OOIDA’s food fight

Major players in the food supply chain often get together to share knowledge and information about ways to protect the nation’s food supply. But for years, they’ve left out the people who have a huge role in food safety and security – the small-business truckers who haul the majority of the nation’s fresh food and produce.

But that’s changing, thanks to the persistence of OOIDA.

Recent positive developments offer a perfect example of how OOIDA works to not only give truckers a voice, but also to raise the nation’s level of awareness on how important the driver’s role can be.

With our “food fight” as an example, here’s the way it has happened:

In September 2006, a massive recall of contaminated spinach left produce-hauling members stuck with contaminated loads. They communicated their frustrations with their professional association.

The bigger picture then and now is that truckers can’t get anyone of importance to listen when they rave about the gap in the food safety chain. The facts of what is happening to the food while it’s in transit are ignored.

Regulatory specialists here at OOIDA have taken up the issue. It really pushes buttons with Regulatory Specialist Joe Rajkovacz, who hauled produce for years. He’s got the expertise and the passion.

In the case of the contaminated spinach, OOIDA’s media arm – specifically Land Line Staff Writer Clarissa Kell-Holland – initiated an investigation. Once she was on the food safety trail, she was a bulldog. Mother of three, she’s a safe-food zealot. Her investigations have resulted in a number of acclaimed investigative articles on how food safety honchos have unwisely ignored the role that truckers play.

Joe, meanwhile, has tried to get OOIDA a place at the discussion table. The Association has sent him to meetings coast-to-coast where he gives the big picture to anyone who will listen.

Three years later, people in administrative positions ARE listening. Suddenly, they get it – and that’s a HUGE step.

Earlier this summer, a large attendance at the Association of Food and Drug Officials conference in Oak Brook, IL, asked Joe to give the transportation perspective on critical issues affecting the supply chain regarding food safety and security. Of course, he was on his game. For many there, it was a real light bulb moment.

You can read Clarissa’s Special Report on any of our OOIDA Web sites this week, or click here.

I want to say that as a staffer here at OOIDA, I am proud of the critical developments in the area of safe food. It’s extremely rewarding to be a part of something that has the potential to make a positive action that will affect every single citizen of our nation.

sandi_soendker@landlinemag.com

Trucking goes to the dogs

“Scratch a dog and you’ll find a permanent job.” – Franklin P. Jones

If I’ve learned anything working for OOIDA and Land Line, it’s that trucking is hard work, probably 10 times harder than it looks. It’s like the world is against you – four-wheelers zipping around your truck; anti-idling laws keeping you hot in the summer and freezing in the winter; mountains of paperwork for your truck, your CDL and each load you haul; headaches from brokers, law enforcement, shippers and receivers. What a pain in the … butt.

With all the difficulties in the industry, it’s so nice to take a break and have a little fun, and maybe look at trucking in a different way. That’s perhaps why truck beauty shows like SuperRigs were created.

Last week was the first time I’ve attended a SuperRigs show, and it was really great to see that trucking isn’t always tough times and rotten deals.

The trucks were beautiful, and I was so amazed by the fact that they’re working trucks and trailers. I think it takes a special type of dedication and love for the business to maintain such a gorgeous working vehicle.

I have a confession, though. While I came for the trucks, I stayed for the pets. The moment I learned those clever SuperRigs people would be holding a pet contest, there was no way I was going to miss it.

Despite the miserable humidity and heat, nine pets competed in five categories. The competition was hosted by Shell Rotella’s SuperRigs Coordinator Lindsey Benton with a little help from musician Joey Holiday, who loaned us his stage for the event.

There was a little barking, a bit of shedding and a lot of slobbering, but they were all good sports. It could have been twice as hot and everyone still would have considered it totally fun.

