And yet, most consumers might not be completely aware of just how delicate and complex the supply chain is, hanging on the balance and depending on the cooperation of many moving parts. Not to mention the role of the trucking industry and truck drivers. 

So, how is the trucking industry front and center when it comes to ensuring store shelves remain stocked and ready? How does the supply chain work and where does the truck driver fit into the big picture? 

Let’s take a closer look at the intricate beauty of the supply chain. 

The Famous Little Essay That Cracked Open the Beauty of the Supply Chain

Most American consumers don’t spend a lot of time considering just how their products make it to their doorstep or grocery store shelf. A few decades ago, Leonard E. Read published an essay in 1958 called “I, Pencil” that would transform the way people thought about, understood, and visualized the intricate global chain required to make products. 

Even more so, Read’s message had philosophical layers that espoused and advocated for the beauty of the free market and decentralized power. His message was humbling, as the core of it entailed and proved that most people could not make a simple pencil all on their own. 

In Read’s essay, the first-person narrator was the “ordinary wooden pencil familiar to all boys and girls and adults who can read and write.” More specifically, the focus was on the genealogy of this little pencil and its amazing journey. The essay begins by tracing this little pencil’s origins to a tree growing in Northern California and Oregon. Read continues, “Now contemplate all the saws and trucks and rope and the countless other gear used in harvesting and carting the cedar logs to the railroad siding.” 

Read encourages the reader to envision the many workers and varying types of skills that were required to make the pencil happen. This act of creation is aided by what Adam Smith would call the “Invisible Hand.” 

The journey of our pencil narrator continues when the logs are sent to a mill and then “put into a kiln, dried and then tinted for the same reason women put rouge on their faces. People prefer that I look pretty,” says the pencil, “not pallid white….How many skills went into the making of the tint and the kilns, into supplying the heat, the light, the power?”

The forward-thinking little pencil even goes into the detail of its lead-filled center. “The graphite is mined in Ceylon [Sri Lanka]. Consider these miners and those who make their many tools and the makers of the paper sacks in which the graphite is shipped…” 

The essay continues by tracing the complex labor, skill, and tools that are required to complete the design of a simple lead pencil and it does so by venturing into descriptive and philosophical little quandaries about the nature of creation, production, and human desire. 

“I, Pencil, am a complex combination of miracles: a tree, zinc, copper, graphite, and so on.But to these miracles that manifest themselves in Nature an even more extraordinary miracle has been added: the configuration of creative human energies…” 

The Humbling Role of the Truck Driver 

Similar to the ideas conveyed through the journey of that little pencil, the journeys of countless of our products merit a similar kind of attention. It’s a multi-faceted complex web of human energy and potential that at some point rests in the hands of truck and delivery drivers. And today’s global chain is much more complicated and convoluted than it was a few decades ago, although the idea is relatively similar. 

As many experts have pointed out, the world’s economy might come to a screeching halt if one day every truck driver in the country threw their hands up and walked away from the job. According to the American Trucking Associations, 10.23 billion tons of freight was transported by trucks in 2020. That figure represents 72.5% of total domestic tonnage shipped. 

Estimates range that about 7.65 million people are employed by the trucking industry. That staggering number suggests that there is almost a 7% of people tied to the trucking industry in some way. 

The 2021 truck driver shortage is only one part of the larger supply chain backlog and bottlenecks that people are seeing around the nation’s ports. As reported by CNN Business, the trucking industry was short about 800,000 truck drivers. This was a 30% spike from the pandemic. 

Trucking Compliance Keeps the Roads Safe

And while there are still thousands of truck drivers transporting our goods across the country, there is also a large responsibility that rests on the shoulders of trucking companies to train drivers and ensure that the roads stay safe. 

That’s where we come in. 

For Your Trucking Compliance Needs, Call BTC 

Our job is to work hand-in-hand with the trucking industry and drivers to ensure full compliance in the realms of drug testing, title and registration, tax reporting, and more. The right team working on compliance is essential for companies deploying dozens or hundreds of drivers onto our nation’s roads. 

