Trucker killed in Dalton Highway rollover was the only woman hauling fuel tankers to the North Slope

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Article thanks to Zaz Hollander and adn.com. Links provided:

A Dalton Highway veteran said to be the only woman driving fuel tankers to Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil fields died in a rollover crash early Friday morning.

Authorities on Monday identified the driver as Joy Wiebe, 50, a Fairbanks resident and transport driver for many years. The crash occurred about 31 miles south of Deadhorse.

Colville, the transport company Wiebe was working for, issued a statement saying they were "mourning the tragic death" of an employee.

Wiebe was hauling a 59-foot tanker with 9,700 gallons of diesel fuel bound for Prudhoe just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday when the tractor went off a soft shoulder and down a steep embankment, according to the statement.

The force of the impact caused the tanker to flip, which then flipped the tractor further into a swamp basin, the company said.

Wiebe died at the scene "despite efforts by two other Colville drivers who stopped to render assistance," said the statement from president and CEO Dave Pfeifer.

Stunned friends described Wiebe as a careful driver with a generous spirit, one of few women driving trucks on the road that links Interior Alaska with the North Slope oil fields. Wiebe leaves behind three children and her husband, Greg.

"I am honestly in such shock," said Amy Butcher, a professor at Ohio Wesleyan University who is working on a book about Wiebe. "I did that road with her in April. She knew that road better than anybody."

Wiebe drove the road for 13 years, according to Butcher, who plans to finish the book, she said.

The gravel and dirt highway once known as the North Slope Haul Road runs 414 miles from the Elliott Highway to Deadhorse.

The weather was foggy when the rig left the road, according to an Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation update. The accident was reported to DEC at about 4:30 a.m. Friday.

Just under 1,800 gallons of the 9,716 gallons of diesel in the tanker spilled, according to DEC environmental program specialist Colin Taylor. Crews recovered all but roughly 275 gallons as of Monday, Taylor said.

Tundra surrounds the rollover site, where wildlife including caribou, fox and migratory birds are frequently seen. Other cleanup concerns included fiber optic cables and an Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. gas line, he said.

Colville is in the process of developing a work plan for all future
work needed including necessary excavation, soil sampling, waste disposal, and environmental remediation, according to a DEC update issued Monday afternoon. Sorbent materials will be used to collect any visible hydrocarbon sheen at the spill site. Passive bird and animal hazing resources will be used to deter wildlife from entering the area.

Colville has 55 drivers who operate a fleet of tractor-tanker rigs hauling fuel from Valdez to Prudhoe Bay, according to the company. The team makes about 2,000 fuel transport trips per year.

Wiebe had worked for Colville for about four months.

There are other women driving trucks on the haul road but none behind the wheel of a tanker, according to Randi Matheson, who runs a Facebook page for truckers and was a friend of Wiebe.

"She was that person that when you heard her voice on the (CB) or the big radio, you just smiled," Matheson said in a message Monday. "She was a very overly cautious driver and that is the first thing people have said. They just mention how safe she was."

A memorial convoy is in the works for truckers, pilot cars and family members from Colville to the Fox weigh station, she said.

A GoFundMe account set up to help Wiebe's family had raised nearly $5,500 toward a $7,500 goal in two days as of Monday afternoon.

Friends posted messages offering sympathy and fond memories, and recalled Wiebe as someone who embraced the wild country she passed through.

"Joy was always smiling and pleasant and she was my friend," wrote Jackie Veats, who works at Coldfoot Camp, the last stop north at the road's halfway point. "The entire Coldfoot community on the Haul Road will miss her very much."

Veats said by phone that she'd known Wiebe for a dozen years and saw her all the time when she passed through.

Veats had to drive up to the section where the tanker rolled recently.

"The fog was like pea soup. It was awful," she said. "I couldn't see anything."

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2018/08/27/driver-killed-in-tanker-rollover-on-dalton-highway-was-part-of-history/

Rental Companies Should Be Worried About What’s Gaining in Their Rear-view

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Article thanks to Steph Willems and thetruthaboutcars.com. Links provided:

July 31, 2018  For a product or service to dominate a body of customers, another must fade to the background. Think of direct and alternating current, or perhaps digital cameras and 35mm film.

