According to the chief economist at the ATA, Bob Costello, if carriers could hold on to all of their new hires for at least 90 days, the driver turnover rate would be cut in half.
Reported by DCVelocity, Costello dropped the shocking statistic during a presentation at the NASSTRAC shippers conference and transportation expo in Orlando on the 25th. He was referring to only large carriers with more than $30 million in annual revenue. If his data is correct, it sheds light on a serious driver turnover issue that may have more to it than the usual explanation of drivers leaving to chase a higher paycheck after a year or so.
OTR Trucking has some of the highest turnover rates of any job in the US, with the last quarter of 2015 reporting 102% driver turnover at large carriers. LTL trucking however has a turnover rate of only 11% which is considered to be largely due to higher pay, shorter runs, and more home time.
Driver recruiters and carrier executives have spoken about the 90-day mark before. In a CCJ article from 2013, COO of Gordon Trucking, Steve Gordon, said that in the first 90 days, new hires see the problems they weren’t expecting.
“They may get frustrated with our approach, maybe it’s different from where they were previously. They don’t like how the truck is governed. They don’t like the mobile comm system. There’s a ton of aggravators out there people will look at, and say, ‘this just isn’t what I signed up for.’ It’s easier for them to do that in the first 90 days,” said Gordon.
Costello also pointed out that if driver turnover remains as high as it is, drivers will likely “continue to benefit from rising wages and benefits.”
Source: dcvelocity, overdrive, ccj
Truck driver says
Paid them well then they will stay.
H-TOWN says
Follow through with promises you made when they were hired, and they will stay.
sudon't says
“OTR Trucking has some of the highest turnover rates of any job in the US, with the last quarter of 2015 reporting 102% driver turnover at large carriers. LTL trucking however has a turnover rate of only 11% which is considered to be largely due to higher pay, shorter runs, and more home time.”
Mystery solved. Bottom line is, it’s a shitty, low-paying job. After a few months, cooped-up in a sleeper for $500 a week, when this fact has had time to sink in, yeah, people quit. By the time anyone’s paid their dues enough to get an LTL job, well duh, these are the people who’ve already stuck it out.
Dennis says
Boom!!
Joseph says
I want to say the big trucking companies are filed with greedy bastards whose upset there company’s not make 10 billion a year so they squeeze there drivers more but not sure that’s the case at least not entirely. I mean with all the regulations/taxes/fee’s/cost the government is forcing not just trucking but every company out there to abide by everyone’s being squeezed to the point of insanity/going out of business. This is not just trucking, it’s our whole country and every company/job/organization out there for the most part has the same issues, there being squeezed at every angle by big government to the point of going out of business.. long and short of it is big government needs to get out of the business of business, there horrible at it. Everything they put there hands on tanks! the government should be in the business of making sure honest good men can make a living/prosper with out having to worry about being murdered/abused/taken advantage by evil/greedy/immoral men. it’s not that way now. the rotten are prospering while good men are being murdered/abused/taken advantage of. I’m using this kind of wording to get a point across.
John 3:19
Big Guy says
” They may get frustrated with our approach ”
Translation – We’re going to run you as hard as we can and when you ask to be treated with a little respect, were going to label you a trouble maker and eventually you’ll leave, making room for the next sucker, uh, potential driver…..
Dennis says
Yup
BUMBACLADWAR says
Copy,You pretty much honestly summed it up.Where’s the next Victim ,oh I mean driver.We’re gonna mold and sculpt ya,turn you into an unsafe,uncourteous “Road Bully”. Pay ya $63,000 a year. Well actually .30 a mile.,but,the Potentials there!!
Allen carter says
The day I have to put a speed limiter on my truck, I’ll take my retirement seriously.
Tim says
Government is looking to have that done.
Jerry says
Lot of stress out on the road, but drivers don’t leave companies where they are treated well, well payed and have decent trucks to drive. I get so tired of hearing “the driver shortage” I want to scream. There is only a shortage of guys who want to work 24/7 for the lowest wage you can pay and still get the work done. Try paying by the hour and see if truckers mind sitting in a dock for 4 hours waiting to get loaded. Try cutting paperwork to a min and see if drivers would rather not fill out realms of paperwork each day. Hire a lumper and stop forcing drivers who have worked all day to handbalm freight or pay a premium for it. Try saying yes when a driver needs home time. Seems like the companies who pay the worst and treat their employees like garbage complain most about “the driver shortage” Ive heard that excuse for 30 years.
