Speaker 1: This is America's Trucking Network with Kevin Gordon.
Speaker 2: Loco aboard.
Speaker 3: Thanks for tuning in on this sixth Day of Christmas.
Speaker 4: Yes, it is the sixth day of Christmas.
Speaker 3: Period leading up to Christmas is not the twelve Days
Speaker 3: of Christmas. That is the advent season, which is about
Speaker 3: four weeks long. The twelve days of Christmas refers to
Speaker 3: Christmas being the first day of Christmas and then going
Speaker 3: for another twelve days up to January of the fifth
Speaker 3: and then the Epiphany when by the Bible and by
Speaker 3: tradition and history that the three Wise men came to
Speaker 3: visit the baby Jesus in Bethlehem. So again we talk
Speaker 3: about the twelve days of Christmas, and we talk about
Speaker 3: that that in terms of the celebration of Christmas and
Speaker 3: following the traditions as far as the Christian calendar is concerned,
Speaker 3: and if you're familiar with the song, the sixth Day
Speaker 3: of Christmas is six geese of laying see six geese
Speaker 3: a laying which, unlike the spoon federal gurgitators in the
Speaker 3: main street mainstream media, we don't lay any goose eggs
Speaker 3: around here. We have been asbout as accurate on the
Speaker 3: economy and predictions, and especially when you look at some
Speaker 3: of the predictions coming out of some of these economists.
Speaker 3: And let me remind you that the economists a definition
Speaker 3: is an economist is an expert who will know tomorrow
Speaker 3: why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today. And
Speaker 3: so here on America's Truck a Network, we take a
Speaker 3: look at behind the numbers. Look, we dig into the
Speaker 3: numbers and come up with the facts, and we have
Speaker 3: been right a lot more than the spoon federal regurgitators
Speaker 3: in the mainstream media and some of these predictions that
Speaker 3: we've been seeing from these so called experts in the economy.
Speaker 3: We want to talk about last week right before actually
Speaker 3: the day before Christmas, because Christmas fell on a Thursday.
Speaker 3: Usually that's when the initial job as claims are reported,
Speaker 3: and because obviously Christmas they were going to be closed,
Speaker 3: so they announced those the day before Christmas on that Wednesday.
Speaker 3: But looking at the initial job as claims. Before we
Speaker 3: get to that, I want to mention that America's Truck
Speaker 3: and Network supports the mission of Reese across America. You
Speaker 3: can hear us every truck and Tuesday at five am
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Speaker 3: Initial jobless claims last week again the economists. See what
Speaker 3: the economists had to say looking at some of the
Speaker 3: headlines that there was a couple of headlines that popped
Speaker 3: out to me. US initial job as claims fall to
Speaker 3: two d and twelve two hundred and fourteen thousand, which
Speaker 3: is pretty good. Then another one from Reuters US weekly
Speaker 3: jobless claims fall, but more people collecting unemployment checks.
Speaker 4: So let's dig into this.
Speaker 3: Number of Americans filing for new applications for jobless claims
Speaker 3: unexpectedly fell last week.
Speaker 4: Unexpected.
Speaker 3: How many times have we heard unexpectedly when it's basically
Speaker 3: good news having to do with the economy consistent with
Speaker 3: the low level of layoffs. But the unemployment rate likely
Speaker 3: remained high in December amid sluggish hiring. We'll get into
Speaker 3: that in a moment. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits
Speaker 3: dropped to a second for second straight week, declining by
Speaker 3: ten thousand to a seasonally adjusted two hundred and fourteen
Speaker 3: thousand for the week end of December twentieth, the Labor
Speaker 3: Department set on Wednesday. Economists polled by wool Reuters had
Speaker 3: forecasts two hundred and twenty four thousand, claims.
Speaker 4: They were off by five percent.
Speaker 3: Now, in accounting terminology, that is considered a material difference.
Speaker 3: Even though it's only a five percent difference, it's still material.
Speaker 3: The Labor Department published the report a day early because
Speaker 3: of the Christmas holiday. Part of the surprise decline in
Speaker 3: applications could reflect the challenges adjusting the data for seasonal
Speaker 3: fluctuations around the year and in the holidays season, of course,
Speaker 3: you know, adjusting the numbers. Let's not forget that the
Speaker 3: unemployment number that they reported had jumped from four point
Speaker 3: four percent up to four point six percent. You think
Speaker 3: maybe some of the seasonal adjustment in there may be
Speaker 3: reflected in that.
Speaker 4: I believe so.
Speaker 3: Now, this fellow by the name of Christopher Rupke, chief
Speaker 3: economist at Forward Bonds. Usually he comes up with some
Speaker 3: knucklehead comments, and I don't agree with him, but this
Speaker 3: is kind of an interesting comment. From him. Unless companies
Speaker 3: actually fire workers, the economy will continue to move forward
Speaker 3: at a moderate pace. Now, if the economy is moving
Speaker 3: forward at a moderate pace, that would mean that the
Speaker 3: unemployment level is not going up. So again a little
Speaker 3: bit of emphasis and proving my point that the unemployment
Speaker 3: rate that we're hearing isn't accurate. Labor department remains locked
Speaker 3: in what economists called the policymakers described as a no hire,
Speaker 3: no fire mode. We've talked about that on this program
Speaker 3: program numerous times for several months. Though the economy remains resilient,
Speaker 3: with the gross domestic product increasing at its fastest paced
Speaker 3: in two years is reported, as we mentioned last week,
Speaker 3: at that four point three percent clip, the labor department.
