I Need A Quote From Someone!

Hello all! Long time no see. I haven't been active in this forum for forever now, but I am now 14 and still in love with trucks. I am a part of my (now temporarily online) school's newspaper, and we are publishing a special edition all about COVID-19. I am writing about essential workers and how they've come to be so essential now even though they always have been (that's a bad way of wording it, but similar to that). I have written a paragraph in there about truck drivers and could use some help. I need a couple of quotes for my article, and I don't know any truckers IRL, so I've turned to you! I just need some answers for a couple of short questions:

How is life on the road different now than it was before?

How have people been treating you? Is it any different than before?

And then the name I should credit you as in the article.

Thanks in advance! I'm going to try to be active here again :).

Wow. As a young voice around here you have always had a hungry mind. Hope all is well. I am about to jump back into trucking, it is in my blood now. I don't have a quote for you right now. Just glad to see you back.

I can tell you many owner ops are having trouble now because freight prices are low. This reinforces our advice to stay company.

Wow. As a young voice around here you have always had a hungry mind. Hope all is well. I am about to jump back into trucking, it is in my blood now. I don't have a quote for you right now. Just glad to see you back.

I can tell you many owner ops are having trouble now because freight prices are low. This reinforces our advice to stay company.

Hey! That's fine, glad to be here! Yeah, I've seen a lot about that. I don't think I am really going to include it as it'd take way too much space to explain to middle schoolers how that all works lol.

Okay.

Most states with Democrats in the capital are locked down to a greater extent. Less traffic around the larger cities two months ago, but it is picking up daily. Not quite back to pre-hysteria levels, but more cars each day.

Some shippers and receivers are carrying on as before, while in other states, I've been treated practically as a leper. An example would be Illinois with nearly police-state regulations a month ago. Bordering state Indiana was much less strict. Most every state seems to be loosening restrictions because the "leaders" fear a revolt by their citizens. I was at a receiver at 0230 on a Sunday, getting a trailer from the hundreds in the lot. A security idiot drove up and informed me I needed a mask on. He was ignored.

Many truck stop restaurants were completely closed at the truck stops, while most were open for take out. These are beginning to open more, and some are allowing dining-in. No condiments on the tables, paper menus, waitresses wearing gloves and masks. Some truck stops require masks to be worn inside, as recently as yesterday.

I saw one small city that was restricted to citizens only, no outsiders or visitors. This was Gallup, New Mexico, about two weeks ago. Police at the top of the ramp checking licenses. This was the only entrance from the Interstate that was not blocked. The Walmart in town was packed though. Guess you cannot be infected in WM?

Here's a picture:

I'm not OTR , but I haven't noticed too much of a difference in how the general public treats us. I had a few people come and shake my hand while unloading at stores but that's been about it. All over social media people are thanking drivers but unfortunately after all this is done with we'll be forgotten. I'm willing to bet that the general public will go back to thinking we're lazy uneducated scum that can't do anything but sit on our butts. Delivering to grocery stores has been so chaotic, we are currently exempt from ALL HOS regulations while hauling store loads/backhauls so my employer is allowing us to run as hard as we want but they want us to still take our 30 minute break and 10 hours off to avoid fatigue. Last week I had 65 hours in 5 days despite 2 of them being 9 hour days. About half of my hours are currently spent sitting at shippers waiting to get loaded as many warehouses in the food supply chain are busier than heck and possibly running with reduced staff.

All weigh stations I've been past in Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska have been closed since the pandemic started here. It's been probably 2 months since I've been scaled. The DOT has partnered up with local restaurants a couple times to cater several hundred meals to truck drivers as a way to say thank you at some scale houses. Many shippers and receivers no longer allow us inside their facility to use the restrooms. If we're lucky they have a porta potty for us. We're also asked about having been in contact with anybody who has tested positive and our temps taken. At first traffic levels were significantly less but it's starting to feel more normal if you don't count peak rush hour times in the large cities.

Hi Linden, it's great to hear from you!

Many of my customers have changed the way they interact with me when I'm delivering their product. Here's an example: Instead of me giving the paperwork to the forklift operator after they've unloaded my truck, I now leave the paperwork on the bed of the trailer. I wait in the cab of my truck while they unload it. Then they sign the paperwork and put it back on the bed of the trailer. After that they will blow their forklift horn, signaling me to get out of my cab to retrieve my paperwork. No handshake, no "thank you sir," no contact. It's just weird!

You can attribute that quote to your truck driving friend, who goes by the handle of "Old School."

Everything we thought we knew, we found out we know nothing. Everyone has gotten crazier with this bug. At least in the beginning eveything basically shutdown. Now we have no idea what to expect day to day. Seems everyone is doing things different. Pretty much stop and go figure it out.

Howdy young man!

I drive north to south in the midwest and west. Only at one receiver did they demand I get a mask, I told them "No" but would pull my shirt up one my nose....they allowed that and then gave me a mask. Different truck stops in different States wouldnt let you get your own drinks and one had to wait to be helped. :-P All in all, I do my job very well for an old lady, so I have been kept busy. I'm known as Idaho Mountain Gal (IDMtnGal).

Laura

I'll say this Packrat I was that "security idiot" for a few years after the military and I can't tell you how many times I had to enforce policy's that I thought were counter productive to truck drivers all the time. But if I wanted to keep my job I had to enforce them. I'll bet he really personally didn't care whether you wore one or not. And as an illinois resident the restrictions here were never worse than Indiana, or Kentucky, or Michigan. In my opinion. Chicago yes rest of the state no.

Nothing really changed much for me personally. Work in the beginning of this was holiday season like busy but calmed down after a few weeks. We are a little slow but have stayed consistent. In the beginning I was constantly forgetting to wear a mask even after it was mandatory and was never confronted about it. I wear one now out of respect for cashiers and workers who don't have a choice. I will miss the no traffic and I agree with what Rob said and PJ. Everybody loves truckers now in a few weeks it will be back to normal. And everyday it seems either info is changing. I also think this will make people think twice about what their hygiene habits were.

Traffic, ESPECIALLY around Orlando, is much easier to deal with.

That, and I never thought I’d live long enough to see We, The People, WILLINGLY give up our Rights out of fear.

Otherwise, I’m as busy as I’ve been and grateful to serve!

😎🇺🇸