Drivers Handing Out Roses and Razzies to Shipping Facilities

TORONTO — Two months since its launch, the Ontario Trucking Association (OTA) says its Operation Upgrade campaign is starting to reveal how shipping facilities need to do a better job of removing waste from the system and how drivers value preferred shippers who provide an environment free of harassment when picking up freight.

OTA says it has gathered several takeaways since the initial launch of the survey campaign, which attempts to identify the strongest and weakest links in the supply chain by allowing drivers and carriers to assign scores to shippers and consignees based on treatment of truck drivers.

In the first month of the survey it revealed there is a near even split between the number of “good” or “preferred” shippers labeled by drivers as “Honour Roll” candidates and those marked as “Detention Hall” candidates, shippers who need to improve their driver relations.

It also found “providing an environment free of harassment and discrimination” stands out as the top attribute of the “good” shippers rated.

Allowing access to shipper facilities/washrooms is the second highest attribute ranked. Alternatively, “bad” shippers or receivers have the lowest scores in the categories relating to retention times, the responsiveness of dockworkers, and honouring appointment times. Those subpar customers also didn’t fare well when it came to harassment issues.

Overall, 72% of customers that qualified as “good” where shippers, while only 20% were receivers/consignees. The reverse is true when looking at “bad” customers. Over half of those are receivers/consignees and only 35% are shippers.

According to the group, the mistreatment of drivers is part of what is causing the driver shortage, which is estimated to reach a gap of 33,000 drivers by 2020.

The OTA is also making shipper appreciation “business cards” available for truck drivers to hand out to customers who treat truck drivers as professionals.

The group is urging fleets to post the campaign details in their driver rooms and is asking more drivers to participate in the survey, which takes about five minutes to complete.

“More involvement from drivers will help OTA determine the problem spots in the supply chain and privately work with shippers to improve their policies and processes,” the OTA said in a release.

Survey information and responses from drivers will be kept 100% confidential, according to the OTA

You can log on to the OTA Operation Upgrade website to take the survey.

 


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