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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTruck Drivers Say They Won't Deliver To Cities with Defunded Police Departments
Truck Drivers Say They Wont Deliver To Cities with Defunded Police Departmentshttps://cdllife.com/2020/truck-drivers-say-they-wont-deliver-to-cities-with-defunded-police-departments/
This is an interstate trucker trade publication that did a poll.
The headline is an exaggeration, but the article itself is straightforward.
...
Truck driving is historically ranked as one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. In 2018, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic reported truck driving as the most deadly job in the country.
Truck drivers have spent the last year on the front line of a global pandemic and protests. Now many are fearful of what might happen if police departs disband or are defunded.
Truck drives have been voicing their concerns on the CDLLife App. After reading about their concerns, CDLLife posted a poll on the app.
We asked drivers on the app, Would you pick up/deliver to cities with defunded or disbanded police departments? Why or why not?
To date, 77% of drivers say they will refuse loads to cities with disbanded or defunded police departments.
...
77% means there will still be deliveries, but it will get more expensive.
Eliot Rosewater
(31,097 posts)a huge supporter of truckers, they are why we exist, literally.
But this is FUCKING STUPID
HotTeaBag
(1,206 posts)Because they want themselves and their loads to be safe?
Should go over well.
And you support truckers?
yardwork
(61,418 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,097 posts)I had NOT thought of that!
Scary bunch, they are.
Caliman73
(11,694 posts)Defunded police does not mean No police. It means that the excessive funding to arm police is spent on community programs to decrease and eliminate crime at the source, by better educating, by more mental health services, by enhancing communities through jobs and community service programs, by housing the homeless, and providing money for basic necessities to ALL people in the community. When people are not desperate and not disconnected from their communities then the communities are safer, without the need for more police.
Truckers need to stop listening to Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.
totodeinhere
(13,037 posts)Firing someone from a job is a very serious matter. I would definitely look into this if I were their employer but I would at least allow them due process.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)Trust me, it isn't. Trucking companies could not care less. As long as you're properly licensed, insurable, can read and write with some reliability and can find your way from A to B, you're good.
Being able to discern wheat from chaff is by no means a requirement.
Caliman73
(11,694 posts)I was mainly a response to the poster questioning Elliot Rosewater's motives and trying to make it an issue about the police being the only thing that is keeping society safe.
Due process is important. Understanding the environment around us is also important so we do not make decisions based on false information.
former9thward
(31,805 posts)You can give an opinion of what you mean, and that is fine, but many people, including many on this site, want no police. The CHAZ people in Seattle want no police, period. Many, many agree. Maybe you ignore their posts here.
SlogginThroughIt
(1,977 posts)Either a past present or future one? Thanks.
Demsrule86
(68,352 posts)murders anymore period and end of story.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)It isn't what they think it is, so it wouldn't happen and they couldn't come through.
They wouldn't make good if they knew what it was.
Not a problem.
Hi, Demsrule.
Solomon
(12,305 posts)somebody else will. Simple as that.
Response to Eliot Rosewater (Reply #1)
dware This message was self-deleted by its author.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)You ever drive a truck?
madville
(7,397 posts)The pick and choose the loads and lanes they want to run and book freight through brokers, so you cant really fire owner operators. Someone will run the load though if it pays enough.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)If by "large percentage" you mean more than about 9 %, you would be wrong. The overwhelming number of truck drivers in the United States and Canada do NOT own their own tractor, and owners of both truck AND trailer are rarer still. There's roughly 3.5 million truck drivers in the US, and 350,00 or so of them are Owner Operators.
Where did you get the notion that "you can't really fire owner operators" ? I assure you, they can absolutely be fired, and they can be blackballed in a sense via the DAC system.
