Depending on how much cable news you consume or how much time you spend on social media, you may have heard about a truck driver boycott happening at the moment. Reports are floating around that a bunch of truck drivers have banded together and pledged to never haul any freight into or out of New York City because a New York judge found Donald Trump guilty of fraud.
The only problem with the story? It’s nonsense.
Truck drivers (myself included) have been refusing to travel anywhere near New York City long before Donald Trump came into office, and will continue to do so long after he’s gone.
Why?
Well, a bunch of reasons, the first being that it is illegal to do so. New York City restricts the overall length of a truck going into the five boroughs to just 55 feet, bumper to bumper. But the typical trailer you see on the interstate is 53 feet, meaning they’re already banned from the city. You can apply for a permit to go into the city, but unless you’re a local driver in the area, the chances of you going into the area are zilch.
nyc.gov
The other reasons there’s basically a soft boycott of truckers already in effect when it comes to driving to New York City is that it’s a major pain in the ass. Most truck drivers are paid by the mile, not the hour, which means you don’t get paid for all those hours you spend sitting in traffic or slogging across whichever bridge is taking you into the city. And God help you if you ever find yourself in New York City, which is chock full of low height clearances, restricted routes, and heavy fines for violations. You really need to know what you’re doing before going. And that’s just from the perspective of an employee. As a company owner, you have all kinds of extra costs: tolls, permits, higher fuel costs, and even more fines and penalties if the driver you sent in there screws up.
So why all the noise in the press and online about a trucker boycott for Trump?
Because it generates clicks!
You see this all the time in the media. The Canadians had one hell of a trucker protest in 2022, so why not us here in the U.S. in 2024?
What most people don’t realize is these kinds of protests happen here in the U.S. all the time. Remember the “Take Our Border Back” convoy that promised 700,000 truckers would show up? Turned about to be a bunch of RVs and pickup trucks, not many commercial semi trucks.
Then there was the Truckers Movement for Justice protest in 2023, the People’s Convoy in 2022, an anti-vax “shutdown” in 2021, Black Smoke Matters in 2020… the list goes on and on.
Oh but don’t you worry, that protest was a fake, the real protest is scheduled to start this Monday, Feb 26!
Ugh.
These protests all follow the same script: A bunch of people in a Facebook group somewhere work themselves up into a frenzy, someone appoints themselves the leader, nothing really gets solved, and usually some money goes missing along the way.
This current protest started with a truck driver named Ray who wasn’t even saying he would be protesting but that he overheard other truck drivers saying they would be protesting. Ray has since taken down the video, walked back his statement, and put out vague posts about taking legal action over all of this.
Some people just can’t take the spotlight, I guess.
Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
This year’s protest seems to have reached a fever-pitch, at least online and in the media. Social media accounts front and center on this issue have seen their profiles rise, along with their follower count. I myself have gained over 500 followers on X/Twitter this week, and I’m not even speaking about it! Those that are have swelled as much as 20,000 and more.
As far as I can tell, these are real truck drivers, working real jobs, unlike myself who drives a desk now. Anyone who shoots up and down the Rockys hauling fuel tankers is a better driver than me. But even in my glory days at the height of my career behind the wheel hauling explosives, NYC was never in the picture.
My biggest issue with these fellow road warriors is that they know better. Watching their videos, they all drive day cabs, in states far away from NYC. They were never going there in the first place, so saying they’re joining this protest amounts to no impact on store shelves.
Why are they doing this then? Depends who you ask. I know of one personally who’s just trying to monetize their X/Twitter account to donate the money to charity. A lofty goal indeed! The owners of these accounts are making appearances on Fox News, Alex Jones, and Tucker Carlson, so whatever they’re doing, it’s working.
No shame in that. I respect the hustle.
Justin Martin is a 15 year veteran commercial driver. Everything from diapers to dynamite, if you bought it, he brought it! He is currently driving a desk and creating social media content at stealthmode.so
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.