The Truckie

[fotsyfots]

Truckers are found on highways, in truck stops, in service bays, on loading docks, on bush roads and fuel stops, and often they are the first at the scene of an accident.
Their wives help them. Little boys follow them. Relatives don't understand them. Meals must wait for them.
A trucker is a paradox. He is a bluejeanded executive with his office in the cab. He is a scientist who hauls dangerous chemicals and explosives, a purchasing agent in a baseball cap, a personnel director with grease under his fingernails, a poor eater with a fondness for burgers and fries, a student of geography and a weather watcher who reads the clouds for rain and snow.
He likes sunshine, children, smooth pavement, good traction, clean loads, dinner at home, weekends with his family, his shirt collar unbuttoned and country music. And there is a special place in his heart for his rig.
He's not too fond of city traffic, tourists who are rotten drivers, fuel prices, dispatchers, snarly receivers, kids in high-powered cars or drunk drivers.
He is your friend and your customer. He is your source of food, building products, clothing, petroleum, natural resources-infact, nearly everything in your life arrives in his truck.
And when he comes home late at night after a long and tiring trip, the energy sapped from his hopes and dreams, he can be lifted up once more by those magic words - "daddy's home!"
God bless, to all trucker's and their family....Live life out loud....

[Fled74]

I've known a few truckies and they're all good blokes. So in reply to your post I have to say "Amen, brother."

[smoo]

The only things not delivered by trucks are babies.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by smoo

The only things not delivered by trucks are babies.

thats debateable as well!! some of the mums i've seen.....

[AUIII]

Without Trucks Australia stops

[CAMS290]

Some interesting reading, if it was any other profession there would be a Royal Enquiry.

Transport Workers Union national secretary, Tony Sheldon, said Minister Michael Daley’s announcement was the culmination of a decade long campaign for equality for truck drivers in the work place and welcomed by the industry after 287 people were killed each year due to heavy vehicle accidents.

“Minister Daley announced education campaigns for drivers and we support the development of that system. But in a really important move, the government is putting in place a system that will allow for the investigation of long distance trucking crashes between WorkCover, Police, the RTA, and the Department of Environment,” Mr Sheldon said.

“If a death occurs in the workplace, for example in a mine or on a construction site, a full investigation is made by the workplace as it should be. But for far too long, the deaths on our road transport industry are treated as road accidents rather than workplace deaths – there is no investigation of workplace systems.

“This announcement will allow the authorities to inspect the chain of command, and hold clients accountable for the systems they use, which in turn, creates unsafe practices on the road.

“Minister Daley has listened to the concerns of employee and owner drivers and has shown true leadership on this issue,” Mr Sheldon said.

The TWU has called for a number of systems to be put in place so that powerful transport clients are held accountable for what they are asking companies and drivers to do.

“The road freight task is going to double over the next 10 years, and the industry and community needs to be prepared.,” Mr Sheldon said.

“In a move that can only support Minister Daley’s announcement in dealing with the horrific road toll, the Federal Government, along with some responsible road transport employers and the TWU, have been working towards a national agreement for Safe Rates and conditions in the road transport industry.

“It has been 18 months since a Federal Government Inquiry for the National Transport Commission (NTC), criticised client pressures, low rates of pay, unpaid working times and incentive-based payment methods for creating negative economic pressure for drivers.

“That Inquiry called for a national tribunal to mandate scheme establishing safe rates and conditions covering both employee and owner-drivers. We need to see drivers get full cost recovery so they are not forced to undertake unsafe working practices to make a living.”

[mik]

thats a nice sentiment fotsyfots , unfortunately many don`t see it that way, but cheers anyway.

[deesun]

I do a reasonable amount of highway driving, more than the average, and I would rather be driving around with most of those truckies than many of the cars. I have great respect for the job they do and none for those people who don't.

[GasoLane]

You forgot to re-translate the American jargon to Australian.

Oh, and some of us HATE Country music!

[fotsyfots]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

You forgot to re-translate the American jargon to Australian.

Oh, and some of us HATE Country music!

??retranslate what exactly ??

[prydey]

trucker?

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by prydey

trucker?

Bingo!

[Mechan1k]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

You forgot to re-translate the American jargon to Australian.

Oh, and some of us HATE Country music!

I'm sure you love country music

As mentioned ... Australia stops without trucks.
I'd rater be on Sydney's roads around trucks, than with most of the other drivers out there with no idea.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by deesun

I do a reasonable amount of highway driving, more than the average, and I would rather be driving around with most of those truckies than many of the cars. I have great respect for the job they do and none for those people who don't.

ever notice at night, you can pick if it's a truck because the lights dip BEFORE the vehicle comes over the hill, rather than after you've been blinded?

[deesun]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

ever notice at night, you can pick if it's a truck because the lights dip BEFORE the vehicle comes over the hill, rather than after you've been blinded?

Sure do.

[Bucknaked]

My fatherinlaw was a truckie. He died a couple years back. He was driving trucks for a few years after I met him, doing long trips as a removalist, and other work carrying landscape supplies. Then started a bus company locally doing everything from interstate tours to local runs with kids to and from school. Loved his trucks and his buses, and I did a few trips with him, which was never a dull moment. He was a big guy. Strong. Seen him once remove a 6cyl engine from an old kingswood with a bit of rope and his hands., Lifted that engine clean out and walked it around the side of the house and onto the engine stand while we bolted it up. 3 of us were on the job pulling the engine out, till he turned up. "Where'd you want it boys" Makes me smile everytime I think of that moment.

[XR6_661]

All the truckies I know are really genuine, hardworking people.

Thanks to all the truckies out there!