On edit to add this page from the Owner Operators Independent Drivers Association for more info;
https://www.ooida.com/OOIDA%20Foundation/Tools/docs/Industry%20Facts.pdf
madville
(7,397 posts)I was speaking about OTR drivers (which this topic was clearly referencing) as they mention they would refuse to deliver to certain cities. You are talking about all CDL drivers across the board, apples and oranges and gonna skew the O/O numbers down. There are an estimated 1.8 million long haul drivers out of that 3.5 million so its actually closer to 20% which is a significant percentage.
Please tell me why an owner operator would "get fired" if they are not under a forced dispatch-type agreement for declining a load to a particular city, I'm all ears. Many owner ops with their own authority or leased under carriers pull the loads they want to, they aren't getting fired for boycotting a city because they choose what lanes they want to run anyway lol.
I don't consider forced dispatched fleece (lease) operators to be owner operators anyway so yes, if they refused a load their carrier could easily terminate their contract.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)Someone disagrees with me on the internets, so I must spend an hour searching for links to refute him!
Or not.
You tell me I am comparing apples and oranges and I can accuse you of splitting hairs.
Fine. You're right and I am wrong. This is the absolute LAST thing I want to waste anymore of my time on this evening, as in two hours I'll be driving one of these halfway down I-95 and back.
And BTW, that's one of my firms trucks, we are 99% company drivers (we have a small division of OO's who haul company trailers) , and I erased the company name, the trailer number, the tractor number and the visible portion of the license plate, because I don't want to get any shit from anyone.
Including you.
madville
(7,397 posts)Knew you'd come around
denbot
(9,894 posts)Hi A Heretic I AM!
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)I'm wondering how many truckers were thinking of Reginald Denny recently.
Igel
(35,197 posts)who made a mistake by driving on a close freeway and ran across (but not over) protestors and got beat up for it.
And whether his assailants, who were under no obligation to pound on him, were simply forgiven for their innate goodness or charged with assault for the completely optional pounding.
The media are silent on the point, as far as I can tell.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,280 posts)This is RW propaganda (and also an indication that using the words "defund" and "disband" isn't a very good idea). The proposals involve reallocating some funds to programs for community support and reorganizing police departments so cops aren't assigned to do things they aren't trained to do, like deal with mentally ill people, or that don't involve serious crime.
ck4829
(34,977 posts)Federal authorities first made the connection about five years ago while helping police link a trucker to a string of unsolved killings along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma and several other states. After that, the FBI launched the Highway Serial Killings Initiative to track suspicious slayings and suspect truckers.
A computer database maintained by the FBI has grown to include information on more than 500 female crime victims, most of whom were killed and their bodies discarded at truck stops, motels and other locations along popular trucking routes crisscrossing the U.S.
The database also has information on scores of truckers whove been charged with killings or rapes committed near highways or who are suspects in such crimes, officials said. Authorities said they do not have statistics on whether driving trucks ranks high on the list of occupations of known serial killers.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-apr-05-me-serialkillers5-story.html
Something would replace a disbanded or defunded police department... maybe something that would actually be interested in these deaths and disappearances of these "unwanted people".
yardwork
(61,418 posts)tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)eom
Brother Buzz
(36,217 posts)I've heard you can drive coast to coast, listening to Rush Limbaugh flavored trash almost seamlessly, 24/7.
tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)The dominance of right wing media in rural America is the number 1 reason for that.
2naSalit
(86,063 posts)that isn't much of a factor since they can get it anywhere anyway.
dware
(12,092 posts)totodeinhere
(13,037 posts)n/t
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Please keep that in mind as you toss stereotypes about.
tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)and have a feeling they don't support this.
Have a nice condescending day.
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Must be nice to know how others feel about posts made about their profession, posts made by people who never have driven a truck in their lives.
tenderfoot
(8,424 posts)Igel
(35,197 posts)but it was.
"Why do I get the impression that truckers listen to nothing but right wing talk radio?"
Lots don't. And many are here.
To avoid having what you said taken for the obvious meaning, indicate "some truckers" or "many truckers."