Want to work with a reliable partner to ensure you are in compliance? Call Border Trucking Compliance and talk to an expert. 

Global Position Systems (GPS) and the Transport of Goods 

For all of history, it has been a preoccupation of man to understand his position on this earth and calculate distances, treks, and voyages. The discovery of new lands and territories was dependent on successful journeys that could, with some accuracy, understand the road that lay ahead. Early navigators used landmarks and the cosmos to orient themselves—a tactic that would put most of us to shame today, given our dependence on easy navigation. People would depend on constellations to move through the open seas. Latitude and longitude were necessary metrics to understand precise locations on earth and maintain some consistency.

Other early navigation tools (which are still relevant today) include the handy compass, which was quite useful for many explorers and pioneers settling new lands.  We have moved far beyond watching the sun and the stars these days. Global Positioning Systems have not only changed the way we navigate on our day-to-day commutes and road trips but have caused considerable differences for the trucking industry. 

How GPS Has Changed the Trucking Industry 

Today’s truck drivers are aided by GPS technology. The wild-haired mavericks of the 70s and 80s who were able to take detours, drive at their own pace are long gone. Not that they ever existed to that degree, but today’s truck drivers are far more closely monitored. GPS has:

• Improved overall productivity by allowing control centers and dispatch centers to monitor routes and warn drivers of upcoming traffic jams, accidents, construction detours, closed roads, etc. 
• Truck drivers themselves use GPS for similar purposes, including finding alternate routes in the event of local constructions or accidents. 
• It has increased efficiency when it comes to finding the best routes and keeping truck drivers accountable to consistent driving and speed limits. 

Other types of trucker technology come in the form of:

• Electronic Logging Device  (ELD): As part of MAP-21 was passed as a way to create a safer work environment for truckers. The regulation was also intended to make logging driving hours faster, more convenient, and pose less of a distraction for drivers. An ELD will synchronize with a vehicle engine to accurately track, manage, and share records of duty status. This allows for accurate metrics and self-management. By keeping track of all kinds of data, truck drivers can better understand progress and identify areas that need improvement. 

• Voice Command: So much of road safety is dependent upon maintaining well-rested and attentive truck drivers. Voice command allows the driver to perform other tasks—such as changing the radio station— without moving their hands off the wheel. Voice command is a helpful tool to keep drivers attentive on the road while having more control over other parts of their rig.

• GPS Tracking: As mentioned above, GPS is used by many truck drivers today. A GPS device is not only good for tracking the journey, but it can also provide useful information such as the price of diesel in a certain area or bridge weight. It identifies checkpoints or potential hazards on the road.  

• Autonomous Trucks: There is a lot of talk out there about self-driving trucks and the technology that will displace hundreds of truck drivers in the next few years. The technology of completely driverless trucks, however, is still a long way from becoming an everyday occurrence.

The Use of Technology in Driver Training and Continuing Education 

Given the nature of the virtual world and changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, many drivers can be trained from the cabin through video and interactive virtual lessons. This makes training drivers easier and more convenient. It speeds up the process for drivers to learn how to use new tools, operate vehicles, etc. 

Technology and Recent Changes Due to Pandemic 

Truck drivers performed an essential function during COVID-19. They kept the supply lines flowing and people—many stuck in their homes and limited to their local supermarket—able to access necessary food and supplies. Of course, this has always been their job, but people really took notice when the world seemed to be on pause. Many trucking industries used technology to keep their drives safe and healthy and able to communicate. Many rest stops and restaurants were closed during that time and GPS and other features allowed drivers to learn local restrictions and regulations. 

Choose a Trucking Company with Generational Experience and Innovative Ideas

Border Trucking Alliance is a family-owned trucking company that has institutional knowledge that goes back generations. We have grown with the trucking industry and are always looking to implement the newest and safest ways to improve your productivity and ensure driver safety.  

Connect with Border Trucking Alliance and find out how our crew will help you with compliance in El Paso, TX and Juarez, Mexico.