All right, y'all, welcome to the Scott Horton Show.
I am the Director of the Libertarian Institute, Editorial Director of Antiwar.com, author of the book Fool's Errand, Time to End the War in Afghanistan, and I've recorded more than 5,000 interviews going back to 2003, all of which are available at scotthorton.org.
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Hey guys, on the line, I've got my good friend Tommy Salmons, and he hosts the show Year Zero that we run on the blog at the Institute there, and he's a trucker, and I'm interested in what's going on with trucking and the distribution of goods and services around here lately, and so forth.
So joining us from the cab of his truck, it's Tommy Salmons.
How are you doing, bud?
I'm good, man.
How are you?
I'm doing real good.
I appreciate you making time to do this.
So we were talking on the phone, and you were telling me all this interesting stuff about how everything's changed due to the plague breakout and everything here.
I want to, first of all, thank you for continuing to deliver goods to people who need them, in spirit and all that, and then just ask you, what do we need to know about what life is like out there for you?
It's gotten really strange at times, man.
There's nothing like driving into Houston at 7 o'clock in the morning and nobody's on the road.
It's like something out of Vanilla Sky.
I remember that terrible movie, yeah.
That is one thing.
The traffic in Austin, it's light, but there's still a lot of cars out there, that's for sure.
Yeah, it's not the typical traffic hours now.
When you're going through what would typically be your heavy traffic times, you're not seeing the rush hour like you were before.
You're seeing a lot more cars on the road in the middle of the day than you were, but you're not seeing near as many on the road early in the morning and late evening.
That is really strange.
Then there's all sorts of crazy hazards we're having to deal with now that we didn't have to deal with before.
Like what?
Yeah.
Well, the FMCSA, if I can get my tongue to untie, has lifted many of our regulations and our restrictions.
You have truck drivers attempting to get ahead of the shortages that we're seeing in a lot of these places by running over hours of service, and they're doing so legally.
So now all these attorneys that follow around trucking accidents and like to sue truck drivers are making special advancements in attempting to go after truck drivers by understanding that these regulations have been lifted.
So on a typical basis, regularly, our hours work what we call a 14-11-10 schedule.
That means during a 14-hour day, we can drive 11 hours of that day, and in order to drive after that period, you have to take 10 hours off.
Well, now you'll have drivers that are driving, especially in certain areas like up in the Northeast, that they're actually driving, some of these guys are driving 15, 16, 17 hours in order to make sure that the essential goods are getting to where they need to be.
And these attorneys, in their parasitic fashion, are chasing us around and looking for accidents and hoping something happens so that they can enrich themselves off the backs of all this horrible crap that everybody's dealing with at this moment.
That's interesting.
So some bureaucrats have been deprived of their ability to regulate you, and then some other bureaucrats have found a hole that they can fill there by clamping down instead.
Yes.
That's exactly what it boils down to.
So I think this was going around as kind of a viral thing maybe a week and a half ago or something about the truckers pulled over on the side of the road sleeping, and I forget if it was New York or New Jersey, I think it was in New York, and the cops are hassling the hell out of them when all the truck stops are closed, they've got nowhere to go.
So they found this little side street in an industrial area or something.
And I guess that's one example, but is that like a really widespread thing?
Or it seems like for the most part, they would be treating you guys with a little bit of extra respect now, no?
Not really.
For the most part, the weigh stations are pretty much closed, either that or they're utilizing the weigh stations as medical checkpoints.
I saw an article in a CDL journal that says that that's what they're doing in Florida and between Florida and Georgia, but places like Arkansas, Arkansas is really bad about that because they'll shut down the rest areas, and when you have overages, you'll end up at these truck stops, even some of these truck stops that have 300 parking spots for trucks, they'll be full, especially the real popular ones.
And so you're looking for just a place to stop, so you'd stop in one of these rest areas off of the interstate, and they've shut down a lot of these rest areas for sanitation reasons.
So truckers are trying to pull over onto the shoulder of exits, they're exiting the interstate and getting off on the shoulder, and there are some states that are really, really strict about whether or not you can park on the shoulder.
And you'll see most states have signs that say no parking on the exit, but some states are extremely strict about it, while other states are very lenient about it.
Like Louisiana, they've never really cared, even though they do have the signs up.
Arkansas, on the other hand, will make you drive even if it violates your hours of service and make you move.
So it just depends on what state you're in.
I haven't been out of the South, I pretty much stay in Texas and Louisiana, I've gotten up to Oklahoma, into Mississippi, but other than that, even though there's the possibility of being sent around the country, I've yet to get anywhere else.
Now my friends in New York and Pennsylvania are telling me that they are required to carry basically permission slips to drive around, and that there are officers that are checking to make sure that they are running essential goods, and that they are remaining within the confines of whatever laws they are restricted under in that area.
