Ellen Voie (Voy-a) is an internationally recognized speaker and authority on gender diversity and inclusion for women working in non-traditional careers in transportation. She has been invited to speak to audiences in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, France, Mexico, and Canada, in addition to being a popular speaker at conferences throughout the United States. Voie founded the Women In Trucking Association in 2007, and currently serves as the nonprofit organization’s President & CEO. The Women In Trucking Association was formed to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, to remove obstacles that might keep them from succeeding, and to celebrate the successes of its members. Voie also currently serves on the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide recommendations and advice to the FMCSA on motor carrier safety programs and motor carrier safety regulations. Voie’s background in the trucking industry began as the assistant and later Traffic Manager for a steel fabricating plant in the upper Midwest. She then worked as a dispatcher for a grain hauling carrier before becoming co-owner of a small fleet. After starting a family, she used her background to become a freelance transportation consultant to carriers in Wisconsin, licensing and permitting trucks for more than 16 years. Voie also served as the Executive Director of Trucker Buddy International, Inc., a pen pal program between professional drivers and elementary students. Voie holds a Master’s in Communication degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where she completed her Thesis research on the complex identities of women married to professional drivers. She also hold a degree in Traffic and Transportation Management from LaSalle Extension University. Voie has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives, the leading authority in association management.

Columnists,Ellen Voie |
January 5, 2021

“Don’t reinvent the wheel, just realign it.”  Anthony J. D’Angelo, author

We’ve all heard the adage about reinventing the wheel.  Why spend a great deal of time and effort on working through something that someone has already explored?  When Women In Trucking Association was formed, we looked at other trade and professional organizations and determined what parts worked for us and what didn’t.

In fact, we took a lot of ideas from an organization called Women In Aviation International (WAI).  At the time, I was working on my private pilot’s license and joined the WAI because I wanted to meet other women who fly.  The airline industry isn’t all that different from the trucking industry, and both have a very small percentage of women behind in the cab or the cockpit.   Many of our challenges are similar, so why not cooperate on our efforts?

What if we took that idea a step further to redesign ways for our drivers to enjoy some of the perks their fellow pilots appreciate?  What if we looked at airports to design better stop over experiences for professional drivers?

For example, a pilot is assigned a specific route to avoid other traffic and any congestion.  Wouldn’t this make sense for the trucking industry to route drivers to the best highways during the best times to avoid as many automobiles as possible?

Commercial planes have to deal with those of us who fly small aircraft, but we are limited in our airspace and even in some airports.  If our planes are too slow or don’t have the proper equipment to communicate to air traffic control, we are prohibited from using the same airspace as our commercial counterparts.  What a novel idea to give the big planes (and big trucks) the priority because they are the ones with the more urgent deliveries.

You probably won’t find a single engine Cessna flying into Chicago’s or Atlanta’s airports and you won’t find a general aviation plane over 14,000 feet above sea level.  Those lanes are reserved for the larger, faster airplanes.  Maybe trucks should have their own “space” as well.

Although many small airports offer self service fuel, it’s only for the planes that can accommodate the small fuel hoses and slow discharging pumps. The more important airplanes have the fuel delivered to them via a fuel truck.  Wait, what if we could do that with tractor-trailers?

Anthony Petitte, CEO of TruckPark, Inc. (http://truckpark.com) found that a typical driver has to wait 62 minutes to obtain fuel at a truck stop.  That’s over an hour to get your tanks filled after sitting in the fuel line for an extended length of time.

What if the trucking industry adopted the airline industry practice of offering a fuel truck to fill those tanks?  The driver could pull into the parking area and order the fuel and wait for the delivery while he or she rests or secures the truck for the night.

Many female drivers have chosen to eat and fuel at one truck stop and then move on to another area to sleep so no one is aware that there is a solo female in the truck.  If all drivers could pull into a parking spot and wait for a fuel delivery, this could be a safety factor as well.

What if you could have the fuel delivered to you while you are waiting to unload or load at a customer’s dock?  It’s almost the same as having my back yard propane tank refilled so I can keep my house warm.

Thanks to the forward thinking attitude of Petitte and his colleagues at TruckPark, Inc. you will be able to enjoy this service yourself.  Instead of reinventing the wheel, they realigned it to make your life easier.  In 2021 you will be able to have diesel fuel delivered to you, wherever you are.  They’ve partnered with a company that delivers on-demand fuel services.

No, you won’t pay more for the service because they typically charge LESS than the rate at the fuel pump, but at the very least will match it.  Think about how much time you can save if you’re not sitting in the fuel line?

Now, if we could address the congestion issue …

Why not adopt some airline ideas in the coming year?  Let’s realign those wheels and make the trucking industry a more successful and productive one in 2021.

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Ellen Voie (Voy-a) is an internationally recognized speaker and authority on gender diversity and inclusion for women working in non-traditional careers in transportation. She has been invited to speak to audiences in Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, France, Mexico, and Canada, in addition to being a popular speaker at conferences throughout the United States. Voie founded the Women In Trucking Association in 2007, and currently serves as the nonprofit organization’s President & CEO. The Women In Trucking Association was formed to promote the employment of women in the trucking industry, to remove obstacles that might keep them from succeeding, and to celebrate the successes of its members. Voie also currently serves on the Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC) to provide recommendations and advice to the FMCSA on motor carrier safety programs and motor carrier safety regulations. Voie’s background in the trucking industry began as the assistant and later Traffic Manager for a steel fabricating plant in the upper Midwest. She then worked as a dispatcher for a grain hauling carrier before becoming co-owner of a small fleet. After starting a family, she used her background to become a freelance transportation consultant to carriers in Wisconsin, licensing and permitting trucks for more than 16 years. Voie also served as the Executive Director of Trucker Buddy International, Inc., a pen pal program between professional drivers and elementary students. Voie holds a Master’s in Communication degree from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where she completed her Thesis research on the complex identities of women married to professional drivers. She also hold a degree in Traffic and Transportation Management from LaSalle Extension University. Voie has earned the Certified Association Executive (CAE) credential from the American Society of Association Executives, the leading authority in association management.