Greetings, fans and followers of Autonomous Truck(er)s and the Voice Of GO(r)D podcast.
It’s that time of year again, where the PsyOp brought to us by our friends over at The American Trucking Association offers you hamburgers and platitudes while doing everything possible to make life worse for the American Truck Driver.
Not here, my friends!
For this Truck Driver Appreciation Week, I plan on bringing you 5 new episodes of Voice Of GO(r)D, 3 of them in the bag and guaranteed, and two to be recorded, one Monday night, and one on Wednesday, many of them looking to investigate why this industry currently functions in the way that it does, and what solutions could be employed to improve it for everyone.
First out of the gate on Monday morning I bring you a great conversation with Dr. Michael Belzer, Wayne State University Economics Professor and author of one of the seminal academic inquests into the pay and working conditions of America’s truckers,
Sweatshops on Wheels. Belzer spent 10 years on the road, and the rest of his life studying it; he has more than a few suggestions that would give the ATA a case of the vapors.
You don’t want to miss this.
Tuesday, if my first recording goes as planned, I bring you part 2 in an ongoing series exploring the desire to replace truckers with automated technology. Regular readers and listeners to the show will remember former guests James Year, Will Cook, and Edward Escobar, who bring a great deal of study and observation about this emerging technological change to the table.
If you missed part one, you should go and check it out -
On Wednesday I am really looking forward to introducing all of you to fellow Substacker, award winning Canadian Journalist, and former VP of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Donna Laframboise.
Donna has been traveling all over Canada for her project of interviewing as many regular working people who took part in the Freedom Convoy as she can, including many of my fellow truckers. No politicians, no organizers, a real Studs Turkel-esque story telling operation, and she’s compiling all of these interviews into a book to be released next year called Thank You, Truckers!
You can read snippets of that project by following Donna’s great Substack of the same name.
Thursday, if everything goes according to plan, I will be bringing you a Roundtable to be recorded on Wednesday night, where myself and some special guests will be debunking the greatest crime of the ATA, The Driver Shortage Narrative.
And finally, on Friday, I will be posting a chat that I had with Overdrive Magazine Chief Editor Todd Dills and News Editor Matt Cole, about a great series Overdrive published called “Trucking’’s State of Surveillance” which examines all of this invasive technology the powers that be wish to force on us.
I will also ask the very important question, where did all the Overdrive Covergirls go?
To my fellow truckers - I hope you all have a great week, and make all the miles you can before heading home to your families, and that you enjoy all of this content.
It’s for you, and I really do appreciate the service you render your country, your industry, and your families. Salud! and stay tuned.
Way Of The Road, boys.
I might've been willing to do very bad things, if it would've made your newsletter or podcast available back when I was over the road. Keep killing it. Restacked and noted-- you deserve an audience somewhere on every mile of interestate and roads between.