WHERE HAS THE TOWING INDUSTY GONE?
Over my 18 years in the towing and recovery industry, I have seen many changes, in equipment, personnel and training, and least we forget information sources. Most of them have been for the better, but some seem to be a step backwards.
Let’s have a trip backwards and see where we have been. After a small hernia carrying 4 boxes of information and magazines upstairs our trip begins.
First stop September 1978, issue of American Towman, equipment advertised includes Ashton ERS-88, “the wrecker of tomorrow”, EKA, Vulcan Cradle Snatchers, Fentron Highway Products, Chevron, Century (both without wheel lifts!) and an article about the Automobile Club of Southern California training programs. Cover photo is of Ross Kinnam doing a demonstration at the Florida tow show which was at the Daytona Speedway. Unit of the month was Bullock Towing of Lake Oswego, Oregon showing off Truck 10-F (I remember this truck). News about various state towing associations happens to be included also but not any mention of T.R.A.A. though, as they came to life in August of 1979.
See we were working on Education then, as training programs were being formed and a better breed of driver was needed. Does anyone find it strange that first programs were put on by AAA, which people complain about? Did they have a magical view into the future and see the need?
Next stop, the souvenir issue of Tow Times, June 1983, trucks advertised included Holmes with a UTC-100 towing carriage and a carrier. Dave Jones promoting his Trail King trailers, Chevron with a carrier, Century with the “most dramatic new concept in wheel-lift towing” The Formula 1, Challenger with a heavy duty rig, Vulcan with the “Cradle Snatcher II, the Peterson Scoop, Jerr-Dan with a carrier, Weldbuilt, and of course EKA were listed. . Dollies were advertised also, Pan Dollies with no mentions of the now common “pop up dollie’s”and the “Tollie Saddle “is listed. A seminar is listed about the T.R.A.A show in Las Vegas along with the driving championship.
And just in case Publisher Jon feels left out, May 1990 “Phootnotes” is born. By now wheel lifts are almost standard and training programs are growing every week. The towing industry seems to have found a niche and everyone wants information. And there are many sources for it. The two previous magazines, along with the recently folded “Road Runner Towing News”, The STA Phantom, and a couple of magazines that lasted one or two issues. We seemed to have developed a hunger for information. Oh yeah, the “CDL” is here and is supposed to help us by allowing for better drivers. But did it, or is there a shortage of qualified drivers.
Drivers and owners all seemed to complain about the same things they do today, Motor Clubs, hard to tow vehicles, problems getting paid and of course low rates! Is there a pattern to the complaints, we have better equipment, trained drivers, more vehicles to tow, and still the same low rates. Now I am not going to bash the clubs in this story, I will save that for a future article, but it seemed that were trying to get ahead in 1978 and 1983, but did we make it? Did we advance without knowledge? The issue about rates seems to be the same, just reprint the articles and see if they number changed much.
And as for drivers, does this new equipment help them become better drivers? I work for a company that has 1 roll bed, 1 sling truck (yard truck) and 4 Eagles. Yet I hear drivers over the radios (AAA and others) calling for carriers because the vehicle has a missing tire, or it’s wrecked and they can not figure out how to tow it. Call a carrier instead of using dollies and your head. You could not do this when I first started, as you had slings and dollies. Not many carriers or wheel lifts then. I have even used a tow plate to tow with. Back then you had Corvettes and Porsches and you had to know how to tow them without damaging them.
Owners try this on your drivers, if you are a mostly wheel lift fleet (and most everyone is now) take a newer car and give it to a driver and have him use a sling to tow it. Do you think that they can do it? Hopefully you have a couple of towing manuals what will tell them how to do it without damaging it. Would they do it right? If they can do it, then you either have a very experienced driver (if he did not use the book) or you have a good training program for your drivers.
I am sure that in the last 18 years most things have got better in the industry, and that is good, we needed the growth and equipment to get out of the dark ages and into modern times. Now given the mergers and buy outs of towing equipment manufacturers equipment is being very simple to operate, because they are almost the same. You do not have to have a driver for each piece of equipment, like you did before. He or She can use most any kind of equipment in the class range they are used to operating.
I remember my first heavy duty tow, someone else did the driving and I did the hook up. I kept telling the semi that it was only a One Ton and that is how I did it. Thanks Larry for the chance to learn something else that day in 1979, I still remember the call.
As to companies, most of them are still here, but the true pioneers are gone, Chuck Malcom, John Hawkins, Melvin Dickey, Jim Blakely, among others. O’Hare, Interstate, Kauffs, Dave Jones, Speeds and many others are still around.
Another change that happened is “Incident Management”, I guess that we needed a new name for cleaning up wrecks and getting traffic moving, and what about Hazardous Materials, you mean that 20 years ago, gasoline, diesel and motor oils were not dangerous to our health and the environment. Think about it, if it’s dangerous now, then it was bad then right?
Is OSHA a good thing or a problem for us, are the lein laws good or bad. How any things have changed in 20 years that made our jobs easier, and how many have made it harder?
I could go on for a while listing the changes that I have seen, but then I have not seen it all yet, and neither has everyone else. Only the future will tell us where we are going to be headed.