Speaker 4: Has almost almost stalled.
Speaker 3: Economists said President Donald Trump's import tariffs and immigration crackdown
Speaker 3: have impacted labor demand and supply. Yeah, of course they
Speaker 3: got to throw that in there, even though it's not true.
Speaker 3: The data had a little effect on the US financial
Speaker 3: markets et cetera, et cetera. Number of people receiving unemployment
Speaker 3: benefits after an initial week of aid, a proxy for hiring,
Speaker 3: increased thirty eight thousand to a seasonally adjusted one point
Speaker 3: nine two three million people during the week and in
Speaker 3: December thirteenth, so called continued claims covered the period during
Speaker 3: which the government surveyed households to calculate December's unemployment rate.
Speaker 3: Continued claims fell marginally between the November and December survey weeks,
Speaker 3: again because of the government shutdown, the longest shutdown, actually
Speaker 3: we just call it what it is, the Schumer shut
Speaker 3: down forty three days, the longest shut down in the
Speaker 3: history of this country. A lot of the numbers are skewed,
Speaker 3: and of course if it's going to be skewed, then
Speaker 3: some of these pinheads are going to do it to
Speaker 3: the negative of our economy, as opposed to maybe saying that, well,
Speaker 3: maybe we should lower that based on some of the estimates.
Speaker 4: I love this.
Speaker 3: The elevated continued claims aligned with the survey from the
Speaker 3: Conference Board on Tuesday showing consumers perception perceptions perceptions of
Speaker 3: the labor market deteriorated this month to levels last scene
Speaker 3: in early twenty twenty one. The unemployment rate increased to
Speaker 3: four year high of four point six percent in November.
Speaker 3: Now again I question that I don't think that number
Speaker 3: is accurate, though part of the rise was because of
Speaker 3: technical factors related to the forty three day government shutdown.
Speaker 4: Humhm, So rather than.
Speaker 3: Maybe going on the low side, they take it to
Speaker 3: the high side. I can't wait till the next unemployment
Speaker 3: numbers come out and then we will see probably unexpectedly
Speaker 3: fell from the last time they took this analysis. Nancy
Speaker 3: Vanden Houghton, lead US economists Oxford Economics, said, continued claims
Speaker 3: remain at a level consistent with a slow pace of hiring,
Speaker 3: but aren't sending a signal that hiring can.
Speaker 4: Do have gotten worse.
Speaker 3: So if hiring conditions haven't gotten worse, and people that
Speaker 3: are unemployed are kind of rolling off, and you know
Speaker 3: those numbers fluctuate from week to week, the moving average
Speaker 3: hasn't gone up tremendously, how in the hell do they
Speaker 3: come up with a high unemployment rate of four point
Speaker 3: six It's just unbelievable. Let's see again another story, the
Speaker 3: initial jobs claims fall. Two hundred and fourteen thousand US
Speaker 3: initial job as claims fell last week, way below expectations,
Speaker 3: suggesting that the labor market may not be as weak
Speaker 3: as feared.
Speaker 4: So is it weak?
Speaker 3: And the unemployment rate is up four point six percent
Speaker 3: or is it not as weak as feared? So you know,
Speaker 3: a little food for thought there and interesting how that
Speaker 3: is going to shake out. Let's talk about oil and
Speaker 3: gas prices before the next segment, which Sam Collier will
Speaker 3: be talking about the CDL program at Gateway Community College,
Speaker 3: because obviously CDL licenses and these CDL mills have been
Speaker 3: in the news over the last several weeks. But let's
Speaker 3: get to oil and gas prices real quick here. West
Speaker 3: Tex center media crud currently is at fifty eight dollars
Speaker 3: and two cents a barrel. That is up a dollar
Speaker 3: twenty eight or two point twenty six percent. Brent krude
Speaker 3: currently is a sixty one dollars eighty four cents a barrel,
Speaker 3: or up a dollar twenty or one point nine eight percent.
Speaker 3: Now just since the first since January of the twentieth,
Speaker 3: when Trump took office, the West Tex c intermedia crude
Speaker 3: is now twenty five percent eighteen dollars and eighty seven
Speaker 3: cents below what it was in January, the twentieth twenty
Speaker 3: five percent drop, and we're starting to see that reflected
Speaker 3: in gasoline prices. Brent crude currently has is down eighteen
Speaker 3: dollars and six cents or twenty three percent since January
Speaker 3: the twentieth and looking at you know, when we talk
Speaker 3: about gas prices, I always refer back to when we
Speaker 3: were energy independent for the first time since nineteen forty
Speaker 3: nine during twenty twenty. Current average gasoline price across the
Speaker 3: board is two dollars and eighty three cents a gallon
Speaker 3: this time this year in twenty twenty was at two
Speaker 3: dollars and sixty seven cents a gallon. We are within
Speaker 3: sixteen cents of that number back then. Diesel, on the
Speaker 3: other hand, unfortunately, is at three dollars and fifty five
Speaker 3: cents compared to three dollars and eight cents or forty
Speaker 3: seven cents different. Coming up, we've got Sam Collier again
Speaker 3: talking about the CDL program at Gateway Community College. I'm
Speaker 3: Kevin Gordon, America's truck In Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4: I need.
