> They assist with loading and unloading the goods, make sure the goods are adequately stacked and strapped
This seems like a problem already solved in the airline industry.
* Pilots don't load and unload the planes. Baggage handlers and gate agents do that. Flight attendants ensure that self-loading cargo is adequately strapped.
* Airline dispatchers (a job which requires an FAA certification) handle much of the flight planning, weather monitoring and other paperwork.
In other words, many of the "other things" a truck driver does are outsourced in the airline context to other employees who are not controlling the airplane.
I don't really see why the DoT couldn't create an analogous "truck dispatcher" position for OTR trucking, who handles all or most of the things you described.
One long-term consequence is that it would further entrench the scale effects of volume shippers (like ports and Amazon warehouses): A dispatcher at the origin would be the responsible person to verify that loads are correctly stacked and strapped, and shippers below a certain scale would not be able to fully use a full-time person in that role.
This seems like a problem already solved in the airline industry.
* Pilots don't load and unload the planes. Baggage handlers and gate agents do that. Flight attendants ensure that self-loading cargo is adequately strapped.
* Airline dispatchers (a job which requires an FAA certification) handle much of the flight planning, weather monitoring and other paperwork.
In other words, many of the "other things" a truck driver does are outsourced in the airline context to other employees who are not controlling the airplane.
I don't really see why the DoT couldn't create an analogous "truck dispatcher" position for OTR trucking, who handles all or most of the things you described.
One long-term consequence is that it would further entrench the scale effects of volume shippers (like ports and Amazon warehouses): A dispatcher at the origin would be the responsible person to verify that loads are correctly stacked and strapped, and shippers below a certain scale would not be able to fully use a full-time person in that role.