Yvonne says
Very true…
Marian S. Cook says
Well said!!!!
BT says
Bingo! You hit the nail on the head. Trucking: one of the most regulated jobs in the country, easiest job for companies to use loop holes to get free work done, driver solely responsible for everything which includes fighting with the company on what the laws really are, financially responsible for any and all fines acquired because they are in the position of “Do it or find another job” which the company will have your record tarnished where no other company will hire you, work 70 hours a week, every week, mandatory, yet lowest paid and considered ‘any idiot can drive a truck’. I know too may drivers who went through all of the above, they no longer are truck drivers and will never drive truck again. There is no driver shortage, there IS a shortage on pay, home time and fair working conditions. Hourly pay would greatly change things and close so many loop holes companies use for whatever pay scale they use to get more work for less money, or no money.
VanHorne says
I fall into that category. I did a year and some with SWIFT and just had enough. The being gone all the time was hardest on the family, but if you’re not gone all the time, you don’t make enough to even get by on.
Between the corporate and regulatory people, truck driving has become tantamount to legalized slavery, period.
At the end of my stint, my wife greeted me at the Terminal on my last trip coming home in tears. She and my son helped me offload everything and then told me “I don’t care what it takes. You’re not going back out there. We’ll find another way.” And that was that.
Eric says
Not sure hourly pay would solve any problems, had my own company for 16 years. Never had one driver quit on me, I was up front with each driver on what the job was, never candy coated it. Also treated each driver with total respect, just as I expected to be treated.
John says
If you want things to change for the better in all driver related areas, the only solution to that problem is to go union. Only as a whole will drivers get what “they so deserve”. And you had better do it soon. Look to Arizona where they already have “automated” trucks. That is your future. The ten biggest companies will have all the freight, no drivers and total control of all shipping in the USA. They are controlling what FMCSA puts out as regulations (treated as laws when they are not). Everything is designed by them to slowly get rid of the truck driver. Turnover? They do not care. The government pays them to “graduate” drivers (poorly trained ones at that), they control a vast majority of the brokered loads (thus stealing money from drivers) and lease to rookies their own trucks (overpriced, company owned and total garbage). They are already raping the economy for all they can so that they can quietly purchase automated trucks. To fight this, you need to unionize. AND NOW!
R.J. says
You hit the nail on the head for sure! ! !
JT says
Right on true in every aspect
Susan Ackley says
Very well stated.!!!
Joseph says
I want to say the big trucking companies are filed with greedy bastards whose upset there company’s not make 10 billion a year so they squeeze there drivers more but not sure that’s the case at least not entirely. I mean with all the regulations/taxes/fee’s/cost the government is forcing not just trucking but every company out there to abide by everyone’s being squeezed to the point of insanity/going out of business. This is not just trucking, it’s our whole country and every company/job/organization out there for the most part has the same issues, there being squeezed at every angle by big government to the point of going out of business.. long and short of it is big government needs to get out of the business of business, there horrible at it. Everything they put there hands on tanks! the government should be in the business of making sure honest good men can make a living/prosper with out having to worry about being murdered/abused/taken advantage by evil/greedy/immoral men. it’s not that way now. the rotten are prospering while good men are being murdered/abused/taken advantage of. I’m using this kind of wording to get a point across.
John 3:19
Duck says
What shocked me about this article was that carriers were surprised that this finding meant that drivers were not in fact simply chasing higher pay, after a year. Does anyone really understand what that in implies? Among other things, it means that not only do carriers have no idea why drivers are churning, but it implies that they assume drivers are just unstable money chasers!
