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I find no matter where I am if I don’t park by 4:30 or 5:00 it becomes very difficult to find a place after 7:00 almost impossible
James McGraw: I've seen the same at many TA's. After spending nearly $400 on fuel and nearly 100 spots all paid, I got no "free parking" for my purchase. What good is a "free" shower if you can't park to take it. BOYCOTT TA!
We took no action on this knowing how it would be no need in complaining got exactly what we deserve
All trucks stop full before 4pm. Can’t find parking anywhere. Fmcsa must need to first think about parking shortage.
Just got kicked out of north Carolina weigh station (ews1 blizzard) interstate 77 north 5:30am no parking it's a bussines..ticket or move.....
Which does our country more good? A kazillion dollar fence on the mexican border or more spent on our highways, bridges, and parking for the trucking industry?
Started parking at weigh station's when necessary, if the D.O.T make's the rules for safety. I am gonna use there facilities for safety and safe parking. I am not going to park on the side of highway ramps.
I've changed my business model so that I am home almost nightly. If I stay out I bid on loads that keep me in the Midwest where parking seems easier to find. I also add the cost of overnight parking into my rate.
Just remember all this crap that we are dealing with (HOS & speed gov.)is being done at the drivers expense and if we don't speak up & speak loudly,it will continue to happen. Don't just say "well that's the way it is,what can I do about it?" SPEAK OUT & MAKE A LOT OF NOISE tell the Congress & Senate (both Feds & State) ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! UNITED WE STAND!!!
Also seeing trucks parking in areas that are clearly marked "NO OVERNIGHT TRUCK PARKING" because obviously people are running out of options to be able to "legally" pull off the road. It's out of hand already and is only going to worsen quickly.
There's already too many overall vehicles on the roads anyway. So when the HOS rules changed a few years back, it meant drivers were able to drive less hours, which in turn has forced carriers to add more trucks to compensate for the lost productivity; and this in turn has resulted in increasingly crowded conditions both on the roads and at parking rest stops.
So now the ELD mandate effectively makes it impossible for drivers to "fudge" on their HOS recording practices. Likewise then, this will result in even more lost productivity, which will again force carriers to add even more trucks, and which will yet again create more and more congestion on the roads and at rest stops.
At the same time, the national shortage of qualified drivers continues to expand and is currently at about 1-million last I heard. Old timers are retiring at an accelerated rate, and young people either don't want to enter the profession in the first place, or when they do, they quit after they realize they are being screwed royally by the federal government and simply can't deal with the pressures of the job.
Then they also quit and/or can't handle the pressures of the job when the realize they are getting screwed double-duty by their employers (not naming any names of course) just because MOST trucking companies suck and treat their drivers like garbage.
So while there was a time when truck drivers were "a dime a dozen" and employers could treat people like garbage just because it was so easy to find more new SUCKERS to take the places of lost drivers, those days are really long gone by now. The problem, though, is that these ignorant, redneck companies don't quite realize that the game is over for them -- and all they are doing now is cutting their own throats with their asinine behaviors.
The trucking industry is an extremely challenging one from the perspective of being a professional driver. The job of driving itself is challenging enough when it comes to engaging competency and safe performance of the expected numerous duties involved. So then when these same drivers have to deal with being literally screwed back and forth by lawmakers and employers alike, there is pretty close to ZERO incentive anymore to enter the profession.
If you examine the trucking industry as a whole in the same perspective that you would examine the "business model" of any given company, then you'll see where the business model in this case is showing signs of systemic failure. When a business model ultimately fails, it causes the affected businesd to end up becoming insolvent.
I really do believe that in view of what amounts to over-regulation of the trucking industry by ignorant lawmakers who don't understand - or don't care to understand - the accountability of their actions, that this industry is likened as being similar to any failing business model that is effectively destined to collapse due to unsustainable business practices.
The trucking industry is a SUCKY one, and it's one I've been involved with for nearly 19 years. But if I had it to do all over again, I would NEVER choose to be a truck driver. Furthermore, I really believe that if I were just now entering this industry instead of 19 years ago -- that I WOULD NOT succeed at it. And I am an accident-free, million-mile driver TELLING YOU that I don't think I would make in this industry today as a rookie driver.
ONE THING IS SURE: If the solvency of the trucking industry becomes unsustainable to a sufficient degree, then people in large U.S. cities will begin to see instances of abject poverty up to and including people dieing from starvation.
If trucks stop moving to a sufficient degree, people will starve -- plain and simple...
Biggest change ive noticed in 42 years is most of the new drivers dont have any road etiquette. Manners just dont exist. Forget about blinking another driver over or thanking them back. Remember some of the old trucks even had a seperat courtesy switch. Parking in the middle if a lane taking a shower wile your truck is still in the fuel lane.
I could go on here.
In addition to parking filling up earlier, specifically the TA truck stop chains are increasingly putting more paid parking spots on their lots. A prime example is the TA located in London, Ohio. 110 parking spots available. Over 75% of the parking is paid or reserve parking. If they are charging $15.00 per spot, and have 80 spots filled per night or at any given time, that is $1,200.00 per night. Talk about price gouging.