Will Technology Destroy Logistics Companies?

[HarleyDog]

(12-23-2017, 10:07 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I'll bet that the amphetamine dealers are crying about that..  

Not to just come off as a smartass, my Father in Law is a driver. He works for Linde, and hauls fuels and such. I fully understand that the scrutiny that a modern driver is put under, compared to the lore of days gone by. He's a lifer, and also teaches new drivers the ropes. He was explaining that most, even if they come from fairly reputable companies, can't or won't work for them. Between the ELD and the cab cam, most refuse to do it, despite the great pay.

When I worked for my previous company up until a few months ago, I managed 2 plant distribution operations in Ohio and Mississippi. When we deployed the drive cam in trucks, about 20% quite because of big brother syndrome. ELDs were already in place and since there was not a government mandate, they didn’t seem to care. Just before I left, we were testing some new technologies for drive safety. We had purchased several trucks with lane departure warning systems and also another camera which mounted to the dashboard and although it didn’t record anything, it monitored the drivers face for hours.

After several hours of driving, if the camera noticed an extended blink period, an increase in winks, etc. it would notify me that said driver was at risk of falling asleep soon. I never received a call because we were not completely operational with it yet upon my departure. However I’m sure they will, or have lost some drivers over that as well. Our company was safety heavy. We didn’t allow use of a cell phone even with a headset. Zero tolerance. Can’t even count the number of drivers I had to terminate because they hit a pothole or hit brake a little hard, which triggered dash cam and recorded them talking on phone.

I’ve tried to ease drivers fears about new technologies, but when the policies that go with it lead to termination around every corner, they tend to focus more on that than they do driving, which scares me. I’ve tried to explain to the company hierarchy that too much is a distraction and can actually make a driver dangerous when he/she is worried about everything else but driving, but it fell on deaf ears.