It gets a little fuzzier when the topic of personal transportation arises. Some modes of transport are so much more more useful than what they replaced (cars and horses, jetliners and ocean liners) that the preceding mode is relegated to a niche category. In others comparisons, the usefulness of a certain mode remains strong only in certain areas. Think trains.

But in a car-based world, consumers now have more options than ever in how they get around when their personal vehicle is left sitting at home. A recent survey shows just how pleasant regular car renters find app-based ride-hailing services, and traditional rental companies would be foolish to not take note.

The survey, conducted by consulting firm AlixPartners, asked 2,000 Americans who rented a car in the past year about their experience — and opinion — of ride-hailing services. As you might expect, consumers are learning the appeal of getting a lift from the street corner or address of their of their choice just by opening up the Uber or Lyft app on their phone. With cheaper rates than a taxi service and no need for a pricey add-ons, ride-hailing can offer a viable alternative to renting a car at the airport.

Thanks to services like GM’s Maven or Turo, longer trips out of (or around) town can also be had without visiting the Enterprise, Avis, or Budget counter. The future holds more potential choice. Autonomous driving technology is at the core of Waymo’s ride-hailing plan, and others, like Uber and Lyft, want a piece of that action. According to AlixPartners (via The Detroit Bureau), rental companies need to change their business model in a hurry if they hope to survive the coming decades.

“Results from our survey suggest that the $30-billion U.S. car-rental industry is already undergoing a tectonic shift, with boundaries not just blurring but being obliterated between car-rental and ride-hailing and other forms of new mobility,” said Arun Kumar, a director in AlixPartners’ Automotive and Industrial Practice.

“The companies that survive this shift will be those that act now to transform themselves to be relevant in a world which seems to much prefer simply clicking on an app than standing in line at the rental counter.”

So, what did the survey reveal? Some 35 percent of respondents say they’ve replaced a rental with ride-hailing services in the past year. Of those who were aware of the existence of ride-hailing services (but have never used it), 48 percent say they’d switch if the cost falls 20 percent below that of renting.

Perhaps even more worrisome — to rental agencies, anyway — is that those who have used ride-hailing as a rental alternative seem to prefer the service. Of the rental respondents, 83 percent rate their ride-hailing experience as “very positive” or “somewhat positive.” Rental services garner a positive rating of only 72 percent.

What don’t renters like about the rental experience? Top of mind is the “laborious” rental process for 35 percent of respondents, followed closely by pricey add-on charges (34 percent). Twenty percent cited limited vehicle choice as their top gripe.

If this wasn’t enough to go on, rental companies might want to take note of this finding: Of the respondents who used a ride-hailing service, 49 percent said the greatest appeal came from its ease of use. Just a tap of the phone away.

Also, rental reputation does not necessarily translate into a more pleasant experience. From the survey:

The AlixPartners survey also finds that—despite attempts at brand-positioning by various companies in the rental-car industry over the years—consumers’ rating of their experience with what the industry generally considers “premium” and “mid-tier” brands aren’t much higher than with “value” brands—and in some cases are lower. In fact, according to the survey, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being “very negative” and 5 being “very positive,” only 0.5 points separated the highest-ranked brand of the 17 largest rental-car companies and the lowest-ranked. And that highest-ranked brand wasn’t even a “premium” one.

If there’s a silver lining for rental companies, it’s that “only 18% of those surveyed currently say they’re willing to purchase a ride-hailing subscription for a set number of rides—thought by many to be that industry’s preferred business model.”

https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/07/rental-companies-should-be-worried-about-whats-gaining-in-their-rear-view/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TheTruthAboutCars.com_new-content-unsold&utm_source=TheTruthAboutCars.com20180731

Decomposed body, booby traps and dog skeleton found at Utah home

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Article thanks to Ashley Imlay, Andrew Adams and ksl.com. Links provided:

8/21/2018  PLEASANT GROVE — When Pleasant Grove police on Tuesday went to the home of a man whom code enforcement had been trying to reach for months, they found him dead — and they believe he may have been deceased within the home for about a year.

