A Trucking Recession? Preparing For a New Job?

Good day Truck Drivers. The Canadian economy seems to be in a large rut. Many trucking companies are not hiring. Freight is moving but the low amount of freight is allowing shippers to pay and get unbelievably low shipping rates. The economy seems to be in a hole and trucking is certainly in a recession.

So, what should you do? Well, I want to give you a few tips for driving safely. Because if you continue to drive safely and efficiently, when the recession changes, you’ll be in a good spot for a new position if you need one.

My first tip: Start collecting data now! What data can a truck driver collect? Most ELD systems currently have a driver scorecard. If you are a good driver with good numbers on the scorecard, then I encourage you to capture this information. The easiest way to capture this info without your current employer knowing that you’re storing it for future use, would be to take a picture of it. Then you send the picture to yourself and keep it for that future job. So, step one is to capture your data to reflect what an excellent driver you are.

Tip two: Be prepared. While things are slow right now, they are not going to remain slow forever. Now is the time to update your résumé and make sure that it is accurate. When it comes to your past employment, make sure you have all the information, such as dates of employment, the name of the company and their address as well as a contact name and phone number. An email address would also be very helpful. You know that every application form asks you for the name and address of your past employer as well as the contact person and phone number. The safety person you apply to would love it if you also had an email address for your contact person. It helps to set you apart from others by making the safety person’s job so much easier.

Tip number three: Be crash and incident-free. It is extremely important for truck drivers to always keep their driving record clean. And the driving time before you apply for a new job is critical. You want to make sure that all your inspections are clean, and there are no charges to you as a driver. And you certainly, at the very least, don’t want any crashes to be on your record.

Tip number four: Watch out for speed cameras, and red-light cameras. In many of the provinces across Canada, you can get camera tickets. I’m sure that you are aware that when you get a camera ticket, there are no points for you the driver or whoever is operating your car. However, that is not the same for a trucking company. In many of the provinces, when a speed camera ticket is issued, it often is accompanied by points for the national safety code profile (CVOR) of the province. Yep, points for the carrier. And every city and jurisdiction seem to be adding more cameras to our roads every day. After all, it is easy money for the city. So even though you do not get points on your license, the company will be assigned points on their provincial profile. And that hurts everyone at the company.

Tip number five. Tip number five is perhaps the most difficult. It is to be patient. And in this slower economy, it will take a longer time for you to find a new home. It’s going to take a lot of phone calls, some emails, and maybe even just knocking on doors. If you need a new position right now, it will take work.

So that is it. Five tips for getting through this trucking recession. One. Collect the data. Two collect all the necessary reference data. Three, no tickets and no accidents. Four, watch for those darn cameras and five,
be patient.

Stay safe.

Chris Harris
Top Dawg, Safety Dawg Inc.
905-973-7056
chris@safetydawg.com
@safety_dawg (twitter)