Yeah, man, I don't envy that.
I always thought about being a trucker, because what fun, but then I was always afraid I would crush some guy in a Miata or something, you know, and that would suck.
And then, but also just having a giant mess with me, pig, I dare you, you know, painted on the back of every truck just seems like not worth living life that way, man.
Yeah, typically the police leave you alone for the most part, as long as you're not just blatantly being a moron.
They do have weeks, they basically call them safety weeks, where they basically pull over almost every truck on the road to do inspections on them, and this, that, and the other to make sure that your truck is fit for the road.
But usually they leave you alone unless, you know, you're, unless you pull into a weigh station and you're overweight, or you have some lights out, or something of that nature.
Well, that much is good, at least, I guess, while you're rolling.
When I was a cab driver, it seemed like they liked us just because we drove Crown Vicks like them, so we're somehow like Crown Vick cousins, or maybe it was because we were picking up the drunks for them, but I don't know.
All it meant was like an extra maybe one or two miles an hour grace over the speed limit, not much better than that.
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So, but then now talk about the business, so I know you were telling me that things had changed as far as what you're picking up and where you're going, and what's getting distributed in different fashions, and all these kinds of things, too.
Yeah, so the way they're doing that, a lot of, this is all done so far on the company level, and I haven't seen any edicts coming down from the Defense Production Act that's forcing truckers to drive any specific way, but what they're doing is they're routing us around the distribution centers in a lot of places, so typically I would pick up, let's say I pick up paper product is what I run a lot of for Georgia Pacific, they've upped their production of toilet paper and paper towels here recently, and they've stopped manufacturing so much of the corporate paper towels and the corporate toilet paper that you would see in your businesses, in the restrooms, in grocery stores, or things like that, and they've upped the production of the household paper goods, and usually what we would do is we would pick it up, we would deliver it to the distribution center in the area, so let's say I would go to the New Caney Walmart distribution center to drop the load of paper product, and then the Walmart trucks would take it out and they would distribute it across to all the Walmarts, so what they're doing is they're bypassing the distribution centers in certain areas, especially areas that have been hit really hard with the hoarding of certain items, so in Iowa, South Dakota, Colorado, up in the Northeast, you have Pennsylvania, you'll have Ohio, you'll have New York, where they're not, the trucks are no longer going directly to the distribution center, they're actually dispersing us directly to the stores where the products are sold, and so it's changing our problem.
And that's just because they're in such a hurry to get the shelves restocked?
Yeah, they're trying to, what they're trying to do is get the distribution line to catch up with the consumerism, that's basically what it boils down to.
I've read a little bit about this as part of the shortage, is they're having to change from corporate toilet paper to the household kind, which I can imagine is a huge deal, but on the other hand, it's just a math problem for the right manager to solve, and then how long is it really taking them to switch gears from the one kind to the other?
Because the shelves are still empty.
Yeah, and that's, like I said, that's what we're trying to do, is we're trying to get the distribution line to catch up, and that's why they've stopped manufacturing and producing the corporate toilet paper.
Oh, they just completely quit that, but they've already fully switched over to production of the other kind?
Yeah, they switched over about a week and a half ago.
I noticed that Georgia Pacific had switched over, and this is the company that makes Angel Soft and Brawny and things like that, so they had completely switched over.
As far as the other paper companies I'm not really familiar with, I work a dedicated route for Georgia Pacific, so that's specifically I deal with Georgia Pacific and Nestle Waters, and that's pretty much the two companies I deal with the most.
So how are things out there for, as far as the virus itself, wiping out gas pumps and face masks, and how are things at the truck stops out there, and what's everybody think about what's going on and all that?
The truck stops are full.
I'm sitting at a Love's truck stop just north of Houston right now, and the pumps are full.
So a lot of drivers that are taking precautions, wearing masks and gloves and things of that nature, usually at the truck stops there are hand sanitizing stations, and they've all been empty for over a week now.
They just can't keep the stock of hand sanitizer, so it's a lot of in-bathroom washing.
Sometimes you're waiting in line to wash your hands or whatever in the bathroom.
It seems like most of the people that are working at the truck stops are wearing masks and gloves, and you get some leery looks.
I have allergies, so I might sneeze every once in a while, especially this time of year.
Here in the south when things are blooming, you got the pollen moving around, and you'll get some people kind of looking at you cross-eyed.
I was at a truck stop earlier buying a snack, and the lady behind the counter refused to speak.
She was just kind of leaning back, barely touching the keys, just at arm's length.
So there are some leery people that are still working.
I've noticed that a couple of the smaller truck stops I like to stop at where you don't get near as much traffic, where it's easier to find a parking space at night, are talking about shutting down, at least for the immediate future, because they've lost all their customers other than the truck drivers that come through.
