TWNA Membership Renewals
Awards Banquet & 20th Anniversary
Credit Card Update
Corporate Officers Elected
Canadian Trucking Report
Thanks To Our MATS 2008 Sponsors
Kolman's Korner
TWNA
Membership Renewals
TWNA's membership
is in good shape with more than 155 members, though some of
us are a little late in the renewing process. If you lost your
membership form or wish to get one, you can print one by visiting
www.twna.org and clicking on the "Join TWNA" tab on
the navigation bar at the top of the page.
If you need more
information about joining TWNA or renewing your membership,
you can also get in touch with Executive Director Tom Kelley,
at admin@twna.org.
Awards Banquet & 20th Anniversary
Again this year, TWNA's Communication Awards & Banquet were
generally a success, according to the Board of Directors at
their latest tele-meeting. The Board discussed the fact that
the banquet meal wasn't up to the event's usual standards, taking
note of apologies and an adjustment from the KFEC caterer, along
with assurances of quality for future event meals.
On the financial
side, the event was profitable, with the excess revenues contributed
to TWNA's general account, so the association can move on with
projects such as internships/scholarships and others.
2009 will mark the
20th anniversary of TWNA and the organization plans to celebrate
this milestone with all the recognition it deserves.
The big celebration
will take place at next year's Mid-America Trucking Show, during
the annual TWNA Banquet, the formula of which will be slightly
modified to allow the Communication Awards and the 20th anniversary
celebrations to happen during the same night, without being
too lengthy.
A committee has already
been formed to prepare the event. The 20th anniversary committee
members include David Kolman, Jami Jones, Mike Pennington, Tom
Berg, Paul Abelson, Sandi Soendker and Lyndon Finney. If any
of you wishes to volunteer and to be part of the committee,
please let us know by using one of the e-mail links at the top
of this message.
Among the ideas that
have been discussed to mark the 20th anniversary are:
Anniversary commemorative
logo
Anniversary
commemorative lapel pin
Milestone pins for five, 10, 15 and 20-year members
20-year retrospective video and booklet
Anniversary section on website
Anniversary commemorative press kit
Special presentations at the 2009 banquet
This is a work in
progress. Which means that any other ideas are welcome, but
also that some of the above might be abandoned. So go ahead
and give us your two cents worth!
Credit Card Acceptance: Deal Closed!
TWNA's Board
of Direction wishes to thanks Bendix and Barbara Gould for stepping
up and offering to sponsor the implementation of a credit card
acceptance system.
Thanks to this sponsorship,
TWNA members will soon be able to pay their dues or buy event
tickets with their Visa or MasterCard, both online and offline.
Corporate
Officer Elections
Also at the latest Board of Directors tele-meeting, the corporate
officers whose terms were coming to an end were re-elected.
This means that Eric Berard (president); Jami Jones (secretary)
both offered to serve for another term, while Susan Fall offered
to serve as treasurer. The motion to install the officers passed
unanimously.
North of the Border
High
Canadian Dollar Effects Economy & Trucking
Even though
Canada's economy seems to be in better shape than in the U.S.
these days, the parity of the Canadian currency with its American
counterpart is hitting the economy really bad. Historically,
roughly 80% of all Canadian exports were shipped to the U.S.
With a higher Canadian
dollar, Canadian goods are suddenly much less attractive for
U.S. consumers, especially that many families are in dire straits
because of the mortgage crisis.
As an result, big
chunks of the Canadian manufacturing sector are slowing down
and many people are laid off. And of course, since there are
fewer goods to carry to the U.S., trucking companies have begun
to lower their rates to get the remaining volume. Shippers are
well aware of the situation and are negotiating (imposing?)
lower transportation rates.
Even worse for Canadian
carriers, their expenses are in Canadian dollars, while their
U.S. customers pay them in American dollars. What used to be
a big advantage when a U.S. $ meant $1.50 in Canadian carriers'
pocket is not anymore.
Trucking has always
been a cyclical business and Canada is no different than the
U.S. on that matter. The good news is that, hopefully, carriers
on both sides of the border have seen this downturn coming and
have prepared for it. It might even release a little pressure
on driver shortage while there is less volume to carry.
Eric
Berard
TWNA Director & Board Chairman
Thanks
Again To Our MATS 2008 Sponsors
The continued success of TWNA's efforts at the Mid America Trucking
Show each year is largely due to a group of the best companies
in the trucking industry and their generous support of TWNA.
Our list of banquet sponsors includes:
Platinum Level
Peterbilt - Caterpillar - ArvinMeritor
Gold Level
Kenworth - Goodyear - Shell Rotella - Grote
Silver Level
Daimler Trucks North America - Great Dane Trailers
HDMA - Mid-America Trucking Show - ZF Group
Bronze Level
Accuride - ATA - Bendix - GM Fleet & Commercial - Mack
Michelin - Mitchell1 - Truck-Lite - Volvo
Thanks to all of
them for helping make the banquet a success!
This year, for the
first time, TWNA set up a display of all of the Communication
Award entries, and an information center in the South Wing Conference
Center on Wednesday through Friday of the show. TWNA staff was
on hand to answer questions, distribute TWNA literature, and
accept membership applications/dues payments.
Thanks to Grote
Industries, HDMA and R.L. Polk & Company for sponsoring
this resource.
Tom
Kelley
TWNA Executive Director
Kolman's
Korner
Transportation Trivia Challenge - Answers To Previous
Quiz
By David A. Kolman, Associate Director
Do you know?
1. When was Western
Star trucks established? Bonus question: Where?
Western Star trucks
began as White Western Star in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada,
in 1967.
2. How many square feet of commercial warehouse space was there
in the U.S. last year?
There was 1.25
billion square feet of commercial warehouse space in the U.S.
last year.
3. What company introduced the first all-aluminum bottom dump?
Bonus question: In what year?
Beall Corp. introduced
the first all-aluminum bottom dump in 1967.
4. Mileposts are placed every mile along freeways. Where does
zero usually start?
Mileposts, which
are placed every mile along freeways, usually start with zero
at the southern and western borders of the state.
5. Name the most bicycle friendly cities in the U.S.?
The most bicycle
friendly cities in the U.S. are, in order: Portland, OR; Boulder,
CO; Davis, CA; San Francisco, CA.
6. When was the first official day of operation for the U.S.
Department of Transportation? Bonus question: When was the agency
established?
The U.S. Department
of Transportation's first official day was April 1, 1967. It
was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966.
7. What was the first motor oil formulated specifically for
heavy diesel engines? Bonus question: When was it introduced?
In 1925, Mobil
Delvac became the first producer of a motor oil formulated specifically
for heavy diesel engines.
8. When did the multi-functional Leatherman tool hit the market?
The multi-functional
Leatherman tool hit the market in 1983.
9. When a truck driver works for two or more employers, in whose
random pool for drugs and alcohol testing must he be included?
When a truck driver
works for two or more employers, he must be in the random pool
for drugs and alcohol testing for each employer.
10. Who is the nation's
largest corporate customer of Class 1 Railroads?
The nation's largest
corporate customer of Class 1 Railroads is UPS.
