Finally Back Up

AxelisLoads has been down for nearly a year! I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time on the road these past months and just didn’t have a chance to get the thing into the shape I decided to go to until now. She’s up though, the most comprehensive free freight matching load board on the internet.

AxelisLoads includes some features even the big money boards don’t have. Stuff like a trip route planner, bulk uploads of trucks and/or loads, and a detailed notification system. All in all, I think it’s the best deal going. So get your loads and/or trucks listed and start leveraging this thing like it should be. It can’t help you if you don’t use it. Check it out: http://www.axelisloads.com

A World Away

It’s been a very long time since I’ve posted here. The reason is quite simple really, I’ve been on the road. In fact, I’ve been all over the country several times over the past few months. Such is the life of a trucker. I’d intended all this time to get a laptop and get set up so I can blog, etc., from the road, but I never seemed to get around to it. I will be making an extra effort to do so here in the near future, so stay tuned. I should be getting back into the swing of things shortly.

A Training Model That Works

In fifty years I’ve gone through all kinds of training. I’ve also had the opportunity to deliver training in many areas and for many reasons. In this time, I’ve learned there are things that work, and things that don’t. I haven’t spent a lot of time involved in CDL training, but I have gone through it, and I have spent some effort in understanding the concepts involved both from a training and an operational perspective. I can’t speak for or to all training methods and sources out there, but I can speak to what I went through. I know it is one of the more prevalent training models out there, so I believe my analysis probably has wide application.

The model used where I did my training was very straight forward. It is a model used around the nation, and the world, and not just for CDL training either. Unfortunately, it is the type of training most used in most places. This includes the schools our kids go to, but that’s another story all together. The premise of the training is simply this: You’re going to take a test when this is over. Here’s what you need to know to pass the test. While it is obviously possible to succeed with this model, it is hardly the best way to produce the desired results. Do we want to develop a person who can pass a test, or do we want to develop a professional truck driver? If the answer to that questions is not obvious to you, you might want to consider another line of work.

From the standpoint of public safety, business practices, and yes, overbearing government compliance requirements, doing a  half-assed job training driver recruits is simply not acceptable. Unfortunately, the way many of us are doing it now is, I’m sorry to say, half-assed.

The standard model is a variation on the two week course. First week, you go through classroom instruction where you are prepared to take the written test to get your permit. The second week is spent working on the skills test maneuvers, and actually driving the truck on the street. Again, the focus of all this training is to get you to pass the test. When the training is done, you’ll either go to the DMV and take the driving test with their personnel, and if you pass, you get your license. Or you’ll take a test with an instructor at the school, then go to your company and take another test with their personnel. If you pass both tests, you get your license. I did the latter, and I will admit to you right now, I did not pass the second test, and did not receive my CDL. The reasons I failed, and there is more than one, will, I believe, help me show how to build a successful training curriculum for CDL training, and how not to.

The first thing I want to talk about is personnel. In particular, truck driving instructors. Let me say at the outset that just because someone has been a successful truck driver for twenty years does not mean he’ll make a good or effective instructor. In fact, if I had been running the school I went to, I can tell you I would not have hired any of the instructors that were there, and even if I had, they wouldn’t have lasted very long. Every single one of them was an excellent and professional truck driver, but not a single one of them was even remotely competent as an instructor. Sorry, but that’s a fact for which there is no refutation. Anyone with professional experience in training or education of any type would most likely agree with me.

It has to do with the problem I mentioned before; teaching to the test. The first week of training, the classroom portion, should be conducted by professional instructors that are not truck drivers. The material has to be presented in a dispassionate manner. I tell my kids when they go to school, don’t worry about the grade, just work on learning the material. The grade will take care of itself. It’s not possible to do this when the teacher allows their personal biases into the classroom. In short, do not teach to the test, teach to the material. If you do that, the test will take care of itself.

The best approach is to develop a curriculum based on the regulations and knowledge required to be a good truck driver, not based on the content of the test. In reality, the proper curriculum would probably require six hours a day for two weeks to complete. This would not only produce a higher percentage of students passing the written test the first time, but it would also better prepare them for the driving portion of the training, and make them better drivers in the long run.

The driving portion of the training also leaves a lot to be desired. The temperament and approach of the instructors is critical. Yes, they do have to be experienced professional truck drivers, but that alone is not enough. They also have to have exceptional observation and communication skills as well. Instructor input has to be simple, clear and unambiguous. When I was in the truck with the instructor, it was none of those things. Everyone is not the same. If the instructor does not understand this, failure is inevitable.

