Black Smoke Matters

Drifter McDuck

Drifter McDuck

Well-Known Member
Mike said:
What is the direction?

I see lots of comments about the ELD, but that ship has sailed. The time to stand up and protest that was years ago. When it was important, nobody wanted to do anything but laugh about it and make fun of the company drivers who were being forced into it by the carriers they worked for. This is why any organization has be be here to support the entire trucking industry. The entire time these carriers have been using an electronic log, data was being formulated to push toward a mandate for the entire industry. It was foolish for the majority of owner operators to ignorantly think it would never happen to them. The ELD is here now, and the only thing that will ever take it away is overwhelming, well documented, proof that the ELD is making the roads unsafe. Not opinion, but overwhelming proof that will work to scare every organization that supports us having an ELD.

OOIDA fought the ELD harder than anybody could have ever fought it. They did it in the most organized and influential way possible. How much help did they get from the drivers in the industry? Very damn little.

Beyond the ELD, what else is trying to be accomplished here, in which convoy protests would ever do any good?
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As I stated before, the convoys are designed to generate media attention for the shutdown. And it’s working. It’s not 5 years ago anymore. Most of the mega carriers have replaced their entire fleet of drivers 5 times since then. The OOIDA tried to fight the changes with money and were grossly outspent by the ATA and the tech companies. We’re fighting in a different way... instead of raising money, we’re obstructing it. If 50,000 trucks shut down for 10 days, it will disrupt over $15 billion in commerce. The first shut-down is just the start. As we saw last year, it only takes a 2% drop in market capacity to create chaos. Stop being salty about what should have been done 5 years ago and be a part of what’s being done now.
 
J

Johnson

Well-Known Member
Drifter McDuck said:
As I stated before, the convoys are designed to generate media attention for the shutdown. And it’s working. It’s not 5 years ago anymore. Most of the mega carriers have replaced their entire fleet of drivers 5 times since then. The OOIDA tried to fight the changes with money and were grossly outspent by the ATA and the tech companies. We’re fighting in a different way... instead of raising money, we’re obstructing it. If 50,000 trucks shut down for 10 days, it will disrupt over $15 billion in commerce. The first shut-down is just the start. As we saw last year, it only takes a 2% drop in market capacity to create chaos. Stop being salty about what should have been done 5 years ago and be a part of what’s being done now.
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What media attention???
Never seen or heard anything about it on the news.
 
ironpony

ironpony

Professional Pot-Stirrer
Supporter
Duck said:
The mainstream news media only covers political activism by people who are demanding the rights of others be taken away. If they were protesting for MORE oppressive regulations they'd be on every channel, portrayed as some kind of "victims" or heroes.
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:coocoo:
 
J

Johnson

Well-Known Member
Duck said:
The mainstream news media only covers political activism by people who are demanding the rights of others be taken away. If they were protesting for MORE oppressive regulations they'd be on every channel, portrayed as some kind of "victims" or heroes.
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I was just making a point.
Seriously though I never heard about anywhere til I saw it posted on here , lol.
 
Sinister

Sinister

Supermodel
Staff member
Supporter
Drifter McDuck said:
Yeah, yeah... everybody’s a truckstop comedian. But there are those of us who don’t like being treated like a criminal with the mandatory electronic monitoring device. Nor do we like being treated like children, having our sleep/work cycles dictated to us by some suit-wearing extortionist who’s never drove anything bigger than their tax-payer funded desk. I get the limits on how many hours a day we can drive, but that rule can be enforced without us furnishing GPS coordinates showing exactly what business or who’s residence we slept at last night, along with a push-button feature showing exactly what time we got into bed. My problem is knowing that ELD’s are just the foot in the door to more restrictive, privacy-invading technology. What will be next? Mandatory driver-facing cams with audio? Sleep monitors to ensure how many hours of sleep we actually got? And why? Because the mega-carrier driver mills are producing sub-standard drivers, but nobody wants to call out the elephant in the room in this crony-capitalist totalitarian nation we’ve become. Because safety has nothing to do with it... it’s all about mandating “approved” electronic devices, manufactured by tech companies who’ve paid millions in lobbying fees so they can make billions. It’s about allowing the mega trucking corporations to put new drivers behind the wheel with no supervision for 18 cents per mile, driving freight rates down and bankrupting the competition. I don’t know about you guys, but I fear for the future of my children if we don’t draw a line in the sand at some point and say “enough”. If you are ready to join thousands of your brothers and sisters in drawing that line, then shut down, join a convoy, and slow your roll. Black Smoke Matters!
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This is honestly the most cogent response about this stuff I’ve ever seen. All these are decent issues that could stand a good discussion.

I doubt they’ll put you on camera though for any local news though.

