Hi! I’m Satnam Singh, I’ve been trucking for 25 years and my community of Punjabi Sikhs is very active in truck driving. I crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, got detained and now I own a trucking company that makes $200k a year. Ask me anything!

Are you vegetarian full time? If you are, how difficult is it to maintain a healthy diet on the road full time and not be a bagel-tarian?

Yes, I am a full-time vegetarian. Luckily, there are many vegetarian options with Punjabi food. We can eat roti with many different vegetables and daals (lentil and bean soups). I also eat fresh salad and dahin (yogurt). I am lucky because my wife prepares food for me and I take it on the road.

Have you eaten at this restaurant, Punjabi Dhaba? It’s near Barstow.

I felt like it was tailored towards truckers. It was an unexpected pit stop on the road. Also pretty good.

No, I have not eaten there yet.

Why is your community so active in Trucking vs any other profession?

The Punjabi Sikh community is very active in trucking because there are many jobs available. When we immigrate to the U.S., there are not many jobs for people who don't have a college degree and don't know English very well. Trucking is a hard job but we are willing to work hard. Also, there is a lot of freedom in trucking. We can set our own schedule and work how much we want to.

Do kids in cars still pull down their hands asking you to blast your air horn? Do you oblige them?

Yes! Kids still ask me to blast my horn. I always blow it because they get very happy. They start to smile and clap their hands or give me a thumbs up.

Are you concerned about the longevity of your company with the automation of trucking on the horizon?

Yes, I am concerned about the automation of trucking. I would lose my job and at my age, no one else would want to hire me. Many people are going to lose their jobs. This will hurt a lot of families who don't have other good options for well-paying jobs.

What is your contingency plan? What if you start saving now to purchase an automated truck in the future? Or do you think the large corporations will buy so many that the little guy won't have any chips in the game?

I do think that large corporations will buy most of the trucks. They have more money to buy and they also negotiate lower prices with the truck manufacturers so they get better rates. If there is no other option I will have to buy an automated truck but I hope I can continue with my current truck for a long time.

They company makes 200k a year? Is that profit or revenue of the company, or is that your personal income from it. 200k revenue for a trucking company i imagine would only be running 2 trucks.

The $200k a year is revenue. I am an owner-operator and only have 1 truck in my company. So this is all from 1 truck. Many companies have more trucks and so they make more money.

Why were you detained?

I was detained because I crossed the Mexican border without a visa.

There is a stereotype that the majority of truckers are rednecks. Has there been any significant prejudice against you or your Sikh drivers from other truckers? Or have they welcomed you as brothers of the road?

For many years, there has been a lot of prejudice against me and other Sikh drivers. Drivers who are white will call us names, curse at us, give us the middle finger, not talk to us properly, and assume we don't know English. There have been incidents where Sikh drivers have been assaulted. However, some of this started to change in 2017 when we protested against the federal ELD mandate. We started to work together with the white drivers to protest because we were all being affected. Since then, the white drivers have started to understand us more but some racism is still there.

The ELD: electronic logging device was a regulation change where truckers lost the ability to log their driving hours and break hours, manually. Instead that would be monitored electronically which many truckers protested against. Since electronic monitoring fails to account for hours wasted in traffic, or at loading sites, many truck drivers felt it would negatively impact their work.

This article I wrote would help to explain ELDs more. -Harjit

https://medium.com/@harjits/the-fall-of-trucking-e8a1c083022f

How many days a year do you take off for vacations and fun?

How much do you get to enjoy the different places you go to? Take a hike at a national park, for example.

I do not regularly take time off for vacation or traveling. Maybe once every 4 or 5 years I will visit India. Sometimes I take a few days off every 2 or 3 months to rest and spend time with my family. When there is a large Sikh gathering or event, I will take a week off (two or three times per year) to help make food for people.

Oh I actually saw the video last night. I'm fascinated by how beautiful and customized the trucks are, a better flair to it than, say, your traditional truckers(nothing wrong with it, various cultures decorating their trucks is always interesting)

What's some of the most interesting Sikh truck customizations and additions you've seen?

The coolest thing I have seen is some drivers have changed their horn to a Punjabi folk song tune. I have seen some Sikh drivers add chrome parts and accessories to their trucks. Some people's inside cabins are decorated very nicely with lights and drapes. Some even have a dedicated space for prayer inside their truck cabin.

Congrats on your business being successful! What’s the craziest thing you have seen happen while driving?

I was driving in Washington on I-5. A deer ran onto the highway and slammed into my driver's side door. It didn't die! It got up and ran back into the trees. But it left a huge dent in my door that cost $4,000 to repair.