"We haven't been able to contact him. He has property here, he has a piece of property in Provo and we've been trying to for over a year. And it appears to be that that was the case, that he was inside the house dead," said interim Pleasant Grove Police Chief Mike Roberts.

Police found the man's body during a "zoning investigation" near 100 N. Main, according to a statement on the department's Facebook page.

Police are investigating following the discovery of the body. Materials to make explosive devices and booby traps were also found within the home, forcing the evacuation of some surrounding homes and John Hancock Charter School, 125 N. 100 East. The area was later declared safe, according to police.

"Due to extenuating circumstances, including prior history and evidence at the scene, the EOD (bomb squad) team was called in to make the house secure," according to the statement. Police said a SWAT team had been called to the house in the past and the man had threatened to make booby traps before.

In addition to those grisly discoveries, police also found the skeleton of a dog chained up in the backyard.

Devrey Schiess, who is in 9th grade and previously attended the nearby school, said the home has been "the house that, like, all the little kids would have nightmares about."

"I had a nightmare about it one night, actually," she said. "I always thought it was abandoned because I never saw anyone go in or out."

Though officials say they believe the man's body is that of the homeowner, because it is decomposed, DNA tests will likely be used to confirm his identity.

The body remained undiscovered for so long because the man did not have close friends or family to request a welfare check, police said. The visit had been regarding issues with his yard.

Contributing: Pat Reavy
https://www.ksl.com/?sid=46379294&nid=148&title=decomposed-body-booby-traps-and-dog-skeleton-found-at-utah-home

The first Ford Mustang owner kept the car. It's now worth $350,000

usatoday.com

Article thanks to Phoebe Wall Howard and usatoday.com. Links provided:

Aug. 14, 2018  DETROIT -- Tom and Gail Wise disagreed about whether a broken-down car should be stored in a family garage for 27 years or sold for junk. He insisted they keep it because, he promised, one day he would find the time to fix the vehicle himself.

It was her skylight blue convertible Ford Mustang, purchased at age 22 in 1964, that their family of six drove for 15 years.

One day, it just stopped running. And there it sat until Tom retired. When he started hunting for car parts on the internet, he discovered a story about someone with a similar car who claimed to be the very first Mustang owner, with a purchase date of April 16, 1964.

“Tom came to me and said, ‘I think you bought the car a day earlier,’ ” Gail Wise recalled. “And, sure enough, he went down to the basement and found the receipt and the owner’s manual. Sure enough, I had purchased the car on April 15.”

They called Hagerty Classic Insurance, experts on collector cars, and learned a paper trail was essential.

“We had everything,” Gail Wise said. “We didn’t know it was anything special. But we kept the new car invoice, the registered owners manual. Tom’s a saver.”

So now, as Ford celebrates production of the 10-millionth Mustang, Gail Wise is back in the spotlight. She was at company headquarters last week and, from Thursday through Saturday this week, her Mustang will be on public display in Royal Oak, Mich.

“It’s like being a movie star at 76,” she said with a tiny laugh. “I felt like a movie star at 22 when I bought the car. I mean, that was 54 years ago and we’re still talking about it.”

Her story, she notes, is filled with luck and mystery.

'That convertible was for me'

The new third-grade teacher was living at home with her parents on the northwest side of Chicago and sharing her father’s red and black 1957 Ford. But she had accepted a job in the suburbs. So Helen and Cleadis Brown agreed to lend their daughter money for a new car and they headed over to Johnson Ford on Cicero Avenue.

“I told the salesman I wanted a convertible and he said, ‘I have none on the floor. Come into the back room, I have something special to show you,’ ” Gail said. “There were two Mustangs, one was a hard top. And he didn’t even bother to show me that one. He lifted the tarp and I knew that convertible was for me.”

Back then, new cars always came out at the end of September and Ford wanted to shock the world with an April reveal. The company had distributed Mustangs to dealerships around the country so salespeople would have something to show when Lee Iacocca unveiled the car at the World’s Fair in New York on April 17, 1964.

