So, whose fault is it?

A couple of weeks ago I was talking about the airline industry and some things I think we can learn from them. Reader Wayne commented that drivers are often their own worst enemy - the bad apples make the whole industry look bad.

Of course, he's right. There are definitely drivers out there that make the entire industry look bad.

But I started thinking about this and it seems like it might be a chicken-and-egg situation.

Do drivers act unacceptably because they're inherently ignorant and insensitive? Or do they get put in situations that push them towards that behavior?

All of us have had jobs at one time or another where we didn't perform at our best. And most of us have had jobs where the environment was generally crappy and we ended up doing things we wouldn't otherwise do. Maybe it's cutting corners on quality. Maybe it's stealing office supplies. Maybe it's fudging a timesheet. If the environment we're working in is bad enough, most of us will start equally bad things as a result.

In other words, we rise or sink to the level of our surroundings.

So, the question then is - how many "bad apple" drivers are like that anyway, and how many are otherwise good people stuck working for companies that treat them poorly? In the latter case, it's not really the driver's fault at all, is it?

In those cases, I think we should be screaming just as loudly at the companies that treat drivers poorly. They're the ones that are making us all look bad.

What do you think?

Thoughts on the Markel Let's Talk Series

I had the opportunity over the last month to participate in Markel's Let's Talk series of seminars. These are one-day seminars run in various cities, with a group of speakers discussing hot issues of the day. This particular series focused on profitability and included experts talking about legal issues, insurance, rate modeling, and other things. I was on board for the Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton events, speaking about the value of investing in people and why training (as part of broader HR initiatives) is such a good investment.

I really enjoyed being a part of this event and having the chance to meet some very cool people from across the country.

What I found most interesting, however, was the number of companies that are already doing these things and seeing a tremendous benefit from it.

Tim Courtney, the Markel representative on the panel told a story of one customer who invested $3000 in mirror adjustment training to help with backing collisions. That investment led to $40,000 PER YEAR savings in backing collisions. That ROI is amazing.

Barry Bembridge, GM at Paul's Hauling, explained how they invest in their drivers in a variety of ways. The payoff for them is "almost zero" turnover - that's outstanding as well.

Bill Williams, Director of Operations at Orlick's Transport, had a great story about how they work with their customers to optimize the shipping process, streamlining the process for both the customer and Orlick's. The payoff for the customer is lower shipping costs, the payoff for Orlick's is more efficient operations and a deeper relationship with the customer. Also, since Orlick's drivers are the ones pointing out the places where shippers can optimize, they also feel a deeper commitment to the customer and Orlick's - they become invested in making the business better rather than just delivering the freight.

The funny part about all this is that there are still companies who don't think investing in their people is good business. There are still fleets that will spend a fortune on magazine recruiting ads to replace drivers, but not spend a dime figuring out why drivers are leaving in the first place. There are still fleets that will spend money on new trucks, but won't invest in making sure their drivers can run them safely.

Building a business is more than getting the freight delivered at a fair price. As the old saying goes - success is when preparation meets opportunity. Companies like Paul's Hauling and Orlick's are making sure that they (and their drivers) are well prepared for every opportunity that comes up.

Kudos to Markel for putting on this series and giving us a chance to hear some of these great stories.

What Trucking Can Learn From The Airline Industry

What’s the difference between a professional driver and a commercial airline pilot?

Pilots carry human cargo and there’s probably a greater risk of fatality if they crash, but pilots never fly alone and they don’t have the share the sky with endless numbers of idiots that are constantly crowding them and running them off the road. I'd bet that a commercial pilot doing a Toronto-London or New York-London route is pretty similar to a driver doing Toronto-Montreal.

In fact, a top level driver – the kind you’d trust to haul explosives or do oversize flatdeck - probably has qualifications similar to a top level commercial pilot.

The difference is marketing.

The airline industry has done a great job of formalizing different levels of qualification so a pilot can say “I have X designation” instead of just “I have X years on the road”. Trucking could benefit from that as well. Imagine if drivers could have a list of credential letters after their names the way pilots and other professionals do. What would people think then?

As a related question: Why do pilots wear those uniforms?

They could fly the plane just as well in jeans and a t-shirt, but every commercial pilot wears the uniform. I think this is great marketing as well, because it gives the general public much more confidence in the qualifications of the pilot. There’s a sense that, regardless of the pilot’s age, they’ve accomplished something if they’re wearing the uniform.

What would happen if trucking adopted a similar approach? If every driver wore a uniform that said “I’m an experienced, skilled professional”, what would happen to the public’s perception? I'm not just talking about the 'construction blues', here. I'm talking fancy shoulder pads and gold embroidery like the pilots have.

It would send a whole different message to the non-trucking public, wouldn't it.