It’ll be some mouth-breathing toothless lunatic with discount neck tattoos.
 
Drifter McDuck

Drifter McDuck

Well-Known Member
Sinister said:
This is honestly the most cogent response about this stuff I’ve ever seen. All these are decent issues that could stand a good discussion.

I doubt they’ll put you on camera though for any local news though.

It’ll be some mouth-breathing toothless lunatic with discount neck tattoos.
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There has already been news coverage, complete with interviews and even news helicopter footage (Dallas Convoy)
 
Drifter McDuck

Drifter McDuck

Well-Known Member
The choice is yours. If you love your ELD, if you’re happy with the HOS, if you don’t mind being tracked by electronic monitoring like a sex offender, if you don’t mind sacrificing a couple of hours of your earning potential to make sure you can get a parking spot every day, if you think DC knows best, and you aren’t capable of managing your schedule without Uncle Sam’s mandatory guidance, then by all means...sit this one out and make jokes. If you feel like you’re a free citizen in a free country, and are perfectly capable of managing your own sleep/work schedule, and that being tracked like a sex offender is uncalled for, if you want these mega-carriers to start providing REAL training to the guys you share the road with, instead of rookies teaching rookies how to crash, then join the Cause. I can’t draw the line in the sand for you.
 
N

nan

Well-Known Member
Supporter
Drifter McDuck said:
The choice is yours. If you love your ELD, if you’re happy with the HOS, if you don’t mind being tracked by electronic monitoring like a sex offender, if you don’t mind sacrificing a couple of hours of your earning potential to make sure you can get a parking spot every day, if you think DC knows best, and you aren’t capable of managing your schedule without Uncle Sam’s mandatory guidance, then by all means...sit this one out and make jokes. If you feel like you’re a free citizen in a free country, and are perfectly capable of managing your own sleep/work schedule, and that being tracked like a sex offender is uncalled for, if you want these mega-carriers to start providing REAL training to the guys you share the road with, instead of rookies teaching rookies how to crash, then join the Cause. I can’t draw the line in the sand for you.
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You're already tracked by Google/Apple if you have a smart phone.

Heck your little Rand McNally truck GPS is tattling on your whereabouts.
 
J

Johnson

Well-Known Member
Drifter McDuck said:
The choice is yours. If you love your ELD, if you’re happy with the HOS, if you don’t mind being tracked by electronic monitoring like a sex offender, if you don’t mind sacrificing a couple of hours of your earning potential to make sure you can get a parking spot every day, if you think DC knows best, and you aren’t capable of managing your schedule without Uncle Sam’s mandatory guidance, then by all means...sit this one out and make jokes. If you feel like you’re a free citizen in a free country, and are perfectly capable of managing your own sleep/work schedule, and that being tracked like a sex offender is uncalled for, if you want these mega-carriers to start providing REAL training to the guys you share the road with, instead of rookies teaching rookies how to crash, then join the Cause. I can’t draw the line in the sand for you.
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The ELD doesn't stop me from managing my own sleep/ work schedule. It just keeps track of my hours for me and let's me know wheather I'm legal to roll or not.
Tracked like a sex offender?? , lmao.
I don't and never have felt like a criminal because I'm using an ELD.

If you feel like a sex offender being tracked I guess you have some personal issues to work out.
 
Drifter McDuck

Drifter McDuck

Well-Known Member
Johnson said:
The ELD doesn't stop me from managing my own sleep/ work schedule. It just keeps track of my hours for me and let's me know wheather I'm legal to roll or not.
Tracked like a sex offender?? , lmao.
I don't and never have felt like a criminal because I'm using an ELD.
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I’ve raised kids like you and N nan . No matter what I say, you’re going to counter it just for the sake of arguing. So you think the industry is the most awesome it’s ever been, the HOS are perfect, ELD is great, the government is trustworthy and they got it right, and guys like me should just stop complaining. Got it.
 
Mike

Mike

Well-Known Member
Staff member
This isn’t about thinking the industry is wonderful, it’s about realizing that the ELD fight is over.

Lots of money spent on lawyers trying to fight this, every angle possible was used, including trying to fight it on constitutional grounds.

Everyone lost in court, and the highest court in the land wouldn’t even acknowledge the case.

You would need the majority of the industry to come together and be willing to shut the trucks down. You would never even get 1/10th of 1%.

Beyond the privacy concerns that got shot down, there is no further argument.

If you approach the safety angle, it’s no longer even a debate about the ELD. It becomes a debate about HOS reform, and having it be a reform that is in our favor.

I’m not going to be one of the guys that just makes fun of what you are trying to do, because I respect people who fight for what they believe in. Just saying the ELD fight is a 100% wasted effort, because it isn’t going away.
 
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