Sunday, April 15, 2012

Your Job - What's Love Got to Do With It??

Maybe EVERYTHING!!

Long haul driving is for many solo drivers, LONELY. It is much more exciting and less boring to team drive with a compatible co-driver, especially if the team is in love.

What are the pros and cons of solo driving versus team driving?

I'll just point out a few here. Most people reading this know all of them I'm sure but I hope to see comments posted to my short list that will start an open discussion:

PROS
  • Some people like solo driving and are not a candidate for sharing their condo space or the wheel. But for others they dislike the lonliness, enjoy sharing their space and love having a partnership, IF it's compatible.
  • The reason that 99% of the drivers who sign up for trucker dating sites like mine, TruckerCupid.com, is they not only want a co-driver, they want the co-driver relationship to be a loving, committed relationship. Also drivers post to trucker dating sites so they can find someone who understnads and accepts their job's lifestyle. Most are only off the truck about 42 days per year! That is the #1 reason.
  • Whether or not the driver's significant other is on the truck as their co-driver or jump seat passenger, a loving relationship is their goal. When a driver is in that kind of relationship, he or she is happier, less prone to road rage and believe it or not, loves what they do in most cases, even more. Happy drivers are safer drivers!
CONS
  • Sharing a 2x4 space with someone, 24/7 is a huge challenge for some people. A lot of compromise is required.
  • Sharing the driving for many is out of the question. They don't mind a passenger but they can't rest or sleep with anyone other than themsleves under the wheel.
  • Hygiene is often times a problem when one of the team doesn't bathe often enough.
  • Not being compatible on more than 1 or 2 levels is the #1 reason some will not team.
As I said, mine is the short list. Please add to this list or make your comments on how and/or why you like to team or not. We might all get a better understanding of what sharing the road and truck should be and what those who think sharing it with a person they love would be or not be a great idea. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you leave a comment!

Marge/Admin

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Docu-Film - The TRUTH About the Bailouts



“American Casino is a powerful and shocking look at the subprime lending scandal. If you want to understand how the US financial system failed and how mortgage companies ripped off the poor, see this film.”

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize-winning economist

“FASCINATING! A TERRIFIC documentary chronicling the subprime-mortgage mess and the financial collapse of the past two years…
With a rare cohesive power, the Cockburns fill in the lines of connection. They function a little like Raymond Chandler as he traces the corruption that produces, at the end of a long chain of circumstances, the lady in the lake…
The movie is a lucid and comprehensive picture of a rotten system.”

David Denby, The New Yorker

“sensationally effective”

New York Magazine

“Politicians and the media like to talk about the relationship between Wall Street and Main Street, but investigative journalist Leslie Cockburn’s debut feature gets to the guts of the matter, visiting defectors from Bear Stearns and Standard & Poor’s and other high-level players in the subprime mortgage gamble and, on the flipside, visiting the working-class Americans who were the unwitting chips on the table.”
— Tribeca Festival programmers 2009
“It is rare that a documentary director has the privilege to shoot a film that, while in production, becomes the greatest story of our time. The “worst case scenario” of January 2008, when we began work on American Casino, turned into reality in the year that followed. We were able to follow our characters through Wall Street’s collapse, foreclosure, bankruptcy, homelessness. We watched whole neighborhoods ravaged by the subprime meltdown. I have spent much of my career filming in war zones and post apocalyptic societies — Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan. But I never expected such a disaster at home. To be there, with a camera, while it was happening, telling the story, was certainly the highlight of my career.”
— Leslie Cockburn, Director

American Casino presented by Table Rock Films, produced by Leslie and Andrew Cockburn




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Mortgage Bailout Under Obama - $27 Trillion+

Greasing the skids for mortgage help

As part of Obama’s Making Home Affordable plan to help 9 million borrowers stay in their homes, the government is allocating $75 billion for various incentives.


