Drawing Women into the Trucking Industry

roadscholar88

TB Lurker
Credits
0
What do you think needs to change in order to draw more women into the trucking industry? What challenges do women continue to face?

P.S. I am writing an article on this topic. Please advise whether I may quote you on your response. Thank you.
 
What do you think needs to change in order to draw more women into the trucking industry? What challenges do women continue to face?

P.S. I am writing an article on this topic. Please advise whether I may quote you on your response. Thank you.

what needs to be changed, to draw more women into the industry..??

more trucks with kitchens..???? ironing boards..????....

ok, now that i have pissed off every female (and some males that have female feelings) (and me trying to be un-politically correct....)....:LMAO:


the industry is what it is...a life style, that not too many can adjust to, male or female.

it is a job..pure, plain and simple. some call it a career. i call it a JOB.

you do not get to eat right, sleep right, proper exercise. you live a life of well....a hermit.

what you have in your daily life, believe me, you take for granted.

your bathroom, your privacy in YOUR bathroom

your (no pun here) kitchen and what you can cook up, eat freely and feel full. try doing that in a truck stop, with out it costing you an arm and 3 legs.

your clothing will get dirty...what will you do..?? use your own washing machine..??

hell no..you gotta stop, at the truck stop, and while your clothes are washing (or drying), you had better STAY with them..lest you be butt naked, because someone stole them..

showers..?? do you like YOUR shower at home..?? like to take LONG HOT showers..?

like a CLEAN shower..??

ok...at a truck stop shower room, DO NOT sit on anything.

do not walk on the floor bare footed.

hope and pray the floors and the shower stall, were actually washed with CLEAN water, not the black muck you could scrape off of garage floor.

so now.....like going to the movies..?? out to a fine restaurant.??..like being able to have your friends over for a visit..??

well...i hope you like loneliness....or the crabs....

this is only a few of the dark side things of an inconvenient life style. why some guys do it..??

maybe no life or family at home, hell no home perhaps.

the money one can earn..??

well, work 70 hours, by the books, but actually put in maybe close to 80 or more, that you cannot account for.

and the pay..??

well....do you like being poor..?? i mean after all, you gotta eat on the road, and that aint cheap, for what you get.

probably more to add to this....but heck, i got 2 chicken pot pies in my oven.....

see...even some of us guys.....have kitchens too.....:LMAO:

but i do not have an ironing board...

all my clothes are "permanent press".....:woot2:

can you quote me for your article..??

well.. let me know what you want to quote, then be honorable and stick to your word about it.

otherwise...

i'll have to get medieval with you........:chairshot:
 
Women getting drawn in will only take women doing it. Quite frankly there are a lot of women out there that think driving a rig is uber complicated and hard to do, when in reality it takes a calm mind, steady hand and paying attention to details (which we happen to be quite good at) I will say it's not for those women that panic.. you cannot panic.
Backing scares a lot of women when it shouldn't, it simply takes practice and generally the longer the trailer the easier it is to back it up, but a lot of women don't know or see it that way.

Women by their own nature are typically good at muli-tasking, and there is a lot to take in while backing and maneuvering a rig, but on the flip side of that coin there is a lot of mindless windshield time that really can drive a multi-tasking on the go person nuts.

You as a woman have to put up with a certain amount of grease, breakdowns and hassles and by far the worst of them is bathroom breaks. We can't just pull over and whip it out on a tire and restrooms are not handy.. at freaking all... never a bush when you need one. Women have to come to the realization that learning to get creative with where/when/how you'll take a potty break comes down to just how comfortable are you ducking behind a bush or God forbid, peeing in a cup in a sleeper. Then again I run in pretty remote areas, even with an interstate to run out west I can go miles before finding somewhere to pee, and I rarely have a sleeper truck :shrug: It's nothing a man doesn't deal with but they don't have to bare it all to the world to take a leak.

Learning to understand how a tractor trailer works and how to fix minor things, and even being able to identify if something is wrong can put women off the idea of driving as well. If she's not familiar with her personal car how will she be able to tell a part needs fixing or what that *clunk* in the front end is? Learning to fix something in the field takes time and experience and is rarely something many women are comfortable with.

