farmdoc's blog post number 526

I love Tom Waits’s 2002 song Long Way Home – whether Tom sings it, or Norah Jones does. Given the choice, I’ll take the long way home. Every time. Because usually it’s more picturesque; there’s less traffic; and it gives me time to think, and to enjoy the journey. But some people take the short way home. They’re habitual shortcuts takers. And when people take shortcuts, they miss something. In these straitened times at the tail end of the GFC, or just after it, business costs must be closely watched to maximise profits (or minimise losses). Especially in industries that are feeling the cold winds of economic adversity blow in their faces. The logging industry, for example. With margins and profits squeezed, it’s no surprise log truck maintenance expenditure has fallen, and so log trucks are less well maintained. Last Saturday the ABC reported that recent random safety checks of Tasmanian log trucks found problems with every truck stopped. The problems included metal cracks, and worn chains and straps (allegedly) securing loads. Yet alarmingly, no trucks were put off the road until fixed. I’ve previously written about the dangers of log trucks. This latest report compounds my fears. Many fold. I’m just hoping against hope that, time being money, log trucks don’t take the road I’m taking. That is, the long way home.