Both aspects, classroom and road, are critical, but they must be separated completely from one another. I know this seems counter-intuitive to a lot of people, but it is the best way to implement a course for operating a heavy truck in the current regulatory and business environment. Two separate and distinct curriculums are needed, one for classroom, one for on the road. So how should this training proceed? First, start with the classroom work leading to the written test.

Classroom based instruction should take place entirely in the classroom. I know this seems almost redundant, but you’d be surprised at how many might not understand this. Lessons should be based on all applicable rules and regulations. This includes state and federal traffic and safety rules, equipment standards, scales and inspections, and any required endorsements. Lessons should not be based on  the content of the written test. They should be designed to impart knowledge, not test preparation. As I stated earlier, if you focus on learning the material, the test will take care of itself.

While the test is not the focus of the process, it can be used to move the process forward. Sample test are available, and those questions should be used, in conjunction with other, deeper questions, throughout the training process to help students isolate and focus on problem areas, and help instructors gauge the effectiveness of their instruction. In the end, the final test should be written to a much higher standard than the written CDL test from the DMV. In fact, anyone passing the final test of their training should be able to pass the DMV test without any trouble. Complete preparation is the key to success not only on the DMV test, but down the road as well, and that’s true both literally and figuratively.

The driving portion of the training is, obviously, the most critical part. A student may know everything in theory and have all the rules and regulations down pat, but it means nothing if he can’t drive the truck! Most schools these days put you in a tractor trailer right away. I can tell you from experience that this is not always going to have the desired results. It’s better to go with a training model that has a much higher possibility of success with each student regardless of their experience or how they learn things. From my perspective, this amounts to nothing more than simple common sense: First things first. Allow the students some time driving the truck bobtail. Even a couple of hours of this will prevent a lot of problems. Their shifting will improve more rapidly, and they’ll be much better able to handle the truck when you do finally put 53 feet of liability behind them.

My training was very interesting. It taught me some “how not tos” about truck driver training, and it taught me some things about myself as well. The first day of actually driving the truck started with skills practice. Backing the truck, no problem. Ally dock, no problem. Parallel parking, no problem. Right turn, well, I had a problem with that the fist time, but only because I misinterpreted where one of the cones was placed. I didn’t have a problem with it after that. Later that day, we actually drove the truck on the road.

The fist time on the road with also uneventful. Although I had never driven a big-rig before, I still remembered my double-clutching from my army days and that old deuce-and-a-half. Once I got the shifting pattern down, and got used to the high-low range switch, it was no problem. Turning, no problem. Braking, no problem. Downshifting, I had a bit of a problem at first with the timing, but worked that out fairly quickly. So, the first day went pretty well. I started out confidently and it showed. Unfortunately, every time I drove the truck after that it got worse than the last time. The reason is very simple, the instructor, and the training methods used, were static. Instead of building on my early success, he kept trying to get me to do it exactly how he does it. This is where a real professional instructor becomes critical. What that instructor did sapped my confidence, and everything started to fall apart.

Driving a truck is essentially, much like driving anything else, based on what you feel. Your thought processes provide context, but your physical sensation and instincts are what you use when driving a truck. My right turns were fine, at least for a new driver, but the instructor felt he had to tell me I was too far out every single time. I’m still not sure what he was trying to accomplish, but I am sure it was completely unnecessary, and worse, detrimental to my state of mind. He also kept telling me I was going to far out when making those turns. Again, I went out as far as I felt I needed to go. When I looked at the left mirror to check the curb clearance, it was usually a foot or two. I’m not sure how this is a problem, no one was going to be turning right in there. The bottom line is, as long as I was just using my physical sensation and instincts I knew what I was doing, and what the truck was doing. As soon as he started making me think about every little thing, I tried to apply what he was telling me even if it contradicted what the truck felt like at the time. Confusion and failure at this point was inevitable.

By the time I got to the employers driving test I was so screwed up it’s a miracle I got through it alive. The fist test, I did something I’d never done previously. I rode the curb with the trailer duals on a right turn. Not much mind you, didn’t even go over, but it’s an automatic fail never-the-less. The second time I did the same thing, only this time it was worse. This time, it was on a left turn! It wasn’t a curb, it was a center median on a major street. I cut the turn to soon and nearly plastered the trailer into a signpost. The thing that really got me was when the instructor started yelling “watch your trailer!” My immediate reply was almost, “no shit, what do you think I’m doing,” but I caught myself, and just replied, “where the hell is the trailer.” In hindsight, that might not have been a better thing to say. It got me tossed out of the program. I didn’t get my CDL, and the company now thinks I’m a nut case.