Knowledge and willingness to deal with the "lifestyle" is most likely why more women don't try on driving a truck.
 
whaddya mean we can "just whip it out"...or "bare it all to the world"...???

how do you know if some of us don;t bare it all..??

heck, i find it refreshing to be bare.......well.....you know......word censors may delete bare-bottom....


but yeah, women have to take that chance, repairing not withstanding, many guys do not know a drive shaft from a ball of yarn.

i know, i have seen truckers rolling over and playing with yarn.....and it ain't purtty.....

more and more women ARE getting into driving...

i think the real questions are, how long do they stay in it...are they as homesick as ANY GUY would be....and is it only a temp job, till something else comes up..???

actually...just like many male, yarn ball playing truckers..>!!!
 
I use to pop open the hood of the tractor and act like I was working on the engine. Seems to be leaking something.
 
Some companies are trying to attract women for drivers. Women are usually dependable but some need training because the trucking industry has not been considered female friendly. Many women don't have the upper body strength required for some jobs related to trucking. A large percentage of the workers in the industry are at or nearing retirement age & there will be more demand for workers to replace them.

BTW Wild@Heart I have missed you lately.
 
As far as the OTR segment, they already attract a fair amount of women drivers. In the LTL segment its a different situation. Line haul is one thing. I have seen several females running linehaul for Conway and Old Dominion. As far as peddle drivers. The quality of LTL freight is getting bad enough for some guys to give up city work. We have one female who worked her way up from dock to yard to driver. I know of one women in my area that worked peddle for Overnite/ UPSF but she has been off for a few years after getting hurt on the Job. There is a RATHER FINE looking women from another Regional LTL carrier in my area that works local but those are the only one's i know. I guess i should consider the gals that work for UPS parcel as truckers considering some of the heavy crap they have to load/unload themselves
 
On the surface driving a truck looks glamorous. At least it always did to me. You are out in the world, nobody breathing down your neck, pay is good, you get a pension, truck drivers are friendly, helpful people and more. Well...that is the way it used to be. Now you are out in the world, technology has a pencil pushing never been on the street ******* breathing down your neck, pay is oooo maybe half of what it used to be based on the value of the dollar between now and then, pension is on the way out, the new wave of truck drivers are backstabbers who relish in anothers hardship figuring it makes for less competition for them.

If you just got in a truck drove it somewhere and someone unloaded it, reloaded it and you went along your way it might be another story but that is not the fact. In OTR you get your dispatch, go sit in line to get loaded, wait hours to finally get loaded and eat that time for no pay. Then you're paid by the mile, meagerly by the mile, to live in that truck. I shave, shower and don clean clothes daily, for OTR drivers to do that they would have to find a truck stop to shower at, take an hour or two to make that happen and have a lot of clothes packed with them. And maybe even hit a laundromat once in a while. Time is money and since the money is meager the hygiene goes out the window. I would expect that last point to be a big killer for women.

In LTL a start at the bottom entails being on call and missing a lot of days unless you get lucky. Regular hours will probably be a few years off. Much of the work is physical so some body mass and upper body strength are good things to have because many receivers seem to think we are supposed to drop a nut getting their stuff off of the truck. Starting pay anymore is what $17/hr? And up to five years to get to "top" rate. Injury rates are high and sometimes it's a younger man who gets his career cut short for back injuries. BTW there no health insurance for those who are off on comp except for any that a union contract might require. Docks are not protected from the wind or the windswept rain and snow, let alone heated.

Ooops, sorry I got carried away. I know you were asking about attracting women to the industry and look, I've explained why nobody but a horse would be interested in the terms and conditions associated with truck driving anymore, let alone a woman. I'm going to guess that men don't want the job for what it is anymore so you're looking to attract a different group outside of the immigrant work force. Or is there another reason you might want to attract women to drive trucks?
:soapbox:
 
Very good points ABFer.

On the surface driving a truck looks glamorous. At least it always did to me. You are out in the world, nobody breathing down your neck, pay is good, you get a pension, truck drivers are friendly, helpful people and more. Well...that is the way it used to be. Now you are out in the world, technology has a pencil pushing never been on the street ******* breathing down your neck, pay is oooo maybe half of what it used to be based on the value of the dollar between now and then, pension is on the way out, the new wave of truck drivers are backstabbers who relish in anothers hardship figuring it makes for less competition for them.

If you just got in a truck drove it somewhere and someone unloaded it, reloaded it and you went along your way it might be another story but that is not the fact. In OTR you get your dispatch, go sit in line to get loaded, wait hours to finally get loaded and eat that time for no pay. Then you're paid by the mile, meagerly by the mile, to live in that truck. I shave, shower and don clean clothes daily, for OTR drivers to do that they would have to find a truck stop to shower at, take an hour or two to make that happen and have a lot of clothes packed with them. And maybe even hit a laundromat once in a while. Time is money and since the money is meager the hygiene goes out the window. I would expect that last point to be a big killer for women.