Mr. Gordan speaks to a very relevant part of the truth. He overlooks the larger factors altogether. Drivers are tired of the same abuses, everywhere they go! The larger companies are all assuming the same management styles and operating methodologies. Here is a short list of real driver complaints: short length of haul; being kept away from home, even deliberately keeping drivers in another part of the country; having administration add unnecessary and unpaid work to a driver’s workload; being promised bonuses, then having them stolen because the company controls all of the preconditions for earning and receiving those bonuses; companies going to “asset managers” who sit in the place of dispatchers, and don’t dispatch, thus depriving drivers of another iota of choice and control; lying, perpetually, laughably, insultingly, pathologically, unnecessarily, lying to the drivers when everyone (including the driver know it), lying as a way to effect social engineering on drivers. The list is simply too long for this format. I’ve been driving for 20 years and I’ve spent much of that time driving for smaller companies for lowers pay than industry standard. I have been driving for a big company for a year now, and I’m quitting to take another job with less pay! Why?, because of all of the above reasons, a score more, to re-humanize myself after so thoroughly being marginalised and dehumanized and emotionally wrecked after a year of nearly incomprehensible abuses! Big companies, don’t project your corporate motives on drivers, we’re just people who want to be treated as such. The reason why the industry turn over rate is so high is because the business model of larger trucking companies is standardizing an operating modality that is pernicious to life and well being of drivers. Get that through your collective cognitive block!!!
phatkhat says
Well said! DH has been with a smaller company for 5 years after going through most of the big ones. He’s got a good dedicated run, gets home every week, brand new KW680, and a responsive driver support organization. Pay isn’t as high as some places he’s worked, but being greeted by name and having his problems addressed promptly is worth a bundle.
Robert Shurtz says
We said…could not of done it better..
My option we get our unions back like they were in the 60ies these problems will go away immediately and the companies will still make plenty of money….
sudon't says
I’m sure that new drivers think, “It couldn’t possibly be this bad at another company.” It takes switching jobs a few times to realize, “Oh yeah, they are all like this!”
I, too, took a big pay cut to get off the road. I was simply tired of having no life at all. We got a new terminal manager who didn’t think the trucks (day cabs) were making enough money. He wanted to know why I didn’t run every ten hours. “You could get six loads in” he says. What’s the point of being home if you only sleep there? Now, of course, he has us slip-seating. Really, I’m just about done with truck driving.
Phantom 309 says
It slways seems to surprise those who control drivers, and try to make them become robots,.
Tell a man when to sleep,. how fast or slow he needs to drive,.How many jobs out there where u have to run a gauntlet of up to 2-3 enforcement agencies in a day,. who at any time can claw back a mans hard earned wages because the paperwork doesn’t fit into their parameters,.
don’t pay him when he is investing his time to make a company profit,. let
him see how trucking companys get bigger and more profitable at his expense,. the man balks and walks away,. after being fed a lot of half truths and promises,
Then publicize and improve on autonomous vehicles, that sends a clear message right there as to the value of a drivers talent,.
I used to love trucking,.now after 35yrs i make less money and my quality of life is less than it used to be,.
Driver shortage? Ha! Lack of respect for the skills needed, and lack of equitable pay for effort, thats the problem,. Capitalism at its finest,. invest millions in a machine to replace the man.
Brian says
In my experience, most of the new hires in the big carrier companies start as students. They are anxious to get behind the wheel and start earning a paycheck but instead find themselves waiting. And waiting. And waiting. They finally start their scooling. Very little of that time is spent driving, backing, turning, or anything but waiting because there are too many students and not enough instructors. Meanwhile they’re not really earning anything. They’re staying in a motel filled with mold and falling apart. Half of the students are sick from either the 2 day bus ride and/or the mold. My point is, the disrespect from the company begins before you even arrive for training and it gets worse every day. All that sitting and waiting gives you plenty of time to reflect on how terrible a company you have stumbled into working for. Etc. Etc.etc….
Yvonne says
Very true…
Brown says
Now this is sooooo true. I’ve been in the industry for about 16 years and now an OO who have contracts through FedEx Expediting division. I say, the only way to make it better for you as a company driver or even for an OO, is to understand the world of trucking. And the only way you can find out about it is you have to experience it. I know the good and the bad from both angles and to be honest it has taught me so much. I, personally love what I do and even more so as an OO. Now that I am in a position to hire individuals to work for me, I took an approach that 95% of the company’s don’t do in order yo keep good and dedicated drivers. Treat them well and respect them as men and women, trust that they will stay. Why? because they are HAPPY where they are.
