Relay trucking is WFH equivalent for truck drivers

Relay trucking is “work from home” equivalent in a truck driving job. Truck pilots unlike many in the services industry have to be on the road, travel long distances and stay away from their homes and families. With the risk of COVID-19, most truck pilots do not want to travel long distance and want to stay back in their villages and closer to their homes and families. Rivigo is on a mission since last 6 years, to make truck driving job into a more human job by bringing truck pilots back to their home every day. With COVID-19, we are seeing more truck pilots want to opt for relay trucking jobs than ever before. They do not want to risk their lives and health by traveling long distance in an uncertain environment. NSDC data says we’d have 480 truck pilots to 1000 trucks in the next few years. Unless every industry participant comes together and supports truck pilots, it would lead to an unprecedented shortage. I’m sharing below how small but transformational change is happening in the lives of pilots.

1. From truck driver to truck pilot – when we started our journey “truck driver” had become a rotten word, associated with lowly caste (37th caste) and lowly job. We started using the word truck pilot to create a different sense of respect towards the job. I’m surprised today that not just Rivigo, but small fleet owners are using this word “pilot” abundantly.
2. Being at home in difficult times – I have met so many pilots who have said that they could not come home to attend funerals of their parents or dear family members or were not there during difficult times of the family because their job took them away. With relay, truck pilots are never away and can attend to family when in need. In times of COVID, they want to stay closer to their families.
3. Home food – earlier pilots would have hotel/dhaba food all the time leading to high blood pressure, diabetes and ill health. I was pleasantly surprised to know that all of them carry home food now in relay driving and are seeing benefits of better health. The home food also brings them closer to their wife or mother.
4. Impact on their children – when asked in school, most children would shy of telling others that their father is a truck driver. They would fear isolation, humiliation or disrespect if anyone knew that their father was doing such a lowly job. Now children proudly say that their father is a Rivigo relay pilot and he goes on “duty”. The word “duty” brings immense amount of respect and it directly impacts the mindset of that child who faces the world with renewed confidence.
5. On time payment – with digital payment, bank accounts now all relay pilots get paid on time directly in their bank accounts. Earlier most pilots would have to beg the supervisors and their managers for cash payments who’d pay but after deducting their commission. The hard earned money of a pilot would be held hostage to the demand of the corrupt supervisor. Things have changed now and brought a sense of security and peace to truck pilots. He make good his commitment and word to grocery shop, milk man and others in the village without fail. It leads to a different level of respect when you don’t fail on your words in the village month on month. Post COVID, we have made trip payments immediately available after every trip so that pilots can meet liquidity needs during this time.
6. More savings – Cash payments would get spent on the road or wasted away in alcohol and other things. Money in bank gets saved for long term use and is available for family. Relay pilots through bank payouts save a lot more than traditional truckers who still get cash payments or make money by selling fuel.
7. Technology – Every activity from to duty allocation, interaction, training, help, chats, performance management is done through technology and on their smartphones. Truck pilots using smartphone for their day to day work management has changed their pride and respect and made the job look more professional and process oriented and created a new sense of dignity.
8. Health insurance – Truck pilots had no clue about health insurance their life saving would go in one health incident of their family. With full health coverage for wife and 2 children, there is complete peace to tackle any health calamity. Thousands of pilots have used this facility over the last year to give better health and well-being to their families. It was happy to hear stories of daughters of truck pilots being born in private wards at private hospitals now instead of general wards of government hospitals. Small but a transformational shift. COVID-19 is covered under Rivigo Arogya health insurance and we are now evaluating providing health insurance cover for parents of Rivigo pilots.
9. Financial inclusion – Almost everyone has got a bank loan (at very low interest rate) because of payouts in their banks. Earlier no one would provide any bank load to them. They’ve used this for small things like buying durables, cars, bikes or construction work of house. Several pilots have got home loans and fulfilled their dream of owning flats and homes in small towns and villages
10. Scholarship and online education for children – Most children of truck pilots now study in English medium private schools (I make sure I check this every time I go to a pit-stop) and they’ve started taking active interest in the education of their children. Not that English medium is necessary but it is a sign that the spending on education is going up and they are actively engaged. Rivigo has also facilitated scholarships for hundreds of children through various schemes. It brings tremendous pride when sons and daughter or our pilots go on to be state/national players in sports (several examples) or take leaps in education. Post COVID, this is undergoing a fundamental change and we want to use “online education” tools to give at par education to children of Rivigo pilots and looking for partners to work with us on this initiative.

 Rivigo foundation (non-profit arm of Rivigo https://rivigofoundation.com/) has worked with 10,000+ non-Rivigo pilots over the last 6 weeks to provide meals and safety kits. Our goal is to extend this to 100,000 pilots and their families over the next 6 months.

 We want to learn and build a better future for truck pilots and loaders through continuous work on technology, safety, insurance and other tools to improve the quality of life. If you have ideas which can help us further enhance our mission, please do reach out. If there are other ways you think you can contribute to our mission, please write to me at [email protected]