“This was two days before, and it was all top secret,” Wise said. “But he sold it to me. I drove out of that showroom with everyone waving at me and asking me to slow down. TV ran a lot of advertisements for Mustang but they never showed the car. They just showed the logo and said, ‘It’s coming.’ For this to be out in April was a really, really big thing. People were so happy, giving me thumbs up, even the police. I don't remember having the top down, so it must've been cold. I wanted to keep driving, but I only had to go about 3 miles to get home.”

She married two years later, bought a home and used the Mustang as a family car with four kids.

“You just didn’t go out and buy new cars,” Wise said. “Tom was using it for work. We could fit three kids in the back seat and I’d hold the youngest on my lap. We would go to McDonald’s and eat in the car. And then one day, he pushes it into the garage. I wanted to get rid of it because we needed space for children’s stuff. He kept saying, ‘It’s my retirement project.’ "

He built an addition onto their two-car garage for the Mustang.

Today, the car has just 68,000 miles.

“When I was young and single, I enjoyed driving that car,” she said. “The highways were brand new. We had no traffic and you could fly. The first time I saw that Mustang, I thought it was so sporty, with bucket seats and a transmission on the floor. Usually sports cars were expensive, and I could afford this car.”

Now the fully restored (but not altered or modified) classic pony car that cost $3,447.50 is worth $350,000 to $450,000, according to Jonathan Klinger, spokesman for Hagerty in Traverse City.

'Bookends of models'

“It can be difficult to place a specific value on such a unique car and story. A car with significant provenance like this — being the original owner of the first-ever sold Ford Mustang — would likely have a premium of around 10 times the current market price,” he said. “Enthusiasts are drawn to the bookends of models. It is stunning that the first-ever sold Mustang is still owned by its original owner.”

Gail Wise said she only wishes her mom and dad could be here.

“I’d like to ask them questions," she said. "We went out on Wednesday, April 15, 1964, to buy me a car. Right in the middle of the week.They worked such long hours."

Her father worked as a cook and her mother worked as a waitress in their family-owned restaurant near Armitage and Grand avenues.

Stories about Mustangs leave even industry analysts a little stunned.

Global sensation

“When Mustang hit in 1964, it created a global sensation,” said John McElroy, a longtime auto industry observer and "Autoline" host. “It created a frenzy. It was a car designed and developed by young people, hotshots. Ford blew through production estimates, selling like 600,000 the first year.”

The insane love for Mustang reflects nostalgia for a time when the muscle car war was just getting going and America had a can-do attitude before Vietnam and Watergate.

“I remember when I was a little kid, Dad worked for Ford and brought it home on a Friday night and I remember getting up on Saturday morning and going and sitting in the car for hours," McElroy said. "I was, like, 11 years old. We lived in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was the only Mustang in the country, and when we drove, it was like the day the Earth stood still. Everybody was paralyzed looking at this car.”

So it’s no surprise to anyone that Gail Brown stopped traffic in Chicago.

“When you look back at the history of the Mustang, the very first car was purchased by a young professional that totally represented that era. Is there a more perfect person?” said Ted Ryan, Ford historian, whose father had a 1965 yellow Mustang. “America had a sense of optimism. Baby boomers were coming of age. Mustang was this beautiful combination of time and place.”

Invited to Dearborn

Ford invited Tom and Gail Wise to come to Detroit this month to celebrate the Mustang milestone, and the Dearborn, Michigan, automaker shipped the Mustang out from Illinois.

“It’s just amazing that this Mustang has been built continuously all these years,” said Tom Wise, 76, an electrical engineer who served in the U.S. Navy as a submariner in the Atlantic. “Ford builds a reliable car.”

Their garage these days houses a 2013 Ford Escape and a 2015 Ford Edge. They can’t believe that, for so many years, the family stacked lawns chairs on the Mustang.

“Anything you didn’t want on the garage floor, it was piled high on the car,” Gail Wise said. “Tom drives us now. I saw how hard he worked to put this car together. I don’t want to be the one to put a dent in it.”

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2018/08/14/first-owner-ford-mustang-discovers-car-worth-350-000/983144002/

The Zipper Merge—Coming to a Construction Zone near You

Article thanks to the National Motorists Association and NMA member Bob Morrow. You can join the NMA for free at the links provided:

Aug, 5, 2018  From Montana Member Bob Morrow

The most controversial, or more accurately the least understood, highway driving maneuver sanctioned by transportation experts is the zipper merge. It is a method of combining two streams of traffic into one when there is a lane restriction ahead, such as in a construction zone. Invariably some drivers think that others are trying to take advantage of them by zipper merging, causing tempers to sometimes flare.

