Supply Chain Stalled Because 72,000 Truckers Failed Strict Drug Tests

[Papageorgio]

Can't be any worse than the non-drug user drivers that suck driving on the road.

Yeah because we all know that a 2500 lb car can cause so much more damage than even an unladen 35,000 lbs semi truck.

 

[Papageorgio]

It did not start just last year. For four years now those have been eating up truckers and Captains. Want to captain a boat get your license pee in a cup working the day the test results come back. Been that way for at least four years

They industry has had a shortage since 2005.

 

[Anomalism]

Yeah because we all know that a 2500 lb car can cause so much more damage than even an unladen 35,000 lbs semi truck.

When you pay truckers by the mile you encourage the kind of insanity that leads to being addicted to a bunch of stimulants.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

During Trump's term?

The Repubs controlled both sides of Congress his first two years.

 

[Grumblenuts]

From the OP link:

Drivers who land on the registry can get off the list if they complete a “return to duty” program, but so far the vast majority, 54,495 violators, have not started the program — and likely will not, experts say.

Gaining and maintaining a CDL is difficult and expensive enough to begin with. A "return to duty" not only implies submitting to this apparent gubmint repression (add having to regularly deal with weigh stations and mobile DMV spot checks), one must literally beg their employer for the opportunity. Hell, no idea if it's as bad now as it used to be, but just to work at Home Depot, in any capacity, one had to not only pass a drug test, but "random" drug testing whenever and for whoever they felt like giving them. I dealt with several conscientious, highly decorated workers who slipped up and broke some stupid company rule just once.. and boom, gone, automatically. What a fucking joke. And, regardless of major party, this bullshit has resulted far more from conservatives in management than liberals.

Lots of people have addictive personalities and genuinely get depressed if they can't have a drink or smoke a joint now and then. No one should have a problem with anyone doing either on their own time, just not right before work. However, the differences between the two in terms of continued employment and potential costs to others are stark. Smoking one joint while off duty certainly has no more effect on one's job abilities the next day than drinking one beer. Yet doing so risks losing one's job for an entire month while doing the latter risks nothing. Ridiculous.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Yeah because we all know that a 2500 lb car can cause so much more damage than even an unladen 35,000 lbs semi truck.

He meant truckdrivers
There are plenty who suck and you know it. Just wait for snow and count all the trucks stuck in the median the next day.

 

[Papageorgio]

When you pay truckers by the mile you encourage the kind of insanity that leads to being addicted to a bunch of stimulants.

Out of 3.5 million truckers 72,000 tested positive, that is 0.02% of all truckers. Also, truckers are tested randomly, so they never know if they are going to get tested. Drug use is very low in this country, the numbers have increased in states where pot has been legalized.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Amphetamine use has thankfully decreased. Worrying too much about pot has simply decreased the the number of drivers.

 

[Papageorgio]

Amphetamine use has thankfully decreased. Worrying too much about pot has simply decreased the the number of drivers.

LOL! Pot isn't the reason for decrease. The truckers are aging and younger people are not choosing it as a career. However to be fair, you can't get a CDL straight out of high school and have to wait until you are 21, by that time many have found the career path they need and it doesn't include trucking and being out on the road for months at a time.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

That's not what I said. Is it? I said a random breathalyzer, just like random drug screens. Legally? No, a driver can't drive the next morning if he can't pass a breathalyzer test. If he gets in a wreck, the first the state trooper is going to do is make him blow in a tube, on the scene. Then, he's going to be required, by Federal law, to take a drug screen within 24 hours of the incident.

Y'all want the government running the show. This is what "government running the show" looks like.

Agreed, but is it really that much to ask truck drivers to not drink a shit ton of booze the night before they get into the truck to drive the next morning? I see nothing unreasonable about expecting someone who's driving several tons of steel down the highway that can easily kill people to have 0 alcohol content in their blood or any other drug for that fact.

 

[Wild Bill Kelsoe]

The Repubs controlled both sides of Congress his first two years.

Who controlled Congress in 2010? CSA 2010 came out while the Democrats were controlling Congress.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

 

[Harpy Eagle]

However to be fair, you can't get a CDL straight out of high school and have to wait until you are 21,

You can get a CDL prior to 21, it is just only good in one state...so basically useless.

 

[Papageorgio]

You can get a CDL prior to 21, it is just only good in one state...so basically useless.

That is why I won't count it. I have no need to hire a person with such limitations, they become worthless.

 

[Grumblenuts]

LOL! Pot isn't the reason for decrease.

No one said it was the only one, silly boy. It clearly is a major contributor though. A lot more pot smokers out there than you can apparently imagine.

is it really that much to ask truck drivers to not drink a shit ton of booze the night before they get into the truck to drive the next morning? I see nothing unreasonable about expecting someone who's driving several tons of steel down the highway that can easily kill people to have 0 alcohol content in their blood or any other drug for that fact.

Who's asking? Seems you deliberately miss the point. This is about having an artificial shortage of drivers, not an abundance of drunks or drug addicts. One need simply provide reasonable compensation and working conditions and voila! You get what you pay for.

 

[Grumblenuts]

The truckers are aging and younger people are not choosing it as a career. However to be fair, you can't get a CDL straight out of high school and have to wait until you are 21, by that time many have found the career path they need and it doesn't include trucking and being out on the road for months at a time.

No kidding. That's why you need to pay them more instead of just expecting ever more for less and less. If you can't beat what Jeff Bezos will pay them to push a cart around a warehouse all day, they sure as hell ain't going to bother with all the bullshit required to drive a big rig these days.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Who's asking? Seems you deliberately miss the point. This is about having an artificial shortage of drivers, not an abundance of drunks or drug addicts. One need simply provide reasonable compensation and working conditions and voila! You get what you pay for.

You've seen the paychecks of these 72,000 drivers?

 

[Grumblenuts]

You've seen the paychecks of these 72,000 drivers?

Why? You?

 

[Wild Bill Kelsoe]

Agreed, but is it really that much to ask truck drivers to not drink a shit ton of booze the night before they get into the truck to drive the next morning? I see nothing unreasonable about expecting someone who's driving several tons of steel down the highway that can easily kill people to have 0 alcohol content in their blood or any other drug for that fact.

You're right. I don't get how people think I disagree...lol

 

[Papageorgio]

No one said it was the only one, silly boy. It clearly is a major contributor though. A lot more pot smokers out there than you can apparently imagine.

72, 000 out of 3.5 million truckers is not a lot of pot smokers, that is if they all smoked pot which is unlikely.

I know lots of people smoke pot, I don't believe it should be illegal as long as it is eight hours before any commercial driving.