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Speaker 3: I'm Kevin Gordon, America Destructive Network seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4: I want to welcome back to the program.
Speaker 3: We've talked to him before, speaking with Sam Collier, dean
Speaker 3: of Manufacturing and Transportation Technology Gateway Community and Technical College.
Speaker 3: Now with every program that they have there, that is
Speaker 3: that probably a subject for another show, but one of
Speaker 3: the things I want to talk about, and it's been
Speaker 3: in the news a lot as far as the CDL
Speaker 3: licensing program. And when we spoke a couple of years ago,
Speaker 3: this was getting bigger, and if I'm not mistaken, you've
Speaker 3: has even grown even bigger now and you've had to
Speaker 3: expand correct.
Speaker 7: That is correct.
Speaker 9: Yeah, So you know when we started this program, it
Speaker 9: was again having conversations with employers because years and years
Speaker 9: and years ago, a lot of big employers.
Speaker 7: Just hired a trainer and the trainer worked.
Speaker 9: With employees until they thought they were good enough, got
Speaker 9: them and then they went and took their CDL driver
Speaker 9: test training.
Speaker 7: Then the government came in and said.
Speaker 9: No, anybody that gets a license must go to a
Speaker 9: certified school and you must do forty hours in class
Speaker 9: and one hundred and twenty hours in truck between parking
Speaker 9: and driving and that, you know, so our again, our
Speaker 9: employers like, hey, we need help with this. So that's
Speaker 9: when we stepped in started our program. Amazing program took
Speaker 9: off one month. Know, somebody can come in and spend
Speaker 9: forty one hundred and sixty hours with us.
Speaker 7: I can't count all of a sudden walk out with
Speaker 7: the driver's license.
Speaker 4: You're an academic, exactly, that's what you're for.
Speaker 9: You can do that part. You're an academ exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 9: definitely not the math side. So but yeah, so you know,
Speaker 9: then they can literally one month they're employed and driving
Speaker 9: or at least training to drive. So that we this year, yeah,
Speaker 9: earlier this year we actually our day program got so
Speaker 9: big that we actually started started a night program. And
Speaker 9: they also to the added benefit that not everybody could
Speaker 9: take a month off of work or have their employer
Speaker 9: pay for them to take a month off of work.
Speaker 9: So the evening program runs for a month and a half.
Speaker 7: The class work is in a in.
Speaker 9: An online format, and then they come spend their time
Speaker 9: with us and doing in truck training. And that's taken
Speaker 9: off and continuing to expand. It's great and you know
Speaker 9: the students that are coming through it. We were glad
Speaker 9: to see them, you know, and again it's great success rate.
Speaker 9: We have a very high success rates on students passing
Speaker 9: their test on the first or second pass through and
Speaker 9: all that's great. Again, the employers are more than willing
Speaker 9: to work with them. But yeah, then the government changed
Speaker 9: again and said no mandated hours. So if you look now,
Speaker 9: it doesn't say you have to take one hundred and
Speaker 9: sixty hours. It says you have to take ELTL Educational Art.
Speaker 9: I don't remember what it says for, but you have
Speaker 9: to take a course, but there's no hours tied to it.
Speaker 9: And so yes to your point that you made. Now
Speaker 9: we're seeing these pop ups. A lot of them are online,
Speaker 9: and I'm still not sure how totally online CDL driver
Speaker 9: training works. That scares me Alan nearly more so actually
Speaker 9: than an online welding course.
Speaker 3: Right online bomb Meg making that well, yeah, exactly, you.
Speaker 7: Know, and so why you're going wrong exactly?
Speaker 9: You know, we're taking somebody out of a Honda Civic
Speaker 9: and putting them in a semi with a fifty three
Speaker 9: foot trailer fully loaded and saying it's the same take off.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and then.
Speaker 9: Companies are also doing you know, obviously automatic trucks are
Speaker 9: becoming more and more of the standards, so that's fine.
Speaker 9: I don't really have a major issue with that. We
Speaker 9: used to mandate everybody testing a manual, but now we've
Speaker 9: got automatics and manuals.
Speaker 7: It's up to you. But then you know use there a.
Speaker 9: Lot of companies are using only empty flatbed truck. Well,
Speaker 9: the box being in the way when you're trying to
Speaker 9: maneuver is one of the obstacles. If you've got an
Speaker 9: empty flatbed, you can see.
Speaker 7: All your mirrors work.
Speaker 9: So and now all of a sudden, you know you're
Speaker 9: really not giving them the basic skills. I'm not saying
Speaker 9: we don't have flatbeds, because we do. You know that
Speaker 9: sometimes you got that students that's struggling, Well, let's get
Speaker 9: the eye hand coordination going, then we'll stick you back
Speaker 9: on a box truck.
Speaker 7: But yeah, so it is very scary that, you know,
Speaker 7: a student can take an.
Speaker 9: Online class somehow past their their driving tests and now
Speaker 9: they're driving.
Speaker 7: And I know, I'm.
Speaker 9: Not a trucking company, so I cannot speak directly this,
Speaker 9: but when we started this program, we worked directly with
Speaker 9: our employers and we borrowed a lot of what they
Speaker 9: were already doing because a lot of these trucking companies
Speaker 9: then had training after the fact. Okay, you got a
Speaker 9: driver's license, but you've got one hundred and sixty hours
Speaker 9: of training. So your next month or two depending is
Speaker 9: going to be training. So first week all you do
Speaker 9: is ride with somebody. Maybe the next week you get
Speaker 9: to do highway, or maybe two weeks after then you
Speaker 9: actually get to drive a little city, and then then
Speaker 9: you start maneuvering in.