Servicer Date Taxpayer Support Trial mods started Percent of eligible delinquent loans
Saxon Mortgage Services Inc. 4/13/2009 $886,420,000 32,931 41%
Aurora Loan Services, LLC 5/1/2009 $447,690,000 23,889 33%
CitiMortgage Inc. 4/13/2009 $2,089,600,000 68,248 33%
Nationstar Mortgage LLC 5/28/2009 $25,170,000 8,413 28%
J.P.Morgan Chase Bank 7/31/2009 $2,684,870,000 117,196 27%
Select Portfolio Servicing 4/13/2009 $782,500,000 15,706 26%
GMAC Mortgage Inc. 4/13/2009 $3,554,890,000 19,331 26%
Wells Fargo Bank 4/13/2009 $2,475,080,000 62,989 20%
Residential Credit Solutions 6/12/2009 $17,540,000 313 17%
First Federal Savings and Loan 6/19/2009 $770,000 3 15%
Green Tree Servicing LLC 4/24/2009 $221,790,000 474 12%
Bank of America 4/17/2009 $967,120,000 94,918 11%
Wilshire Credit Corp. 4/20/2009 $203,460,000 2,929 10%
National City Bank 6/26/2009 $610,150,000 3,845 9%
Ocwen Financial Corp. Inc. 4/16/2009 $553,380,000 5,193 8%
OneWest Bank 8/28/2009 $814,240,000 5,217 5%
CCO Mortgage Glen 6/17/2009 $29,590,000 158 3%
Carrington Mortgage Services, LLC 4/27/2009 $222,010,000 584 3%
U.S. Bank National Association Owensboro 9/9/2009 $139,140,000 863 3%
Wachovia Mortgage, FSB 7/1/2009 $1,357,890,000 2,019 3%
RG Mortgage Corporation 6/17/2009 $45,700,000 64 2%
Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC 7/1/2009 $68,110,000 196 2%
Litton Loan Servicing 8/12/2009 $1,087,950,000 2,229 2%
Farmers State Bank West 7/17/2009 $80,000 0 0%
HomEq Servicing 8/5/2009 $552,810,000 0 0%
MorEquity, Inc. 7/17/2009 $42,010,000 0 0%
American Home Mortgage Servicing, Inc. 7/22/2009 $1,218,820,000 440 0%
Franklin Credit Management Corp. 9/11/2009 $33,520,000 n/a n/a
Others n/a $1,420,750,000 18,910 8%

Total

$27,347,580,000

487,681

16%
Source: Treasury Dept.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Beware of nuts in a jar of peanuts!

Recently I purchased a bottle of baby lotion, because I like the smell of the pink stuff they put on babies. For some reason I looked at the back of the bottle and the warning label surprised me, “keep out of reach of children.” REALLY? Where would you set the bottle if you were applying the lotion to your baby?
Okay, sometimes it seems as if we are being over cautioned. One of my friends lamented the label on her child’s playpen. It said, “do not leave child unattended.” She said, “Why else would I put her in a play pen?

If you want to see some useless labels, check out dumbwarnings.com. A sign near a state prison near Phoenix warns motorists not to pick up hitchhikers. DUH! Another road sign on US 131 in Michigan urges drivers to, “not pass while opposing traffic if present.” Wow, aren’t you glad someone felt the need to create a sign for that? Maybe they should review their driver’s education curriculum.

The folks in Tennessee are reminded when traveling through Smokey Mountain National Park to remove their sunglasses if the tunnel is dark. Drivers on Oklahoma’s Interstate 44 are cautioned to not drive into smoke. At Estes Park visitors are asked to climb to safety in the event of a flash flood.

What ever happened to common sense?

At times, it seems as if someone believes we are unable to take care of ourselves. Do we really need to be told that the ice in a Slush Puppy cup might be cold or that the coffee in a McDonalds cup might be hot?

Apparently someone wasn’t as alert and decided to complain, or even file a lawsuit. So, now we have to anticipate the next idiot’s actions.

Perhaps you’ve felt this way in the trucking industry. Drivers are told where to park, when to sleep, what to eat and punished for trying to stay warm on a cold winter night. Don’t park here. Don’t use your engine brake. Don’t use that lane. Shut that engine off now!

