. . . . hauling for a living is a
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form of lunacy, and a pernicious form at that. I have met literally hundreds of otherwise sane and reasonable men who have been afflicted by the dreadful virus; some have recovered, others have acquired the disease in a chronic form. For the guidance of potential victims or more fortunate observers I append a brief description of the qualities and attributes necessary to survive the infection.
First and foremost — and no man can speak on this point with greater authority than I — the potential haulier must banish utterly all romantic Thoughts and inclinations in connection 'with the work. If you wish to see your name travelling the land in large letters, rent some space on the side of a bus and at least you will know the total cost in advance. There is absolutely nothing romantic about the job, with the possible exception of furniture removal, though all the practitioners of that art I have ever met were downto-earth men indeed.
Life in the industry is real and earnest with a vengeance, and what makes it different from every other trade is its immediacy. If you do not sell a man a ear today you may sell him one tomorrow, but if a man asks you to move 10 tons of peas or of paper he wants it done NOW, and if you do not do it someone else will and tomorrow the load has gone for ever, and so has a day's depreciation — and tax, and insurance, and wages, and bank interest, and many other overheads which the load would have paid for.