Or the use the now jaded and possibly ironic "present company accepted."
meadowlander
(4,358 posts)Suspect the police unions have been on the horn to every other substantial sized union they can think of (teamsters, etc.) to try to get some backing for their position.
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)we gottaa drop that ASAP
its all about real police reform, lose the LW rhetoric
ck4829
(34,977 posts)It started with "bad apples".
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)its terrible motto/slogan is senseless when the real problem is police actions
aidbo
(2,328 posts)..going to change their minds because it might hurt the Democratic partys chances in November.
They arent calling to defund the police as a slogan or a motto. Theyre calling to defund the police because it is a corrupt racist institution that has been killing Black people and choking the life out of our humanity for decades (centuries really).
And the more that the Democratic Party pushes back against their demands the more out of touch and uncaring it will look to them.
misanthrope
(7,405 posts)It baffles me how many people don't appreciate the full extent to which politics are waged with carefully chosen language.
Aristus
(66,096 posts)There are probably hundreds of truckers willing to make those deliveries so they can feed their families.
You want to stay home and pout? Go right the fuck ahead...
Tipperary
(6,930 posts)Really? You do know we have several liberal truckers who post here, right?
ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)...the drivers here wouldn't be part of the 77% that post was talking to.
Aristus
(66,096 posts)They're not the ones I was addressing.
ismnotwasm
(41,921 posts)Stupidest fucking term Ive seen for an excellent concept that even the police could go for if it was presented properly
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)This is the issue that I have with people that are so focused on one thing that they are completely clueless about the consequences of their terminology.
The best course that we can do now is explain what "just" police reform looks like and what we expect to gain from it.
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)if they need the money and there's a route, they will do it.
That poll is just a chance at performance art.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,847 posts)There's a nearby truck-stop where it's pretty common for the truckers to pull out in front of traffic. I've had to slam on my brakes to avoid a collision, and I've seen other cars do the same.
The location of the truck stop is idiotic, and that's the main problem.
I figured they'd get in trouble if a cop saw them do it, but no! I finally saw a truck driver pull in front of a local cop like that a few days ago, and nothing happened!
ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)It's an idle threat. Want a job, you drive where you need to drive.
This is beside the point that almost no city is really defunding the police.
But, if one does, truckers will go there.
This is BS.
panader0
(25,816 posts)Agree about the idleness of the threat. It's easy to answer a survey like a tough guy.
It's hard to lose your job.
ProfessorGAC
(64,425 posts)My dad drove a truck. Teamster who delivered milk to supermarkets in Chicago's south suburbs.
He delivered milk the days after MLK was killed. There was no question about whether milk would get delivered that day.
Admittedly, every punk with a gun, wasn't a thing in 1968. But, still...
But, my dad wasn't a fake tough guy with a dozen axes to grind.
randr
(12,408 posts)It would have been easy for them to show solidarity in some fashion.
Anyone hear or see anything?
safeinOhio
(32,532 posts)What, 5 to 10 years and there wont be any human drivers. AI might even replace all traffic cops too.
Odoreida
(1,549 posts)Then it'll be OK to exterminate the working class for good.
ck4829
(34,977 posts)The social constructions of race and class have brought nothing but suffering to whoever is on the "lower ends" of those constructs to enrich the lives of those "higher up".
Odoreida
(1,549 posts)maxrandb
(15,192 posts)These guys would go broke within a week without Americas beautiful, Blue Cities.
It's way past time for Americas cities to start using their economic power and intellectual might.
If the city of New York just stopped buying lettuce for one day, half the fucking farms in the country would go broke.
I'm fucking sick of their rural ass war on America's Cities.
The handful of fat-fucks I've seen at pro Confederacy rallies couldn't even drag themselves up on Datsun B210 pickup bed, let alone getting in a semi trailer to unload it.
Fuck these racist assclowns.
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,847 posts)Your post reminds me of myself, after I've accidentally heard a few minutes of truckers calling into a radio show named "Truckin' Bozo" late at night.
