Thread by @SawyerSteve

The other day some ignoramus posted a comment that the thing truckers want most is de-regulation. Let me tell y’all a bit about #TruckerLife And no, de-regulation isn’t one of their concerns. 👇

My son drives a big rig from MI out to the PNW every two weeks. Heads out every other Friday. With luck he gets all deliveries made, gets his return load in a timely fashion, heads home, and has, on average, TWO DAYS to do laundry, shop, prepare meals and then head back out. 👇

He left MI on 12/10. So far, high winds in the plains that closed freeways, and snowstorms in the mountain passes have had him motionless for FOUR DAYS. Truckers DON’T GET PAID WHEN THEY’RE NOT MOVING! 👇

How would you feel about a job that locked you in your office for FOUR DAYS without pay? How would you feel about a job that had you scheduled to head out to work for 10-12 days ON CHRISTMAS EVE? 👇

At first it appeared that the delays would allow him to spend Christmas with his family. Those pesky regulations were going to force his company to allow him a day of downtime before heading back out, and that downtime was going to fall on CHRISTMAS! 👇

But the road conditions in Oregon were very dangerous for an empty trailer, thus delaying him being able to pick up his return load. 👇

At this point, it’s starting to look like he won’t make it back to MI until Sunday, which not only causes him to miss Christmas with his family, it means he probably will miss a paycheck because he won’t have another load until late next week and…👇

TRUCKERS DON’T GET PAID IF THE WHEELS AREN’T TURNING!! 👇

So yeah, tell me about those nasty regulations that have their boot on the neck of the working man. 👇

Without regulations limiting time behind the wheel to 11 hours/day 😳 And mandated rest days, conditions would be even worse! And the company my son works for is honestly one of the better ones! ✋🏻

Oh - one other thing. He’s trying to get his flu shot & Covid booster. Try making an appointment with some CVS or Walgreens when you have no idea when, exactly, you’ll be available to GET it!! 🤬

Just to close the loop on this, looks like he’s going to miss Christmas and get a short (or non-existent) paycheck because of the weather delays! ☹️

So..all Christmas weekend living in a truck in a cold truck stop somewhere in Iowa.