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Monthly Archives: May 2011
Patience is the Companion of Wisdom
Happy Memorial Day. First and foremost, I’d like to extend my personal thanks to the men and women warriors of the US Armed Forces. For 235 years, their dedicated service, loyalty and persistence through incredible difficulty have secured this amazing country for all of us today, for future generations of Americans, and it seems more and more, for freedom loving people all over the world. Big fist bump to all of you.
I was fortunate to spend the holiday weekend with family and friends at a relaxing beach house north of Seattle, WA on the Puget Sound. We all work too hard sometimes and an entire three day weekend of reading, pickle ball and kayaking seemed like just what the Doc ordered.
It worked great until about halfway through the day Sunday when slowly the thoughts returned to work. Is this project on track, is that product the right one, is there somewhere I should be, somebody who needs something from me? Seemed like my three days of relaxation had come to an end a day and a half early.
Then I turned the page of the novel I was reading and the author offered a quote that stopped me short, reminded me of the sacrifice of our armed forces, drained away the stress and let me enjoy the rest of the holiday. I thought I’d share it with you, maybe some of you will find a bit of calm in this philosophy as I did. Leo Tolstoy was quoted: “The two most powerful warriors are patience, and time”
Vigillo lives in a very focused world of carrier safety, specifically CSA. We hear a lot about the urgency of fixing this part of CSA, or changing some severity weight or aligning the states on enforcement priorities. It occurs to me that we should all take a little longer view, couple Tolstoy’s quote with one from Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton and remember that “Patience is not passive, on the contrary, it is active, it is concentrated strength”
This great nation was not built overnight, the patience of those who defend her today and the generations before them is unmatched in human history. The trucking industry faces challenges today that are unmatched in the history of motorized transport. Concentrate, stay strong, and deploy the warriors.
Patience is the Companion of Wisdom – St Augustine, 354 AD
CSA: Not Just for OTR Carriers!
The FMCSA announced that in May, over 3,000 passenger carrier safety inspections were conducted over a two week period. Additionally, they initiated 38 full safety compliance reviews on commercial passenger bus companies. For details, see the FMCSA’s press release.
This is in line with the FMCSA’s clear desire to have more stringent passenger-carrier safety standards. As earlier this month they announced they are focusing on passenger carriers to align themselves with the Federal Regulations and will be giving consumers tools to check the safety records before riding with them. Like this handy dandy little online tool.
Now let’s see them come out with an app for that.
Marissa! Sales Rep Extraordinaire
Many of you know me previously as the Vigillo Sales Administrator. I was the person you called when you had questions about your account, CSA, the Scorecards, and what to do/see when you got to Oregon. Oh wait, I still do that! But, I have recently been promoted to Sales Representative. I look forward to being a more active member of the trucking community as a representative of Vigillo. (I look forward to meeting some of you face to face!)
My background has been primarily in sales, after graduating from Lewis & Clark College with a degree in Psychology, I’ve held many roles in sales for a few different companies before finding a home with Vigillo. In my personal life, I spend as much time as possible with my dog, Jake, outside (weather permitting). I have also been known to feed large groups of people and bring in cupcakes!
Monthly Update Progress
Since my last post we have been working with the FMCSA to identify the issue with COMPASS Portal access over the past few weeks. I am glad to be able to report that the FMCSA has identified a problem with Compass Portal just this morning and are working on a fix we expect to have today. Hopefully this will return service as normal. We will need a few days to get your data but hopefully this works now and we can get back on track.
I will keep you updated on progress.
Where are my updated Scorecards?
Here at Vigillo we pride ourselves with being able to provide our Scorecards in a timely manner. To do that we source data from the FMCSA SMS website and COMPASS Portal. Recently there has been a degradation in the COMPASS systems ability to provide data access with data integrity. While these problems continue we are working with the FMCSA and Volpe Center to access and validate the data we need. As a result our monthly Scorecard updates have been delayed. We currently have approximately two-thirds of the required data which puts our best estimates for monthly update completion at mid next week.
Vigillo is currently working with the FMCSA and working on new technologies that will better address these problems in future.
We will keep you posted on progress and apologize for the delay.
Red Flags: What You Need To Know
I don’t need to tell you what a red flag is, right? You already know. Somebody mentions “that’s a real red flag right there” and what do you picture? I’ll bet it is a vivid image of something: a terrible decision, someone getting yelled at or fired, or – worst case – property destroyed and people losing their lives.
Well, the FMCSA has red flags, too. More specifically – the FMCSA has a specific list of twelve Red Flag Violations. Walk with me down the hall of these worst of the worst violations so that you’ll understand what they are, what you need to know about them, and how Vigillo can help. Read more
A new start at Vigillo!
Hello All,
My name is Katie Stuvland and I am the new Sales Admin with Vigillo. I graduated from the University of Oregon with my degree in Psychology and Business. In my free time, I volunteered at the Eugene Relief Nursery, a non-profit child abuse and neglect prevention agency. I also was highly involved in Early Childhood Cares, a program to serve children from birth to three years of age with developmental delays and disabilities. Along with my volunteer work, I was an active sports enthusiast. In my spare time I play volleyball, basketball, and golf. I regularly attend all Duck football games and I am looking forward to the 2011 season. I haven’t missed a home game since I was born. Go Ducks!
I have worked in the customer service industry for the past 5 years. I enjoy talking to people and gaining a different perspective through listening to others. The customer service industry is very rewarding. I am so excited to be a part of Vigillo and I look forward to the opportunities and challenges that come with a new start. Thanks for welcoming me into your family.