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Volvo Trucks Names Randolph Vice President for North American National Accounts
Volvo Trucks recently named Mike Randolph vice president of national accounts for North America. Randolph will oversee Volvo's national accounts team, which develops total fleet solutions for less-than-truckload, truckload and private fleets.
"Mike's wealth of industry knowledge and experience make him ideally suited to lead this important facet of our business and further the partnerships with our national account and national leasing customers," said Goran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North American Sales and Marketing.
Since joining Volvo Trucks in 2010, Randolph has served as director of national accounts and regional fleet manager for the Western U.S. region. He has more than 20 years of trucking industry experience, largely in sales and marketing roles at corporate and dealer locations. He will continue to be based at Volvo Trucks' North American headquarters in Greensboro, N.C.
Randolph succeeds Herb Broadmeadow, who will retire at the end of the year after 36 years with Volvo Trucks in North America. Broadmeadow held a variety of sales positions during his career at Volvo, including vice president of the Southwest U.S. region and director of national accounts.
Truck Drivers Gamble with Health to Meet Marketplace Demands for Speed and Flexibility
A researcher spent 3 years interviewing long-haul truck drivers to discover how the need for speed impacts them physically and emotionally...
A researcher spent 3 years interviewing long-haul truck drivers to discover how the need for speed impacts them physically and emotionally.
Truck Drivers Gamble with Health to Meet Marketplace Demands for Speed and Flexibility
Benjamin Snyder, a graduate sociology student in the University of Virginia's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, presented his paper, "The Professionalized Body: Truck Driving in the Age of Flexibilization," at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association. Snyder conducted his research in the cab of a truck hauling frozen chicken from Missouri to Virginia.
The research explores how truck drivers, as representatives of the American work force, are reacting to marketplace demands for speed and flexibility. It relies on research for Snyder's dissertation, which examines how post-industrial capitalism is changing the environments in which people work and how this affects workers' minds, bodies and emotions.
Snyder spent 3 years interviewing long-haul truck drivers and riding in trucks and said while much of his research revealed deeply concerning problems with the way workplaces are changing, it was uplifting to see people being creative to make a meaningful life for themselves.
"Capitalist organizations that are trying to make a profit have to be more efficient and more flexible in moving freight," he said. "They need speed and flexibility in their operations to move freight when the markets demand it. Goods have to move at a moment's notice, so that they are either in transport or on store shelves and not sitting in a warehouse somewhere."
To meet the demands of the market, truck drivers learn about the rhythms of their bodies and how to manipulate them, such as timing their sleep to take advantage of the rising sun.
"After 2 or 3 hours of driving, they get fatigued, but then the sun comes up and they get a burst of energy," Snyder said, adding that he felt that same burst of energy while riding with them.
He said the drivers know how far they can drive when fatigued and will do things to keep themselves going, such as frequently showering at truck stops. Others take legal stimulants – such as caffeine pills – which can work in a pinch, Snyder said.
The drivers understand, however, that their bodies will wear down under this regimen. "They know when they let you down, you really crash, and then you have to sleep," Snyder said of the stimulants. "The drivers can sleep at the drop of a hat, but it can be rough on the body."
Diet also poses a big challenge for the drivers, a problem the trucking industry is trying to address.
"A lot of the drivers have a taste for fatty food, but also you have to work hard to find healthy alternatives," Snyder said. "The truck-stop chains have a few healthy offerings, but they are the same in each one. Drivers sometimes try to find healthy food outside of the system, or cook more of their own food. Some try to pick up healthy food when they deliver to markets. Some of them take food prepared at home, but a lot of these guys are pressed for time. They drive, and they sleep."
With their diet, drivers are susceptible to developing diabetes and other diseases. According to Snyder, the drivers have higher rates of everything associated with obesity, such as diabetes, as well as bad knees, shoulders and backs. "I can spot a truck driver by how he walks," said Snyder. "Most of them have a hunched-over, slow walk. They have a lot of chronic health issues."
Complicating the health issues and the fatigue are federal regulations that limit drivers, who get paid by the mile, to drive no more than 11 hours in a 14-hour period.
"It is difficult because they want to be safe, and they want to make money," he said. "They need to try to balance these issues. They want to stay on schedule for the shippers and satisfy federal regulations, and they face problems of traffic, weather and mechanical failures."
Snyder rode with one driver who was delivering a load of frozen chickens from Missouri to Virginia. He and the driver arrived on time at 2 p.m., but there was a problem at the plant, and the chickens weren't ready to ship. The driver and Snyder were forced to wait for 10 hours until the load was ready.
"In a case like this, the driver has to make decisions," Snyder said. "Should I sleep now?' 'Should I drive through the middle of the night?'" The chickens eventually were ready to ship around midnight, and the driver, who had gotten little rest, had to drive through the night, taking a few short breaks at truck stops.
His research has given Snyder greater appreciation for what is involved in the shipping mechanisms on which the economy runs, moving goods from one point to another.
"If I am shopping online, I know now that when I click that 'ship' button, I am putting into motion a whole system of people whose job is to get it there fast," Snyder said. "They are working in ways that are unhealthy to them so I can get things fast."