You know what happens in construction zones, where people see signs saying “Left Lane Closed Ahead 1 Mile” and everyone moves to the right lane, so that there’s one mile of traffic in the right lane and not much in the left? That’s what the zipper merge is designed to deal with. It allows for greater number of vehicles in a shorter overall distance and gives a sense of fairness in that all lanes are moving at about the same speed. And, since speeds are similar, crashes (or their severity) may be reduced.

Yes, it means you do not merge until the very last minute and then do so alternately with vehicles already in the merged lane. That’s why it’s called a zipper merge.

Here in Montana the state is doing a construction project on US 12 between Helena and East Helena. It’s a 5-lane road with a center turn lane and a 55-mph speed limit. They’re putting islands in the center turn lane so that means the left lanes of east- and westbound traffic will be closed for a few weeks. The zipper merge is being tried here for the first time in the state. I think it is also important that the Montana Department of Transportation’s main office is less than 5 miles away, so they can easily monitor this. Helena (population 30,000) is the capitol of Montana.

Another possible reason for this is that the west end of the construction zone is about a half mile from an interchange between Interstate 15 and US 12. US 12 goes through Helena itself and is a major cross-town route. The congestion caused by the construction zone would cause problems at the interchange and west of it into Helena.

What’s different?

For one, there are no signs saying the left lane is closed 1 mile ahead. Instead, about one-half mile out is an electronic message board saying “Zipper Merge Ahead/Use Both Lanes”. Closer to the merge, there are orange signs asking drivers to stay in their current lane and to use both lanes. About 30 yards from the merge point, there is sign that says “Left Lane Closed Ahead.” Finally, about 10 yards before the merge is an orange sign stating “Take Turns Merge Here”. At the merge point is an electronic arrow board pointing traffic to the right lane.

I think this is a great way to manage a construction zone merge. Time will tell if it actually promotes the merging of traffic at the end.  

One problem that might skew the results: since this is not an interstate, it carries mostly local traffic and drivers might just stay in the right lane before they get close to the construction zone.  I also think the arrow board should be turned off in the day, but it is probably needed at night.

For more details, the Montana Department of Transportation has a web page on the zipper merge: https://www.mdt.mt.gov/pubinvolve/ehelenaviaduct/zippermerge.shtml

https://www.motorists.org/alerts/the-zipper-merge-coming-to-a-construction-zone-near-you-nma-e-newsletter-499/

How to Check If Your Freight Broker is Legitimate

Article courtesy Aaron Anderson at JW Surety Bonds. Links provided:

Freight brokers and forwarders are an important piece of the transportation puzzle. However, knowing how credible a freight forwarder is can be easier than checking the legitimacy of a freight broker. A forwarder takes possession of the goods being sent from one place to the next, while brokers simply work as intermediaries between carriers and shippers. Most freight forwarders are large companies, making it easier to vet their history and industry experience. Brokers, on the other hand, may be smaller companies or individuals.

The good news is that licensed freight brokers are required to follow certain steps to operate in the market, which means carriers and shippers have an opportunity to determine which brokers are best to work with over time. Here are a few guidelines for checking the legitimacy of a freight broker.

Industry Experience and References

There are more than 17,000 licensed freight brokers operating in the US today, with even more entering the market each year. This is because starting a freight brokerage business does not take a significant amount of capital or business know-how. However, even new freight brokers should have some experience in the transportation, shipping, or logistics industry. Checking for this experience either through a resume, work history, or business references can make all the difference in hiring a credible freight broker and one with little industry knowledge.

Licensing and Registration Requirements

In addition to evaluating a freight broker’s industry experience, it is essential to check his or her licensing and registration. All legitimate freight brokers must have applied for a license and registered to operate in the US under federal law, through the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, or FMCSA. The application process is relatively painless, but doing so means the FMCSA is able to keep an up-to-date database on all freight brokers. Checking the licensing and registration of a freight broker can be done easily online through the FMCSA website.