BT says
Absolutely right Brian. I’ve held a class B for many years, took a 6 month course at All State Careers for my class A, you know how much actual drive time I got in that 6 months? 8 hours….a 15 – 20 minute drive time a day. Yep, that’s it. You know how much time I got backing into a dock? None. Most trucking jobs require bumping docks, no student gets to do that, when they are in the real world and have to do it, their stress and anxiety skyrockets. Along with the false promises from the school, promising making nothing under $40,000 a year for “just driving” as an example, no wonder the turn over rate for new drivers is so high. I knew the real world before I went to school and what having a class A means as far as skills, duties, etc but most of the students are young people who fall for the intentional misinformation and a promise to make $40,000 a year to start, being close to double what they’re making now. Operating a tractor trailer requires MUCH more drive time and skill time, something these schools don’t want to give and won’t ever give since they get their money and it’s the new drivers problem afterward. I don’t drive class A because I know I didn’t get sufficient time training and I’m not about to agree to these trucking companies contracts for training me, something I owe $10,000 for already yet got nothing but a license that says ‘class A CDL’.
BT says
I made it sound like I never drove a tractor trailer, I did but not for long. First did flat bed, hauling heavy equipment for oil & gas, lots of one lane back roads, anyone who’s done it knows what I’m saying. The owner was a complete idiot and wanted me not to chain down correctly, he wanted it done HIS way no matter what, his way wasn’t even close to DOT regs. I got chewed out every time he talked to me because I did it the RIGHT way, not HIS way. That lasted one week and his truck was delivered to his house with a “Kiss my a**” added in. Next job was hauling tanker, crude oil and condensate. Forced to work, on average, 95 hours a week, my first week there I worked 101 hours, no joke. Great pay, it was hourly and much higher than a truck driver could ever hope for, but I was being forced to do it because I was a new class A driver, we know how it works. I was a walking zombie and had to take a tractor trailer where people take 4×4’s pickups. It was a learning experience all around and I did enjoy it, but, if DOT or local (DOT trained) law enforcement would of ever pulled me, we all know how heavy the fines would be. That lasted 6 months and I asked to work less hours, was hoping for the normal 70 hours a week, and was told I was a good provider for the company and I should appreciate having a job any truck driver would kill for. I gave my notice right then and there, woke up for the next 18 – 20 hour day to a voice mail to not come in any more. I went back to driving class B trucks and since then decided to leave trucking all together. I love doing it but these companies are ridiculous. Sorry, had to explain…I’m off my soap box, lol.
Dennis says
That has been my experience exactly.
Brian says
Oh god, I misspelled “schooling.” Thank you Spellcheck for having my back….
Yvonne says
LOL!
R.J. says
spelling aside, your comment is right on the mark.
Sandy says
First of all pay drivers what they are worth, a driver can get a 9-5 job and bring home $3-400/week, if they treat you w/respect do the same for them, take care of equipment, understand that drivers are just as human as everyone else, they get sick, they run into traffic, they deal w/idiots on the road, they deal w/DOT and on and a on, and they still get freight moved. But let them be late on a load and holy crap it’s all their fault. They sit in docks getting loaded and are expected to make impossible del times. If shippers and receivers want their product on time then they need to work together on this. In short be drivers are human, they have bad days just like everyone else. Be good to them and they will remember that
Brown says
I totally agree Sandy,
If you are good to your drivers trust that they will make sure they get the job done and legally. I give my driver bonuses, a raise every 3 to 6 months up to .50 per mile for my experienced drivers, they get home time 2 to 3 times per month and I start them off at .43 per mile for my 1st seat experienced driver and for my rookie driver starting pay is .30 per mile for the first year with my company and then get a raise after the 1st year. I have other bonuses such as extra pay for level 1 inspections performed by DOT, no preventable accidents etc.
I have been out here for a long time, and I know what drivers want. They want to feel at home away from home, so why not take care of them. I am positive that if every company/OO do this, there want be high turnover rates for companies and driver’s will be loyal and dedicated to their OO’s.
Charle says
I agree with the comments above. I don’t see how it’s that hard to see what the problem is. Pay is a big problem with the time away from home involved, being lied to is another problem. The pay won’t come up until the rates to the truck come up. LTL pays better because the rates are better. Rates won’t come up because of all the cut throat people in the business. Another problem is all this new technology and regulation we are getting in the name of SAFETY. Try saying “in the name of money” that can be the beginning of the stop lying part of my comment.
