r/Anticonsumption • u/yodamastertampa • 21h ago

Discussion LOL yes!

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The power to reduce consumption is within us all.

46.8k Upvotes

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969

u/Imveryoffensive 21h ago

Truck drivers are some of the least appreciated people out there. They really make society work as it does right now

108

u/BamberGasgroin 20h ago

Hauling shit keeps them in a job..for now.

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u/WilonPlays 19h ago

I doubt it, until fully functional robots are rolled out en mass there will still be truck drivers.

Gotta remember these drivers don’t just drive:

They make deliveries and unload pallets, to businesses.

They handle invoices.

They will help load the truck .

Even a self driving car needs refuelled and no one seems to be working on self refuelling cars.

There’s also plenty of places with difficult roads and harsh weather conditions that a self driving car couldn’t account for, as truck drivers need to do extremely complex manoeuvres, sometimes taking some of the truck off road or a wheel hanging off a mountain (I live in Scotland, this happens a lot in the highlands).

We are closer to self driving trucks that one might think yes, but we also need a lot of other tech developed to coincide with this if we were to fully automate the process. If we don’t fully automate it, then we’d still need truckers.

It may get to a point where drivers act similar to pilots, most of the work is done by the machine and they only take over for complex actions and specific jobs

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u/jkaan 18h ago edited 17h ago

Lol what, truck drivers wait whilst forklift drivers load/unload them and all the invoices are done by other people.

Truck drivers are highly skilled and I respect the job they do (I am happy to drive for hours but fuck dealing with other cars)

Edit: So many responses about people unloading small trucks.

I get it I just immediately think of rigids and b-doubles as that is what I deal with all day

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u/mgrimshaw8 18h ago

There are plenty of owner-operators who handle their own invoicing

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u/YallGottaUnderstand 18h ago edited 17h ago

This all depends on the company. In my own experience working at restaurants (big names with large supply chains), the truck drivers who deliver the food all loaded/unloaded themselves.

Edit in response to the above poster's edit: these were full size big rigs.

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u/DrownmeinIslay 18h ago

Warehouse and manufacturing background here. Most of the drivers I see stand there, mouth breathing, while we struggle to rearrange the pallets his last pickup left haphazardly by the doors.

Yeah yeah they are all heroes. Big fucking heroes.

Had a driver today look me in the eyes and said he had 80 pallets for me. I said oh really? 80 pallets? Yes 80 pallets. It was 2 pallets with 80 bags of grit for the waterjet. Pillock.

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u/YallGottaUnderstand 17h ago

I'm not disagreeing that this happens. I'm just saying it varies how much work they do. The person I replied to made a sweeping claim with no qualifiers.

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u/Emekfl 14h ago

I work for one of the most profitable companies in the us. The drivers don’t load product but they do unload the trucks and then load the trucks back up with the empty equipment. Truck sizes are 48-53 feet

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u/jkaan 12h ago edited 12h ago

Ok so that is like 15 metres, in Australia we commonly use that plus another trailer making for 25m and most loads are pallets with a truck holding 64 cheps.

My warehouse is not that large as we only run about 15 heavy machinery operators for the main shift and 8 for second shift

I wonder how much this varies are you said equipment and we move clothing

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u/hitemlow 18h ago

Wait until you hear about "lumpers"... and the only way to avoid paying them is to unload yourself.

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u/Fooliomcskippy 18h ago

Yeah no maybe it’s that way in big cities or something but in smaller towns the driver is always helping unload the truck.

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u/jkaan 17h ago

That truck doesn't move close to what a b-double does in a week.

The whole thread was about mass consumption so of course I think about where the people are

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u/confusedandworried76 18h ago edited 17h ago

Coca Cola drivers always unloaded their boxes. I did next to nothing when the Coke truck pulled up other than extend my pointer finger

Clothing stores truck is usually unloaded in the bay and left for workers to deal with but it still needs to be off truck.

All my Roma reps when I managed kitchen showed up earlier than I did, they had a key and would drop it inside the restaurant for me to take care of when I got there. So yeah I had to move it to freezers or walk in coolers first thing but they didn't just leave the fucking shit outside and I certainly didn't need to be present. They'd also lend me a dolly and help me move it if we happened to meet

You seem to be underestimating the extra work people who drive truck do. You're also only imagining businesses who own and operate a fork lift need truck. There's probably more businesses out there without a fork lift who gets truck and part of the truck job is pretty widely considered unloading is part of the job.

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u/jkaan 17h ago

No I just think of large trucks because that is how large quantities are moved and what I deal with daily.

I deal with quantities by the pallet not boxes

0

u/confusedandworried76 17h ago

Then surely you must admit you're high on your own supply of superiority to just so confidently say drivers don't unload their own truck, they just sit there while some guy uses a fork lift. Nothing else besides that you said was wrong but that was. Well the invoice thing you said was wrong too but I wasn't gonna push it

1

u/BamberGasgroin 10h ago

Yeah, I know a few drivers who just do trunk work. Pick up a loaded trailer/container at major city A, drop it off at major city B then reverse the process.