Starting back with more or less the Model T Ford, naturally most any man
that had a little adaption to being a mechanic could almost fix a unit.
And when the operations began to expand into different areas, this light
equipment just couldn't stand great distances. So the trucking industry,
we'll say in North Carolina, a carrier would probably have three or four
places to repair his own equipment or at least have it maintained, say
from here to New England, New York. It was just understood that the
truck was going to break down in those days and have flat tires and so
forth, so the carriers began to think in terms of how to prevent that.
And then they began to make demands on the manufacturers for bigger and
better equipment, which the manufacturers did supply. And the equipment
then started off with the gas motors, and in as little as 50,000 miles
they'd have to have an overhaul. And there were always repairs to be
made, and that's the reason why a number of carriers would have any
number of different maintenance places up and down the highways. At
least they would make a contract with a garage or something to fix their
equipment. And then came the diesel, and the diesels, almost from the
very beginning, could operate 100,000 miles without any major repairs.
And now today they have diesels that operate way above 300,000 miles
without any major repairs. And usually then they bring
Page 27 them in because of the distance they've travelled, and they
have what they call preventive maintenance. All the diesel records are
kept, so that they know exactly what is being needed to be replaced. For
instance, if a carrier is having a problem with a certain thing about a
tractor trailer, they could tell the manufacturer right quick, "Well,
this item is breaking down on this unit, and we want you to give us some
help here." I have known manufacturers to send their top personnel to a
company to review and see the operations and go over it and correct
problems that come about. Just like in the safety end of it, where the
Safety Council was formed, by the early fifties it was necessary to form
a Maintenance Council within the Association, and that Maintenance
Council still meets now on a monthly basis, more or less in Charlotte
for that area, and then a few years ago we organized another Maintenance
Council around the Triad Area, and we have one that was organized two
years ago in the eastern part of the state at Wilson and Rocky Mount and
that area. But these men get together, and they have the very top
engineers to come down, and if they're going to have something new like
a fuel pump or anything that needs to be explained, where the
individual's got to work on something they are not accustomed to or know
something more intricate about a certain part of a truck, they send
these people in, and they lecture to them and give them the full
background on it. And, too, if any of the carriers are having a problem
in safety or maintenance or whatnot, they can talk among themselves and
get information. They're very free with this type of thing. Now the
Interstate Commerce Commission, of course, besides regulating rates,
regulates accounting and that type of thing, and we organized an
Accounting Council within the state in the late forties. And these
accountants get together, and quite often the Interstate Commerce
Commission would issue an order that maybe would be absolutely
impossible to comply with, or such and such a thing that would not be a
reasonable way
Page 28 of arriving at a certain line item,
the cost or whatnot. So these members will form a committee, and they'll
go before the Interstate Commerce Commission representing either this
Association or a group of carriers and very often can get it modified or
changed, so they do a very good job there. The Sales Council… Back in
the old days, anybody could be a salesperson. In fact, they'd just call
and say, "Do you need anybody to haul?" or something like that. Now we
have very fine young men calling on customers with real knowledge of
their company and real knowledge of their rates, and they're
professional salesmen. And we have a very large Sales Council and a very
outstanding one.