TRUCK DRIVER SHORTAGE LIKELY TO BE TEMPORARY

#TruckDrivers #SupplyChainProblems #trucks #drivers #TruckDriverShortage
The shortage of truck drivers is certainly hurting the supply chain.
A New York Times article by Madeleine Ngo and Ana Swanson published Nov. 9, 2021, calls the shortage the biggest kink in the supply chain.
The article was also published Nov. 14, 2021 in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The article attributes the shortage to long hours and uncomfortable working conditions.
The article tells the story of Michael Gary, 58, who took a truck driving job in 2012 to help pay off more than $50,000 in student debt. He finally quit Oct. 6, 2021.
“I had no personal life outside of driving a truck,” the article quotes Gary.
The American Trucking Associations reports that the industry is short 80,000 drivers, according to the article.
Trucking is one of those industries undergoing a transition. Decades ago, with most truckers represented by the Teamsters Union, trucking was still a tough job, but it paid relatively well.
Now, the job is still tough but is not paying well enough for some to endure the long hours, time away from home, sleeping in trucks etc. Some companies are beginning to increase drivers’ pay.
Most young workers looking for a career also can see the writing on the wall. Self-driving trucks, though not here in large numbers yet, are coming. So, why start a career that may become obsolete in a few short years?
But, as with most transition periods , this one is messy.
Though we need truckers, and lots of them, now, we may not need nearly as many in the future.
Truckers, by law, can only drive so many hours at a time. Then, they must rest a certain number of hours.
Often, those rest periods are unpaid, as is the time spent waiting to load or unload.
It’s one of those professions, as brought to the fore by the pandemic, that workers have to ask themselves whether the job, compensation etc., is worth the sacrifices to home and other personal life.
There are many songs you could hear on the radio that glamorize life on the open road. They portray it as an adventure.
But, in reality, it is grueling. To help ease the pain of being away from home, and to legally log more hours on the road, many married couples share truck driving duties.
Still, it’s a real hardship to spend that much time away from home, missing your children, social relationships etc.
In short, trucking is not for everyone. Though drivers are badly needed now, the future is likely to tell a very different story.
Peter

TRANSITIONS CAN BE HARD AND MESSY

#transitions #energy #CleanEnergy #FuelPrices #gasoline #ElectricCars
Transitions can be hard.
But, many must be gradual. Otherwise, they get messy.
Take energy. We are in transition from primarily burning fossil fuels to cleaner alternatives.
Trouble is, one cannot flip a switch – yet – and go from one to another.
When we move too quickly to change, we have the mess we have today. We are urging oil-producing countries to pump more oil to bring down prices, while we are urging energy users to move toward cleaner alternatives.
Again, transitions can be messy.
We can’t go to all-electric cars on a wide scale, without having the ability to charge them quickly mid-trip.
Currently, you can drive X miles in your electric car, then you have to recharge it.
That’s fine driving around town. Once your charge gets low, you can go home, plug your charger into your engine, let it sit overnight and it will be charged by morning.
To take that same car on a long trip requires having rapid-charging stations as abundant, or nearly so, as gasoline stations. One can’t afford to wait multiple hours to recharge a car mid-trip. That hasn’t happened yet, but it will.
Here’s another rub. Many states’ and countries’ economies depend largely on fossil fuel production. It won’t be easy for them to transition to clean energy, or some other form of economic prosperity.
Energy consumption in general went down during the pandemic, so fossil-fuel producers produced less. Now they are being asked to ramp up production as the post-pandemic economy starts to bounce back. The result: energy prices are rising. Do they produce more of the dirty stuff, only to have demand drop – again – as the economy ramps up and cleaner energy conversions take place? They have tough decisions all around.
All this begs the question: are you in transition now? Did your job go away during the pandemic, and now your employer wants you back, but you are not sure you want to go back?
When you lost your job, did you find a better one? Are you still looking?
If you are still looking, and don’t want to go back to the job you lost, know that there are many programs out there that can enable you to earn a potentially great income. You could even go back to your old job, if it’s still there, and do something new part time in your off-work hours. That could allow you to quit your old job sooner rather than later.
No specific education, experience or background is required for these programs. You just have to be willing to look at something you may have thought you would never do.
To learn about one of the best such programs, message me.
Transitions, be they societal, economic or personal, can be messy. But, in most cases, the reward on the other end is a better life for you, and, potentially, many others.
You should not look at these transitions as losses, though sacrifice is usually required. You should look at them as if you were participating in a sport. Games have their ups and downs, but they eventually end. Though we all want to be on the winning end, there will be some losses for everyone.
You need to have the grit within you to see the positives of transitional outcomes and work toward them.
Peter

FLYING TAXIS IN DUBAI

#FlyingTaxis #DriverlessVehicles #drones #drivers
If you are old enough to remember, there was a cartoon series in the 1960s called “The Jetsons,” a tale of what the future may look like.
“Cars” flew through space.
In Dubai, commuters in The United Arab Emirates may soon climb aboard automated, driverless taxis, soaring over busy streets and past the desert city’s gleaming skyscrapers at the push of a button, writes Russell Goldman in The New York Times.
The article was published in the Feb. 20, 2017, edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
USA Today has also written about tests for driverless big-rig trucks.
The flying taxis will be capable of carrying a single rider and a small suitcase, Goldman writes. So, that probably means a group cannot pool resources for a taxi fare.
The taxi is an eight-rotor drone made by the Chinese firm Ehang, writes Goldman. It has flown test runs past the Burj Al Arab, Dubai’s iconic, sail-shaped skyscraper.
It can fly up to 31 miles, or about 30 minutes, on a single battery charge. Passengers can weigh up to 220 pounds, Goldman writes.
Let’s think about this for a minute. If you live in a populated area, with lots of traffic, you may someday be able to fly over that traffic, if this concept proves sustainable.
Air travel will be redefined. Would car travel become obsolete?
There is much else to ponder. What happens to the many folks who now drive for a living? Will ALL transportation become driverless?
When one is disabled, or too old to drive, will he or she own a driverless vehicle and not miss a transportation beat?
What about those who fly, sail and otherwise transport for a living?
Will all transportation be changed?
Perhaps those who make their living moving people and things about would be wise to find a Plan B to make money. The technology, therefore the trend, won’t be halted. The good news here is that if you fit that description, there’s time to plan. The technology won’t be commonplace tomorrow.
There are many good, Plan B options available. To check out one of the best, message me.
Technology alters life in good and bad ways. Competing rental car companies at Logan Airport in Boston decided to set up a common shuttle service to and from the terminals, stopping at each rental car base, instead of each company having its own drivers. The move saved money, and lessened traffic jams around the airport, but a lot of good drivers lost their jobs.
Now, imagine every airport doing the same thing, with driverless buses, cabs etc. Even Uber and Lyft are talking about driverless vehicles.
So what will flying taxis, driverless vehicles of all types, do for your life? That might depend on how you make your living now.
It might make sense to visualize that eventuality, and plan accordingly.
Peter