Jake says
Drivers paychecks get smaller when traffic slows them down, when dispatch gets mad and leaves them sitting because they couldn’t make the impossible drive times, when electronic logs stop them from driving when they are awake and force them to drive when they are tired, etc. Drivers are not getting higher pay in any part of the industry. There is nothing to take advantage of.
R.J. says
Its definitely a “DOGS” life that favors the young and flexible…
Paul says
Absolutely. These low scale companies don’t pay. No benefits,no home time. They abuse drivers by stealing thousands of hours from their lives to sit for free and mostly far away from their home/families. That’s just tip of the iceberg. To cut shortage greatly all companies must PAY hourly. It would force companies to plan better. Also mandatory health benefits day one. Drivers have families to cover. Good enough to be on the road then drivers need to be covered. These large carriers turned a respected professional trade into a whore house. Today is their results. Make day cab/500mile days. Home daily. Cut shortage.
JT says
Did you have a Union in mind?
Yvonne says
These large training companies are receiving grants for every student. They don’t care if they have the freight to run them or not, as long as the grant money keeps coming. Check this out….if each student gets a $10,000 grant (and that is low… ex-military gets more) and you have 30 new students each week….that adds up to $300,000 a week in grants. Now, times that by 52 weeks!! Money talks and the student falls by the wayside. I wish the goverment would send the check to the student instead of the companies, we would hear them singing a different tune then.
Douglas Kirk says
Where is this information coming from? Sounds like more cb wisdom
BT says
No Doug, no cb wisdom, she is stating 100% fact. I speak from personal experience and the experience of hundreds of truck driving students I kept in contact with and tried to help. These schools start new students weekly….WEEKLY….and the course cost $10,000, that is all fact. Driving time is as I stated above in my other comments, students are told to lie on their logs while in school. I knew of only one student who got to drive actual hours and that was because he just so happened to be the only student who started that week, he lucked out big time. He was taking the weekend course because he had a job M-F, so Saturdays and Sundays were 8 hour days at school, he got to drive 6 of those 8 hours each day. Every other student got to drive a MAXIMUM of a little over what he got per day, the entire course. I have my logs to prove that fact, I refused to lie on my logs and entered the REAL amount of time I got to drive. The school has my logs on record, they should anyway. I would tell the students to not lie because the only one to benefit is the school, not them. Why do you think these trucking companies have to ‘re-train’ students who just came out of a 6 month Class A training course? It’s all about the money, not the student, these schools are making a fortune and since hardly any drive time is given, they don’t even have a high fuel cost. 6 students per truck to drive 15 – 20 minutes each, per day (for the weekend only course), only for the last month of the course….now tell me again about “cb logic”.
R.J. says
The govnt should not even be involved, except as necessary, to keep the highways in good shape and safe.
Infosaur says
And the carriers that do that force down freight rates on the more reputable outfits and O/O’s.
It’s hard to book a load when another outfit has figured out how to run it at a loss and still make money.
Bob says
Along with the driver shortage, there seems to be a shortage of truth telling recruiters. There seems to be no shortage of moronic dispatchers however.
Douglas Kirk says
It’s funny how truck drivers are endowed with all the knowledge and the rest of the world are idiots…
JT says
Odd isn’t
Jerry says
Truck drivers and hair dressers are the only ones on the planet who know how to run things 🙂
R.J. says
Your sarcasm is not appreciated.
No one claimed that drivers have ALL knowledge.
There would, as in times past, be more O/O’s but laws have been purposely enacted that favor only the large carriers and not the “gypsy” drivers.
Recruiters lie by omission and dispatch squanders our time because they dont pay for it.
Drivers are tired of it all and “vote” with their feet.
John Tennent says
cause we get to see the real world work,1st hand. Truck drivers are the bases for every other thing getting done.we are the beginning and the end of it all. No matter what you can name. The rest of world has no concept, cause we are taken for granted. Only the un educated take us for granted.