Bonding and Insurance

Above and beyond licensing and registration requirements, legitimate freight brokers also follow the rules as it relates to bonding and insurance mandates. Under federal law, all licensed freight brokers must have a freight broker bond in place of no less than $75,000. This protects carriers and shippers from non-payment, or a broker not abiding by the regulations set forth by FMCSA.
In addition, freight brokers may also be required to carry certain liability insurance coverage for operating a business, either as an individual or a larger company. While these regulations are dictated by the state and vary greatly, checking the bond and insurance details for a freight broker is beneficial in evaluating his or her legitimacy.

Trust Your Instincts

Checking a freight broker’s industry experience and business references, licensing and registration, and insurance and bond details is crucial to making the right decision on who to partner with as a carrier or shipper. However, it is also important to go with your gut when determining which freight broker is a good fit for the business. If there is any sort of doubt that the freight broker will deliver on his promise, or if the details relating to any of the other factors surrounding the brokerage business do not add up, select a different broker. Freight brokers play an important role in transportation and shipping, but they are only beneficial when they have the right credentials and trust to get the job done right.

Do's and Don'ts When Buying a Car From a Dealer

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Article thanks to consumerreports.org. Links provided:

July 18, 2017  Here are some money-saving tips for getting the best deal and avoiding unnecessary extras

You'll have to go to a dealership to check out the car, close the deal, and take delivery. But watch your step; this is the phase when the dealership staff could try to make up for a low price on the car by making you pay more in other areas.

Finalize the Deal

Don't go during special sales events solicited by direct mail. These are often run by contracted specialists trained in techniques that increase a dealer's profit.

Do inspect and test drive the car you're buying. Verify that it's the right trim level with the right features.

Do walk out if a salesperson tries to raise the price you negotiated. Take your lowest competitive quotes and estimated dealer-cost figure to use as leverage if you plan to do some final negotiating in the showroom. Don't negotiate around a monthly payment figure. This gives the salesperson too much room to manipulate figures to the dealer's advantage, especially if you have a trade-in or are financing through the dealer.

Do negotiate one thing at a time. Nail down the new-car price before you negotiate the trade-in or financing terms.

Extras Can Add Up

Don't buy unnecessary extras. Offering items like corrosion protection, paint sealant, fabric protection, and window etching of the vehicle ID number are common ways to get you to pay extra. You usually don't need these services or can get them for less money later.

Don't purchase an extended warranty on a car with a good reliabilityrecord. In a 2013 survey by Consumer Reports, 55 percent of owners who purchased an extended warranty hadn't used it for repairs during the lifetime of the policy, yet the average price paid for the coverage was just over $1,200.

Do cross out extras in the contract that you haven't agreed to pay for.

Do bring a calculator if you're getting financing to verify that the terms match the amount you've agreed to. Dealers can pad the monthly payment to add extras into the contract, sometimes without the consumer even knowing he or she has paid for them.

Watch the Details

Do pay the down payment with a credit card. That way, if the dealer goes out of business before you can pick up your car, you can challenge the payment with your card issuer. And don't sign any forms with items left blank. A dealership could falsify information such as your income or the size of the down payment on loan applications.

Do make sure the dealer pays off your old auto loan promptly if that's part of the deal. If a dealer goes out of business before doing so, you could be left holding the bag for payments on a car you no longer have.

Don't agree to be responsible for any extra interest on loan payments for the trade-in after you've signed the bill of sale.

Don't drive the car home before the financial paperwork is completed. That has often resulted in so-called "yo-yo" or "spot" deliveries, when the dealer calls the buyer back, claiming the financing fell through, to get him or her to sign new paperwork at less favorable terms.

