I have just been taking a look through some of the other forums and am left wondering what has gone wrong with the transport industry, and more to the point, when did it go wrong?
You’ve now got people claiming they wouldn’t be able to do a job if they didn’t have a sat nav, or they turned up and the company didn’t supply one so they couldn’t do the job!
Agencies that ask if you have hi-vis and boots but don’t check if you have a sat nav!
I know my memory is shot to buggery these days and I suffer far too much with looking through rose tinted glasses, but I’m reasonably sure (please correct me if I’m wrong) that before the invention of sat nav and smart phones with google maps that there weren’t massive shortages in shops and factories on stand down while they were all waiting for some dumb lorry driver to extract his head from his arse and actually find his delivery points.
Regardless of where I turned up to work I was never asked if I had hi-vis, boots, gloves, maps, sleeping bag, tea bags, money or anything else. You turned up as a driver to drive a truck and it was assumed by the boss that you had anything and everything you needed to do that job, and if you didn’t it was also assumed that that was your problem to solve.
I ask this in all seriousness, it used to be the case that the following list was the minimum requirements for being a success as a truck driver, but now the only requirement seems to be the ability to do exactly what your told, when your told to do it, and all of the below list is now seen as bad things.
When did this change happen, and why ?
Why are so many people now entering the profession with the attitude that they must have their hand held for them the whole time?
Independent (didn’t rely on the office to find anywhere. Only spoke to them to get a reload for home)
Free thinking (organised our own delivery routes, we decided what route and where we would stop and for how long)
Resourceful (when it went ■■■■ up, we sorted it. Phoning the office for help was seen as a last and shameful resort)
Helpful (had a “I can do that” attitude, may not know how to do it but will figure it out)
Diplomat (the ability to lie in order to get tipped early, late, on time, blag a better backload than the office had found for you etc)
The unofficial apprenticeship (you started at a new company, the old hands quickly worked out if you needed help and guidance, if you did it was freely forthcoming, if you didn’t, you were left to get on with it and the assumption was you’d ask if you needed help)
Mechanic (anything from changing bulbs to adjusting brakes, changing wheels etc)
Sense of direction (was mandatory back then, you developed a sixth sense for where somewhere might be, or where it definitely wasn’t)
Sense of pride (the correct attitude to solve and overcome problems, not just give up at the first hurdle and say “no, can’t do that”)
The ability to speak (get out of the cab and ask someone where somewhere was, not just sit in cab and cry because you can’t find it)
Ability to speak (2) ( go into a cafe, talk to other drivers and more often than not, learn something new, and on the down side, hear the same stories that are even now, repeated with much enthusiasm in RDC’s everywhere!!)
Ability to speak (3) (talking to other drivers on the same firm and sharing delivery/collection point info to help each other out)
Knowledge of the job (everybody knew the tacho rules, granted half of them knew them wrong, but they knew them all the same and no-one was going to tell them different)
Knowledge of the job (2) (the knowledge of how to deal with The Ministry and plod when pulled over and you had 7 days of extremely dodgy cards on you. In depth knowledge meant you knew that losing them [eating them etc] was only a ‘failing to keep accurate records’ offence rather than tacho fraud)
Throttle sense (the knowledge that it’s not illegal to back off sometimes to help somebody else rather than keep the throttle nailed because you have right of way)
Rant over.
ENDEX. 
the Stasi moved WEST. 