[pottery beige]

Truckies dobbed me in for speeding once.. i bloody deserved it tho.. anyone here have some peanut head go flying past them in a blue BA GT between Pt Augusta and Pt Wakefield about seven years ago that was me........

[StrokedXT]

Its no different to any other profession, if you dont like the conditions etc you look elsewere for something that matches your needs.

Unless you are suggesting that Truckies are forced into that job and are banned from looking elsewere?

[Professor Farnsworth]

i used to do a lot of travelling from melbourne to canberra/sydney and have had good and bad experiences, some renegade truckers swerving all over the place, overtaking me on the newell at 120 and over, forcing me off the road.. but they're far outweighed by the good. Always take the time at night to flash them in if they're overtaking, and apreciate the mutual respect displayed by most in the 'thank you' indicator flick.

I always wanted to be a truckie, no idea why, probably the whole road trip thing that i still enjoy.

[bcr2734]

That is a great read. Well done

[Elks]

I know and work with lots of truckers/truckies/transport operators. and they are in the main great people.

The idea of mandating cost recovery is a good one, impossible to implement but a good idea. Anyone who thinks drivers want to work 20hrs a day 6 days a week clearly hasnt thought very hard about it. It's about cost recovery. And the majors control the freight and offer jobs at marginal cost, allowing operators to recover basic fuel and wages. Any major maintenance will send the owner driver out the door backwards. Then they just replace him.

[StrokedXT]

Originally Posted by Elks

I know and work with lots of truckers/truckies/transport operators. and they are in the main great people.

The idea of mandating cost recovery is a good one, impossible to implement but a good idea. Anyone who thinks drivers want to work 20hrs a day 6 days a week clearly hasnt thought very hard about it. It's about cost recovery. And the majors control the freight and offer jobs at marginal cost, allowing operators to recover basic fuel and wages. Any major maintenance will send the owner driver out the door backwards. Then they just replace him.

No one forces them to do the job, so essentially they make the decision to work those hours. If they dont like being forced into that position then find another job.

Pretty simple concept really.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

No one forces them to do the job, so essentially they make the decision to work those hours. If they dont like being forced into that position then find another job.

Pretty simple concept really.

quite often it isn't that simple.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

No one forces them to do the job, so essentially they make the decision to work those hours. If they dont like being forced into that position then find another job.

Pretty simple concept really.

Thats almost as intelligent as your 'Kill Hookers' comment (I still dont know what they are.)

[StrokedXT]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

Thats almost as intelligent as your 'Kill Hookers' comment (I still dont know what they are.)

How do you deem something unintelligent if you dont even understand what it is? Maybe you could enlighten me with all your supposed wisdom. Maybe with all that profound intelligence you may have realised it was a throw away joke taken straight from the mouth of Jeremy Clarkson who said it in a top gear episode creating an uproar amoungst idiots who cant seperate a joke from reality.

Hooker = Prostitute

If you dont like your job or its conditions find another what is unintelligent about that, Its what most people do. Or are you suggesting the average truckie isnt able to find any other work as they are not capeable of doing anything other than drive a truck?

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

How do you deem something unintelligent if you dont even understand what it is? Maybe you could enlighten me with all your supposed wisdom. Maybe with all that profound intelligence you may have realised it was a throw away joke taken straight from the mouth of Jeremy Clarkson who said it in a top gear episode creating an uproar amoungst idiots who cant seperate a joke from reality.

Hooker = Prostitute

If you dont like your job or its conditions find another what is unintelligent about that, Its what most people do. Or are you suggesting the average truckie isnt able to find any other work as they are not capeable of doing anything other than drive a truck?

As with most of your posts here on AFF very few are positive comments.

Not being an avid Top Gear viewer, or TV in general given the garbage thats on, I had never heard of the term Kill Hookers.

If that makes me 'unintelligent', so be it.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

No one forces them to do the job, so essentially they make the decision to work those hours. If they dont like being forced into that position then find another job.

Pretty simple concept really.

You, my son, have a lot to learn, go and learn something about our industry before you sprout off about it.

[KYSBF]

Originally Posted by jeep_by_ford

No one forces them to do the job, so essentially they make the decision to work those hours. If they dont like being forced into that position then find another job.

Pretty simple concept really.

Pretty simple concept hey. While that maybe correct for a young pup, the average age of truck drivers today is between 48 and 60, most have worked in this industry all their lives. So you have someone who entered transport in the 60s or 70s, when the industry was much different, with limited scholastic achievement/ability. Nowdays with the changes in the industry that have occured over the last 10 or so years there is a raft of people out there who are bound to the job by necessity. My old man for example, 63 year old and still averaging 5000km/week, because he loves it? Not on your life, because he cannot find any other work. Who wants a bloke who has driven trucks for the last 45 years and done nothing else? I understand this is nobodies fault, but the way it is.

In summary I think that the knockers should pull your heads in and comment on topics you actually know something about. Looks as though there is some ignorance and an inability to acknowlege a job well done with some people.

[Trevor 57]

Originally Posted by KYSBF

Pretty simple concept hey. While that maybe correct for a young pup, the average age of truck drivers today is between 48 and 60, most have worked in this industry all their lives. So you have someone who entered transport in the 60s or 70s, when the industry was much different, with limited scholastic achievement/ability. Nowdays with the changes in the industry that have occured over the last 10 or so years there is a raft of people out there who are bound to the job by necessity. My old man for example, 63 year old and still averaging 5000km/week, because he loves it? Not on your life, because he cannot find any other work. Who wants a bloke who has driven trucks for the last 45 years and done nothing else? I understand this is nobodies fault, but the way it is.

In summary I think that the knockers should pull your heads in and comment on topics you actually know something about. Looks as though there is some ignorance and an inability to acknowlege a job well done with some people.

Absolutely spot on and well said - congratualtions to you (and your dad)