In LTL a start at the bottom entails being on call and missing a lot of days unless you get lucky. Regular hours will probably be a few years off. Much of the work is physical so some body mass and upper body strength are good things to have because many receivers seem to think we are supposed to drop a nut getting their stuff off of the truck. Starting pay anymore is what $17/hr? And up to five years to get to "top" rate. Injury rates are high and sometimes it's a younger man who gets his career cut short for back injuries. BTW there no health insurance for those who are off on comp except for any that a union contract might require. Docks are not protected from the wind or the windswept rain and snow, let alone heated.

Ooops, sorry I got carried away. I know you were asking about attracting women to the industry and look, I've explained why nobody but a horse would be interested in the terms and conditions associated with truck driving anymore, let alone a woman. I'm going to guess that men don't want the job for what it is anymore so you're looking to attract a different group outside of the immigrant work force. Or is there another reason you might want to attract women to drive trucks?
:soapbox:

The only paid driving job I have ever had is the one I have now, and most of it has been OTR. I have been able to run as I choose and coordinate my daily stops with the truck stops that I prefer (well, most of the time, some of them really, really suck!) and get a hot shower every day. I have always packed enough clean clothing so I rarely need to do laundry, and I also run less than the full 11 hours each day so I usually do not need to do a reset, just go one direction, deliver, reload and go the other way.

The pay is at the upper side of what OTR pays, certainly way better than the majority of the OTR companies pay.

It is a great company, the equipment is new, and the people are great.

Lately I have been running local for them, for hourly pay, and right now it is really busy. I've been getting 60 to 70 hours a week, every week for the last 3 months.

They have quite a few women running OTR, some solo, some as a team with their husband or significant other. At first I was surprised to see women running flatbed, but they all appear to be able to handle the physical nature of the work, i.e. tarps, chains, etc. And some of them look like they only weigh about 125 lbs. Geeze, one half of a 2 piece tarp weighs that much!

None of them run local though.

The local work is very active and physically demanding. Some days a driver will make 3 or 4 pickups and bring the loads to the yard. Consider all that goes with that, securement of the freight, (sometimes) tarping, windshield time from the yard, to the customer and back, hooking and unhooking, pre trips, etc. and you have a very busy day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few years ago I have applied at a local outfit that hauls dry bulk in those v-shaped hopper tank things, both A-trains and B-trains, with day cabs. It is a great company, clean and well maintained trucks and trailers, the yard is a short 30 minute drive from my house. They put drivers in a motel anytime the run is overnight, pay $2.50 per mile safety bonus quarterly, and overtime for anything over 8 hours a day.

Not bad for a non union company.

Well, sort of.

They offered me a driving a position, but they only pay $14 and hour to start, and it takes 12 years to reach the top of their scale, which is only $18 and hour.

I declined their offer of employment, and made it clear that the pay was way too low, considering the amount of responsibility a driver takes on.

Oh, and their work is seasonal, they tend to lay off around November, and start hiring in February or March. I told them that if they paid better, like $22 and hour or so to start that taking off for the holidays would be great. Of course I also pointed out that I have clean MVR, and that is like gold, and should warrant better starting pay.

These days with the CSA stuff a clean MVR should mean a driver gets top dollar, right?
 
Quite frankly there are a lot of women out there that think driving a rig is uber complicated and hard to do, when in reality it takes a calm mind, steady hand and paying attention to details (which we happen to be quite good at) I will say it's not for those women that panic.. you cannot panic.

Sounds like me!

I must be a woman. :LMAO:
 
You as a woman have to put up with a certain amount of grease, breakdowns and hassles and by far the worst of them is bathroom breaks. We can't just pull over and whip it out on a tire and restrooms are not handy.. at freaking all... never a bush when you need one. Women have to come to the realization that learning to get creative with where/when/how you'll take a potty break comes down to just how comfortable are you ducking behind a bush or God forbid, peeing in a cup in a sleeper. Then again I run in pretty remote areas, even with an interstate to run out west I can go miles before finding somewhere to pee, and I rarely have a sleeper truck :shrug: It's nothing a man doesn't deal with but they don't have to bare it all to the world to take a leak.

