Trucking

If you are a grateful dead afficianado, the title of this post will have you humming all day.  According to some national owner-operator federation, there is or is not a shortage of long haul truckers to move the nation's freight.  Of course, anyone whose business depends on the whim of long haul drivers has know this for years.  Or at least, those of us in the veg business know there is a shortage of good truckers.  As far as I can see, it is a hellish job with little to recommend  it aside from the chance to see the underside of most American cities.  For the rest, it is bad food, long hours, low pay and abuse on all sides.  The story on NPR says the trucker can make $50 K/year before expenses.  I assume they mean drivers working for trucking companies.  In the bad old days, before cell phones and the internet, it was virtually impossible to track shipments if the driver did not feel like checking in.  Now, it is mostly impossible to avoid the calls of dispatch and customers.  No one cares if you had a flat, or the rush hour traffic killed three hours, or the early season snow storm kept you in a truck stop for 2 days.  I can't understand why thousands of people aren't  lined up trying to get these wonderful jobs.