The winners were chosen by audience applause and they are:

– Biggest Pet: Olde English Bulldogge Brandy and her human, Ed;

– Smallest Pet: Husband-and-wife team Chihuahuas Paco and Chica and their human, Ann;

– Smallest Pet Honorable Mention: Miniature Pinscher Judy and her human, David;

– Best Trick: Boston Terriers Turbo Diesel and Sweet Abigail who played dead with the help of their human, Bret;

– Best Trick Honorable Mention: Poodle Mindy who fetched a stuffed toy cat thrown by her human, Paul;

– Look-a-Like: Ed the human and Olde English Bulldogge, Brandy;

– Best in Show: Capuchin Monkey Layla and her human, Maria; and

– Pug-Chihuahua mix Jazz who also competed with his human, OOIDA tour truck co-driver Pam Hart.

You can follow Jazz and the tour truck, “The Spirit of the American Trucker” on Twitter.

For photos of all the competitors and their humans, click here.

What’s that toll increase for anyway?

I could use some help on a basic math problem.

If a turnpike authority takes in $56.6 million in 2008 and pays out $30 million for maintenance, salaries and services … how much would tolls need to increase to make up for the shortfall?

Yeah, their math confuses me too, but that’s precisely what’s going on in West Virginia.

In fiscal year 2008, the West Virginia Turnpike took in $26.6 million more than it paid out, yet the Parkways Authority plans on increasing tolls by 60 percent for cars and trucks during a board vote July 1.

Parkways officials say they need $238 million over the next five years to repair and replace sections of the turnpike with an emphasis on bridges. More than 100 of the turnpike’s 116 bridges are older than 25 years, and two “major” bridges are older than 50 years.

Toll increases are their way of coming up with $238 million, but there’s another way to skin that cat. If they were to stretch their improvement plan to 10 years instead of five, and stay $26.6 million ahead each year, they would have $266 million and shouldn’t need a toll increase at all.

By that rationale, the turnpike would still have $28 million left over, which could be used to cover cost inflation and wage considerations for their 394 employees.

Public input is supposedly shaping the considerations as the authority’s board plans for the July 1 vote. Let’s hope enough people weigh in to make a difference.

Back on Dec. 4, 2008, I posed similar a similar math question to turnpike officials in Pennsylvania – a question about incoming cash, outgoing expenses and what should be left over. I didn’t get a direct answer on that one as people seemed perplexed that there would actually be money left over.

To me, if any quasi-government entity is already taking in more than it pays out, there’s no justification for a toll increase beyond the rate of inflation.

From Steve in Iraq

Our member Steve Gallavan calls California his home, but for now he’s trucking in Iraq. In the June issue of Land Line, I wrote a bit about him and slipped a photo into “Chicken dinner news.” Steve keeps in touch with Holly in our membership department, and she just got a new letter from him.

OK, Sunday is the first day of summer here. Wonder how hot it is in Iraq? You can’t read Steve’s latest letter without feeling that scorching sand.

Steve writes: “Hot as heck now ... about 118F to 120F when I walk out. ... The secret is ice cold water all the time, and when it cools to 98F in the evening you think it is nice.”

Looking beyond linkedin.com

The next prospective head of the Federal Highway Administration isn’t a stranger to trucking.

Victor Mendez, appointed to be FHWA Administrator, is expected to soon be in charge of the agency responsible for maintaining and building our interstate highway system.

A few quick Web searches don’t turn up a lot of information on Mendez. He worked at the Arizona DOT for more than 20 years, working his way up and following in the footsteps of former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters and making a name for himself by implementing the Phoenix area’s multibillion-dollar freeway system.

According to thenewspaper.com, he also was responsible for the rollout of one of the nation’s most comprehensive freeway speed camera systems.

In 2007 he served as president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

But let’s look beyond the resume you might find online at linkedin.com.

Mendez’s resume also tells you, I think, a little about the man, personally. Before his public service, Mendez worked as a park ranger. Aside from the engineering background, Mendez worked in a role that required people skills.

It’s not hard to imagine he had to think outside the box to deal with the convergence of tourists, wild animals and unpredictable weather.

Mendez headed up the Arizona Department of Transportation in 2008 – when the state department navigated some controversial waters that affect many truckers.

Land Line readers will remember Arizona state commercial enforcement officers ticketing one trucker for having a laptop in his cab and within view of his driver’s seat. Click here to read the story.