Speaker 7: The tight places.
Speaker 9: But all of those times there's two of you in
Speaker 9: the truck, so your mentor or your trainer is watching over.
Speaker 9: If something goes batting, say stop get out now.
Speaker 7: I hear companies are saying, well. Literally had a student graduated.
Speaker 9: The day he graduated, he said, man, I got to
Speaker 9: get out of here early. And I'm like, okay, what's up?
Speaker 9: He said, I got to drive to Chicago tonight. I'm oh,
Speaker 9: you're starting your training? He said, no, I'm going alone.
Speaker 9: I'm like, Chicago is your first trip. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 9: I got to get out of here and get on
Speaker 9: my truck. And I'm like, okay, I'm not getting on
Speaker 9: any of those highways. Yeah, and that's not that's.
Speaker 7: Not a dig on the student.
Speaker 4: At all, but there's a dig on the company.
Speaker 3: And then again get that bottom line, which is again,
Speaker 3: putting somebody in an eighty thousand pound vehicle with little
Speaker 3: to no training is not a prescription for success now, right,
Speaker 3: And you know, I guess the question is too of
Speaker 3: is there a any kind of a national certification process
Speaker 3: that we are, you know, a national accreditation service for
Speaker 3: CDL training schools or should there what it was?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 9: There was again when they had one hundred and sixty hours.
Speaker 9: If you were now community and technical colleges, all we
Speaker 9: had to do was prove that we were meeting the standards.
Speaker 9: But you could set up and there are other schools around,
Speaker 9: and there are some very good schools around that did
Speaker 9: everything right, but you had to meet these standards. Those
Speaker 9: standards got lifted when they lifted well, a lot.
Speaker 7: Of those standards got lifted when.
Speaker 9: They lifted the hours, because it's how do you judge
Speaker 9: somebody now?
Speaker 4: And as far as that, how far back was that
Speaker 4: when they lifted the hours.
Speaker 7: Oh just recently in the last year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that kind of seems contrary to some of the
Speaker 3: stuff that they've been talking about in terms of some
Speaker 3: of the more requirements and making sure that people are
Speaker 3: fully trained. That seems to be counterintuitive to some of
Speaker 3: the stuff they've been talking about. So this is something
Speaker 3: that maybe they need to adjust and adjust back in
Speaker 3: a hurry.
Speaker 7: Right, And I agree with you one understent.
Speaker 9: And like I said, I was very impressed when they
Speaker 9: you know, even though there was already a trucking shortage,
Speaker 9: they said, yes, we understand there's a trucking shortage, but
Speaker 9: we need save truckers. And here's how we're going to
Speaker 9: try and make sure that happens with the one hundred
Speaker 9: and sixty hours. And then you know, any school that
Speaker 9: signs up has to show us how.
Speaker 7: They're meeting those hours.
Speaker 9: But then, like I said, now if you you google,
Speaker 9: it says no, you got to just take a training program.
Speaker 7: And I think I saw one.
Speaker 9: That said it was as short as sixteen hours. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 9: And again, you know, well.
Speaker 3: That creates a problem for you all in terms of
Speaker 3: trying to do a quality program when you're up against
Speaker 3: some of these fly by night places. And then probably
Speaker 3: a good place for us to break and then come
Speaker 3: back and talk a little bit more about this and
Speaker 3: then the job placement program as far as this is concerned,
Speaker 3: speaking with Sam Collier, Diana Manufacturing and Transportation Technology Gateway
Speaker 3: Community and Technical College. Actually in the form I guess
Speaker 3: I should have mentioned in the Florence, Kentucky area, which
Speaker 3: is one of the premier schools around. I'm Kevin Gordon,
Speaker 3: America's Trucking Network. Seven hundred WLW seven hundred w l W.
Speaker 3: I'm Kevin Gordon. This is America's Trucking Network. We're speaking
Speaker 3: with Sam Collier. He is the dean of Manufacturing and
Speaker 3: Transportation Technology Gateway Community and Technical College. And before the
Speaker 3: break we talked about how these fly by night organizations
Speaker 3: are out there and how tough that would be to
Speaker 3: compete with offering a quality program to people that can
Speaker 3: actually complete the course, be trained and be able to
Speaker 3: get on the road or be with a company and
Speaker 3: have the job training in terms of the ride along
Speaker 3: with some of these companies that as you mentioned, are
Speaker 3: doing classes online classes and that's got to hurt in
Speaker 3: terms of obviously as a cost comparison, but you get
Speaker 3: what you pay for, and with these fly by nights
Speaker 3: out there, that's tough to compete against.
Speaker 9: It is and we're seeing it.
Speaker 7: You know, where are our enrollments down slightly?
Speaker 9: Fortunately, the one thing we did have was a good
Speaker 9: reputation with our CDL training with companies and honestly with
Speaker 9: the trucking industry and you know, the testing stations and
Speaker 9: things like that. If you stop by there and said,
Speaker 9: who do I go see? But waits right down the street.