Mike says
There is really simple fix to all these problems mentioned here and that’s the international botherhood of teamsters. That’s right I said it the trucking industry long long past due for union organizing and if the unions can’t see that and start and effort to organize all the truckers in America then we need to take steps to do it. All the the trucking companies from the mega fleets to the smallest of fleets have for to long gotten fat and rich off the backs of truck drivers. I’m a driver with 36 years otr driving and I make as much now as I did 36 years ago but in those 36 years I’ve seen trucking companies get richer and richer of the backs of my fellow brothers a sisters and its high time we took back some of what’s rightfully ours. Just take a look around you don’t see the union drivers sitting for hours at docks waiting to load or unload and I bet if you ask any of them if they got complaints like ours the answer would be a resounding no. It’s time my trucker brothers and sister to step up or shut up its 2016 and we should have all been Union drivers since 2000
R.J. says
Drivers were once Unionized.
There was a fellow named Jimmy Hoffa and he, the Union, was involved in Organized Crime.
A driver dared not step out of line…
I recently quit a union job, home every night. Off weekends…
No money there unless you had ten years behind the wheel.
It didnt matter if I had 20 years experience, I didnt have it THERE.
Unions are just one more layer of bureaucracy that “we” have to pay for.
The government, local, state and federal, are parasites enough.
sudon't says
I couldn’t agree more. It’s amazing how many truck drivers have been brainwashed to think union=bad. Yet anyone can see that union workers make more money, have more rights, have better health and vacation plans, and – hello – a pension to retire on. Of course, if they had a union, they wouldn’t be able to complain about how they don’t get paid for the work they do.
Are unions perfect? No. But neither is your employer. At least the union is on *your* side.
Douglas Kirk says
This sounds like voodoo math to me. If you stay 90 days or 90 minutes you still quit, so how does that change the fact that your drivers don’t stay?
Jerry says
Kick a dog for 90 days and he gets used to it
Chris says
Problem is not driver shortage, tis worker shortage. No one wants to work or try to better themselves. Everywhere you go almost everyone is hiring but every jobless bum that all of you know says “ain’t nobody hirin dawg”. Companies are begging for workers. I’d rather talk the truth than talk about how the mega’s could be better companies. If you go to work for them just know that you are not the exception you are the rule and you will probably quit within 90 days also. All the bad info about these employers is abundant and easily accessible, therefor if you let someone lie to you to drag you in its your fault and yours to keep. My last 2 cents are if you want hourly pay your lazy. I don’t want anyone to put a cap on my earning potential. If I want to go out and get after it to really make some money hourly pay does nothing. Commission based pay rewards the hard worker if your with a company that has good freight.
R.J. says
“You dont want anyone putting a “cap” on your earning potential… ???
The government has already done that with the HOS rules.
Getting paid hourly is not capping ones earnings.
My current company (non-union) pays me hourly and gave me a 70mph truck to make sure, they get as many miles as possible PER HOUR they pay me. It actually decreased my cents-per-mile income. They base the (hourly) payment on Rand-McNally time between locations.
The only way to maximize your driving income is to own your own truck.
And THAT opens an entirely different can of worms.
Chris says
It is different which is why I did not state that I do own my own truck. Back on task, you stated your cents per mile went down by going to hourly which means you’ve done the math. You also stated that they pay based off the time that rand says it will take, therefor your hourly means nothing in traffic and I’m sure it means nothing at a shipper until they start getting detention. All that points to YOU making more money on a cpm rate than the “hourly” rate you say your on. But I don’t like cpm either i like percentage.
Brown says
You are soooo right R.J.
If you own your own truck and contract it a reputable company, the money is there especially if you can get a really good team drivers.
sudon't says
Ha! That’s the carrier point of view. Instead of getting paid better for the work you already do, you should just work more days. Stay on the road forever! Yeah, drivers are a bunch of lazy bums, only working fifty, sixty, seventy hours per week. At least, that’s what they show on their logs.
Chris says
Well answer some questions for me and we’ll do some math with all you smart guys. What would you call a FAIR hourly wage? How much is the customer paying per hour for that load to be moved? How long will that customer be using your company when you punch a time clock and spend an hour in the yard talking then drive 20 mins only to stop and spend 30 mins blocking the fuel island while you mess around doing who knows what? How long can you keep a customer when you stop by noon to take your nap? How long will your company keep you when you go from a 3000 mile a week driver to 1500 but they have to pay the same or more. I’ll wait patiently for your replies. And fwiw I own one truck that I drive myself and it’s leased to Admiral Merchants.