The truth of that situation is not at all what they though it was. First, if I hadn’t realized the mistake and actually been watching the trailer when he sounded off, I would have already plastered that sign post. Second, he assumed my mistake was based on my lack of understanding of the nature of the 53ft trailer behind me. What it really was was the confusion that came from a number of problems I had to deal with that should never have been a factor to begin with.

First, shifting. The first day driving the truck I had very little problems with the shifting. By the time I took that second test I kept getting stuck out of gear as I approached those turns. Now, suddenly, I have another problem to deal with as the turn approaches. If they had left me well enough alone about the shifting to begin with, this wouldn’t have been a problem. Even more helpful, would have been a couple of hours in the truck bobtail so I could focus on the shifting without worrying about 53 feet of liability behind me. Second, the turns. I never had any problem with the turns until it was decided that every single one of them required some cryptic comment. I’m still not sure what half the crap that instructor said to me was supposed to mean. At the end of the day, if they’d just let me do what I started out doing, which was just relax and drive the truck, I’d be a professional truck driver today.

That was some months ago. That permit is still valid, and I intend to follow through and get my CDL. It’s just a matter of getting my hands on a truck and a licensed driver for a day or two. That’s expensive, but I should be able to do it. Meanwhile, I’m working on learning all I can about the industry. There are a lot of problems in this industry, not the least of which are caused by some form of government intervention of one kind or another. Still, there are other problems as well. Many of those problems have to do with the industry’s approach to training, and what constitutes a qualified driver. Another is the insistence on recruiting from the bottom of the gene pool. During my time in that program I met at least a dozen active drivers who had no business being anywhere near anything that weighs 80,000 lbs and goes 65 mph. True, it’s not rocket science, but it does require some common sense.

There is a rule of business I learned long ago, and my experience with this trucking company drove that point home to me. Never let your business grow so fast that you out strip your ability to find good people to work for you. If you find yourself having to hire people who you really would rather not, you need to back up and reassess your growth rate. If you want to offer training to drivers, especially if you are a larger company, develop your own training system and do it yourself. This way you can take the time to do it right, and take a more realistic approach to quality control. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be a lot better than it is now in a lot of places.

 

Natural Gas For OTR Trucks?

I just read this story Hit the Gas! about natural gas as a fuel for heavy trucks over at Openmile’s Blog. It’s not really relevant to make a business decision based on the current market or the current trends. I believe that natural gas is an excellent fuel for heavy trucks, construction equipment, and even cars for several reasons. Still, because of the nature of the technology and the state of the infrastructure, I would only deploy it in localized fleets. Sanitation trucks, metro buses, and local freight and delivery trucks would be well served by this technology if the infrastructure is available.

For me, here in Southern California, that infrastructure is there. If I had a fleet of medium trucks making local deliveries, or even regional freight runs within about 200 miles or so it would be a no brainer. For heavy OTR and even regional trucks however, I would be forced to stick with diesel.

First, diesel is a lot cleaner than it used to be, and it’s likely to get cleaner. Second, a tank of diesel does a lot farther than a tank of CNG or even LNG. Third, the price of diesel will come down dramatically over the next two years or so. In fact, depending on a lot of factors, including national politics, I believe it is possible that the price of diesel, as well as regular gasoline, will be down around the $2.00 per gallon mark by the end of 2013.

Energy policy is going to be a major factor in the upcoming elections. Now that we know we’ve got more than enough resources right here in the USA it’s going to drive a large part of the electorate. I think this time we have a very good chance of getting enough of the right people in place to get things done that will make our capitalist system, especially the energy sector, work more the way it is supposed to.

Many, if not most businesses are not making any long term operational or expansion plans right now. We’re in the process of deciding which way the country is going to go. Once that decision is made, all entrepreneurial hell is going to break loose. Business will either be reaching for the sky, or diving into a hole for cover. I wouldn’t make any concrete plans about anything until that is sorted out.

To Linux, Or Not to Linux

Just yesterday I had a short conversation on Twitter with Lester Graber (@amishtrucker) about linux. Apparently Lester has been using linux “exclusively” for several years. I applaud his foresight and, quite frankly, his courage. Making that kind of decision is not so easy, especially in a business environment. It’s a decision I’d like to make, but for me, in the network environment I’m dealing with, Linux is still not ready for prime time.

When Ubuntu 12.04 came out I did what I usually do, I gave it a good going over to see if it was ready. I was once again disappointed. In fact, I did a more thorough examination then I usually do when a new version is released. I tested all flavors of Ubuntu: Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and Xubuntu. I have a machine with a second hard disk in it where I install and test Linux based desktop OS’s when they come out. This time, I not only tested the Ubuntu family, but the latest versions of Fedora, and Mint Linux as well. None met the standards I set for acceptable functionality in my environment.