Speaker 9: So that our reputation fortunately is still holding strong. And
Speaker 9: we as a school for the most part, have said
Speaker 9: we're still going to stick with what are proven. You know, yes,
Speaker 9: I can put the clib the first week of class online.
Speaker 7: That's fine.
Speaker 9: That's what we did with the night program to allow
Speaker 9: them some flexibility.
Speaker 7: But when it comes to actually in cab time, maneuvering time,
Speaker 7: driving time, you've got there's only one way to do that.
Speaker 9: That's to actually sit in the driver's seat.
Speaker 4: So exactly eliminated or reduced considerably.
Speaker 9: Correct reduced, Yeah, yeah, correct, And so you know, we're
Speaker 9: still sticking to our guns on that for the most part. Now,
Speaker 9: if you know, you get that trucker dad owns a
Speaker 9: trucking company, been driving a semi for he was thirteen
Speaker 9: years old.
Speaker 7: In parking lots and things.
Speaker 9: Comes in all he needs is our our sign off,
Speaker 9: and they can truly drive a truck and they they
Speaker 9: can pass all of our processes with no problem. Well
Speaker 9: short the time for them, it's just fantastical.
Speaker 3: And then people need to be aware of because again
Speaker 3: this isn't You're not an organization that says, you know what,
Speaker 3: we're going to nail these people for four weeks of
Speaker 3: tuition or whatever the thing is, and we're making no
Speaker 3: exceptions whatsoever. But what you are and the ability of
Speaker 3: a school like yours is to tailor something to somebody's
Speaker 3: already acquired skills. That's almost like you hear some of
Speaker 3: these colleges in university saying, well, we'll give you credit
Speaker 3: for your life skills, and that is along the lines here, correct,
Speaker 3: And you know we do that as well. Obviously with
Speaker 3: cd OUT, it's you got to prove it. I'm not
Speaker 3: going to just take your word that you've been driving
Speaker 3: since you were twelve, don't. I can't come in there
Speaker 3: and say, oh, yeah, I know all this stuff and
Speaker 3: you just give me a certificate.
Speaker 7: Huh.
Speaker 9: You can say all that and then we'll put you
Speaker 9: in a truck and thenfore we're done laughing at you.
Speaker 7: Then we'll say, no, you need.
Speaker 9: To spend a little more time with us, because again,
Speaker 9: we're not going to take it.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 9: It's just like even with life skills, credit for prior learning,
Speaker 9: all those type of things, which are very big buzzwords,
Speaker 9: you know, and Gateway does that as well, because yes,
Speaker 9: why should I make you If you've been doing something
Speaker 9: for ten years in the industry, why should I make
Speaker 9: you do it again?
Speaker 7: Just prove it to me.
Speaker 9: However, we're going to set up to prove it and
Speaker 9: we'll move on.
Speaker 7: With the trucking industry. It's the same thing, you know.
Speaker 9: Okay, now that they've backed off and I don't have
Speaker 9: to justify and if I'm audited, I don't have to say,
Speaker 9: here's one hundred and sixty hours.
Speaker 7: Yeah this, and it's not a lot.
Speaker 9: It's not like, hey, I got a new class of
Speaker 9: ten students and seven of them tested out.
Speaker 7: That's not the case. In most cases. It may be
Speaker 7: one per every two or three classes. But if that
Speaker 7: person comes in.
Speaker 4: How large are your classes?
Speaker 3: I mean, do you have capacity still or you pretty
Speaker 3: much full up? Because the last time I think we talked,
Speaker 3: you had pretty much full and then you had to
Speaker 3: go to maybe some extra classes through the year or
Speaker 3: something like that.
Speaker 7: Yeah, right, so.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean actually again to your point, we've got
Speaker 9: seats right now now we take you know, are we
Speaker 9: try and keep We try and start a new class
Speaker 9: every two weeks at six students. That way, you know,
Speaker 9: I've got we've got three or four trainers out on
Speaker 9: the range. We can put three students in a sleeper
Speaker 9: cab with a trainer. They can go out on the
Speaker 9: road and rotate time.
Speaker 7: So they don't have to come all the way.
Speaker 9: If you do one on one, then you got to
Speaker 9: come back to the school every time or a second yes,
Speaker 9: so yeah, now the nightcloud, yes we have two for
Speaker 9: the night class.
Speaker 3: I believe you have six students during the day and
Speaker 3: how many at night or is that we.
Speaker 7: Run six at night truck.
Speaker 9: Yeah, and now now at night we run we only
Speaker 9: run one class about every month and.
Speaker 7: A half because we don't want to back up. We
Speaker 7: just don't have the instructor manpower.
Speaker 9: But during the during the day, we started a new club,
Speaker 9: We started a new class at the.
Speaker 7: Beginning of the month.
Speaker 9: In the middle of the month, so at any one
Speaker 9: time there could be up to twelve.
Speaker 7: Students out on the range.
Speaker 9: For several weeks, which is why we have to have
Speaker 9: the extra manpower by day and I don't have to
Speaker 9: have it by night, because it doesn't make sense for
Speaker 9: students to just be standing there in the middle of
Speaker 9: the range and there's no trucks to play in.
Speaker 7: All the trucks are out on the road and you're
Speaker 7: standing in the middle of a parking lot, going, well,
Speaker 7: this is fun.
