Thank you 
Feel free to report it. Like I just did to you .
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Years ago, before the nifty language apps, I would deal with drivers that couldn’t speak English. Never had a problem with them. Somehow they can figure out which shipping dock they need, they know how to find someone to check their paperwork, and they, somehow, managed to keep a logbook up to date. There are plenty of terrible drivers that are American made. And that reminds me, back in the 90’s I met two drivers, middle aged white males, that could not read. Didn’t stop them from being great drivers.
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The US has not-so-great literacy rates among native-born adults.
It’s estimated that ~20% of US resident adults in 2024 were completely illiterate. ~55% of US adults have a literacy level below 6th grade, and ~20% of those below 5th grade.
Now, before anyone gets up in arms, it’s estimated that of those ~54% of adults with lacking literacy skills, 34% were born outside the US. This includes legal, illegal, and long-term VISA type visitors.
From that, we gather that twenty percent of native born US citizens lack sufficient literacy as of 2024 (ie, below a 6th grade level). This also assumes “6th grade” level is sufficient literacy, which compared to global standards is… not exactly true. The way our education system is constantly in an uproar and shifting its goalposts, it really is hard to get a true idea of where the average US resident sits vs the rest of the world if we are basing it on grade level.
(Here’s the main source for these numbers): https://www.thenationalliteracyinstitute.com/post/literacy-statistics-2024-2025-where-we-are-now
Now, there are other factors at work here. The US in general rates about average in literacy rates, and somewhat below average in numeracy and problem solving. According to https://nces.ed.gov/whatsnew/press_releases/12_10_2024.asp:
"There is a ‘dwindling middle’ in the U.S. in terms of skills,” Commissioner Carr explained. “Over time, we’re seeing more Americans clustered at the bottom levels of proficiency. The result has been a widening skills gap between adults at the higher and lower skill levels compounded by a growing number of very low-skilled adults. In fact, the U.S. gap in numeracy between the highest and lowest skilled adults is the widest among all countries.”
Essentially, much like wages, we have a very large gap between the highest skills and the lowest skills, which brings the average right to the middle. Averages do not give a good picture of the state of literacy in the US, but they are not invaluable statistics.
As far as what this means: in MOST of the US, your US born English-only citizen neighbor is just as likely to be completely illiterate and lack numeracy and problem solving skills as anyone else. In fact, someone born outside the US is VERY likely to be completely literate in their native language (if it is not English), while plenty of people with English as their one and only language are illiterate or functionally illiterate. Also, it is very common to be able to read and understand a language with much more proficiency than one can generate text and speak in that language.
It is VERY bigoted to assume that just because someone doesn’t speak fluent English that they are incompetent or lacking the (required by law) qualifications to do their jobs. You can be a US born, white, English-as-an-only-language person and be completely illiterate.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
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When one of the job requirements is to speak fluent english, it is not bigoted to say that someone is not qualified if they do not meet that standard.
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True.
However, if a person holds the qualifications required to do their jobs (for example: a CDL), it is not up to (general) you to determine that they are unqualified based on some other metric.
This isn’t to say you won’t have a poor experience with someone holding the required qualifications. It just means that if their skills/competence/training is in question, you(general) ask the appropriate parties to see proof of license/certification/whatever, and/or file a complaint with the proper authorities. You(g) do not just decide that a whole population or generalized group are unqualified based on a bad experience and make up reasons for that.
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I can’t have someone who doesn’t understand what they’re signing, sign something. Asking someone to do that is questionable, ethically.
Once the stakes go up (ie, a HAZMAT endorsement), you no longer see so many non-english speakers.
Knowing what goes into getting a CDL license, I am curious how the individuals who do not speak seemingly any english make it through. There’s a lot to it.
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This I agree with. And there ARE laws in place to prevent this! Sketchy companies will try to get around it and hope no one runs it up the chain.
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I have to do it every single time a non-english speaker shows up at the dock, though. They’ve got to sign that they understand what I’ve loaded on the truck, how many, that it’s secured, and that it isn’t damaged.
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I do too. There’s very little liability on those papers, and we have turned away drivers when they showed up with improper equipment.
A little Google translate goes a long way, or we just call the boss/dispatch.
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Granted, my company vets its vendors and contractors HEAVILY. One should not be forced to be sketchy/break protocol to save The Company a few bucks. In fact, legally you(g) can’t be.
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For the liability, it depends on what you loaded on the truck! We are scheduled so tight that communication issues really can back us up badly. It also gets nasty when they show up without a pickup number, trying to explain what number they need is not fun.
Again, they’re careening around in something that weighs enough that any slight mistake can be fatal. I don’t think that expecting them to have a rudimentary grasp of the most commonly used language in the country they’re working in is too much to expect. As a matter of fact, it’s required for a CDL - they just find a way around it.
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It’s not just language skills that keep drivers from haz-mat endorsements, the overall knowledge needed is extensive and costly.
And does the federal law for CDL drivers really read “fluent”? I’m starting to wonder if those drivers didn’t have your number and were deliberately pushing your buttons. I’ve never had a problem with any driver (not saying my experience is the be all), even the Ethiopian drivers where a lot of hand gestures and drawn pictures got the message through. And I suspect some of those understood a bit of what I was saying but they’d found it better for them to pretend they didn’t.
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But… that’s not up to us (the general public) to decide is what happened. There are reports in place for when someone has questions about the qualifications of a contractor or vendor. It is up to the governing body to investigate those reports. It is also up to the “customer” to decide that they will only use a company that has XYZ requirements- if that’s fully fluent in English staff, then okay.
It does stink to be the person on the dock that doesn’t make the calls, but good companies do not tolerate improper equipment, verifications, or poor professionalism. Vote with ya feet and all that.
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We get a lot of eastern european guys around here, it seems. Maybe that’s the difference.
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I’m surprised that a business that has this problem with drivers hasn’t come up with a solution. I know of one place that had language cards for what they needed to ask the drivers. I think they had Spanish, Russian, and maybe Korean. They drivers just needed to read the card and respond with a yes or a no.
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All this back and forth on companies DOES make it clear how hard this is from a “private owner of livestock looking to ship said animal” perspective. If big corporations struggle to find the balance of qualified and affordable, where is the poor horse owner left?
Especially when/if big, fancy, apparently The Best companies pull stunts.
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We need a load number to verify what they are here for. That’s where a lot of problems arise. They give PO numbers, customer names, every which thing, then start getting pissed off. I need the load number in order to initiate the load. I give them the first 4 numbers (same on every load), they need to give me the last 6.
That and dirty trailers that I will not allow them to clean on site. No, you may not sweep out your metal shavings and broken glass onto the ground in a food facility.
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Yeah I worked on the west coast. The nicest drivers I dealt with were from India and the worst was a toss up between Russia and southern US.
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I’ve have overall pleasant experiences with the Indian drivers I’ve dealt with, with one notable exception to the guy who showed up 30 minutes after the dock closed and was livid that I would not reopen for him.
