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[quote]QUOTE: <i>Originally posted by wrwatkins</i> <br /><br />A brief comment on rail and trucks in general and not specific to cattle transport. <br /> <br /> Railroads are governed by strict operating rules mandated by government and the railroad. Speed is one rule. If an engineer exceeds the posted speed for a section of track he gan be subject to an unpaid vacation or very early retirement. We all hear stories of a train crew going "dead" 50 yards from the terminal. This is a Federal law that is obeyed by all railroads and crews and should be. <br /> <br />Now lets look at trucks. Have you ever seen an 18 wheeler obeying the posted speed? How many times have you been traveling at the posted speed or slightly above it and have a trucker pass you up like you were standing still? How many times have you seen an 18 wheeler pulled over by the highway patrol? Very seldom. A deputy sheriff tells me that almost any truck pulled over will rack up several thousand in fines for equipment and other violations. Now I understand why the trucking industry in California (and other states) advertise extensively in the California Highway Patrol inhouse magazine. The last time I checked the CHP is not a significant user of trucks. Truckers refer to their driving log as the "cheat sheet". Have not heard of a train crew referring to their time in the same manner. <br /> <br />We need to level the playing field. <br />[/quote] <br /> <br />Ok. Let's visit your playing field and make it level. Bear with me a moment here. <br /> <br />The truck obeys the speed limit. <br />The truck obeys the law to the letter. <br />The truck actually does pretrips and post trips. <br />The truck operates the engine below peak power for fuel conservation. <br />The truck does everything necessary for safety such as following distance, slowing down in bad weather etc etc etc. <br /> <br />That truck will require about 100 hours to make a 2400 mile trip driving time. <br /> <br />That 100 hours DOES NOT incude lost time due to waiting for dispatcher (Who is waiting on the broker who is waiting etc etc etc) Does not include lost time driving dead head to get loaded.. Oh you have to wash out that trailer, and WAIT for it to be loaded. The meat plant has hundreds of trailers to load, your wait will be a few days. <br /> <br />Time lost due to your rest, meals, showers, breaks, scales, shop work for flats, broken parts etc etc etc ... all eat into the "freshness" of that load. <br /> <br />And you wonder why the driver blazes by you at speed on the road. He is under great pressure to deliver the cargo in a timely manner (Read: Right here right now! Yesterday!) <br /> <br />You want to fix this? <br /> <br />Fine. <br /> <br />Slow everything down and unhook the shipper and reciever from the time constraints. Disconnect the need to deliver the cargo express, remove the stress of high speed driving. Remove the angry dispatcher (Who is ready to fire the driver) and then Remove the ANGRY Broker (Who is about ready to fire the trucking company) Remove the Grocer who will seek a meat source MUCH closer and faster than one 2000 miles away. <br /> <br />That ground beef you look at then might have taken 10 days to get across the USA. They may not be too fresh at the store. What a waste. <br /> <br />My solution is Teams. 24/7 Teams that can remain strong and "Clean" while running these meat loads. Another part of the solution is to speed up loading times at the plant. Your loading docks are full to the roof with trailers, your yard jockeys faint from exhaustion while herding empty trailers to and from the wash rack that is constantly running out of supplies needed to clean these trailers properly. (Food grade laws) Add to the mix 100 angry, tired, sleepy, bored and plain frusterated truckers pestering your gaurdshack security staff about thier loads... thier dispatchers calling your customer support seeking information on how fast can you get "Thier" load out the door. <br /> <br />100's of people around the country constantly calling your beleagured meat plant seeking thier loads to get out first right now citing any number of very good reasons why your work staff should drop everything and get this one load out now. <br /> <br />Add that workforce to a nearby town who might be tolerating your meat plant because of the odors, dust, guts etc... Add in railroad service to the mix where you require supplies to process the meat properly. <br /> <br />You are not running a meat plant. You are running a very large chinese fire drill operation where everything boils down to one thing: <br /> <br />That meat load is sent to the grocer ASAP!! <br /> <br /> <br />Pray tell, where are you going to find the extra time savings, faster cargo transit times, more efficent service and please everyone with timely fresh product all across the USA .... and..... Maritime service to and from Overseas. <br /> <br />Where are you gonna load trucks faster when you are slaugtering upwards of hundreds of cattle per day? Your workforce can only work so fast, your chillers can only get meat cold so fast. <br /> <br />My opinion is that the industry is working very fast. If the trucker needs to endanger others, then the police has every right to nail him (Or her for speeding) but the company should have put a "TEAM" of two drivers on that run. <br /> <br />Singles cannot do meat runs very well from a transit time point of view. <br /> <br />Everyone involved in the entire process of meat from the farm to the grocery store needs to participate in the best use of time. The moment the buyer hangs up the phone and a cattle truck is sent to fetch the meat from the farm... the clock is ticking. <br /> <br />I have another thread that touches on speeding, serious cultural changes needs to be done in the industry that will result in: <br /> <br />Cargo slowdowns <br />Need to hire more personel (Drivers) <br />Need to buy more trucks to keep everything on the road <br />people to teach and help everyone involved in law enforcement to understand time issues in trucking <br /> <br />... etc <br /> <br />In some ways the railroads fare much better than truckers. The railroad men understand that when the Clock runs out on the current work shift then the train is stopped. Everything they do revolves around keeping that train manned and moving. <br /> <br />Woe to the trucker who actually "clocks out" while 80 miles from the reciever for 8 hours rest. <br /> <br />You slow down the cargo, then you will also slow down the USA and fail to deliver product that needs to be fresh in a timely manner.
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