Speaker 9: And obviously they're rotating because it depends on where your
Speaker 9: skill level is. Some people, you know, when you go test,
Speaker 9: you've got to do pre trip and in cab before
Speaker 9: you're allowed to maneuver, and then once you maneuver, before
Speaker 9: you can drive.
Speaker 7: If you fail anywhere on the line, you're stopped. So we.
Speaker 9: Everybody's out doing pre trip and then as people, some
Speaker 9: people get it real quick, you know, they're good book
Speaker 9: learners and they pick up the process real quick.
Speaker 7: Then they're moving on to maneuvers while the.
Speaker 9: Other people are still practicing pre trip, and then we
Speaker 9: start start rotating people around because even within that month,
Speaker 9: if you did pre trip three weeks ago before you test.
Speaker 7: You remember it all.
Speaker 9: So we want to make sure that you're keeping that
Speaker 9: fresh in your brain. So the structors do a great
Speaker 9: job of rotating around and also making.
Speaker 7: Sure that they're staying interest because pre trips are boring.
Speaker 7: Let's be honest. I'm sitting and I'm sitting in a
Speaker 7: truck pointing.
Speaker 9: Out that my mirrors are are directly uh you know,
Speaker 9: are in line, and that my there's not too much rust,
Speaker 9: that my springs are good, and my tire pressure is good.
Speaker 7: And well, that's boring.
Speaker 3: That's all boring, Sam, And of course we're speaking with
Speaker 3: Sam Collier and Dana Manufacturing Transportation Technology, Great Weight Community
Speaker 3: and Technical College.
Speaker 4: That's all boring. But you know, if you don't and
Speaker 4: you get out on the road and.
Speaker 3: That stuff fails, it's like, you know, you got to well,
Speaker 3: you almost got to be right every time because it
Speaker 3: only takes one screw up and you caused yourself a
Speaker 3: lot of headaches and a lot of potential accidents out
Speaker 3: on the highways. So it's boring, but it's necessary as
Speaker 3: part of the safety precautions.
Speaker 7: So, oh, you're absolutely right.
Speaker 9: But if I if I come in every day for
Speaker 9: a month and all I do is that I'm going
Speaker 9: to lose interest.
Speaker 7: Yeah, you got to keep you going, So hey, you
Speaker 7: know what, do this a couple.
Speaker 9: Of times today, and then jump in that truck over
Speaker 9: there and start trying to straight back up and parallel
Speaker 9: back up, you know, and then come back because you're
Speaker 9: still struggling with this and you need to come back
Speaker 9: after lunch, and let's go through this a few more times,
Speaker 9: you know, And because again, if you can't do the
Speaker 9: pre trip, you're never going to do anything else. You
Speaker 9: will never get to test. It's an ongoing battle. And
Speaker 9: again it's interesting because you know, a semi is a
Speaker 9: beast that you don't think about until you sit in one.
Speaker 9: You know, it's a humongous vehicle with a as you mentioned,
Speaker 9: you know, eighty thousand pounds plus of weight in it.
Speaker 9: People don't respect that at all. I don't think people
Speaker 9: truly on the road truly understand.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 9: Yeah, people need to take a physics class and understand that.
Speaker 9: You know, objects and motion tend to stay in motion.
Speaker 9: Well that weight and speed exponentially change.
Speaker 7: All of that.
Speaker 9: So you know, a semi semi going sixty stopping distance
Speaker 9: is much larger than your on to civic and I
Speaker 9: keep picking on Honda civics why you.
Speaker 7: Know, but because the Honda Civic. It's just gone.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 9: But you know, I and as I'm driving on the highway,
Speaker 9: I you know, I live in Ohio, I work in Kentucky,
Speaker 9: so I'm on Ohigoway every day. And I watched these
Speaker 9: people going down to the cut in the hill cutting.
Speaker 3: Off SEMIS and I'm going, you have a death wish
Speaker 3: on Death Hill exactly.
Speaker 7: I'm like you, First of all, have you read the
Speaker 7: statistics out here? This is not a great place to
Speaker 7: be doing this.
Speaker 9: And then you take into account, Okay, how long has
Speaker 9: this guy been driving?
Speaker 7: You know, what are his reaction times?
Speaker 9: You know, a thirty years, a guy with thirty years,
Speaker 9: his reaction time to that car getting in front of
Speaker 9: him is quick.
Speaker 7: It's it's literally automatic. It's muscle memory.
Speaker 9: That new driver that's going still thinking every step of
Speaker 9: the process. There may be a pause before he hits
Speaker 9: the brake. And now we've got automatic, so we don't
Speaker 9: have down shifting, so you don't have that control anymore.
Speaker 9: So you know, it's and we're seeing it. There are
Speaker 9: more wrecks, It's that simple. Statistically, we're seeing a lot
Speaker 9: more of them. And I mean you have to blame
Speaker 9: it on a lot of things, and then to your point,
Speaker 9: you know, pre trip safety.
Speaker 3: Exactly well and the time that we've got left. One
Speaker 3: of the cool things about your Gateway is the fact
Speaker 3: that job placement and working with companies to get these
Speaker 3: people not only educated but get into a company is
Speaker 3: there as well.
Speaker 7: Correct, That is correct?
Speaker 9: So yes, we you know, obviously when we first started
Speaker 9: this program, we had we went to a group of
Speaker 9: trucker and companies.
Speaker 7: And said, what does this look like?
Speaker 9: I am you know again, I'm a mechanic teacher.
