By Ed Nagle, CEO, Nagle Companies
Our family has been in temperature-controlled trucking in the food industry for almost 45 years, though our grandfather had been in since World War II. We have seen tremendous changes in this industry over our lifetimes.
However, there is one constant that has always remained; trucking is one of the most honorable professions in the world. A truck driver does nothing for themselves. They are always doing something for somebody else be it a shipper, a receiver, a dispatcher, or for others on the road.
Our society takes them for granted. They honk at them for driver slower than cars. They speed around and cut them off to get in front of them. Honestly people on the road figuratively spit on drivers and offer them no respect and do not value them for who they are and what they stand for.
This week, for the first time in a long time, people are starting to realize the value of our drivers. They are praying for them so they can continue making deliveries of our life sustaining commodities and relief supplies. People are once again referring to them as “knights of the road”.
Unfortunately, we have short memories. Once this pandemic is over, people will return to their normal routines and they will have long forgotten the health risks that our employees willingly entered to make sure the public had comforts of food and supplies while they were sheltered in safety.
We need to make sure moving forward that when you are eating your frozen pizza, your fresh fruit, your canned soup, your hamburgers cooked on a grill that all of those items were on a truck. Remember while you are sitting in your comfortable chair, watching your televisions while on your cell phone or laptop that they were on trucks too.
I challenge everyone to NEVER forget our unsung heroes in the trucking industry because “If you got it a truck brought it.” Respect and value our employees and keep them in your prayers during these challenging times while they take risks to make sure you don’t have to.