Don't take delivery of the car if additional work needs to be done on it, such as a repair or accessory installation. If a dealer goes out of business, it can be difficult to get the work done.

https://www.consumerreports.org/buying-a-car/dos-and-donts-when-buying-a-car-from-a-dealer/?EXTKEY=I175E000&utm_medium=paid_social&utm_source=keywee&utm_campaign=cars&utm_content=dos-and-donts-when-buying-a-car-from-a-dealer&utm_keyword=desktop&kwp_0=803836&kwp_4=2939966&kwp_1=1242691

How community colleges are combating the driver squeeze

Article thanks to Maria Baker and freightwaves.com. Links provided:

July 18, 2018  The trucking industry is responding to the driver squeeze in a myriad of ways, from increasing pay per mile to offering competitive sign-on bonuses, as FreightWaves has reported. While carriers continue to try make the job appealing to drivers, community colleges across the nation are also doing their part to fight against the shortage.

By creating fast-track courses, students can earn their commercial driver’s license (CDL) in a matter of weeks, with some programs even advertising four-week classes online--even if they have no prior experience behind the wheel of a truck. These programs rely heavily on intense training and cutting-edge technology to make the most out of limited time in the classroom and on the road.

The U.S. Department of Transportation anticipates a 6% increase in the employment of heavy and tractor trailing drivers in the next 8 years, projecting a growth of 108,400 positions between 2016 and 2026. As younger generations enter the workforce, there’s a distinct attempt to appeal to them, as FreightWaves’ Chad Prevost previously discussed. It’s no surprise that community colleges are jumping at the chance to train new drivers to fill industry-wide gaps.

Chattanooga State Community College offers a 7-week commercial truck driving program and advertises 100% job placement for its graduates. Some colleges have even partnered with carriers to ease the transition from trainee to truck driver. Northwest State Community College in Archbold, Ohio and Keller Logistics Group have teamed up to “provide the students of the professional truck driver school not only a cost effective way to enter the profession, but will also provide them the best education locally,” according to Keller’s CEO Bryan Keller. The two hope to “invest in the people that make up the communities in which Keller is headquartered and NSCC serves” and “anticipate hiring many of the graduates of this program.”

One such program is also offered by Central New Mexico Community College. “Truck drivers are in high demand in our state and across the country, and this accelerated program provides quick access to high-quality jobs,” CNM Ingenuity Executive Director Kyle Lee said. “Through ABQ CDL, we’re responding to our economy’s workforce needs while providing people with a new pathway to good jobs.”

FreightWaves, in an interview with Brad Moore, Director of Communications and Media Relations for Central New Mexico Community College noted that CNM is at “the intersection of I-25 and I-40 in the heart of Albuquerque, two highly traveled trucking routes,” making it an ideal spot for training the next generation of drivers. According to Moore, CNM has long offered a “college-credit truck driving certificate program that takes 12 to 15 weeks to complete, as well as contract training for local trucking companies that wanted one-on-one, accelerated training opportunities for their prospective drivers.”

By 2015, CNM was receiving more demand for “accelerated training that wouldn’t require a trucking company or individual to provide the vehicle,” and by fall 2016, “CNM Ingenuity, an arm of CNM that offers accelerated training programs in high-demand fields, received approval to use one of the Class A vehicles from the college’s traditional semester-long program for one-on-one trainings. The response to this type of training was very positive and led to significantly higher demand for accelerated training opportunities, with little to no marketing. That led to the planning of the new accelerated program,” Moore explained.

As for appealing to younger drivers, Moore estimates that 80% of inquiries about the new program have been from millennials, and that their first group of students has already started hitting the books. “The first cohort of the accelerated program started on July 9 with five participants. A new cohort of six to nine students will now start every four weeks. The August cohort is nearly full. In the fall, we plan to begin running two cohorts a day to meet demand,” Moore stated.

“Since announcing the launch of this program, we have received a tremendous response from trucking companies and people in our community who want to become truck drivers and earn a good living,” said Kyle Lee, chief executive officer of CNM Ingenuity. “As a community college, this is exactly what we strive to do – educate and train community members for quality jobs that serve the needs of our regional economy.”

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/2018/7/18/how-community-colleges-are-combating-the-driver-squeeze

Shippers Caused The Truck Driver Shortage

usatoday.com

Article thanks to Steve Banker and forbes.com. Links provided:

July 19, 2018  Land O'Lakes Chief Supply Chain Officer, Yone Dewberry, told an audience at eft's 3PL and Supply Chain Summit in Atlanta in on June 6th, "We've created it" (the truck driver shortage). "As an industry" (shippers), "we've done this to ourselves."