Speaker 7: I was a mechanic teacher. I understand that. But what
Speaker 7: does a program like this look like?
Speaker 9: And then you know, what is the process on the
Speaker 9: backside and what is the employment process? So you know,
Speaker 9: we companies from.
Speaker 3: We can get you educated, hired all well within about
Speaker 3: a four or five week period of time. So if
Speaker 3: anybody's interested in these programs, Sam, how can they get
Speaker 3: in contact with you?
Speaker 9: So reach out to our website Gateway dot A, C,
Speaker 9: T C, S, dot E, or just google Gateway Community
Speaker 9: and Texico College Northern Kentucky and just take a look
Speaker 9: on our website. If you're looking at CDL club, type
Speaker 9: in CDL in the top right corner or if you're
Speaker 9: just looking go around, Please feel free to look around.
Speaker 7: You'll find my contact information in there if you want to.
Speaker 4: Fantastic, Sam.
Speaker 3: I appreciate all your time today, and I certainly appreciate
Speaker 3: all the best to you. Let's get together a little
Speaker 3: bit more than just once every couple of years. Let's
Speaker 3: do this on a fairly regular basis. And if you
Speaker 3: have some concerns and some things that you'd like to
Speaker 3: get out there, let me know and we'll talk about them.
Speaker 4: Okay, sounds good, Sam, Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Sam Collier, Dean of Manufacturing and Transportation Technology, Gateway Community
Speaker 3: and Technical College. I'm Kevin Gordon, America's Trucking Network seven
Speaker 3: hundred WLW.
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Speaker 3: I want to thank Sam Callier for joining us again
Speaker 3: so we could talk about the CDL licensing program. And
Speaker 3: if you missed that segment, or if you missed our
Speaker 3: segment yesterday on Christmas Day when we talked about a
Speaker 3: lot of other things and talking about the twelve Days
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Speaker 3: Durable goods orders came in the other day and talk
Speaker 3: about a mixed back and conflicting stories, if you will,
Speaker 3: Let's just go through it here. Durable goods orders swung
Speaker 3: to a decline in October. Demand for US durable goods
Speaker 3: fell in October, and the decrease was steeper than expected.
Speaker 4: According to the delayed.
Speaker 3: Data published by the Commerce Department on Tuesday, total orders
Speaker 3: for durable goods, which comprise goods meant to last three
Speaker 3: or more years, declined two point two percent in October,
Speaker 3: compared with a point seven percent climb in September and
Speaker 3: a three percent increase in August. The consensus had called
Speaker 3: for total orders to be one point two percent. Now,
Speaker 3: in another story they talk about that the consensus was
Speaker 3: that they expected a one point five percent lower. So
Speaker 3: it kind of conflicting there. But it gets even worse
Speaker 3: than gets even more cloudier after that. Let's see, the
Speaker 3: transportation equipment drove the decline, falling six point five percent.
Speaker 3: Excluding transportation, new orders ticked up point two percent according
Speaker 3: to the Commerce Department.
Speaker 4: Now, when they.
Speaker 3: Talk in terms of transportation or goods, they are basically
Speaker 3: talking in terms of the transportation orders falling by six
Speaker 3: point five percent, pulled lower by a twenty point one
Speaker 3: percent drop in civilian aircraft orders. The largest American aircraft
Speaker 3: maker reported one hundred and sixty four new orders for
Speaker 3: planes in November, boosted by sixty five new orders major
Speaker 3: international customer at the Dubai Air Show.
Speaker 4: So again that factors in there.
Speaker 3: Orders for motor vehicles and parts posted a tepid point
Speaker 3: one percent increase after rising point six percent or more
Speaker 3: in the prior five months. The expiration of the federal
Speaker 3: tax credits for electric vehicles at the end of September
Speaker 3: sapped vehicle man as we entered into the third quarter
Speaker 3: one of Detroit. And it's interesting that they don't mention
Speaker 3: it in here. This is a story, by the way,
Speaker 3: by KPMG company. They are a one of the big
Speaker 3: four accounting firms international company, and.
Speaker 4: So they put this story together.
Speaker 3: But I found it interesting that they didn't mention this company,
Speaker 3: and I by name, one of Detroit's big three automakers
Speaker 3: recently pulled the plug on the electric version of its
Speaker 3: full sized pickup truck. And of course we all know
Speaker 3: that that was forward with their F one fifty. What
Speaker 3: do they call it lightning, I believe is what it
Speaker 3: was called. The gas version is the best selling vehicle,
Speaker 3: but the EV version consistently fell short of sales targets.
Speaker 3: They get into this all right. Affordability continues to be
Speaker 3: the major concern for shoppers, as the average transaction price
Speaker 3: of a new vehicle recently crossed the fifty thousand dollars mark.
Speaker 3: According to the Federal Reserve enacted its third interest rate
Speaker 3: cut since September. We belie leave now this again their opinion.
