, truck-involved incidents and fatalities have steadily risen, a trend ATU correlates with the influx of minimally vetted migrant drivers.
• Weeks ago, a migrant driver with limited English, holding a non-domicile CDL, caused a deadly crash in Austin, Texas, killing 5 and injuring 11, spotlighting safety risks.
• ATU suspects NGOs like Texas-based Global Impact Initiative have aided migrants in obtaining CDLs, raising national security concerns (e.g., truck attacks like Nice, France).
• In 2025, with Trump back in office and English now the official U.S. language, calls emerge for a task force to reverse Biden’s policies, reinstate language rules, and empower states to enforce penalties for non-compliant drivers.

Things are about to change dramatically in this industry. The demand for drivers over the past two years has gone nearly to zero, something I haven't experience in almost 20 years of running this website, including the Great Recession of 2008. Now I know why no one needs drivers. Man, that is about to change.

Depending on what you are hauling pets may not be allowed on the property.

I had to leave my dog with my parents, move across the country for a month, and go through training, THEN go home to get my dog. It was rough, and she never did forgive me for it, but it was worth it in the end.

Its too soon to tell but there are reports of fewer container ships and less cargo. I would expect less freight to be moving in another month or 2. I have heard the reduction will be similar to covid times.

I constantly see stories (TikTok, X, Facebook) about truckers being laid off due to the tariffs and lack of freight volume?

Is there any truth to this? Are they making it seem worse than it is? Or it’s not really that bad?

I feel sorry for the few actual truckers involved in the Canadian protest, too much time spent on youtube can make victims of anyone. I still see some of the trucks that fled Ottawa bobtailing up and down the 401 with their placards on but I quit supporting them about 2 minutes after I heard the first one talk and I really did try to rationalize what was going on. I run into people who come from a different reality more and more these days. I listen and hope for something that I havent heard before but the standard paranoid rhetoric just gives them away and I have to leave. I feel they have insulted our flag and embarrassed our country.

Unless there is a change in the amount of drive time allowed a 60 or 65 mph national limit would eliminate some of the runs we have as we wouldn't have the time nessesary in 11 hours. Which would result in more trucks on the road and probably higher costs.

No offence but if 5mph makes that big a difference to your day I would say the 11 hrs is the real problem. Ive found that the extra 5 is over rated so Im slowing down more often. Less stress

I started out flatbed when I was 59 its not that big a deal if your semi fit and healthy

Im coming up to 3yrs so I changed my status from rookie to experienced. I think Ive found my retirement job hauling bulk flour, Ive been at it for 7 months now. This is the third company Ive driven for since getting my cdl, the first was a year and a half the second was 6 months. With this company Im home every other day and every weekend. Im doing 70hrs a week usually covering 2800 miles so Im busy enough. Just thought Id share. Keep safe and best of health.

So I was going to refuse anymore of those loads but I wouldn’t have waited till I got to the shipper. I had planned to tell the boss at our meeting which never took place, partly because I was on the road and couldn’t get by the office and partly because he didn’t seem to think it was that important I guess. That’s partly why he’s my ex boss.

I know this ND was a bit of a complainer but not everyone is comfortable climbing on their loads. I’ve come across a few flatbed drivers who were like that. I had a moment when I was about to complain on how my step deck trailer was loaded with well casing but it was the first load I had hauled with a step deck and another of our drivers had just loaded his the same and not said anything, as well the loaders in this yard seamed pretty anal about safety. Since the other driver had been with the company longer than me I went with the load but made sure to use plenty of straps. When loading pipe on step decks they place a couple stands at the middle and back of the trailer to level the load but in the case of these 2 loads the center stand wasn’t touching the pipe. Off I went checking my straps religiously for the next 6 hrs. About a mile from my drop creeping along the main street of some little town in the dark I went over a pothole going up an incline when I heard and felt a bang. The welds on the rear stand broke, the cantilever broke 4 straps at the front and the load dropped onto the center stand. I re secured it in place and crept to my drop to unload in the morning. When I called the boss he said we’d talk about it when I got back which never happened till I brought it up the day I gave my notice about 4 weeks later. On the trip back I was to drop the stakes off at the shipper for another step deck to use, as soon as I did that trailer was shunted off and a few minutes later the loaders asked me to come see them. They pointed out one of the stands was damaged on that trailer as well so I suggested they refuse to load it, a manager came over and they had a bit of a safety meeting and followed my advice. Those trailers were quite old but not as old as the drivers who were pulling them had been driving, I’m starting my 3rd year so I don’t want to be that guy. Just saying. PS. That shipper no longer accepts step decks.