Every rule you are subjected to was probably the result of someone else’s carelessness or perhaps, cluelessness. Someone compelled those in authority to feel the need to make a rule or law or penalty so it doesn’t happen again.

It’s society’s way of accommodating the lowest common denominator. In other words, the one idiot out of thousands of safe, cautious and responsible drivers is the cause of the stress you experience in your job. You cannot anticipate stupidity, but you can legislate!

Do you really need a warning label on a jar of peanuts that states, “This product contains nuts”? Really? Maybe the nuts aren’t necessarily inside the jar.

When a driver crashes into a family because he’s watching porn on his cab mounted computer, everyone is told to keep the laptops away from the driver. When someone causes a crash because he or she is talking on the phone, then the entire industry is told to put those cell phones down.

It’s unfortunate that we live in a CYA (cover your backside) environment, but until we can stop giving them reasons to protect us from ourselves and from the one out of a thousand idiots in the cab of a truck, the rules will continue.

What can you do? How about pointing out the idiot on the road so he or she won’t represent the rest of the professional drivers? When you see behavior that is unacceptable, report the driver. Don’t allow someone else to be the motivation for a new law that will affect you.

Stop ignoring unprofessional behavior on the road or at a loading dock or truck stop. Call attention to the driver’s actions and hold him or her accountable. If it doesn’t stop, let the carrier know. Take photos, get witnesses and document the behavior. Don’t let the idiots represent you.

This industry is heavily regulated and your day is filled with rules, laws and warnings. Do we really need to be told that a jar of peanuts contains nuts? That’s just crazy. The nuts aren’t all inside the jar.

Ellen Voie CAE, President/CEO
P O Box 400 Plover, WI 54467-0400
888-464-9482 920-312-1350 Direct

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

How Important Are Diesel Mechanics?

Without qualified, top rated diesel mechanics to keep trucks running safely there would be no trucking industry. Everything would have to go by rail with local drivers picking up and delivering to the rail yards. We don't have enough rail for this to happen and won't for many years to come.

Mechanics are as important as are the drivers to keep freight moving by trucks. I hear the stories on a daily basis from drivers all over this country screaming about bad shop results when drivers get their trucks out of 'sick bay'. Either the issue has not been fixed or it's worse. What happened to the mechanics of yesteryear who KNEW their craft and CARED about their job rating?

That answer can be summed up in a brief explanation but if you have anything to add, please do!

1) Skill centers associated with high schools and colleges are and have been closing down for quite some time. Community and state colleges all over the country can't get enough enrollment to keep the offer on their curriculums.
2) The last 2 generations find that they make better money using the keyboard than a wrench and it's much less dirty and labor intensive.
3) Pay for mechanics has not increased much over the years to match up with inflation.

Career Information for Graduates

As of May 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the middle half of the almost 223,000 diesel service technicians and mechanics employed nationally earned between $33,310 and $51,450 (www.bls.gov). The average hourly wage was $20.63 in 2011. Further, the BLS anticipated that the increased demand for long-distance hauling would spur the addition of 35,200 jobs to this field from 2010-2020, which is an employment NEED increase of approximately 15%.

Continuing Education Information

Diesel mechanics with two years of experience may opt to earn certification through the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) to increase their marketability to prospective customers and employers. ASE offers many certification examinations, in addition to a master status certificate for those who have earned multiple certifications. After completing the fundamentals-level Diesel Engine Test, aspiring diesel mechanics may seek the Electronic Diesel Engine Diagnosis Specialist Certification, which proves their acumen in the evaluation and diagnosis of complex diesel engine malfunction. Lastly, some diesel mechanics may be required by their employers to acquire commercial driver's licenses.

4) Baby boomers, as we know, are retiring and the 'old hands' are fading away fast. For every 10 we lose there may only be 2 to replace them.

Our industry is not the only one affected of course. Employers MUST step up their game plan or we will be facing a shortage of mechanics this world has never seen! Horse and buggie is romantic but I don't for one second believe anyone wants us dependent on that mode of transportation for moving people, food, goods, vehicles or medical supplies. This is a scary situation folks!