You need something like this:

Female Urination Device | Now Women Can Stand to Pee | My Venus

Or maybe this:

Women can pee standing up with Go Girl | Go Girl Female Urination Device

Actually if I was a girl I would probably use this one:

GottaTinkle! - Stand Up & Pee - Female Urination Device: Clean & Reusable Disposable Bags No Funnel to Clean

The design looks great, well thought out, and when used as described, does not require cleaning after use.
 
Women getting drawn in will only take women doing it. Quite frankly there are a lot of women out there that think driving a rig is uber complicated and hard to do, when in reality it takes a calm mind, steady hand and paying attention to details (which we happen to be quite good at) I will say it's not for those women that panic.. you cannot panic.
Backing scares a lot of women when it shouldn't, it simply takes practice and generally the longer the trailer the easier it is to back it up, but a lot of women don't know or see it that way.

Women by their own nature are typically good at muli-tasking, and there is a lot to take in while backing and maneuvering a rig, but on the flip side of that coin there is a lot of mindless windshield time that really can drive a multi-tasking on the go person nuts.

You as a woman have to put up with a certain amount of grease, breakdowns and hassles and by far the worst of them is bathroom breaks. We can't just pull over and whip it out on a tire and restrooms are not handy.. at freaking all... never a bush when you need one. Women have to come to the realization that learning to get creative with where/when/how you'll take a potty break comes down to just how comfortable are you ducking behind a bush or God forbid, peeing in a cup in a sleeper. Then again I run in pretty remote areas, even with an interstate to run out west I can go miles before finding somewhere to pee, and I rarely have a sleeper truck :shrug: It's nothing a man doesn't deal with but they don't have to bare it all to the world to take a leak.

Learning to understand how a tractor trailer works and how to fix minor things, and even being able to identify if something is wrong can put women off the idea of driving as well. If she's not familiar with her personal car how will she be able to tell a part needs fixing or what that *clunk* in the front end is? Learning to fix something in the field takes time and experience and is rarely something many women are comfortable with.

Knowledge and willingness to deal with the "lifestyle" is most likely why more women don't try on driving a truck.

Seriously, you are a great ambassador for women in trucking. Great post Wild Chick!
 
Very good points ABFer.



The only paid driving job I have ever had is the one I have now, and most of it has been OTR. I have been able to run as I choose and coordinate my daily stops with the truck stops that I prefer (well, most of the time, some of them really, really suck!) and get a hot shower every day. I have always packed enough clean clothing so I rarely need to do laundry, and I also run less than the full 11 hours each day so I usually do not need to do a reset, just go one direction, deliver, reload and go the other way.

The pay is at the upper side of what OTR pays, certainly way better than the majority of the OTR companies pay.

It is a great company, the equipment is new, and the people are great.

Lately I have been running local for them, for hourly pay, and right now it is really busy. I've been getting 60 to 70 hours a week, every week for the last 3 months.

They have quite a few women running OTR, some solo, some as a team with their husband or significant other. At first I was surprised to see women running flatbed, but they all appear to be able to handle the physical nature of the work, i.e. tarps, chains, etc. And some of them look like they only weigh about 125 lbs. Geeze, one half of a 2 piece tarp weighs that much!

None of them run local though.

The local work is very active and physically demanding. Some days a driver will make 3 or 4 pickups and bring the loads to the yard. Consider all that goes with that, securement of the freight, (sometimes) tarping, windshield time from the yard, to the customer and back, hooking and unhooking, pre trips, etc. and you have a very busy day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few years ago I have applied at a local outfit that hauls dry bulk in those v-shaped hopper tank things, both A-trains and B-trains, with day cabs. It is a great company, clean and well maintained trucks and trailers, the yard is a short 30 minute drive from my house. They put drivers in a motel anytime the run is overnight, pay $2.50 per mile safety bonus quarterly, and overtime for anything over 8 hours a day.

Not bad for a non union company.

Well, sort of.

They offered me a driving a position, but they only pay $14 and hour to start, and it takes 12 years to reach the top of their scale, which is only $18 and hour.

I declined their offer of employment, and made it clear that the pay was way too low, considering the amount of responsibility a driver takes on.

Oh, and their work is seasonal, they tend to lay off around November, and start hiring in February or March. I told them that if they paid better, like $22 and hour or so to start that taking off for the holidays would be great. Of course I also pointed out that I have clean MVR, and that is like gold, and should warrant better starting pay.

These days with the CSA stuff a clean MVR should mean a driver gets top dollar, right?
I haven't seen any benefit or loss of benefit from that CSA thing.
 
Sounds like me!