BT says
Seems to be a lot of trucking company representatives posting. Commission? Seriously? If the wheels aren’t turning, you’re not earning. Ever drive a truck? Deal with the regulations and stress of operating the biggest vehicles on the road, most roads not made for such a vehicle but you, as the operator, are solely responsible for ‘making it work’ all the while the company bending/breaking regulations for their benefit and forcing the operator to do the impossible? Commission? You don’t get regulate your pay by how much work you do as a truck driver, if so, there would be an overflow of people wanting to drive truck. Fact is, the more work you do the less you make and the more money the company makes, most time you’re not getting paid at all. Let’s take a survey, truck drivers add up all the hours you are solely responsible for the truck and the load, which includes loading and unloading for free (see above reference of ‘if the wheels aren’t turning….’), then add those hours to what the company actually pays you for. Now add your “commission”….yes I know, there is no commission, just entertaining the company representatives. After the survey lets go to any company in this country and tell the employees that they must work 70 hours a week to get paid, no overtime of course all straight time, their pay will now be bare minimum to begin with, but they will also have to work approximately 20+ more hours a week on top of that for free. Yeah, bet that would go over real well. Then lets insult those newly angered employees and tell them it’s their way of earning “commission”.
R.J. says
That drivers actually DO all that, and more, simply contributes to our being considered dumb…..
But at my age 60+ not many folks knocking on my door.
Peggy Christman says
Concerned only about a 90day retention for the purpose of numbers is ridiculous. Ditch the numbers and correct ALL the problems causing drivers to leave. Companies stealing drivers pay, abuse of drivers, elogs, bad, bad, bad equipment, difficult staff, lying dispatchers, forced dispatch, promising drivers home time, then jacking them out of it. Are you getting my point!? Good. Companies, get busy!
Mark. Smith says
What’s the T/O rate at Walmart Trans or Ups , etc ? Do you see a pattern here ???
Jerry says
Surprised at the negativity about elogs, they will do more for the drivers then anything. No more sitting in load puts for 6 hours then being expected to drive 11 hours. A driver should be able to make a decent living running 12 hours a day. When he cant, the companies will be forced to compensate drivers for all the hours we loose not driving instead of us busting our butts trying to catch up.
John Tennent says
You must not be on e logs right now. Cause that is complete b s what u r saying. U drive whatever time you got left, then another driver take that load from you and you take their load with more time to deliver it. E logs only cost you around $60000 a year , but u r so F en safe you can’t believe it. Zombie mode trucking.
BT says
Trucking has never changed, for the better of the operator, and it will never change, said as it is. There is one and only one way for truck drivers to be appreciated and valued for what they do, it’s a hypothetical situation because it would never happen, but IF it would, every person in this country would be all ears and demand things be righted. People either don’t know or fail to think of the facts, trucks bring EVERYTHING you have and have access to. There is not a single item that was not delivered via truck. Now what if all trucks just stopped? Union, non-union doesn’t matter, just stop. No fuel, no food, nothing delivered anywhere. By day three this country would be living by third world standards. Sadly I’m sure violence would ensue since the only way of anyone obtaining anything would be to take it from someone who already had it. But I’m just trying to prove a point. Truck drivers, no matter what people label them as, literally make this country run. Without them, there is nothing, not a single thing on the shelves in any store, no motorized vehicle would be running, including planes, it would be chaos within 24 hours and only get worse as time ticked by.
jeff pearson says
Communication.. Communication.. Communication.. First no body likes being a mushroom.. Second part of that is being feed bull manure AKA lying.. Third is money.. If your paying by the mile.. And the guy drove 1000 miles then pay him for the 1000 and not 647 or what ever.. And pay the man or woman a decent wage.. Without them.. You are not a trucking company.. 39¢ a loaded nile isnt there any more.. Everybody should be in the 50¢ or up range… You do that.. You wont have 102%turn over.. Ohhh and when the guy says he has an emergency and has to get home… Dont send him in the opposite direction.. Unless your sending him to a load that gets him to the house.. BUT TELL HIM THIS… COMMUNICATION.
BT says
Sad as it is….typo
Fabio says
you get what you pay for.
Infosaur says
I think the elephant in the room here is that a lot of companies put out sign on bonuses. One could argue you could make more money starting a new job, working until your sign on bonus matures then take your x+3mo experience onto your next outfit, then you ever would waiting for a raise.