Key among the unacceptable aspects of all these flavors of linux is the apparent inability to do a simple mount of a network share without doing major surgery on the configuration. In fact, I can say in all honesty that it was easier to do a manual network connection and drive mapping in DOS than it is to mount a network share in the latest versions of Linux. This is an appalling omission from any modern operating system.

True, it is possible to do, but once you go through all that trouble you start running into other problems. Among those problem, the most egregious is the file open problem. Once the network share is mounted, you still can’t open files on the share in many of these Linux distributions. Instead, you have to copy the file to your local drive, then open it. If I have to do that, what’s the point of having a local server? The things I do on the server, and the way I do them, require me to be able to open, edit and save a file directly on the server drive. I still haven’t found a flavor of Linux that will let me do this effectively, even after spending all that time configuring it. The worst part is, in previous versions of Ubuntu, back before version 10.04, this wasn’t a problem! Though there were several others.

That one problem alone is enough to make Linux unusable in my environment, which is a real pity as I’d love to be able to move my desktops to it just as I’ve done most of my servers, but it’s just not ready. Apparently, given the culture that produces it, it very well may never be ready.

Before I go too much farther down the road of negativity, let me point out a few things about Linux that make it a desirable platform. First and foremost: It’s FAST! On this machine, a Core2Duo E8400 3.0GHz with 2gig ram this installation of Kubuntu 12.04, (Yes, I booted into Linux to write this piece), runs like lightning. The web, and everything else, is faster. A lot faster. In the category of flat out speed Linux beats the hell out of everything else out there going away. Too bad that’s not enough. Linux also comes with most everything you’ll ever need for a basic office computer, and that which it doesn’t come with the installation can be easily downloaded and installed right from the desktop. This is a clear win for the Linux community. I’ve configured this install with all the software and utilities I could ever possibly need in my business, and it cost me precisely $0.00. Too bad that’s still not enough.

There are a lot of other positives in Linux, and I’m sure some of my negatives will be positives to some other people, but not most. Not by a long shot. In order to effectively use Linux in a working environment, you either have to be a expert, or you have to have one standing by to take over when certain tasks need to be accomplished. Tasks that in a Windows or Mac environment can be easily accomplished by a normal user. The case in point is mounting a network share. As long as I have credentials on the server, mounting the share should be just a click or two away. Instead, I have to drop to the command line, make very specific edits in very specific files in several different locations, then run this and run that, then go back to the GUI, configure a couple more things, then try to use it, which may or may not be possible.

This network mount problem sticks with me because the people who work on this seem to have left it out on purpose. There is a GUI applet to do just about everything else in the network configuration, and do it simply and accurately, but this one task, without which a lot of the other stuff is useless, isn’t addressed anywhere in the Linux application universe.

Another major problem is the availability of information. For instance, the GUI interface leaves quite a bit to be desired in most versions. Still, there’s enough there to work with, if I could just make some adjustments. Unfortunately, that’s not possible. In fact, newer versions make it even more difficult, if not impossible to manage and configure just about everything in the interface. For every problem you run into you’ll find either not nearly enough information, (or even none at all sometimes), or far too much information.

The Linux people still haven’t figured out what Microsoft and Apple figured out back in the early 90′s: people don’t have time to read through 300 pages of text in order to find the one sentence that actually tells them what they need to know. When dealing with a configuration or troubleshooting problem I need a reference, not a masters course in applied geekyness. And that is where the main thrust of the problem lies.

The people who work in the Linux community are geeks. Having spent over 20 years in the IT field as everything form a PC assembler to Director of MIS my geek credentials are impeccable. Never-the-less, I don’t have time to geek out on stuff like I used to. Linux is created by geeks for geeks. Most people don’t want to spend three hours working through a problem that actually has a simple five minute solution. Time is money, and that sort of thing can get real expensive. Linux works great if you’re a geek. I love it, and use it quite often. Unfortunately, I could never justify rolling it out in my business, even though it would save tens of thousands of dollars in software costs. The loss of productivity would cancel out those savings within a couple of months. At the end of the day I have to return the same assessment of Linux as a desktop system as always: It’s not ready for prime time, and it still has a long way to go before it is.

Goobermint Interventions

Before I launch into my tirade I want to be clear that I believe stability control systems on heavy trucks are an excellent development that should be used throughout the industry. If, however, your goal is to minimize accidents on the road, you’ll have a lot more luck teaching people how to behave responsibly on the road. All the technology in the world can’t undo the stupidity of one idiot in a car.

