As a boy growing up, I had vivid memories of watching the big trucks on the highways. In those days, truck drivers were known as the kings of the road. They knew all the best places to eat, the greatest places to stop for scenery, and were all too glad to offer a young admiring lad a big smile and a friendly wave – not to mention a blast of their fabled air horns.

Perhaps these early recollections led to my own experience in the trucking industry. I thought that I wanted to be a truck driver myself at one point, but at an early age, after “topping” a trailer in Paterson, N.J., everyone agreed I was better suited for sales and/or operations!

Though I am still involved in the trucking industry as a consultant, coach and speaker, it has been awhile since I’ve been on the front lines dealing with all the challenges the trucking industry faces today.

They say that love affairs fade, but never die. In my case, as it relates to the motor carrier industry, I suspect this is true, and that diesel fumes will continue to occupy my veins for the rest of my life. With all of this history, I wanted to take an in-depth look at the state of the trucking industry from the driver’s perspective – specifically the independent truckers and owner-operators.

I recently spent time, both at truck stops and online, interviewing these modern-day kings of the road, and conducted a driver survey to better understand how today’s drivers feel about the trucking industry, their jobs and the future of the industry.

Despite what some non-trucking “civilians” may think, I found virtually all of the drivers I spoke with to be well-spoken, intelligent, possessing a great grasp of the motor carrier business, and deep thinkers about the state of their industry.

Prior to writing this article – even with media coverage of independent truckers not being able to recoup all of the impact of diesel fuel prices – I assumed that these drivers were able to recoup most of the fuel expense. Based on polling 216 drivers, I was wrong. Because of the daily escalation of diesel prices, the fuel surcharge quoted at the time of the load was significantly dwarfed by the price of diesel at the time of the load commitment, according to more than a third of those polled.

So, what impact does this have on current drivers as well as the future of the trucking industry? Interestingly, as hot a topic as fuel prices are, and as much impact as high fuel prices have on independent truck drivers and owner-operators, diesel prices are not the only – and often not the hottest – topic facing these drivers, according to my research.

In my investigation, these additional five factors contributed significantly to the unhappiness among the truck drivers interviewed:

• Regulations regarding hours of service;
• Lack of home time;
• Poor treatment by shippers, consignees and brokers;
• Excessive enforcement by states to help ease budget deficits; and
• Financial pressure to keep their trucks properly maintained and updated.

So why do these truckers keep on trucking? Although I uncovered several notable factors, the most common thread was a love of the road and the freedom that’s afforded to these road warriors.

The more I pondered this revelation, the more I realized that trucking is as much a part of our pastime as it ever was. After all, who among us would not want to see new sights every day; have our “bosses” hundreds if not thousands of miles away; and choose, within limits, our work hours and days?

As “American” as trucking is, like nearly every career that offers a good deal, the number of drivers entering the ranks from other countries has been rising steadily. By and large, according to my polling, there is no widespread bias by American-born drivers regarding this; however, many expressed concerns for road safety. Specifically, language barriers are cited as being a particular problem because many of these foreign drivers have limited English capability. The fear among fellow drivers ranges from understanding emergency directions in natural disasters to understanding directions in busy and fast-moving shipping and receiving areas.

Although the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) does require a working knowledge of English and many fleets offer English training, what do independent truckers and owner-operators do to become fully fluent in English? In interviewing 33 immigrant non-fleet drivers, I learned that:

• 41 percent had no interest, or saw no need to learn English;
• 27 percent did have an interest, but did not have the money for training;
• 16 percent were already involved in taking steps to learn English; and
• 16 percent had no opinion.

Given that when fully loaded many of these trucks weigh nearly 80,000 pounds, common sense dictates that the federal government, in partnership with industry groups and the private sector, needs to sponsor no-cost language lessons so that these drivers can become fully fluent in English.

Home on the Road
During my examination of the current state of trucking, I wanted to examine how technology has impacted the life of truckers. I kept the investigation simple, focusing on things like cell phones, Wi-Fi-equipped laptop computers and satellite radio. Early in my career in field sales, I swiftly learned the value and significance of providing my drivers with telephone calling cards and shower tickets. Back then, most non-industry people took for granted the simple act of picking up a phone to call a loved one to say hello or to check in.

Today, thanks to the proliferation of inexpensive cell phones, truckers are far better equipped to be in touch with family – which I believe cuts down on much of the loneliness on the road. As for showers, many truck stops today provide this amenity for free with a minimum purchase of fuel.

In the present day, I also discovered that long-haul drivers are very computer-proficient. Will all this new technology reduce the frequency of homesickness? Perhaps so, but without a longer-term study, it would be premature to speculate.

Declaration of Independence?
Before I concluded my investigation of the present conditions of the trucking industry – from the owner-oper­ator/independent’s prospective – I wanted to know how likely they were to remain independent over the following five years. Based on my relatively small sampling, fleet owners will have more options to choose from when recruiting and ultimately hiring drivers.

While this is, of course, potentially good news for fleets seeking company or contract drivers, what does this mean to the free-spirited “gypsies of the road”? At first glance, it is somewhat disheartening to those who view this sector of our labor force as the last bastion of free-spirited American workers. On the other hand, by joining a fleet, things like fuel, health insurance and truck maintenance costs, as well as load procurement problems, become the motor carriers’ responsibility.

In the end, owner-operators and independent truckers are entrepreneurs who are trying to provide the American dream for their families and themselves. I suspect that none of them will make the cover of Forbes, but business schools would be smart to feature some of these businessmen in their classes and lecture halls. After all, how many grad school students can own their own business shortly after entering their chosen field, and have the good fortune not to worry about the color of their suit, the nameplate on their vehicle or the style of their haircut?

Scott Gingold is the CEO of Powerfeedback, a marketing services company that specializes in market research. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it