Horse with no Name
(33,956 posts)Voltaire2
(12,629 posts)They will continue driving their routes.
Tom Rinaldo
(22,911 posts)Since many respondents may equate "defunding police" with "abolishing policing" it lets fears run amuck. Most of those who sincerely express doubts about driving into a city that has "defunded Police" think that means no one will respond to a 911 call if someone attempts to rob them or Hijack their truck. Meanwhile none of them are refusing to drive into Camden.
Odoreida
(1,549 posts)Marrah_Goodman
(1,586 posts)Happy Hoosier
(7,081 posts)Id be willing to bet that there would be almost no impact. No city is going to permanently disband their police force.
kcr
(15,300 posts)Doremus
(7,261 posts)Midnight Writer
(21,548 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)1) As you state, this is from a Trade Publication, which means it's audience/readership is by definition, slim.
2) As someone who has been a trucker as long as I have, and have talked to and listened to many hundreds of drivers all across this country, I can say without reservation, that the vast majority of truck drivers are morons. OK..let me rephrase; Most truckers are not highly educated (it doesn't take a post graduate degree to pass a CDL exam), not very well informed in general, have a skewed perspective of history, and most of them tend to be "conservative" in their thinking, not to mention many of the white guys certainly, have serious racist leanings (Ever notice how many Confederate flag stickers there are on trucks? Or at least, used to be? Finally trucking companies are beginning to realize that the message their trucks send is as important as the service they offer). They are also, on average, overwhelmingly Christian, not very well read, do not come from upwardly mobile families, haven't traveled overseas, and tend to have a very narrow worldview.
2a) This industry attracts nitwits, plain and simple, AND I AM A TRUCK DRIVER!! Is every single truck driver a moron? No, of course not. But I guarantee you that if you got into any kind of lengthy, intellectual conversation with an average American truck driver, it wouldn't take you long to realize who you were talking to.
3) As stated in a response above, a HUGE number of them do listen to Limbaugh, Levin, O'Reilly and Hannity on the radio, nonstop. The advent of satellite radio has done away with the need for constantly having to change radio stations every hundred miles or so, and there are several right wing or right leaning stations to choose from on Sirius. As such, their worldview is constantly reinforced.
4) Drivers who work for firms based outside the Northeast have been bitching about having to drive in New England for as long as I have been OTR, and for me that started 1987. Many, MANY companies will advertise in their recruiting literature "No New York" or "Bonus for N.E. Trips" or similar. So while this article does not mention New York City specifically, keep in mind that a large percentage of the nations truckers have a bad perspective of that region anyway.
5) Truckers tend to hate Law Enforcement as much, if not more, than anyone else. No one likes having to cross weigh stations and think inspections are a waste of time and an infringement on their ability to make money. Hell, one of the primary reasons for putting a CB in your truck back in the day was so you could find out where the cops were so you wouldn't get caught speeding!
These quotes from the article prove how contradictory and hypocritical this perspective is;
( Italicized comments are mine)
Seriously? How often have you had to "take matters into your own hands"? Do you have huge lettering on the side of your trailer that says "Please come and rob me!"?
This is not an area you need to act fearless and think you youd look like a fool for saying no Imagine what kind of fool you look like for driving into a hot spot and putting your life in danger.
"Hot spot?!? I swear some of these guys must think that the entire country is on fire and going to stay that way.
I will not deliver to an area with a disbanded police department. My life matter and I do this for my family. We are already at the mercy of these towns and cities with laws and hate against us for parking, getting a meal or even using a restroom.
This one takes the fucking cake, without a doubt! "I get hassled by the cops so I won't go where the cops have been disbanded!" What a fucking dipshit.
Simple. We may not like it all the time, but laws and order is necessary.
Except when the speed limit is lower than I want to drive, or the 4 wheeler in front of me is driving too slow, or when I am overweight and need to go around a scalehouse" Dumbass.