As someone who is familiar with trucking from firsthand experience (riding along with my trucker cousin, also Punjabi family), I know that lack of sleep and exercise are issues for many truckers. What is your take on these issues and what can truckers do to alleviate them? Is there legislation related to these in the works? If so, why or why not support it?

This is a very good question. I do not know the answer because it is also hard for me. The best way is if you can follow a regular schedule but this is difficult because we always get loads on different times and days. I want to exercise on weekends but am usually too tired and want to rest. The ELD legislation is supposed to help but it actually hurts us more because or schedule is determined by the electronic logging device and we have less freedom.

This article I wrote would help to explain ELDs more. -Harjit

https://medium.com/@harjits/the-fall-of-trucking-e8a1c083022f

1. ਇਸ ਕਾਰੋਬਾਰ ’ਚ ਤੁਹਾਡੀ ਸ਼ੁਰੂਆਤ ਕਿੱਥੋਂ ਅਤੇ ਕਿਵੇਂ ਹੋਈ?

2. ਮੁਢਲਾ ਜੀਵਨ ਤੁਹਾਡਾ ਕਿਸ ਤਰ੍ਹਾਂ ਬੀਤਿਆ?

Translation: 1. How and where did you enter this profession/business? 2. Please elaborate on what your early life was like?

Did I get this right? :)

I started trucking while living in Live Oak, CA. Before, I working as a farm laborer in the fields. My friend was a truck driver and told me I can learn to drive a truck to better support my family. While working during the day I learned to drive a truck at night. My early life was filled with a lot of struggles. Our family was very poor so it was hard for us to make a living. This is why I came to America.

ਮੇਰੇ ਦੋਸਤ ਨੇ ਮੈਂਨੂੰ ਟਰੱਕ ਚਲਾਉਣਾ ਸਖਾਇਆ। ਮੈਂ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਖੇਤਾਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਕੰਮ ਕਰਦਾ ਸਾਂ। ਆਪਣੇ ਪਰਿਵਾਰ ਦੀ ਵਧੀਆ ਦੇਖ-ਭਾਲ ਵਾਸਤੇ ਮੈਂ ਟਰੱਕ ਚਲਾਉਣਾ ਸ਼ੁਰੂ ਕੀਤਾ।

How to pronounce Sikh?

Sikh comes from a Sanskrit word for student. In Punjabi it’s pronounced with a short ‘i’ and an aspirated ‘k’ like “sick” in English. Some people also pronounce it as “seek.” -Shreen

EDIT: Signed off as Shreen!

Is it offensive to you to hear "dude, that's Sikh!" as a compliment?

Because your beard and turban combo look so great!

I would say thank you and appreciate you for respecting my identity.

Sat Sri Akal ! I feel proud looking at our community growing allover the world. I'm a Punjabi Sikh (still in Punjab). I would like to ask you if you face any racism living abroad. Also, would you suggest a well-settled person in Punjab to go abroad and try to restart his life just to get a better Lifestyle? Waheguru Mehar Kare!

There is still racism but it depends on where you live. If you live in a community with a lot of Sikhs then you will feel safer.

If you are already well-settled in Punjab, it is best to stay in Punjab. If you move abroad, it will take a lot of hard work and effort to get a better lifestyle. I only came because I was desperate and had no other options. If you are well-settled and living in the motherland then that is the best place to be.

Is there an increasing awareness of the massive differences between Sikhs and Muslims? Or is that the primary source of confusion?

There is still a lot of confusion here. Many people do not know who Sikhs are and think we are Muslim. Some people think Sikhs are Hindus also. But these are all 3 different religions.

What highway is the scariest to drive? Heading down the Grapevine on the I-5 south of Bakersfield always scared me because there's these runaway truck ramps in case your breaks fail. Is there anything like that that you've driven where you were like, "It's very possible I lose control of my truck on this patch of road."

The scariest for me is during the winter on Highway 97 in Oregon. The elevation is high. There the snow freezes and forms black ice. I have seen many trucks lose control there. Even my truck has slipped there. In 1995, I was in a big accident on Hwy 97 and had to be taken to the hospital on a helicopter.

What model of truck do you drive? What would be your dream truck?

I drive a Freightliner Cascadia. My dream truck is a Kenworth T600. I also would like to have a Peterbilt with a Studio Sleeper.

Do you use the UHF, CB Radio that Truckers uses? How other drivers respond when they hear your accent?

I don't use the CB anymore because my current truck does not have it. People don't use CB much anymore. When I previously used it, sometimes people would curse me out but mostly people were respectful.

Is the trucking community worried about automated vehicles? If they release electric trucks, would you buy them for your drivers? Why or why not?

If electric trucks are released and they are the same price as diesel trucks, I would buy them. Diesel is very expensive and electric trucks would produce less emissions so it is better for the environment.