Other than relying on the ATA for their jaded input, that wasn't too bad of a write up.
This quote sums it up in a nutshell: Drivers, as of last year, were making, based on real dollars, somewhere between 6-8% less than they were in 1990 and working 70 hours a week.
Fox news:Trucker shortage
Discussion in 'Truckers News' started by 201, Aug 23, 2014.
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6 Speed, "semi" retired, tahokid and 1 other person Thank this.
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There is a driver shortage; a qualified driver shortage. Anyone can drive a truck but it takes an experienced driver to not bump into things. Sadly, the industry is overwhelmed with inexperienced drivers whom the carriers don't want to pay a lot for. And it doesn't help that our industry makes it so easy to go from job to job to job, so the inexperienced driver will always be at the bottom of the pay scale always chasing the carrot never developing the skills and patience to become an experience driver. Would an accountant who worked for 3, 4, or 5 businesses inside of 2 years ever get hired as an accountant? Heck no, so why should a driver?
Then there are the carriers, large and small alike, whose business model appears to pay the driver as little as possible, treat them with little or no respect as human beings, and focus on the bottom dollar too much. Don't get me wrong and think "I believe the driver is a saint", oh, far from it. Drivers today are no stupid animals, if they see a weakness, loophole, or advantage they can get from a company, they will exploit it. Then the company will become cynical about drivers and the cycle continues.
Drivers will cheat, steal, and lie from a company and a company will cheat, steal, and lie to drivers. And both will do it to the shippers/receivers/DOT/mechanics if they can get away with it and they all do it in return. Our industry, our jobs, our lives are all built on this foundation of lies that we all believe and don't believe at the same time. I can think of no other industry that behaves in this manner. Would you go to a doctor who tells you what you want to hear just so you stop calling?
It's no surprise hardly anyone would want to be a driver today. They're given minimal training, then given the exact same responsibility as a seasoned vet and are raked over the coals because they cannot perform as well as a seasoned driver, and probably fired for it.Joetro, pattyj and "semi" retired Thank this. -
Well, thank goodness there are trucking jobs. Around here there are few full-time jobs for young people not going into medicine, computers or business, and a college degree means going into a job with $100,000 of debt if not more. My son is out training right now, loves it. Not getting top pay, but enough to live on and a heck of a lot more than working at a fast food place or Walmart.
BrenYoda883 and pattyj Thank this. -
[QUOTE="semi" retired;4202282]Wow G/MAN, are you on the same planet as the rest of us? I don't like disagreeing with anyone, as it just throws gas on a tire fire, but there is indeed a driver shortage. I go by CL and just what this guy said in the video and that was 2 years ago, he could add 50 drivers right now! It's a pretty good indication of what's out there. I casually scan CL several times a week, just in case that "miracle job" presents itself (nothing yet), and I've watched the transport openings steadily grow from 40 or 50 openings, to 140 the other day, more than any other classification. And that was just in Milwaukee, Chicago CL has over 300 openings. I'm sorry, but if you don't think there's a driver shortage, you are in the same boat as the newscaster.[/QUOTE]
We have seen this before in this industry. I wonder how much of the so called driver shortage is due to churn or drivers moving from one carrier to another? What most of those who report on the driver shortage fail to mention is the movement from one carrier to another. Until they include those numbers I am not sure how you would get an accurate picture of whether there is really a driver shortage. Just talking to a handful of major carriers is not a valid indicator or a shortage. One company may have difficulty finding qualified drivers while another may be turning applicants away. It is the same as when the fmcsa polled about 100 drivers from one or two mega carriers to get the results they wanted. It was not a valid poll. I see little difference in recruiting tactics today than a few years ago. Sign on bonuses come and go, depending on the needs of the carrier. I do know of some veteran drivers and owners who are ready to throw in the towel. Most are simply fed up with all the over regulations, CSA, constant HOS changes, etc., It is the ATA and mega carriers who have pushed for much of the changes we see in an effort to quash competition. It seems that they often don't like what they get. -
Has anyone read "The Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck? And how the produce company owners encouraged the influx of cheap labor into California during the dust bowl and conspired to keep rates low and bust unions? The trucking industry reminds me of that.
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Sounds like your son is doing great.If he keeps this attitude and of course a clean mvr,there is nothing in trucking that he can't overcome.Best wishes to your son.
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I wanted to be a driver since I was about 9 years old. So I very distinctly remember watching the bombardment of trucking school commercials on channel 44 in the Bay Area. Even at 9, it was all very exciting to hear about the driver shortage and the even BIGGER driver shortage to come... That was almost 40 years ago!
I've never had a problem finding a job, so I guess in that sense there is not an over abundance of drivers... but look at the numbers.
Every place I go to look for driver shortage statistics all claim about 30,000 drivers short, and that we will be 200,000 short in 20 years. I also find stats that say there are about 3,500,000 drivers now.
I could be wrong, But I'm pretty sure that puts us at a whopping 1 percent shortage! --less actually.
Even in 20 years when we are 200,000 short as they predict, that is less then 6 percent. And that is assuming we still only have 3.5 million drivers in 20 years.
Even at 6 percent, I predict the grocery store shelves wont go bare. -
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