Truck driver shortage, other troubles could push up prices for consumers

OH,OH, here we go again. ZAP!!

 

Are you a member of OOIDA?
If not you should be.

 

I remember reading a websitepage off a truckingfirm offering 44cpm and free internet in the truck.
That was at least 10y ago,if not longer.
Today you hear drivers getting 23cpm(figure comes from Joseph who mentioned it in connection with a takeover Lessor's did)

There isn't a driver shortage.
Otherwise wages would be at higher level.

 

Hmm, moderators must have taken an early holiday, I saw the word union, and figured for sure it would be redirected.

 

I made .50/mile 20 years ago and feel lucky too be getting it now.

 

Maybe drivers need to take a look at average pay outside trucking, to really get an idea of how screwed many of them are regarding pay.

I talk to cab drivers taking home as much as an OTR company driver every week. Except the OTR guy has no time at home and spends half his pay eating on the road.

There are others too. Many state's minimum wages are high enough that a worker could get two minimum wage jobs at $10/hr or more and take home more money than what many drivers make.

Did you know a local end dump Class A CDL truck driver with years of experience takes home less money yearly than a newbie forklift driver at a non-union shop? And the fork lift driver spent nothing for training!

Then there is construction. I hauled some dragline mats away for a highline construction crew. The kid helping to spot the loader was working out of state away from home for weeks like a trucker. However he was getting $18/hr for the first 40 hours then 1.5x$18, or $27/hr for every hour over the 40. He averages 75hr weeks. That's $1665/week! Plus he gets paid $55/day extra for per diem . So that's another $385/week. He stays at extended stay motels for about $300 per week so the per diem covers that fine. Anyhow $1665 and $385 equals $2050/week in gross pay for a long week away from home like truckers. But this guy wasn't even licensed or skilled. He was just a laborer!

Granted I was clearing $400/day to haul them, but I also had to invest a lot of my own money in my equipment to be able to haul those mats. I also had to pay for trucking school, endure a couple years of crap with a mega carrier, and maintain my license, etc.
This kid didn't need to invest any money or time in anything except a pair of work boots and a reliable used car!

Yeah, truckers are being put off and lied too. It is really sad. The real irony is many truckers help argue for the side that is blowing smoke! They will be ready to actually stand up and fight against any trucker who seeks better pay!
This is jaw dropping! What kid of mind machine does this to someone? It's just absolutely unreal!

 

[QUOTE="semi" retired;4109343]OH,OH, here we go again. ZAP!![/QUOTE]

Yep, no doubt. Drivers talk about pay. Anti-driver pay advocate wants to kill the dialog, so all he has to do is incite two people to start bickering and invoking the evil "U-word". Then SLAM! Thread closed. End of story.

We can discuss pay but can't wander too far into politics and the U-word is absolutely taboo.

All that aside. Driver pay for many is so far behind, you don't need to organize
anybody. Drivers just need to learn, on an individual basis, how to grow a pair, stand up straight, and communicate for their own interests to managment. Learn to set limits, demand more pay, and be ready to say NO and then go home.

That would do a lot right there. First, a driver needs to stay out of debt and set some cash aside to be able to say NO. That's the growing a pair part; don't be a debt slave that can be easily abused as a result. Instead, be the guy with cash that can say NO and leave the boss standing there with loads to haul but no driver. All because $200 or $300 more per week in that driver's payroll would cost him too much. PLEASE spare me the lies boss!

 

All this article is pushing is propaganda to push forward immigration reform so instead of paying more wages and attracting drivers to the industry that way, they can keep wages the same or drive them down by import cheap immigrant labor to fill the demand.

 

Yep, that's why they whine to Congress all the time, "We can't find drivers. We need more immigrant visas. We need more government credits for training. We need more corporate welfare from taxpayers."

So they won't have to listen to what the free market is saying about labor. They use those things like immigrant visas to mute the free market. Isn't the free market what they ordinarily preach in support of? They shouldn't have it both ways!
You are either a proponent for free markets or you are a proponent for big goverment, socialism-like corporate welfare.
Did you know corporate welfare is a much larger burden on America than welfare for people that cannot or will not work?

I run into ex-truck drivers all the time. Most voluntarily leave the industry as soon as they find a good job outside of trucking. They usually were drivers less than 2 years.

There are plenty of trained drivers in this country. Most won't do this job for $30k a year. They would rather stay home and work hourly at $12 to $18 an hour for 30-40hrs per week. Get home every night and forego the extra expenses on the road. Avoiding the sitting behind a convenience store in a dirt lot over the holiday weekend without pay or the permission to deadhead anywhere, because your mega carrier dispatcher is a prick. Yeah, been there done that.

Tell Congress about that one U.S. Xpress!

 

Our votes don't even matter. It's not "We the People. It's we the Big Corporations".

Hey, corporations are people too; the Supreme Court says so!