Tag Archives: Women In Trucking

Truck stops and Tarmacs

“Don’t reinvent the wheel, just realign it.” Anthony J. D’Angelo, author

We’ve all heard the adage about reinventing the wheel. Why spend a great deal of time and effort on working through something that someone has already explored? When Women In Trucking Association was formed, we looked at other trade and professional organizations and determined what parts worked for us and what didn’t.

In fact, we took a lot of ideas from an organization called Women In Aviation International (WAI). At the time, I was working on my private pilot’s license and joined the WAI because I wanted to meet other women who fly. The airline industry isn’t all that different from the trucking industry, and both have a very small percentage of women behind in the cab or the cockpit. Many of our challenges are similar, so why not cooperate on our efforts?

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For Sale By Owner

Have you ever questioned how some terms or phrases are either outdated or don’t even make any sense? For example, when was the last time you actually “dialed” the phone? Except for your great aunt Edna, rotary dial phones are no longer in existence. We don’t dial anything; we just tap it or touch it.

What about taping a video? We don’t use tape anymore. We’re not using VCRs to record anything, we record it with bytes, not footage. Footage implies the film is measured in feet, but there aren’t any length measurements when it comes to recording a video.

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What I learned from my “wearable”

I never thought I could be friends with a piece of technology that is exceptionally nosey. I’m a pretty private person, and the thought of sharing my physical data makes me pretty uncomfortable.

Sharing my sleeping patterns, my eating habits, and how often my heart rate was elevated isn’t my idea of privacy. However, we recently partnered with Rolling Strong to do a wellness competition, and I donned a Fitbit Versa for the challenge.

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HERoes of the Highway

Do you remember when you were a child and someone would ask you what you wanted to be when you grew up? The typical elementary school response was firefighter, police officer, teacher, doctor, pilot, or even astronaut cited by children.

For many of you reading this blog, perhaps you already knew you wanted to drive a truck or work in supply chain when you were older. I’m guessing you were in the minority. Most of the occupations children mentioned had high profiles and were considered more glamorous than working in the trucking industry.

Professional drivers have often been the “invisible” ones on the road. When you do your job well and are operating in a safe and efficient manner, no one seems to notice you. It’s only when a motorist thinks you are going too fast, too slow, or driving erratically when they seem to pay attention to the eighteen wheelers alongside them.

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Supporting Drivers During Tough Times

The trucking industry has long been a male-dominated environment, and although things are changing, it’s still predominantly men behind the wheel, in the corner office, and the shop. As women are drawn to the industry, they are often unprepared to deal with some of the issues they may face, specifically when it comes to coping with diversity challenges.

Many of the women who are seeking tuition funding from the Women In Trucking Scholarship Foundation cite negative reasons for getting a CDL. Often, they are survivors of domestic abuse, spousal harassment, or worse. Yet, when we offer them a scholarship, education doesn’t include topics to include needed coping skills.

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Women In Trucking Facebook group celebrates ten years!

Ten years ago, Facebook was emerging as one of the top social media websites and Women In Trucking member, Sandy Long, recognized its potential. She reached out and asked if she could start a WIT group on the site. She wanted a place for female drivers to be able to ask questions, network and find new friends. She saw the value in connecting drivers with technology.

Although Sandy passed away a few years ago, her legacy remains in the WIT Facebook group, which now includes nearly 11,000 individuals in the trucking industry. Both men and women visit the group to talk about things that affect their roles as professional drivers. While the majority are truck drivers, there are others who are on the site to learn or to network.

You may be surprised to learn that the page is moderated by professional drivers. They take turns watching the site for compliance. In fact, while WIT staff check in on the site, the admins are vigilant in ensuring the posters follow the rules, which they must agree to before approval is granted into the closed group.

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We’re listening to our members

The Women In Trucking Association board of directors has a goal to be a resource to the industry. Whether that means trucking companies, drivers, the government or our members, we want to provide you with the best information (tools) to reach your objectives in creating a more gender diverse workforce.

In 2017 we teamed with Sawgrass Logistics to learn about best practices in hiring female drivers. We learned a lot and have changed our programs to reflect these challenges. However, we continue to survey our members to find out what they want from us, their association.

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Don’t be the victim of a scammer

2020 New Year’s Resolutions

If you’re like many of us, you probably made at least one New Year’s resolution recently. According to TheQuint.com, the most common new year’s resolution is to get in shape, or at least, to make an effort to work out. That’s probably why January is the top month for sales of exercise gear and clothing.

Why is January 1st such a popular time for us to try and make changes in our lives? A new year offers us a fresh start, and a way to put our past behaviors to rest. In 1740, John Wesley, an English clergyman, held the first Covenant Renewal Service on New Year’s Eve. The service was a time for thinking about past mistakes and resolving to do better in the coming year.

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Is the playing field level for women at the loading dock?

Each year the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) asks drivers and carriers about their top concerns. As you can imagine, the drivers list differs from the trucking companies’ list, but some issues do affect both groups significantly.

Detention and delays at customer facilities was one of the issues that was important to both groups. It was the fifth concern for drivers and number sixth on the list for carriers. Delays at the loading docks reduce a driver’s productivity and decrease the level of compensation for both drivers and their companies.

ATRI gathers date through an online survey website but they also collect responses in person at the Mid-America Trucking Show each spring. This year they received over 1,100 responses from drivers. Thirteen percent of the drivers were female, which is actually much higher than the industry average of ten percent. Most of the respondents were company drivers, but surveys were collected from owner-operators and independent contractors as well.

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