Sitting in the Swift terminal, truck in the shop to get checked as to why the battery keeps draining. (7th jump in 6-7 weeks with a new truck....something isnt right)

Anyway, i overhear three drivers talking, and one of them made the statement that Swift has taken away the one cent per mile 'bonus' or whatever its called, for mentors training students. They have taken away free towels for the showers.

Another story i heard, was a driver was going thru memphis, stopped at the TA at exit 40, and ran into another swift driver inside the store, and the young guy asked the elder, "how long you been here?" the elder driver responded by saying, "i just got here. i'm taking my 10 hr break, then i'm off". The younger driver said, "well my DM told me i had to take a 34hr break, and i'm under load. He told me i was out of hours, but i've got 44hrs to drive." The elder asked the young guy how long he had been driving. "3 months", he answered. Elder asked to see his log book, and saw why the younger guy was sitting for 34. He showed driving for 15some hours, and 900+ miles in a day. He said 'what are you doing? you cant do this?' The yonger guy said 'thats what my mentor showed me'. The elder driver went back farther, and what the younger driver was doing, was driving his tail off, showing exactly what he drove for 7 days, then on the 8th day showed "0" for the recap. The younger guy said that after his 34, his DM told him he needed to take a log class. The elder asked him if he knew where the memphis terminal was, and the younger guy said 'no'. The elder driver asked to see his map, and he'd be happy to show him. The younger guy said "i dont have a map". "Dont have a map? how do you make your deliveries?" The younger guy said, "the load info is on the qualcomm..." Elder driver asked if he wrote down his info, fuel route, etc., and the younger driver said, "nope...dont need to, i have GPS".

I couldnt help but shake my head. Cannot believe how many young drivers put so much emphysis on GPS. Oh, not to mention, the time i sat here at the terminal, i was bumped twice by drivers pulling in next to me. I felt a bump as i was getting ready to blast off to deliver a load 2 miles down the street, and then a knock on my sleeper by another driver asking me to pull forward so the guy next to me could "get by you before he hits you". I told the guy, "i'm pretty sure he already did...". I inspected the trailer, and no damage could be seen.

Just amazes me........

 

too many people in general rely on gps systems. there are also too many "trainers" out there who shouldn't be "training" anybody.

 

Remember what I had to say about some of the training the new drivers are getting from some of the companies... Like Swift??? Might as well just give the new driver a truck, key, fuel card, and load, and just turn him/her loose...

 

What are you talking about THE GPS? They're great until they start re-routing you through NEW YORK CITY:lol:!!!That's what happened to me last run and i had to clear myself out of there....Of course without using that fRIckin GPS!!!!

 

That is the negative side to technology. Younger people don't know what to do when their technology fails.

 

reminds me of an episode during season 12 of south park when the internet went out around the united states. people didn't know what to do. the media had nothing to report because the internet wasn't available. people ended up going to an internet camp where they were only allowed to use it for 45 seconds per person. stan's dad later got access to a computer long enough to whack off to some pr0n.

i've never relied on gps to get me to where i needed to go.

 

I do use GPS, but a lot of times I will ignore it and listen to it tell me to make a u-turn for 100 miles because I take a truck route instead of driving smack dab down the middle of a city :P

I use my GPS, and if it is giving me a route that I feel needs questioning (which is most of the time), I check the map.

Lately I usually don't even turn the GPS on until I get close to my delivery spot anyway.

 

I consider this dependency on GPS just an extension of what we've been seeing for years, going back to the days when cashiers knew how to count back change (let alone figure it in their heads!). Many have become so crippled by technology that they're little more than zombies. I don't condemn those who have one and use it as a supplemental information source. I simply have chosen not to invest the money to do what I can do on my own with Mapquest, Google Earth, an atlas, and 10+ years OTR.

I was having this very debate, in fact, not long ago with another driver who uses GPS. He was saying how it will tell him his turn is coming up in x feet, and Mapquest doesn't do that.
I replied that I simply write down not only the street I have to turn on, but the street (or streets) I will pass immediately prior to my turn. And while there have certainly been times when GPS would have been nice, the cost factor simply doesn't justify the benefits (to me, anyway).

 

How many people are willing to give up their cell phone? How many are willing to give up computers and email? What about touch tone phones? Air conditioning? Air ride trucks? Too many people rely on these technologies, and would have no idea what to do without them.

GPS is a tool that is making maps outdated, just as cell phones have made pay phones outdated, and email has made letter writing a thing of the past. Of course there are idiots who misuse new technology. But for every one of those, you don't hear about the tens of thousands who use it every day without a problem. I've been using GPS exclusively for nearly 4 years now. In that time, I've had 2 instances where the map routed me into a place which I couldn't go. 2 times in 4 years. The problem isn't the technology, the problem is the person using the technology. The same idiot who can't read or route on a GPS is going to have the same problems doing so on a paper map. But the MAJORITY of people can use the technology just fine.

Within 10 years, this will be a non-issue, as everyone will likely be using GPS instead of paper maps.

 

I will never NOT have a traditional map. For one thing, it's a lot bigger than a GPS screen, thereby enabling we middle-agers to see it more clearly.

But the Rev is right about it not being the technology itself...it's the user. However, I will never be completely dependent upon it.