OOIDA Member Gerald Cook, who uses his laptop for mapping and logbook maintenance, was told he was being fined more than $400 for violating a federal regulation banning TV viewing from behind the wheel.

The story prompted outrage from truckers nationally, including nearly 100 who wrote to Land Line with numerous complaints, including pointing out the contradiction of law enforcement officers having laptops, CBs and scanners in squad cars.

Arizona DOT initially supported the law enforcement officer before a judge tossed the case out. You can read about it here.

By last fall, Arizona DOT issued a statement saying it would no longer enforce the TV regulation on laptops.

Mendez’s decisions during the coming years will affect truckers, highway users and all taxpayers. He’ll have the power to decide where many resources go, and will shape policy and influence decisions for issues like highway privatization.

Let’s hope that, as in the laptop case, fairness will prevail.

The scoop on Cap-italism and Trade

We’re hearing more and more about cap and trade as the newest, latest greatest way to clean up the environment.

Few can argue that the environment doesn’t need love and attention. Our kids can’t swim in the same creeks we did growing up. Landfills are overflowing. We’re spewing pollutants into the air.

Cleaning up our collective act is a good idea.

But, cap and trade? What is it really all about?

For starters, it’s government regulation based on financial incentives and disincentives. You will be assigned so many pollution “credits,” be it for your company, home or vehicle. If you’re a heavy polluter, you’ll need more. If you’re environmentally friendly, you won’t need all you get.

The objective is to “reward” the environmentally friendly folks with what amounts to extra credits and allow them to sell the credits – for a profit – to the piggy polluters of the world.

Make money if you protect the environment. Spend money if you don’t.

Pretty simple concept – until you look at it a little closer. Who is going to handle the swapping and selling of the extras?

Brokers. Traders. Middlemen.

Yes, my friends, we will be buying and selling emission credits on the “open” market. There is money to be made. Speculators will find a way to weasel in on the action – when do they not?

And the green machine will be turning. The problem is that it will be the wrong green machine.

Companies needing credits will most certainly pay – dearly – for them. That additional cost will once again be passed along to me and you, the consumers.

With all of this money being made, how much of it is designated to be spent on the environment? After all, it is the reason why we’re doing all this capping and trading, right? Not so much of a plan in that area just yet.

If financial disincentive is the only means to effectively reduce environmental damage, then let’s go with the cap only system. No trade.

If you don’t need more credits, you get a tax break. If you need more credits, you get hit – hard – in the pocketbook.

That cuts out the middleman who drives up unnecessary costs to consumers. (Remember fuel speculators and the summer of $4 gas and $5 diesel?) It rewards the environmental stewards and punishes the offenders. No games. Cut-and-dried.

Keeping it simple will keep out artificial inflation and cut back on harmful emissions – without all the money-making games cloaked in feel-good green.

No rose-colored glasses in trucking

There seems to be a disconnect among a number of fortunate folks regarding the state of the economy, one that probably most truckers and trucking executives don’t share.

The disconnect is phrased like this: “We see planes full, lots of people at restaurants, parking lot at Wal-Mart full … and tons of trucks on the road.”

Sadly, these perceptions are like a David Copperfield illusion – you think you see it, but it’s not really that way. Planes are full because airlines are flying fewer and smaller craft. People are eating out but spending less (and restaurants are ditching those mammoth servings that often go wasted – which may help our national waistline!).

Wal-Mart and other discounters are doing well because of low prices. Sorry, that’s because so much of their stuff comes from Asia. And this week, according to info volunteered by ATA’s member carriers, truck freight tonnage is down 13.2 percent from April 2008 – the lowest tonnage in seven-and-a-half years.

Trucking news has been full of bankruptcies, failures and firms seeking stimulus money to keep rolling. Even allowing for some slack and fat to be taken out, we’re down to the muscle, bone and gristle of the freight business. Folks who dine out, shop and fly on airplanes should really be thanking the truckers who are holding on in order to deliver food, merchandise and jet fuel.

The going is tough, and the tough are still going.