quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:


I wrote a program, a really huge program for a place in Northern California called Professional Logistics. I offered to put a graphic of a UPS truck going over a cliff on the Home page, but they declined.

Wrote it in Paradox, a relational database program in Proprietary C.

Took me 6 months, all day long to write and debug that puppy.

You’re bringing back memories. I had to look up the company and the sister spreadsheet. Borland also made Quattro Pro spreadsheet, which I thought was a better product than Excel. This was around 1992.

It's pretty easy to find videos on the Www about trucking industry bitching ,whining, complaining and frustration.

Mostly from the drivers perspective, but some from the dock people or dispatcher perspective.

About a third of the videos offer a pretty dismal portrayal of the people involved.
Either a very limited education or a very limited knowledge of interpersonal business interaction.

Oh and poor driving and inconsiderate automobile operators are a large portion of the truck driver angst.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:


I wrote a program, a really huge program for a place in Northern California called Professional Logistics. I offered to put a graphic of a UPS truck going over a cliff on the Home page, but they declined.

Wrote it in Paradox, a relational database program in Proprietary C.

Took me 6 months, all day long to write and debug that puppy.

You’re bringing back memories. I had to look up the company and the sister spreadsheet. Borland also made Quattro Pro spreadsheet, which I thought was a better product than Excel. This was around 1992.

I gotta do a brag here. There was something I was trying to do with Paradox years ago, don't remember what it was now, couldn't figure out how to do it. I called Borland Tech support and the guy I talked to said that it couldn't be done.

So, I kept playing with it in my spare time for a couple of months and found a way to do it. Sent it in to Borland and waited for them to give me an attaboy. Never happened.

Then one day an 8 x 10 envelope arrived at home. I opened it and found I was now a Certified Borland Developer. Not bad.

The food company Mrs. Mike works for owns their own trucks, and warehouses. They have guys who load up and drive and deliver to restaurants over several states.

It’s a nightmare keeping drivers, or warehouse workers.

Figuring their pay is also a nightmare, as sometimes they have 2 guys in the truck and they are payed differently. Guys get paid to drive and unload, some guys get paid only for x boxes moved vs miles traveled..

And all of them hate California because of the rules. I once told her that they should just stop serving in CA or move their warehouse to AZ and just have the guys drive in and drop off there…

I have 3 trucks, drivers and some warehouse personnel. Locally, I service N.E. Ohio, Pittsburgh area and Rochester with my product.
I also have 3 accounts in Florida, 1 in Portland, 2 in Nebraska, 1 in San Jose California and 1 in Colorado. Those accounts get shipped from me through trucking companies that service those areas. It has been a bit of a nightmare since Covid but seems to be settling down right now.
Prices were crazy for a while and I understand factoring in diesel fuel. The prices are still high as diesel is still high.
At one time, I would book a load to go to an account only to have them cancel on me because they took a higher paying load for someone else. They admitted it. Distributors had to be called an informed their load was going to be late by days or a week depending.
Then there were the drivers themselves. Most were good but a small handful were awful. Couldn't speak English, couldn't drive(one hit a car near my dock) and rude.
My sanity has been tested since 2020 with the trucking industry, employees and more. It all adds up.

One of my Soldiers owns a transportation company. He currently runs one 26' box truck based out of Huntsville, AL. He has been incredibly busy. He said his operating expenses are quite high: $1,800/month for $1,000,000 insurance, repairs to the truck are always $1,300+, diesel is very expensive now, etc.

When you have lawyers specializing in suing truck drivers such as "hit by a truck, call Chuck" you know it can be lucrative to the attorney and costly to the drivers.

joatmonv,

It seems the same things are happening in trucking that are happening in the residential construction world: demand has far outpaced supply and it's scraping the bottom of the barrel for labor.

"Is the trucking/ transport industry more or less difficult than interplanetary travel?"

Space Truckin"

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:
One of my Soldiers owns a transportation company. He currently runs one 26' box truck based out of Huntsville, AL. He has been incredibly busy. He said his operating expenses are quite high: $1,800/month for $1,000,000 insurance, repairs to the truck are always $1,300+, diesel is very expensive now, etc.

When you have lawyers specializing in suing truck drivers such as "hit by a truck, call Chuck" you know it can be lucrative to the attorney and costly to the drivers.

joatmonv,

It seems the same things are happening in trucking that are happening in the residential construction world: demand has far outpaced supply and it's scraping the bottom of the barrel for labor.

Very well put and I feel it almost everyday.
I have been extremely lucky with my drivers and warehouse people but my laborers who make my product are a different story. I have gone through so many the past few years that it's very hard to get good ones. The talent pool in my area is also very thin as the steel mills are gone, Lordstown is gone as is Packard Electric/Delphi. A ton of people have moved from this area, unemployment is high as is the poverty rate.
I've grown in the past decade and it's frustrating trying to find anyone good to work.

His driver hit a car with the box truck. Fortunately no injuries and damage to the car was minimal so it didn't do too much to his insurance, if anything. Fired the guy after that incident.

He pays pretty well, too.

In construction, you have trades working who otherwise would be sitting because they suck. But since demand is so high, not only is everyone working but they're bringing on people with zero skill/experience to fill the gap which results in work that just plain sucks.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:

I gotta do a brag here. There was something I was trying to do with Paradox years ago, don't remember what it was now, couldn't figure out how to do it. I called Borland Tech support and the guy I talked to said that it couldn't be done.

So, I kept playing with it in my spare time for a couple of months and found a way to do it. Sent it in to Borland and waited for them to give me an attaboy. Never happened.

Then one day an 8 x 10 envelope arrived at home. I opened it and found I was now a Certified Borland Developer. Not bad.

Not bad at all.