I humbly apologize. I’ve been talking about the Trucker Dump Slack group for quite a while on the podcast version of Trucker Dump and completely forgot about all of you who prefer to read the blog posts instead of listening to my annoying voice blather on about things happening in my life and answering listener feedback. No wonder the Trucker Dump Slack group wasn’t growing as fast I hoped it would!

I suppose it might be helpful to explain what the heck this Slack thing is all about. In short, Slack is a glorified chat app, meaning you can chat with other members, as well as post videos, photos, and links to cool stuff found on the web. It’s a free app and it’s available on iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, and even Linux.

In the case of the Trucker Dump Slack group, you can do all of this with other people who read or listen to the Trucker Dump podcast/blog. Most are fellow truckers, but we already have at least one non-trucker who follows Trucker Dump because he respects truckers and the job we do. Shout out to Andrew (@pumpkinsfan)!

Different Slack channels to keep things organized

So for instance, if you want to talk about your truck or trailer breaking down, or you found a link to a sweet-looking Peterbilt, you can post it in the #equipment channel and have other members comment on it.

Frustrated about a stupid Hours-Of-Service rule? Rant about it in the #hoursofservice channel. Want to talk about your employer or the kind of day you’re having? That’s what the #trucking channel is for. We feel your pain, man (or woman). Or if you just want talk about a cool movie you saw or a new band you’re into, pop it into the #general channel.

Why Slack?

You may be asking yourself, why doesn’t this goober start a Facebook group like any normal person? The fact is, I just don’t like Facebook. I had a bad experience with it when I first tried it and everything I’ve heard about it since hasn’t convinced me to give it another try. I also spoke to Buck from The Trucking Podcast and he said he didn’t get nearly as much benefit from having a Facebook page as he thought he would. And he has a lot more podcast listeners than I do!

Okay, but why not Twitter? Twitter simply moves too fast. You could post that cool truck photo and most people will miss it if they don’t happen to have Twitter open at the time. It’s also really hard to carry on a conversation with another trucker when the messages are flying by so quickly.

Sure, we could have a conversation in Twitter with Direct Messages, but that doesn’t give anyone else a chance to jump into the discussion. How boring is that? And you can’t send photos and links inside Direct Messages in some third-party Twitter apps. There’s just isn’t a decent way to form a community on Twitter.

But I do like Slack

It’s a more closed and lesser-known form of social media, but it allows us to have a group conversation where everyone can be involved.

You might be thinking, Man, I really don’t need another social media thing in my life! I get it. I truly do. That’s part of the reason I didn’t want to start up with Facebook again. But please give Slack a chance. Worse case scenario, you discover Slack isn’t for you and you gracefully duck out. Whatever works for you. No hard feelings.

But you’ll never know until you try. Some of the iTruckers Slack members thought the same thing and now most of them enjoy our Slack community more than their other social outlets. I know I spend a lot more time in Slack than I do on Twitter nowadays.

There aren’t a lot of members in the Trucker Dump Slack group yet, so it isn’t nearly as active as the craziness of the iTruckers Slack group (many of which are also a part of the Trucker Dump Slack group). You can help fix that by joining today!

Simply send me an email to TruckerDump@gmail.com requesting an invitation to the Trucker Dump Slack group. Then search for the free Slack app on your mobile device or computer (or both), download it, and await your shiny new invitation. Unlike answering listener/reader feedback, I’m usually fairly prompt at getting the invitation sent.

Create your account and jump right into the conversation. The more the merrier! If you’ve got any questions about how Slack works, simply ask inside the app once you get signed in. There are lots of friendly folks willing to help. Hope to see you in the Trucker Dump Slack group soon!