Amid widespread concern over a trucker boycott of New York City, a truck driver offers a different perspective on why drivers might avoid pickups and deliveries there.
This week, headline after headline has speculated that New York City (NYC) could be on the brink of a severe supply chain crisis after a viral video suggested that truckers show support for Donald Trump by boycotting the city.
In the now-deleted video, trucker and social media personality Chicago Ray said that after a $355 million fine was levied against Trump in a civil fraud case brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James, he heard that fellow truckers would refuse to deliver to NYC.
In the days since the video went viral, even earning the endorsement of Trump himself, other truckers have also taken to social media to offer perspectives on a possible trucker boycott of NYC.
One of those truckers is North Carolina-based social media personality and trucker Andy Andrew, who is known as the bluecollar_trucker on TikTok.
Andrew recently shared a video that has garnered more than 167,000 views that explains that many truckers already avoid NYC not because of any political grievance but rather because the city doesn’t treat them very well.
“So about this trucker strike, nobody’s talked to me about it,” Andrew says. “It’s not happening, there’s no striking against New York City, not over the Trump case.”
Andrew goes onto explain that a lot truckers do refuse to enter the boroughs because of a lack of truck parking, toll costs, heavy traffic, and crime. He also points to a program that allows New York City residents to earn a “bounty” for tattling to officials about idling trucks.
Andrew says that NYC is so unfriendly to truckers that many who have been refuse to go back, and some refuse to ever enter at all.
Andrew reiterates, “You can’t get two drivers to agree the sky is blue or it’s raining, and they’re standing out there getting drenched … Yeah, it’s not happening, I promise you.”