That said, cars are not the only obstacles to safe and successful truck operations. More evidence of that here: NHTSA Proposes Stability-Control Mandate for Heavy Vehicles.

It seems the federal government, in all it’s wisdom, has once again decided to interfere in the marketplace. Usually when they do this it’s a catastrophe. They still think their seat belt rule worked. The truth is, by the time they put that rule into place every car in the country already had seat belts. People wouldn’t buy a car without them. Same with air bags and a thousand other features.

Now it’s stability control for heavy trucks. Yes, this is a no brainer. No, we did not need the federal government to think it up for us. We already know about this technology, and many, if not most, of the responsible operators out there have already looked at incorporating it into their fleets. When they decide it’s cost effective for them, they will do exactly that.

I have to say I have mixed feelings about the changes in regulations over the past couple of years or so. Going hard after irresponsible operators I can go along with, just make sure you’re right, but some of the stuff they’ve come up with seems to be nothing more than making an already tough job as hard as possible, while making theirs a lot easier. Get the drivers and trucking companies to do all the work, then we’ll get to fine them more often and keep more of the money when we do!

Government should do only what it absolutely must and nothing more. The way they’ve been acting lately they must think we’re a bunch of children or something. Hey, you bureaucrats out there, if you really want to be helpful you should do this: Sit down and shut up!

Something Very Rare…

… A government program with no real down side! The website Truckinginfo has a great story about the Virginia DMV’s Troops to Trucks program. I wish there had been a program like this when I got my discharge back in 81. It can be tough for a troop first getting out, even if there’s no war or disabilities. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for those coming home now, especially those with permanent or disabling injuries. I applaud the Virginia DMV for putting simple common sense above political expediency and bureaucratic stupidity. Apparently someone over there figured out that doing the right thing is its own reward. It’s about time somebody did.

Don’t Be Fooled by a Bit of Good News

In a piece entitled Growth Indices Up in April on Truckers News website the authors, listed only as “Overdrive Staff,” deliver the relatively good news about manufacturing growth in the economy. It’s true, and although the growth is, and has been, quite anemic, it’s still better than nothing. Or is it? What would that growth have looked like of companies weren’t cutting back? How much growth would there be if that real unemployment number, now pushing 14%, were down to 4 or 5% where it should be? What if the labor participation rate were not the lowest it’s been since the Carter administration?

The fact is, the economic info we get from most of the news media, who get it from the government, is pretty much sugar coated. They obviously put as positive a spin on it as possible. It also causes those for whom perception is reality to have their perceptions more easily manipulated. When the economy really does start heating up next year, which depends on the results this November, that unemployment number is going to go way up at first as people start getting back in the job market.

If we’re fortunate, and that is a real possibility, those high numbers won’t last long. If, however, we have the misfortune of reading that as a future indicator we’ll be in a lot of trouble. If that happens, the economy could shrink further and we could find ourselves in a real depression caused by our own misconceptions.

Manufacturing is expanding a bit as companies apply new efficiencies to their operations. If we can get the economy growing at a solid pace those new efficiencies could be applied by a growing workforce. This actually bodes very well for the future, but we have to get past this idea that government is the economy. This is a truly asinine and definitively unAmerican idea. Tax the rich to improve economic conditions? How does giving government more money to throw away help the economy? By the way, those rich people we’re supposed to tax to help the economy? Yes, those guys. Those rich people, their employees, and their customers are the economy.

Inauguration

Well, here it is. The inaugural content post on the new Axelis website. In truth, it’s been a long time coming. It only took a few hours of work to make it happen, but that was spread out over nearly two weeks! In any event, that’s all over now. Soon, very soon, like within the next couple of days, we’ll be making a major marketing push to get our load board site, AxelisLoads.com, up to speed at the beta test level.

We’ve been working at a fever pitch to get all of this ready to go, and it’s been really a pain at times. Still, everything is coming into focus, and into line. AxelisLoads is proving to be a real departure for everyone. For us, because it’s our first foray into the freight arena on the web. For our users because it offers a whole other level of service and capabilities, and that’s just for starters!

The fact is we have a number of things in the pipeline. Aside from the load board, we have an industry centered social network of sorts. It is a social network, but it’s for business. Yes, kind of like Linkedin, but more fun and more useful. We’ve also been looking at some of the various software offerings out there for trucking, freight management, logistics and other industry aspects, and I have to say there is a lot to be desired. So keep your ears on. If I have things my way, life in the industry will be getting a lot easier, and a lot more enjoyable!