Land O'Lakes is a member-owned cooperative with revenues of $15 billion. The company is best known for dairy products, particularly butter, but the company also has divisions devoted to animal nutrition and seeds/crop protection. When it comes to securing carriage, it is easier if you have predictable demand, use standard trucks, and have long lead times. That does not fit any of their businesses.

The animal feed business does not have seasonal peaks, but 40 percent of deliveries are same day or next day. The dairy business has "huge peaks" according to Mr. Dewberry. Forty percent of butter is sold in November and December and needs to be transported in refrigerated trucks. "Getting refrigerated trucks during the busy season is tough." Finally, the Ag service business is "peaky." "When the weather gets warm, farmers want to plant. It is hard to predict these peaks. And when it rains, farmers are apt to ask for fungicides, and they want those fungicides delivered the same day. 80 percent of deliveries from this business are same or next day.

The trucker shortage is being driven by: unemployment rates being down, which has created a positive consumer outlook and people buying more goods. It is definitely driven by demographics, "in the past ten percent of drivers were near retirement at any point in time, today it is 25 percent" said Mr. Dewberry. The ELD mandate has had an impact, but perhaps not as big as many argue. But a big reason for the shortage is that "we've forced our carriers to drive their prices down. Trucking companies don't have many levers. There is fuel, carriers can not control that. And there are driver wages. For many years, driver wages were not keeping up with wage growth in other sectors.

So, there is a driver shortage. Companies are having a harder time maintaining existing service levels, much less moving to more demanding business to consumer ecommerce type expectations for quick deliveries. "5:00 to 9:00 bleeds over to 9:00 to 5.00" quipped Mr. Dewberry. By that he means that people go home at the end of the day, order on line, are promised quick deliveries, have choices on when and how goods are shipped, and have visibility to those shipments. Those expectations then carry over to the business environment.

So that is the problem, what is the solution? Land O'Lakes is doing several things to deal with a tough freight environment. First of all, the company believes a focus on costs has been overblown. "We don't generally talk about price (with carriers), we talk about how to solve a problem."

With the ag supply business, they are making many shipments to rural areas served by small carriers that don not have a lot of technology. Land O'Lakes has implemented a real-time transportation visibility solution from FourKites. Drivers can download an app, accept a load, and then have the shipment tracked via their smartphone. "We track every Purina shipment." They are running pilots with FourKites to see whether predictive analytics surrounding weather - the data comes from the Weather Channel owned by IBM - and traffic can be used to better predict arrival times. Further, visibility can be used to pay drivers for all the work they do. If they are struck in traffic, and the visibility solution shows that to be true, they can be paid for their time. If they are made to wait too long picking goods up at a warehouse, the visibility solution proves that, and they are paid for that as well.

Land O'Lakes is also running pilots with Uber Freight and Convoy. "Traditional brokerage is too slow." These technologically sophisticated AI-based brokers might be a partial solution. But the experiment is young. "We don't know if it will work."

The company is also looking to partner with companies with private fleets. "Carriers fleets are at a 90 percent utilization level. Private fleets are only 50 to 60 percent utilized. We've found a few we can work with." Eventually, finding loads while helping their partners eliminate empty backhauls will be made easier with technology.

Land O'Lakes wants to also test the feasibility of autonomous trucks. Their partner here is Uber Advanced Technologies. Self-driving trucks are not legal yet, but some states are allowing pilots to be run. Land O'Lakes would like to work with the Department of Transportation in Minnesota and Uber to begin testing certain lanes. "This might not happen for years," Mr. Dewberry admits, "but we have to start somewhere."

Finally, the company is working with industry groups like the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute around participating in projects that can help alleviate this problem. For example, what if food manufacturers did not have to deliver to retailers on week days 9 to 5 but could smooth demand by delivering on weekends? A study could show how much capacity that might free up.

In the current environment, partnering, new technologies, and experimentation makes sense. Land O'Lakes is clearly doing something right. They average 1,000 shipments per week. In the last year, only three shipments were left on the dock because of an inability to find a carrier willing to take the load.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2018/07/19/shippers-caused-the-truck-driver-shortage/#554dfafe64ff