Speaker 3: We believe the Fed will more be more reluctant to
Speaker 3: cut interest rates in the first half of twenty twenty
Speaker 3: six due to elevated inflation. Now elevated inflation we covered
Speaker 3: the other day that slipped into one of the stories
Speaker 3: was actually some journalistic integrity or somebody actually committed journalism
Speaker 3: where they talked about that the two point seven percent
Speaker 3: elevated interest or inflation rate has been with us for
Speaker 3: half a decade, half a decade, five years. So again
Speaker 3: I have to ask the question if we are talking
Speaker 3: about or if the Democrats now are talking about affordability,
Speaker 3: and the big push is well, we need to get
Speaker 3: more affordable stuff, and the Trump administration isn't moving fast enough. Well,
Speaker 3: they had four years during the Biden administration, where the
Speaker 3: inflation rate that they took over was around one point
Speaker 3: four percent quickly rose up above two percent on its
Speaker 3: way to three percent, to where it hit a high
Speaker 3: of nine and a half percent in one month in
Speaker 3: June of twenty twenty two, and so so much. You know,
Speaker 3: again the liberal mentality that you know, we want to
Speaker 3: avoid the pass know, move on dot org type of thing,
Speaker 3: So they want us to forget about what happened then,
Speaker 3: But they will tell you they have the solutions now
Speaker 3: to correct the inflation problem you had four years, folks.
Speaker 4: As a matter of fact, you had very little.
Speaker 3: Inflation in the first year or going into the first year,
Speaker 3: and you let it get out of control. So I
Speaker 3: don't think I'm going to be one that's going to
Speaker 3: jump on the bandwagon and say that you have any
Speaker 3: of the solutions. As a matter of fact, I just say,
Speaker 3: you know, sit this one out, folks. But again, I
Speaker 3: how this is thrown in there where you know, inflation
Speaker 3: is elevated, elevated compared to what and where is it heading.
Speaker 3: It's heading in the right direction, closer to two percent, certainly,
Speaker 3: not any closer to that nine percent that we saw
Speaker 3: back in June.
Speaker 4: Of twenty twenty two. So again they talk.
Speaker 3: About affordability, well, affordability also with rising wages and so on.
Speaker 3: And as we talked about, I believe it was yesterday,
Speaker 3: talked a little bit about how and when we were
Speaker 3: talking about the consumer or that Christmas Price index, how
Speaker 3: a lot of the factors in that are service related
Speaker 3: and because of the elevated amounts of service income or
Speaker 3: service wages, why that survey was actually running above what
Speaker 3: the consumer price index. As we mentioned yesterday, the consumer
Speaker 3: price index, and the cool little thing that PNC Bank
Speaker 3: puts out the Christmas Price Index of the twelve days
Speaker 3: of Christmas and only gifts, and we described that yesterday.
Speaker 3: That usually mirrors the economy and mirrors what the inflation
Speaker 3: rate is, but is actually higher due to the higher
Speaker 3: cost of services, which again is not ter.
Speaker 4: Driven.
Speaker 3: So it's interesting to take a look at it from
Speaker 3: that perspective. But nobody's talking about and again I'm not
Speaker 3: talking I'm not begrudging people getting pay increases, but if
Speaker 3: that's what's adding to the inflation, then be honest about it.
Speaker 3: Don't try to change the subject, don't try to downplay
Speaker 3: the economy.
Speaker 4: Be truthful about it.
Speaker 3: Speak the truth about what's going on in the economy.
Speaker 3: If the prices are if most consumer prices are going down,
Speaker 3: talk about that. But if the wages are going up
Speaker 3: and adding to the inflation, talk about that as well. Again,
Speaker 3: when you have rising in when you have rising prices
Speaker 3: or rising wages, that's going to drive inflation. But people
Speaker 3: are going to be able to afford things a little
Speaker 3: bit more if they're getting their pay increase. October report
Speaker 3: showed mixed results in among industries. Then they go in
Speaker 3: to details about computers and electrical equipment and so on,
Speaker 3: various and sundry other things. But it's kind of interesting
Speaker 3: digging through the numbers. Now way at the bottom. Now,
Speaker 3: this is probably close to a five hundred word story
Speaker 3: that stretches over two pages.
Speaker 4: Going all the way down to the bottom.
Speaker 3: Here says the October durable goods orders was stronger than
Speaker 3: it appeared at first. Blush core orders suggest that the
Speaker 3: investment may be picking up after a slowdown during the summer.
Speaker 3: Private sector sources in November and December suggests that manufacturing
Speaker 3: activity firmed.
Speaker 4: In the final quarter of the year.
Speaker 3: Preliminary December manufacturing PMI that' said Purchasing Managers Index from
Speaker 3: S and P Global was reported at fifty one point
Speaker 3: eight percent, down slightly from fifty two point two in November.
Speaker 3: Recent rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and resumption of
Speaker 3: one hundred percent bonus depreciation with offsets. Now that's at
Speaker 3: Section one seventy nine, which allows companies to deduct up
Speaker 3: to one point two five million dollars of investments in
Speaker 3: new equipment. You can expense that. You don't have to
Speaker 3: write that off over a five year period of time.
Speaker 3: You can actually expense that all in one year, which
Speaker 3: makes kind of offset what the interest rate you're going
Speaker 3: to have to pay if you're investing in that or
Speaker 3: you're having to borrow money on that. If you can
Speaker 3: write that all off in one year, that's pretty good.
Speaker 3: So again, what they're talking about year in activity, it'll
Speaker 3: be interesting to see how that pans out. Well, folks,
Speaker 3: that does it for us. We're getting up close to
Speaker 3: the top of the hour. Stay tuned for Red Eye
Speaker 3: Radio at the top of the hour. I'm Kevin Gordon,
Speaker 3: America's Trucking Network seven hundred WLW