Truckers need to use the restroom
Late last week, I saw an announcement from the state of Washington that blew me away (for several reasons).
In Washington, a law was just signed that states truckers can use the restroom. Specifically on marine terminals.
Initially, I had a lot of thoughts when I saw this. The first, undoubtedly, was, "really? Another law to regulate businesses?" Which quickly turned to, "did our legislature really just spend time building this bill, debating, and voting for it?" It seemed ludicrous to me that in the current state of the world, the State would spend their time working on a bill regarding the ability to use a restroom - who wouldn't let a trucker use one?
Obviously, for our representatives to take their time to draft and pass this bill, enough people with some weight had to have complained. Albeit, this is an easy win for representatives on both sides of the aisle - who would be opposed to letting someone use the restroom?
Then it hit me hard. There are a number of marine terminals out there in the world that aren't allowing truckers to use the restroom (which in my opinion is one of those "basics" items). Enough said no and enough people rallied to force a change. What I can't understand is why anyone would have an issue letting them use or provide a restroom. There is little financial impact to providing a restroom. Port a-potties are approximately $100 a month for service. You can place them anywhere and allow people to perform basic human functions.
What hits me the hardest is the lack of a trucker ally in the losgitics world. Everywhere you look, from terminals to warehouses and DC's, truckers are at the bottom and it's not right. Truckers have it the hardest in the world of logistics. They work extremely long hours and some don't see their family as often as they'd like. They battle traffic, often only to be paid one small lump sum or the load. They wait often times, hours at both ends of the road, waiting in terminals and at warehouses. The fact that a law had to be passed that gave the hardest working members of the logistics industry permission to use the restoom is a mark of shame.
The industry players waited to be regulated before doing anything (to provide a basic service). It is really interesting to hear people complain about being over-regulated (everyone in the world is) yet doing nothing until forced. Regulations follow often after good will and good faith fail.
To all the truckers out there, thank you for what you do. We wouldn't be anywhere without you.