HERE WE GO AGAIN!!
FW, I agree with some of what you are saying but truthfully we are dealing with people who have no clue who enter into this industry at large and become sheep, and I am not talking about the ones here on EO but in the industry in general. They sometimes need a group to help them focus on issues that affect them and help them ‘rally’ together to solve a few problems.
What this does not mean is that we in the Expediting niche of the industry in general need to discount the OOIDA when it comes to expediting specific issues that affect us because there are actually few issues that are expediting specific in comparison more of them are company specific issues and the issues that do effect all of us is some of the OOIDA’s focus i.e. hours of service is one.
I am not all that defensive about the OOIDA as some are, I see a collective use for my funds that I provide without a doubt, I see the usefulness of the organization but at the same time I am critical of a few things about the OOIDA that I won’t get into here.
As for lobbying, OVM is confused because there are truly two different issues when you speak about lobbying; membership lobbying and corporate lobbying. One can be effective and the other can be damaging – but I won’t get into the differences either, eh, here at least. The OOIDA is not a strong lobbying group because the membership needs to be stronger, not in numbers but determination. Yes …..here is my “write a letter, make a phone call or visit your representative†part of my post, which is why the OOIDA can not be as effective as it could be, truckers in general don’t make a collective effort – if they did, just imagine!
For some OOIDA is worthless, for others the ATA is worthless and for others the ACLU, NAACP, NBA, and what other alphabet membership organization are all worthless too, so it is a matter of opinion, nothing else.
If you think that the OOIDA is worthless, read my signature line and think about what they do in relation to my signature line.
Go ahead I dare you to read it and think!