‘Hug a haulier’ initiative to boost sympathy for logistics
April 1st 2010 Love Logistics is the latest initiative from the Freight Transport Association aimed at building awareness and appreciation for the industry in the public domain.
This is no vanity project. Those who make decisions in parliament and in councils up and down the land are greatly influenced by public opinion as they build policy and make, often knee-jerk, decisions regarding logistics. Building a better image of the industry will be key in winning the many small battles throughout the country and this will add up to a much improved climate for the logistics industry.
But this is no easy task. A recent poll of the public by the FTA showed high degrees of apathy and ignorance. The public clearly does not appreciate the importance of the role logistics plays in the modern world.
The truth is the general public takes almost everything for granted. Also, let’s not pretend the public are a bovine herd shambling around a field somewhere while us enlightened ones exist on a higher plane. It includes us too.We all take stuff for granted.
So moving public opinion on this or any other issue is a huge task, but the FTA has taken an admirable step in the right direction.
While it is true that the vast majority of professions and industries in the UK feel under-appreciated in some way, the time for saying ‘it goes with the territory’ has passed. There is too much at stake not to make some effort putting across a positive image.
In the same poll carried out by the FTA, the public noted the ‘Stobart effect’, where well-cared for trucks and uniformed personnel implied a sense of pride and instilled admiration among the public. Perhaps this
approach points the way forward?
This is very much a long term project but with the General Election imminent, it is money rather than public opinion which is the pressing issue for the industry. The Government’s budget deficit is huge and taxes will increase but it won’t generate enough cash to pay for everything.
With this in mind, is it wise for the FTA to push for both fuel duty breaks and greater infrastructure spending? The industry is unlikely to get both, and insisting on both may jeopardise decisive action on one of them. Asking for more spending and lower taxes will not go down well with any adminstration. The FTA should decide which is more important and lobby hard on it.
The Government isn’t daft. It knows logistics is key to every industry in the country, but it also knows the industry is incredibly resilient and this means the Government could lean heavily on it, fairly certain it won’t break.We hope it won’t take some kind of logistics crisis or breakdown to jolt a government into action.
Simon Duddy, Editor More articles from Handling & Storage Solutions: | 
