COVID-19 Trucking Updates
Let us help you keep rolling through the pandemic.
To help ease your stress over the road, we are going to keep the latest and most pertinent news updates on the COVID-19 crisis available to you here along with sources for you to get help.
News will be summarized and links pertaining to the topic will be attached for further information.
U.S. Department of Transportation News
• FMCSA posts guidelines for transportation workers providing support for hard hit areas. Including health safety guidelines when at shipping and delivery locations. Read more about it here.
• Motor carriers and drivers providing direct assistance in support of relief efforts related to the COVID-19 outbreaks are granted emergency relief from the FMCSA Hours of Service Laws. Read the declaration and rules here.
Expansion of this declaration as of 04/09/2020 extends the HOS emergency relief through May 15th, 2020. Read it here.
• FMCSA CDL waiver extends CDL expiration for 120 days for CDL’s due for renewal on or after March 1st, 2020. Read more about the declaration and other extended deadlines here.
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Information related to COVID-19 from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration can be found here.
Trucking Locations
The latest updates from all major truck stop chains such as TA/Petro, Pilot/Flying J, and Love’s Truck Stops include that locations are open and running. All locations nationwide are also requiring masks. Showers are being cleaned more thoroughly so you can expect slightly increased wait times for a clean shower. Restaurants are limited to carry out orders though some dine in locations have reopened. Large areas of gatherings are at limited capacity such as drivers lounges and casinos. Social distancing is being practiced. Hand sanitizing stations are strategically placed near entrances/exits, and areas of high usage.
Pilot/Flying J and Love’s Truck stops have begun mask enforcement nationwide.
Travel Centers of America / Petro : Check for location updates here.
Pilot / Flying J : Check for location updates here.
Love’s Travel Center : Check for location updates here.
SappBros: Check for location updates here.
Check with the State DOT site in question for exact location information.
Use our quick link page for all state DOT websites here.
Customer Locations
You can expect some customer locations to shut down or slow down manufacturing due to local and statewide mandates and/or recent breakouts. Those that remain open are deemed an essential business and therefore will have to maintain stricter sanitation and safety practices. There have been reports of personal information being requested and temperature check points. You may also be asked to take a questionnaire inquiring as to your recent travel history, if you are experiencing any flu like symptoms, have had any symptoms in recent days, or have been around anyone who was sick in recent weeks. Most locations are requiring you to wear protective gear, including but not limited to, face masks, shoe covers, protective head gear, full body suit protectors, and/or gloves. Warehouses have also been asking drivers to sanitize their hands upon entering the facility. Please do your part when at shipping and receiving destinations to keep America running smoothly.
Driver Resources
The SBA has implemented multiple programs to help small businesses with their financial needs.
DrOnDemand allows you to have virtual medical health and mental health visits right from your cell phone. Doctors are able to examine you, prescribe medications, and guide you further if you are having any flu like symptoms. Mental health visits offered through the app are in 30 minute and 50 minute sessions. Utilize your down time because there’s no better time to take steps to improve your mental health.
St. Christopher Trucker Relief Fund
The St. Christopher Trucker Relief Fund is a foundation focused around assisting drivers and their families through times of crisis and can help connect you with valuable resources.
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
If you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious, or fearful - you are not alone. Please don’t suffer in silence, and reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline if you are having thoughts of suicide.
The National Suicide Prevention Hotline is 1-800-273-8255.
Feel Good News
One positive ripple effect coming from the COVID-19 outbreak is the nationwide acknowledgment of truck drivers. From our government down to locals in our communities helping drivers, the outpouring of appreciation has been overwhelming to the industry. We decided to highlight some stories below.
Logan Miller, a teenager from West Virginia, uses his allowance to purchase and supply lunch for truckers at rest area. Watch the video here.
Iowa scale house passes out 500 lunches to drivers as a part of the #thankatrucker movement. See the post here.