They typically have the same truck drivers that come through all the time, and they depend a lot on the local community to keep them up and running.
So they're losing a lot of that business, and so some of them may be shutting down, but your bigger truck stops are still rocking and rolling.
They have shut down all seating in the restaurants and things of that nature.
They're no longer keeping roller grill items out for truckers, which isn't a bad thing because they're not very good for truck drivers anyway, and that's a big concern as it is.
A lot of truck drivers are in bad health and are overweight and have diabetes and heart conditions and things of that nature.
Convenience store food is probably a big part of that, right?
Probably.
I'm lucky.
I'm spoiled.
I have a wonderful wife that spends all weekend, every weekend cooking all fresh food for me, so all week long I have a lot of good food, whether it's Thai or Indian or whatever.
So I'm very lucky when it comes to that.
I'm taking supplements and things of that nature to try to keep my immune system up and make sure I don't get sick.
There are precautions, but we're only doing what we can do and trying to keep rolling for everybody.
Howard Glassman Yeah, man.
Well, you know, I think everybody sitting locked up at home, either voluntarily or otherwise right now, we're all thinking about you guys and really appreciate it.
I recognize for sure every time the guy from the grocery store drops some stuff off on my porch that all that stuff had to get there to the grocery store from somewhere before he could bring it to me, and so I'm thinking of you and your guys out there.
A lot of people are not, including myself, are not putting themselves at any risk whatsoever the way that you are right now and in service of other people and all of that.
So I hope you know that you're appreciated out there, you and the rest of your buddies too.
Mike Thompson Yeah, man, and I appreciate you saying that.
And I think I had told some people the other day that out of everybody I know, you're probably one of the most supportive people.
You've reached out to me a couple of times checking on me seeing how everything's going and I appreciate that.
And I think that's what a lot of people need to keep in mind is that when a truck driver is out here on the road, they have a family at home a lot of times and knowing that that family is secure and taken care of is extremely important to a truck driver.
The first thing I did when all this hit is I took an extra day off work and not because I wanted to be selfish, but because I needed that peace of mind while I'm gone for, you know, six, seven, eight days, I need the peace of mind that my house is taken care of and in order and my wife will be okay.
And you know, living in a small community like I do and knowing a lot of the people around me helps out a lot because I know that she has plenty of people that she can get in touch with.
But if any of y'all know truck drivers in your in your area that leave their families behind, I would greatly suggest that you reach out to their families and just make sure that they're all taken care of.
And that'll give a lot of these essential employees a lot, you know, just let them rest assured that everything at home is is okay.
Yeah, man, you know, that's really a great idea.
And I can't say I have any trucking families right on my block here.
But I guess I do know a couple more, you know, not too far.
So that is a good idea.
And, you know, I think any of us can put ourselves in your situation, like you said, gone for a week at a time, you want to know that, you know, things are okay, when you're not there to make sure that they are.
That's a hell of a thing to have on your mind.
So a little bit of peace of mind on along those lines could go a hell of a long way.
I could see that.
Well, yeah, and one of the things I've told my wife is is not to straggle too far from the house.
And that's because we live so close to the Louisiana border.
And the police are very, you know, they're very active at the Louisiana border right now.
And I'm just like, you know, just stay, stay close to the house.
Don't leave.
Don't leave the town if you don't have to.
Yeah, you know, now's not the time to go to the local pokey over nothing.
Right, exactly.
You know, and, you know, Beatrix isn't much of a she's not much for running around in a lot.
Anyway, she's she's got a she's got her little routine.
She's she's like, it's really strange listening to all these people talk about how they've changed our life.
And she's like, I realized how secluded and isolated I already was because I haven't had to change anything.
So yeah, you know, well, fair warning.
Anybody thinking about messing with Tommy's wife while he's gone?
She's armed with giant dogs with giant jaws and they'll tear your throat out.
So don't even think of it.
I got one with me right here.
He's been begging to get she's got extras back at the house.
She does.
She is armed to the teeth with dogs who are armed to the teeth with teeth.
And I'm sure they're very sweet.
This one looks very sweet.
But also, you know, I'm not his enemy right now.
And I bet if he thought that I was I wouldn't think he's very sweet anymore.
So he's my baby.
He's he's my truck dog.
That's cool, man.
All right.
Well, listen, thanks for giving me some of your time today, dude.
And and if you're coming through Austin, let me know.
We'll fist bump and say hi.
Do the elbow.
Huh?
Yeah, yeah.
Hell yes.
I'd love to see you.
All right.
Yeah, man.
I would love to come through.
I don't know if I'll get there.
I'll definitely let you know.
All right.
Well, take care of yourself out there, buddy.
All right, brother.
We'll talk to you later.
