The American Right's Trucker Obsession

[Kurt]

Truckers did not participate in the "Truck Convoy to Protect Our Borders" it was a few well heeled grifters in rented RV followed by chumps in cars.
The chumps were charged $40 per night to sleep in their cars and food was provided by a Neo Nazi wanna-be school shooter named Bryan Betancur selling sloppy joes.
But no truckers.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-ne ... 97585.html

But this guy.... The Hindustan Times found one guy who says he refusing NYC loads and then makes it seem like a movement. The funny part is when he asks if we know how hard it is to drive one of these motherfuckers into NYC.
Well, yes. You stick with truck routes and drive with patience. But that showed me he probably never drove here before.
There is this fantasy undercurrent of boycotting and starving out New York City combined with the belief that truckers and truck companies are going to stop their most lucrative routes for Donald Trump.
When I was a truck driver the Employment Wanted adverts in the trade mags were filled with those seeking a driving job but one that doesn't go to the East Coast north of Richmond.
I was getting $.42 per mile in 1998 money and the No East Coast Jobs were paying $.27 per mile in 1998 money.

Any Trucker that drives to NYC and then decides to boycott it would take a real financial hit. A bullshitting trucker who never drives here will make money from chumps claiming he is boycotting NYC.

Guessing Hindustan Times is Pro Modi. They got some pro Trump and Pro Putin solidarity thing going on.


---edit--- Changed "did" to "did not" as in real truckers DID NOT participate in the most recent "Trucker Convoy" ---

[Chimborazo]

When I was a truck driver the Employment Wanted adverts in the trade mags were filled with those seeking a driving job but one that doesn't go to the East Coast north of Richmond.
I was getting $.42 per mile in 1998 money and the No East Coast Jobs were paying $.27 per mile in 1998 money.

I'll take the $.27 per mile. These days I'm happy to stay in my Richmond bubble, and I'm not even talking about the metro area. I mean inside the city.

Regarding the truckers, the ones who really do boycott and lose a ton of money will then blame the liberals and immigrants for causing their economic woes, rather than the choices they made to support a conman who wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

[Kurt]

When I was a truck driver the Employment Wanted adverts in the trade mags were filled with those seeking a driving job but one that doesn't go to the East Coast north of Richmond.
I was getting $.42 per mile in 1998 money and the No East Coast Jobs were paying $.27 per mile in 1998 money.

I'll take the $.27 per mile. These days I'm happy to stay in my Richmond bubble, and I'm not even talking about the metro area. I mean inside the city.

Regarding the truckers, the ones who really do boycott and lose a ton of money will then blame the liberals and immigrants for causing their economic woes, rather than the choices they made to support a conman who wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

Now .27 would suck. Then it was not so bad.

But it's weird. I think they have this idea that "If we call the Truckers, the Truckers will come" but it's just not the case. It reminds me of when I was hanging out with lefties in the late 1990s. When they found out they had an actual Blue Collar Truck driver among them they suddenly started to plan tons of weird shit around me like one group claimed I was gonna "Drive to Chiapas" to deliver "Supplies to the Zapatistas" They figured I could just take a left Turn at El Paso and drive to Chiapas with tons of their old office supplies and socks and drive way down to Chiapas.

I found out about it when my old AOL email address started filling up with requests for me to "drop by" and "pick up" their junk. It was wildly presumptuous of them and really unrealistic and no option was given to me other than they expected my sacrifice.
That is what is being done to Truckers, even sympathetic ones, by MAGA.

[gnaruki]

The truckers that don't want to deal with NYC travel already aren't going there. I don't see this getting any traction.

During my trucking days I was at a union shop so the rank and file were mostly blue. Truck driving as an occupation probably has the most diverse political, cultural, and intellectual strata in America.

[Kurt]

The truckers that don't want to deal with NYC travel already aren't going there. I don't see this getting any traction.

During my trucking days I was at a union shop so the rank and file were mostly blue. Truck driving as an occupation probably has the most diverse political, cultural, and intellectual strata in America.

Apparently there are alot of Indian / Sikh truckers now and I have heard that some decent Indian food can be had at some truck stops now.

When I started in 1995 JB Hunt was the most diverse and there was graffiti on bathroom walls saying "J B Helps Us Niggers Trucking" I suspect the dudes that wrote that graffiti are now:
1. Dead.
2. Retired.
3. Claiming they are going to join the trucker boycott of NYC but, like you said, never went there in the first place.

[gnaruki]

A lot of Eastern European's too, who tend to go where the money is best. The thing about the old school truckers is that they got pushed out by stricter physical health standards. That along with other regulations have really squeezed out the outlaw aspect from the industry. Which attracted some extreme righties.

Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of bigots in trucking. But overall it's a more diverse group than ever these days.

[Kurt]

A lot of Eastern European's too, who tend to go where the money is best. The thing about the old school truckers is that they got pushed out by stricter physical health standards. That along with other regulations have really squeezed out the outlaw aspect from the industry. Which attracted some extreme righties.

Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of bigots in trucking. But overall it's a more diverse group than ever these days.

When I was driving we handled all our own loads. I am very glad I did that because with that food it is really easy to get out of shape while driving.

If you ever had the misfortune of driving an old rig like a Mack B or something without power steering and two sticks (they are kind of fun but driving THAT through NYC would really put you on notice) you quickly realize that manhandling a Truck is a lot of physical labor. So you take chicken fried steak with sausage gravy and eggs and feed it to a "No power steering" trucker and he burns the calories just driving out of the lot. That diet to "power everything" and someone is going to get out of shape and really fat.

I hear now they do "neck measurements" and if your neck is too thick you could get denied a medical card because it shows you are prone to sleep apnea. Back when I drove no one gave a shit about apneating truckers, but it turns out that was the main reason truckers fell asleep at the wheel.

[Chimborazo]

A lot of Eastern European's too, who tend to go where the money is best. The thing about the old school truckers is that they got pushed out by stricter physical health standards. That along with other regulations have really squeezed out the outlaw aspect from the industry. Which attracted some extreme righties.

Don't get me wrong there are still plenty of bigots in trucking. But overall it's a more diverse group than ever these days.

I've only had one Indian trucker show up here...he was cool as shit, especially considering that he had to take one 1,680 lbs. pallet from VA to California, which would totally suck. Anyway, he said he stays out of truck stops except for a quick shower because of the people. Eats mostly veg meals which he prepares in his truck. He told me he's definitely the black sheep of his family. I think he went to law school or maybe started med school, but just wasn't into it. I think he had his undergrad from BU or some other decent school in the northeast (he lives in NH), but he loved the idea of being on the road and doesn't want to do anything else. Most of the full truckload drivers we've had pickup loads from us are Eastern Eurpoean, but we mostly ship LTL. Did have some unintentionally hilarious guy from bumfuck Texas that was like a cartoon character. He remined me of a super skinny Yosemite Sam who looked like he was in his 60s but was probably 30.

[el3so]

When they found out they had an actual Blue Collar Truck driver among them they suddenly started to plan tons of weird shit around me like one group claimed I was gonna "Drive to Chiapas" to deliver "Supplies to the Zapatistas"

That sounds like a novel idea for a road movie.