The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Being A Truck Driver On Social Media
Social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram have gained popularity amongst truckers, helping build communities and bridge gaps within a fragmented industry
A hearty welcome to the 58th edition of The Logistics Rundown, a weekly digest that aims to put some perspective on what’s brewing within the logistics industry. This is a space where we religiously dissect market trends, chat with industry thought leaders, highlight supply chain innovation, celebrate startups, and share news nuggets.
Supply chains have been held up in a perpetual state of disarray since the pandemic but continue to push through regardless — thanks largely to the grit shown by the logistics workforce. And within this collective logistics labor pool, truck drivers get handed the short end of the stick, evident from images of the peak season last year where they queued for hours (and even days) outside ports, yards, and warehouses as bottlenecks paralyzed freight movement.
That said, the life of a trucker was not particularly rosy pre-pandemic. The ELD mandate enforced in late ‘17 resulted in trucker lives getting inexplicably tied to their Hours of Service (HOS) clock, forcing them to park beside highways and unsafe areas when their timer ran out. Truckers rarely get to sleep on schedule, eat highly processed food while on the road, have to be away from family for days on end, and contend with unacceptable client behavior at depots. This is a rather challenging work environment, and considering truckers do this their entire career, it certainly isn’t a career for everyone.
The ELD mandate enforced in late ‘17 resulted in trucker lives getting inexplicably tied to their Hours of Service (HOS) clock, forcing them to park beside highways and unsafe areas when their timer ran out.
It can get quite desolate being a trucker behind the wheel for hours every day. For decades, radio channels kept them company. “Shows on Sirius XM continue to have a strong follower base and consistent engagement,” said Dean Croke, a trucking veteran and principal analyst at DAT Freight & Analytics. “This could be a generational habit, though — truckers from the Baby Boomer generation grew up listening to Sirius XM. That might be changing with the younger demographic in the industry, especially the millennials and the Gen-Z.”
Enter social media. Truckers are taking to platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram in droves. Trucking groups on Facebook like Rates & Lanes and RPM Masters have tens of thousands of members who share experiences, discuss industry trends, ask for advice on loads and lanes, and look to collectively improve their bottom lines.
And there’s the glam that comes with being in the spotlight on social media. The growing popularity of trucking pages and content has given rise to several influencers within the industry — often truck drivers themselves. “Social media puts the industry and its people in the spotlight, something absent all these years,” said Croke.
The growing popularity of trucking pages and content has given rise to several influencers within the industry — often truck drivers themselves.
Croke started making trucking videos five years ago when he discovered he could upload them on Instagram. “I realized that after 40 years in trucking, I only had a few grainy Polaroids of me driving. For many people in the industry from the pre-digital age, there’s very little record of them at work — you could take a picture of your truck, but that’s about it.”
Once Croke started posting trucking videos on Instagram and TikTok, requests poured in from fellow truck drivers, asking if he could shoot a short video of them in their trucks when they were around his neighborhood. “These were 30-40 second videos they wanted to show their family and kids. They love the idea of being able to show what dad or mom does when they get home from work,” said Croke.
While Croke has built himself an audience of over 60,000 followers each on Instagram and TikTok, he does not consider himself an influencer. “There are several influencers who see financial success from their social media popularity and use their reach to build their business,” said Croke. “I’m not in this for the money, but I’m happy to see such success stories. The trucking industry can do with some social media spotlight.”
Chamaine Jeffers is a fitting example. A driver with two decades in the industry, she started her own Facebook group in ‘18 catering to truckers. She grew it to over 53,000 members by posting useful information for drivers on the road.
“Trucking is such an isolated job where you’re out on the road, with your co-workers all in separate little trucks going down their respective paths. It’s social media that connects us and helps us make friends with people in the industry. My group encourages people to communicate, ask for help, and offer advice. This is what makes social media so great,” said Jeffers.
