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Sky-high fuel costs, low rates, and slow freight all get a trucker thinking about easy fixes to the problems. The romantic image of truckers as depicted in movies and on TV is mostly influenced by the days before deregulation. These images linger in people's minds as the "good old days" of trucking and prompt dreams for those imagined glory days as a solution to all of the trucking industry's woes.

We have seen in Part I  of this "History of Trucking" series that the days of regulation were not all as glamorous as they appear in our imaginings. Violence was the norm, graft was prevalent, organized crime was seriously involved, and the power was in the government's hands as to where a company could run, what freight it could haul, and how much it could charge.

In Part II , showed the changes that occurred when the trucking industry went through its period of deregulation. A carrier now had the ability to run any route it wanted and to get backhauls. There was a more competitive marketplace in shipping costs, easier access to authority to haul freight, and a better delivery service to customers.

The one area where most folks think that the government should get involved again is in setting rates. Drivers who drove during the days of heavy regulation don't want to see a return to those days. Most owner-operators and small fleet owners are leery of a return of government rate control and would rather set their own rates according to their own business activities. Company drivers think that government-set rates will further hamper their ability to make a living and stay in business.

After all the research I have done for this series and based on what I have seen in my experience, I do not want to return to government regulation either. The current trend we see is government catering to big business. With a return to regulation limited to even just rate setting, the mega-companies who depend on quantity not quality would likely prosper while the small business trucker and smaller company would be starved out.

Furthermore, I doubt that the government could or would stop with just setting rates. Already, truckers are required to follow regulations that dictate when and where they can sleep, whether it is too hot or too cold for them to run the truck while resting, the hours they can work, and how fast they can run. They are carrying the burden for keeping the roads not only safe, but built and maintained through taxes and tolls. A return to stricter regulations perhaps would make it impossible to go the straightest, shortest route from point A to point B, further restrict who can haul what freight, and even put more freight on the rails.

In my opinion, returning to the old ways as dictated by government regulations is not the answer to the current problems facing the trucking industry. Are there areas where government intervention and law-making could make a difference? Sure there is.

Laws governing transparency between brokers and carriers about what shippers pay to have loads hauled would be a start. Having bigger bonds required for brokers to do business to ensure that there is enough money to pay off carriers who hauled the broker's freight is another possible direction. Protection for carriers and shippers in the event a broker goes out of business as well as perhaps a limit to how many times a load can be brokered would also go a long way to leveling the playing field for smaller companies.

Another area of help might be in strengthening the training requirements for student truck drivers and doing away with third party testing of new drivers. This would effectively put a stop to the hiring of unqualified, unsafe drivers and help companies become more productive, thereby increasing their bottom line, reducing wrecks and accidents, and keeping insurance costs manageable.

Fuel surcharges could be set by government mandate and made to pass through to the buyer of the fuel that hauls the load. Such legislation has recently been drafted and is to be presented to Congress. Though even with government mandates, I'm sure unscrupulous brokers and shippers would still try to find a way around such a mandate to keep more money for themselves. A law or mandate would at least give companies and owner-operators a fighting chance.

We have looked at the past and found out the truth about the "good old days" of the regulation and deregulation eras of trucking. Now we can take the energy wasted on empty wishes for that so called glorious past and concentrate on the future. To address the issues facing trucking today, truckers need to stand together and call or write their federal and state representatives and make their voices heard.

Again, many thanks for the help given by the OOIDA forum posters for assisting me with my research and sharing their knowledge on the history of the trucking industry and helping me brainstorm solutions to the problems facing truckers.

Ya'll be safe out there!