The 1970s were a much different time in the industry. Even when I started almost 27 years ago, the vibe and unity was different.

That's when we'd stop and help each other fix their trucks right on the side of the road.

When most of the industry are people who are here illegally it's easy to see why the unity isn't there

2002-2003 was when I noticed it. You had to cut the CB off. Courtesy was gone, fights in parking lots, drivers weren’t helping out other drivers. This has been a long long road of deterioration. Throw the freight recession back in 08 when fuel hit all time highs then morale sunk. Never recovered

@TrukFytLLC I think after the 2008 2009 great recession it was the rise of the douche bags. Take the whole industry to shit

@TrukFytLLC I agree. That was a weird turn for whatever reason

I remember driving around Kevin Knight in my car to meetings back in 2003. I said something like, ‘Kevin what you guys built since leaving Swift is incredible.’ He said, “Andrew, what we do everyday is a miracle.”

I started 20 years ago and the industry feels foreign to me.

I grew up in it before and when it exploded to the craze it is. I tried to get away from it, but it was better money than entry level of the trades. I tried it all. The Lord knows that. 🙏

We are all a bunch of pussies now

I entered the industry in 1987. I miss so many things that used to be. I’m not a “life was better in the good old days guy.” But, things have changed and not for the better. I am thankful I started with Overnite Transportation. They were a company that invested in people. People that wanted to thrive, could. The professionalism of the management team was first class. As I said, things have changed.

We the people also have to contribute Stop paying all bills Shut down the whole country

The 1979 shutdown happened right at the end of the regulated era. Independents were already frustrated that ICC rules on routes, rates, and operating authority favored the established certificated carriers. Many owner-operators existed mainly as leased capacity for those larger companies. The fuel shock just made the existing imbalance explode. Deregulation in 1980 was sold in part as a way to let those independents compete on more equal footing. Entry barriers dropped, the number of carriers exploded, rates fell, and a lot of the old unionized LTL giants went under. What replaced them was a mix of new small fleets, more owner-operators, and the companies that later scaled into today’s large truckload operators. Truckload never consolidated the way LTL or parcel did. Even the biggest names still hold single-digit market share. The industry remains extremely fragmented on paper. The “mega carrier” complaint is less about raw market share and more about scale advantages that small operators feel every day: better insurance rates, fuel contracts, dedicated freight, technology, and shipper preference for carriers that can cover large networks without drama. Those advantages grew after deregulation, not before it. The 1970s unity the original post describes was real among independents facing the same fuel lines and the same regulatory stack. After 1980 the common enemy changed. Competition intensified, margins tightened, and the industry split between people running one or two trucks and companies that could absorb rate cycles and compliance costs more easily. That split is what a lot of drivers mean when they say things were different “before the mega carriers took over.”

Thank you for posting the history lesson, a PSA and some great ideas.

Parking a truck won’t make a statement. You can park 50,000 trucks right now and what it WILL do is raise rates due to supply constraints. A real strike requires organizing and a centralized “picket” line or rolling strike. Simply not moving a truck will shift demand to the ones that are running….. I.E. Roadcheck Week every year is the silent annual strike…..

Regulated industry. You CAN negotiate whatever you're able to get. The deregulated market we exist in now has driven down rates through increased competition and the owner ops today do NOT have the same power. The ATA members (megas) will thank you for the increased biz.

The very men have nostalgia for this time are the same men that would drive right past my corpse in a burning cab today, there's this brutal disconnect between the realities of modern trucking, and a "golden age" old men fantasize about.

Its time to do it again

Biden got in and put money into the green deal!why ard there no battery operated trucks! Scammed again

When I started fuel was $1.10 down the road, and you get it less than a $1 some states., $1.10 pm rate was awesome. ( @5mpg) .20 cent pm cost,18% Now fuel is $6.09 , (@6mpg) $1.02 pm cost , 29%. Using Average nat. spot rate at meagerly $3.50 pm.

The more I think about it maybe we should stop and block up all the trucks stops and give Ice a chance to come through and make some rounds

Imagine if on a certain day at a certain time every trucker stopped driving even on the middle of the freeway while turning through an intersection while blocking an inertance Just stopped and parked and walked away!

This won’t work in 2026 since they can be replaced by AI

We CAN return to a high trust society. It starts from the top with honor and integrity...

So you remember the 70s I was there lived it no different

That’s why this is happening

Now 70% of drivers are illegal and can’t speak English and the Brokers are all foreign business

So many criminals in politics

This won't happen.. too many trucker don't care about any protesting.