I must be a woman. :LMAO:

You'd make a fine woman Race, but I like you better as a man ;) Don't go trying on pantyhose anytime soon.

Some companies are trying to attract women for drivers. Women are usually dependable but some need training because the trucking industry has not been considered female friendly. Many women don't have the upper body strength required for some jobs related to trucking. A large percentage of the workers in the industry are at or nearing retirement age & there will be more demand for workers to replace them.

BTW Wild@Heart I have missed you lately.

Thanks, I miss you too, and the boards. Being busy has it's down sides, don't always have time to chat ya'll up :) That and planning a wedding is kickin' my butt!

You need something like this:

Female Urination Device | Now Women Can Stand to Pee | My Venus

Or maybe this:

Women can pee standing up with Go Girl | Go Girl Female Urination Device

Actually if I was a girl I would probably use this one:

GottaTinkle! - Stand Up & Pee - Female Urination Device: Clean & Reusable Disposable Bags No Funnel to Clean

The design looks great, well thought out, and when used as described, does not require cleaning after use.


Erg! I'll stick to using the bushes and if none are handy I am pretty darn good at parking a truck at a deserted off ramp in such a way I can go between the mudflaps and fuel tanks without traffic seeing me from either direction.. seems a lot less complicated and less likely to get pee in my boot. LOL And just how many of these can you use without actually dropping trow?
Each one of these devices assume you have a potty present at the time of service..women in fact can stand up to pee anywhere without a funnel you see, I just can't do it without dropping pants in the middle of traffic!
So the devices are missing the point.. no stall!!!!!

Seriously, you are a great ambassador for women in trucking. Great post Wild Chick!

I don't know if I would be the face you'd want out there, but I have been there done that! Thanks Race.
 
Don't go trying on pantyhose anytime soon.

You can count on me!

And just how many of these can you use without actually dropping trow?

Each one of these devices assume you have a potty present at the time of service..women in fact can stand up to pee anywhere without a funnel you see, I just can't do it without dropping pants in the middle of traffic!
So the devices are missing the point.. no stall!!!!!

This one looks to be the best at minimal removal of or dropping of breeches. And using the creative truck partition on the off ramp method a girl could get quite good at it and not "pee in her boot".

GottaTinkle! - Stand Up & Pee - Female Urination Device: Clean & Reusable Disposable Bags No Funnel to Clean

And when the deed is done you simply zip the baggie up and drop it in the trash bin!

~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I did know a gal many years ago who bragged that she could urinate while standing, more or less like the guys. I'm sure you would know the mechanics of how it can be done.

I know I do.

As she showed us all around the bonfire at a kegger one Saturday evening. She even got quite a bit of "distance".

I don't know if I would be the face you'd want out there, but I have been there done that! Thanks Race.

You are very welcome.

And from what I have seen, you are more than attractive enough to be the "face of women in trucking".

Brian is a fortunate man!
 

ah...jeez.....tell you what....there ain't that many women that are considerate, meaning, some women are dirtier than men, when it comes to the bathroom...

we got "pee bombs" now....whaddya think we start seeing these "devices" littering our highways as well any time soon...???

hey look, there's another F.U. D. just laying there.....dirty female truckers.......:LMAO:
 
Injury rates are high and sometimes it's a younger man who gets his career cut short for back injuries. BTW there no health insurance for those who are off on comp except for any that a union contract might require.
a timely posting, as you now my situation and subsequent injury...

although i should post this in my thread, it bodes just as well here.

in today's mail (Sat June 21), i got my COBRA benefits premium....

ok, when i was working...??

$55.00 per week for health/dental benefits....

i now have to pay.....$465.00 monthly...

solution..??

i called a health organization here in my state, the has the Obama Care Plan..

i can get Blue Cross/ Blue Shied "silver" coverage for a whopping $185.00 per month, dental will be $35.00 extra....

That i can afford.....

COBRA...??

kiss my.....:butt kiss:
 
WildHeart I don't know where I came up with the Wild@Heart screen name. If you are planning a wedding I understand how time consuming & trying that is. I have one getting married this summer & another moving too far away. My little girl isn't little anymore.
 
WildHeart I don't know where I came up with the Wild@Heart screen name. If you are planning a wedding I understand how time consuming & trying that is. I have one getting married this summer & another moving too far away. My little girl isn't little anymore.

Because my moniker used to be Wild@heart, but because of some Google foolishness we had to take it out ;)
I have three little girls, and when the time comes I hope at least two become nuns, LOL!
Congrats!

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk
 
Top