Most places we go already can be dicy an about only time you see a cop is when lights is on behind you.
"MOST places"? Seriously? What the ever loving fuck are you talking about? He's full of shit, he just answered that question in a way that helps the narrative.
For my own safety and security of my customers loads, I have already informed my dispatcher that I will refuse all loads to cities that have defunded their police departments.
Then you're a fucking moron, plain and simple and if I was your dispatcher, I would tell you to clean out your fucking truck.
Sure, if I was given a load that delivered on 16th Street NW in DC last week, it would have been a serious concern, but other than the very specific areas where large protests have been occuring, I have nothing to fear from people who are protesting for reforms I am in favor of!
In conclusion, I wouldn't put too much stock into this at all. The overwhelming majority of freight will continue to be delivered, and the only drivers that won't deliver to a town like Minneapolis or LA are the ones that their dispatchers already know are a pain in the ass to work with, anyway.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)I would add one other note, which is to inquire how many of these people can actually afford to refuse shipments? I suspect that whatever may be said in high dudgeon when given a chance to spout on-line, very few drivers are in a position to refuse to carry freight very often. Independents have expenses to make, and a reputation for reliability to maintain. Employees cannot have much choice but to go where and when they are told.
A HERETIC I AM
(24,321 posts)Not too many. In many firms, large and small, if you gain a reputation for being a pain, for refusing loads to a particular area, etc., The dispatcher can "Starve you out", meaning they will get you a trip across the country from where you live, and then for days and days afterwards, only give you short, crap loads that don't pay or even no loads for a couple days in a row, and make you sit in a truck stop somewhere, hundreds and hundreds of miles away from home without pay. They won't give you a load that takes you back to the house until they feel you have been punished enough.
Now, no trucking company in its right mind would admit that this is an actual practice, but I assure you, it is. It was even worse back before the days of cellphones where you HAD to stay near a payphone and call in every 4 or 6 hours. At least now with cellphones the drivers have a bit more freedom, but increasingly companies are equipping their units with GPS locators, so they can know where you are anyway, and tell you that you have to move to a specific spot because that's near where the loads are (or so they will say).
The vast majority of OTR drivers in this country are paid by the mile, so sitting still means no pay. Leaving a guy at the bottom of the call list for 2 days will certainly get the point across, trust me.
Oh...one more thing;
There is a system called a "DAC Report" which a company can access before hiring and make notations on when a driver leaves. If you leave a firm and they put a bad notation on your report (Refused loads, difficult to work with, etc) it can make getting hired by another firm VERY difficult.
Why truckers aren't calling for a similar system for cops is beyond me! I certainly do.
The Magistrate
(95,237 posts)My son is operations manager for an air freight company, which requires often employment of drivers to get things to and from the nearest airport (this can be a good distance at times, often effectively inter-city), so I have picked up a bit of scuttlebutt about the trade. He mostly deals with independents, and likes to maintain regulars he can count on.
denbot
(9,894 posts)Ive taken advantage of the exemption rules ending Monday. It was like the good old pre EDL days..
My newish baby, the day I pick it on the lot.
roamer65
(36,739 posts)With unemployment at 21 pct, a lot of people are looking for jobs.
We can also use railroads.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,283 posts)I'm not sure I'd take my Big Brown Truck into there. (If I drove a Big Brown Truck)
pecosbob
(7,511 posts)This is a basic misunderstanding of one's value in the marketplace. If one were to attempt to tease out one thread that ties all of American history together it would be management versus labor and strike-breaking.
Demovictory9
(32,324 posts)Iggo
(47,489 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)KY_EnviroGuy
(14,483 posts)It's guaranteed they planted the seeds on social media and right-wing public media.
Expect many more seeds to be planted before November......
Response to Odoreida (Original post)
LeftInTX This message was self-deleted by its author.
LeftInTX
(24,560 posts)no PD is getting "defunded".
It's just bad messaging and RW fantasy