Over my 18 years in the towing and recovery industry, I have seen many changes, in equipment, personnel and training, and least we forget information sources. Most of them have been for the better, but some seem to be a step backwards.
Let’s have a trip backwards and see where we have been. After a small hernia carrying 4 boxes of information and magazines upstairs our trip begins.
First stop September 1978, issue of American Towman, equipment advertised includes Ashton ERS-88, “the wrecker of tomorrow”, EKA, Vulcan Cradle Snatchers, Fentron Highway Products, Chevron, Century (both without wheel lifts!) and an article about the Automobile Club of Southern California training programs. Cover photo is of Ross Kinnam doing a demonstration at the Florida tow show which was at the Daytona Speedway. Unit of the month was Bullock Towing of Lake Oswego, Oregon showing off Truck 10-F (I remember this truck). News about various state towing associations happens to be included also but not any mention of T.R.A.A. though, as they came to life in August of 1979.
See we were working on Education then, as training programs were being formed and a better breed of driver was needed. Does anyone find it strange that first programs were put on by AAA, which people complain about? Did they have a magical view into the future and see the need?
Next stop, the souvenir issue of Tow Times, June 1983, trucks advertised included Holmes with a UTC-100 towing carriage and a carrier. Dave Jones promoting his Trail King trailers, Chevron with a carrier, Century with the “most dramatic new concept in wheel-lift towing” The Formula 1, Challenger with a heavy duty rig, Vulcan with the “Cradle Snatcher II, the Peterson Scoop, Jerr-Dan with a carrier, Weldbuilt, and of course EKA were listed. . Dollies were advertised also, Pan Dollies with no mentions of the now common “pop up dollie’s”and the “Tollie Saddle “is listed. A seminar is listed about the T.R.A.A show in Las Vegas along with the driving championship.
And just in case Publisher Jon feels left out, May 1990 “Phootnotes” is born. By now wheel lifts are almost standard and training programs are growing every week. The towing industry seems to have found a niche and everyone wants information. And there are many sources for it. The two previous magazines, along with the recently folded “Road Runner Towing News”, The STA Phantom, and a couple of magazines that lasted one or two issues. We seemed to have developed a hunger for information. Oh yeah, the “CDL” is here and is supposed to help us by allowing for better drivers. But did it, or is there a shortage of qualified drivers.
Drivers and owners all seemed to complain about the same things they do today, Motor Clubs, hard to tow vehicles, problems getting paid and of course low rates! Is there a pattern to the complaints, we have better equipment, trained drivers, more vehicles to tow, and still the same low rates. Now I am not going to bash the clubs in this story, I will save that for a future article, but it seemed that were trying to get ahead in 1978 and 1983, but did we make it? Did we advance without knowledge? The issue about rates seems to be the same, just reprint the articles and see if they number changed much.
And as for drivers, does this new equipment help them become better drivers? I work for a company that has 1 roll bed, 1 sling truck (yard truck) and 4 Eagles. Yet I hear drivers over the radios (AAA and others) calling for carriers because the vehicle has a missing tire, or it’s wrecked and they can not figure out how to tow it. Call a carrier instead of using dollies and your head. You could not do this when I first started, as you had slings and dollies. Not many carriers or wheel lifts then. I have even used a tow plate to tow with. Back then you had Corvettes and Porsches and you had to know how to tow them without damaging them.
Owners try this on your drivers, if you are a mostly wheel lift fleet (and most everyone is now) take a newer car and give it to a driver and have him use a sling to tow it. Do you think that they can do it? Hopefully you have a couple of towing manuals what will tell them how to do it without damaging it. Would they do it right? If they can do it, then you either have a very experienced driver (if he did not use the book) or you have a good training program for your drivers.
I am sure that in the last 18 years most things have got better in the industry, and that is good, we needed the growth and equipment to get out of the dark ages and into modern times. Now given the mergers and buy outs of towing equipment manufacturers equipment is being very simple to operate, because they are almost the same. You do not have to have a driver for each piece of equipment, like you did before. He or She can use most any kind of equipment in the class range they are used to operating.
I remember my first heavy duty tow, someone else did the driving and I did the hook up. I kept telling the semi that it was only a One Ton and that is how I did it. Thanks Larry for the chance to learn something else that day in 1979, I still remember the call.
As to companies, most of them are still here, but the true pioneers are gone, Chuck Malcom, John Hawkins, Melvin Dickey, Jim Blakely, among others. O’Hare, Interstate, Kauffs, Dave Jones, Speeds and many others are still around.
Another change that happened is “Incident Management”, I guess that we needed a new name for cleaning up wrecks and getting traffic moving, and what about Hazardous Materials, you mean that 20 years ago, gasoline, diesel and motor oils were not dangerous to our health and the environment. Think about it, if it’s dangerous now, then it was bad then right?
Is OSHA a good thing or a problem for us, are the lein laws good or bad. How any things have changed in 20 years that made our jobs easier, and how many have made it harder?
I could go on for a while listing the changes that I have seen, but then I have not seen it all yet, and neither has everyone else. Only the future will tell us where we are going to be headed.
A good reputation is more valuable than money.
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)