Kentucky State Police hand out lunches to CDL drivers. Read more here.
Wyoming Sheriff assists a truck stuck on Teton Pass. Watch the video here.
High School in Washington State opens as makeshift truck stop to aid truckers during crisis. Read more here.
Sam Brock from The Today Show does a segment focusing on trucker appreciation. Watch the video here.
USA Today acknowledges truck drivers are more than just essential, repeating the famous trucking quote “If We Stop, The World Stops.” Read the story here.
April 2020 - Our United States White House thanked all of our nation’s truck drivers.
We appreciate you always and we need you now more than ever.
Stay healthy, and hammer down drivers!
Rookie Tips
“Don’t come out here to further the stigma around truck drivers.“
Joining the trucking force can be very intimidating in the beginning; you will learn a lot of information very fast and if you don’t keep up, you can get swallowed.
We’ve compiled a list of points to focus on when starting out.
Guilty, until Proven Innocent
The unfortunate reality when you are handed your new CDL, the right to be scrutinized for every step you do and do not take, is in the fine print. Trucking is heavily involved. You are expected to be a safe and punctual driver, a diesel technician, and a lawyer; all while maintaining your office on wheels as you watch your sanity and patience fade away on the white lines. It’s necessary that you keep your CDL in good standings, run your clock legally, know your equipment, and the laws that pertain to you as a CDL holder. The bar was pushed higher when you traded your Class C license in for your Class A, hold it high and be diligent because you’re guilty until proven innocent when you hold a CDL.
Practice, Makes Perfect
Backing a truck is going to scare the crap out of you, as it should. You will have to relearn what you thought you knew; because your steering will be opposite of what you've always known it to be. When you steer right, your trailer will go left, and vice versa. Take your time, and practice before you find yourself sweating bullets trying to blindside alley dock with trucks on both sides of you at a busy warehouse. Practice G.O.A.L. and stay consistent with it because the back of that trailer is known to cause trouble as soon as you look away. Empty parking lots, slow docks, and truck stops are good places to learn. Take advantage of it when you’re given the chance to practice in a quiet and safe place.
Fellow Trucker Road Rules
Be courteous to your fellow truck drivers and respect the rules in place. That goes for on the road, at truck stops, and at customers. If you are in a governed truck, make sure to keep yourself in the right lane when another truck comes up to pass. Allow another driver the space to get over when you see they're having a hard time passing. Watch the on ramps for merging big trucks and be ready to merge. When at the truck stops, fuel in a timely manner and pull up in the designated spots when you’re done. You see another driver struggling to back their truck or slide their tandems? Then get out to help or spot that driver, because we all started as rookies and no one likes a know-it-all.
Dress Appropriately
Truckers already have a bad name tied to them; overalls, overweight, and overly stinky. Practice good hygiene, dress appropriately, and take care of yourself. Some customers are famous for having little to no driver facilities, but if you don’t respect yourself - you shouldn’t expect anyone else to respect you. Don’t urinate on gravel and pick up your trash. The point? Don’t come out here to further the negative stigma around truck drivers. Take pride in yourself and your work, because you’re a badass truck driver.
Learn Your Equipment
Ask questions about your equipment whenever you’re given the chance - trainers, diesel mechanics, and fellow drivers. Take whatever you feedback you recieve with a grain of salt. We recommend asking multiple opinions and levels of expertise to ensure accuracy because you can never be too sure. It’s important you know your equipment and be proactive to run legal and keep yourself and others around you on the road safe. You’re never too old or too experienced to learn something new.
Follow the Money
A common complaint in the industry is incorrect driver pay, and I’m sure if you’ve looked up your company review site then this isn’t you’re first time reading this. When you start out as a company driver, you will be assigned a dispatcher, but you shouldn’t rely on your dispatcher to fix your paycheck along with every other problem you come across. It’s highly recommended that you learn who to talk to about your paycheck directly because if you’re not getting paid, then what are you doing out here?
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