Trucking is such an isolated job where you’re out on the road, with your co-workers all in separate little trucks going down their respective paths.
Her sincere efforts in the group led people to engage with her as a person. “It also helped that as a woman and a minority, I bring a unique perspective to the industry,” said Jeffers. “A lot of them, and even women, didn’t really know that there were women who have been truck driving so long. We were out there, but without social media, you wouldn’t know we were so many of us.”
The success of Jeffers’ group CDL 4 Life led her to establish her trucking company under the same moniker. “Being an influencer has helped my business. For instance, 90% of my drivers come from my Facebook group,” she said. “We funnel them through our Facebook group, and I rarely have to advertise on employee marketplaces. We will continue building a thriving Facebook community and make it a place where truckers can relax, feel free to talk about different topics, and gather information on what they need to be on the road.”
While Jeffers found her success by founding a group on Facebook, trucking content creators on TikTok and Instagram have very different strategies to ensure their audience sticks. “TikTok and Instagram don’t lend themselves to building communities as Facebook does,” pointed out Croke.
“Good video content needs to fit within our decreasing attention span. I pitch my videos at around 30 seconds, roughly the time you can keep people’s attention from waning. It’s hard to discuss pressing topics in that time window, which is another reason why content is a lot different on Instagram and TikTok compared to Facebook.”
But unlike text, videos can be more compelling — especially with stoking sentiment. Croke contended that trucker-made videos can get very negative, especially on TikTok, where truckers tend to talk more about what’s wrong in the industry than share more positive experiences. While inflammatory posts can lead to heated discussions amongst fellow irate truckers sharing similar bitter experiences, it unfortunately does not result in meaningful dialogue or serve as a rallying point for change.
While inflammatory posts can lead to heated discussions amongst fellow irate truckers sharing similar bitter experiences, it unfortunately does not result in meaningful dialogue or serve as a rallying point for change.
“The negativity we see on social media is symptomatic of the fact that we live in a pretty negative world. These truckers feel isolated, lonely, and victimized within the industry, where they get treated poorly by almost everybody. So when they turn their phones on, it’s that angst pouring out.”
TikTok reflects a mental health problem that the industry has silently borne for decades. When a trucker posts a video on a Saturday night that he can’t unload till Monday and has been under the load for 24 hours already, he is not exactly having fun. “No one wants to spend their weekend in a filthy truck stop,” said Croke. “Social media just puts a window to the good, the bad, and the ugly of the trucking industry. At the heart of it, it’s about entertainment, it’s about escape, and it’s about the need to get your voice heard.”
The Weekly Roundup
California has been long known for some pioneering and, in some cases, extreme measures. The newest consideration centers around drastic measures to cut pollution by banning the sales of diesel big rigs by 2040. A proposal from the California Air Resources Board would also require that all medium and heavy-duty trucks entering ports and rail yards must be zero emission by 2035.
After three years of near non-stop chaos, the trucking industry is finally starting to return back to a saner and more predictable seasonal pattern. The pandemic-driven demand spikes and congestion that have thrown off historical demand patterns are finally beginning to subside and return back to a normal rise and fall.
The global supply chain has been irrevocably changed in many ways by the pandemic. Perhaps one of the most profound changes is that ships have become less reliable and, therefore, less desirable than air freight. With many customers requesting the more expensive air freight option of delivery, the world’s largest ocean carriers are scrambling to build their own air fleets.
A tentative agreement has been reached between the White House and the Rail and Port unions that were on the verge of striking. After nearly 20 consecutive hours of negotiation, Supply Chain Envoy, Stephen Lyons, believes that the agreement will be ratified. There are still some grumblings from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), but the overall outlook on reaching an agreement by October is optimistic.
…said who?
“It has been a really unprecedented year. This has been the first time that we’ve seen a combination all across the world of different labor unrest.”
- Harry Chase, senior director for central materials at GE Appliances, commenting on labor unrest causing a holdup in global supply chains today
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