e-news for trucking recruitment, retention, and human resource professionals
July 2009
HTAA LC 500
Quote of the Day
"Life is like a grindstone – whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you’re made of."
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By Marvin Shefsky  In 1981, RAMP Media Group identified a need in the trucking industry to connect carriers with cabs to fill with drivers looking for employment opportunities. We responded by creating the industry’s first digest-sized recruitment magazine. The concept was a huge success and widely copied.Today, trucking faces another critical issue – the general poor health of the nation’s legion of over-the-road professionals – that literally threatens the well-being of the industry along with the drivers who make it all possible. In August, we’ll respond once again by launching Driver HEALTH, the official magazine of the Healthy Trucking Association of American (HTAA) and the first trucking magazine devoted to driver health and wellness. At a time when freight has slowed down, recruitment has all but stopped and the trucking sector is overloaded with bad economic news, we stand ready to offer the industry some good news. The HTAA is out there every day working to improve the health and wellness of our nation’s driver population and thus the health and wellness of the industry as a whole. Driver HEALTH magazine will support those efforts by publishing a wealth of information specifically tailored for over-the-road drivers from leading medical and fitness experts. If you’ve been reading Inside Trucking Online and our traditional driver recruitment magazines, Over the Road and Pro Trucker, you know that drivers’ health has been foremost on our editorial agenda for the past few years. The statistics are shocking: the average life expectancy of a truck driver is 58 years, 20 years lower than the average American. If the trucking industry doesn’t take action to address the problem, the feds will, and your company might not like the regulations that are sure to follow. Clearly, the time has come for the trucking industry to demonstrate that we can take care of our own. Don’t just take our word for it. Elsewhere in this issue of ITO you will find several items related to drivers’ health, including an article by Rob Newell of Greatwide Dedicated Transport, whose company has taken numerous steps to improve the health and wellness of its drivers, starting by joining the HTAA. “It’s time for carriers to get ahead of any government regulation and establish effective wellness programs as a best practice within our industry,” Rob says. We couldn’t agree more. While the trucking industry is faced with several challenging issues – from the current economic downturn to the potential for soaring fuel costs and the inevitable return of 100-percent-plus annual driver turnover rates – the health and wellness of our drivers is one issue that we can actually do something about. It’s also an issue that won’t go away on its own. Last but not least, it’s an issue that can offer potential payback in terms of lower workman’s comp claims, reduced insurance costs, increased driver productivity and improved driver retention. As far as RAMP Media Group is concerned, we’ll continue to do all we can to address the issue of driver health and wellness and offer solutions. We’ve made blood pressure testing kiosks available to truck stops and carriers alike to give drivers free and easy access to potentially live-saving information. We’re proud Diamond-level sponsors of the HTAA. As we said at the beginning, we were the first to publish digest-size driver recruitment magazines, and now we’ll be the first to publish a magazine devoted to improving the health of our drivers. As for our current and potential advertising clients, what better way to reach out and show drivers that “you’re a company that cares” than by presenting your message in Driver HEALTH? Andy Shefsky, my son and the publisher of OTR and Pro Trucker, recently held a series of webinars explaining the concept of Driver HEALTH, its editorial package and its advertising options. If you missed them, give Andy a call and he will do the webinar for you. I hope your company will join us in this healthy endeavor. For more information, contact Andy at 678-739-0928. What does this all mean to you? All of the tools are now in place for you to help your drivers to greater health and wellness, and you can do business with higher caliber drivers and owner-operators through Driver HEALTH magazine. Marvin Shefsky is the CEO of Ramp Media Group and the publisher of Inside Trucking Online. -- Marvin Shefsky, Publisher/CEO
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Ask us about the official publication of the HTAA -- Driver HEALTH!
To learn more about how to put our team to work on your driver recruitment advertising needs,
call our advertising sales team at 800-878-0311 or go to: RampMediaGroup.com.