At a modest sign on bonus of $1,500 if you worked 4 outfits in a year you’d get $6k more than just earnings.
And the problem for “the rest of us”, because we all know the type, is that guys like that are chock full of bad habits, never get trailers maintained, leave tractors filthy when they leave, and piss off good clients.
Dennis says
The problem with Trucking and Logistics really had nothing to do with the drivers!! It’s the DOT and the dispatcher pushing the limit of what’s right and what’s wrong in the trucking industry …. Besides Johnny lawyer wanting to sue your azz at every turn… I honestly can say after 23 years of trucking with a good record this industry needs some harsh legislation to protect the drivers of these Riggs.. Example… If you the public decide to tie one on after your team gets beat and runs up under my truck while being drunk you have no clue the Hell you just unleashed on me.. Time to make a change drivers!!!
David says
He’ll it don’t take a driver 90 days for a driver to figure out how he’s been lied to and see all the broken promises. You pay your drivers a decent salary keep your promises and u will keep that driver. I really don’t understand some of these companies who continue with a high turnove rate they just don’t care as long as there making revenue
David says
He’ll it don’t take a driver 90 days for a driver to figure out how he’s been lied to and see all the broken promises. You pay your drivers a decent salary keep your promises and u will keep that driver. I really don’t understand some of these companies who continue with a high turnove rate they just don’t care as long as there making revenue My company pays salary and it is based on how you run. They strive for 10000 miles a month your reviewed every year on your anniversary date on how you run and what problems your having we have a very low turn over rate we generate good revenue and payed our bonus if we perform. I think some of these larger companies could learn from this company were a midsize company and it’s like family
JJ says
Just get an entitlement check each month and you”‘ll be good to go, kick back and watch a sunset, movie, and don’t worry about it. Dont sweat.
Lloyd Hayes says
There are 4 problems with retaining OTR drivers.
1st. Promises made when drivers are hired don’t last much past orientation.
2nd. Dispatchers often don’t want drivers to have any home-time, regardless of company policy on home-time.
3rd. Dispatchers often push drivers to break D.O.T. regulations. This is always against the company policy, but no dispatcher will be held accountable.
4th. By keeping drivers constantly on the road and using some inconvenient or unconventional pay procedures, companies can sometimes short a driver’s paycheck without the driver knowing about it until much later. (This can be a problem from dispatchers to company management, and many people in-between.)
While the problems that I listed above applies to the very large companies, the very small companies, and all of the companies in-between. Only the individuals working at any particular company will make a difference.
Brian Nemes says
It’s very simple. You have to do your research first !! You also have to understand that, forget your first 90 days. You have to get your first year in. You also have to understand that that’s most probably going to be with a major carrier. There the WORST. Any company with 50 or more trucks will work you and, screw you till you quit. Just remember they don’t care about you !! Forget About all there promises, forget about orientation. It’s all a joke …
” If ” you do your research and homework before you get in the industry and, you can make it through your first year ( with ) a good safety record, you can write your own ticket. That’s when you Run Away from ANY of those major carrier’s …!!
One other key; NEVER bite on there Leases. NEVER lease a truck from them !!! Don’t lease a truck from ANYONE, especially in your first 2 years. You have to have Diesel in your blood first. After all is said and done, in 6 years I own my own truck ( paid for, No payments ) leased on to a small carrier out west and making an easy $100,000 a year !!
Belive me, it Can be done. It just takes research & hard work.
I love my job! It’s the best decision I’ve ever made.
BTW, I’m out 10 – 12 days with 3 days off, anytime I choose.
Good luck to all of you out there and,stay safe ….
W says
Bob Costello (and any other paid ATA mouthpiece) has never been a source of honest information.
Best advice for anyone considered a truck driving job is don’t. The ATA trucking lie has always been “next year”, always next year will be a great time to be a truck driver.
J Ossowski says
Dispatchers get paid for everything they do from the start of their day to the end. Same for mechanics, accountants and janitors. Try paying drivers for everything we do instead of just 85-90% of the miles we drive and see what happens. I’d like to get paid for every drop/hook, fuel stop, pre/post trip inspection I do in addition to ALL of the time I waste on a customer’s dock. The first company that pays drivers like every other employee will see turnover rates in single digits.
Joseph says
I want to say the big trucking companies are filed with greedy bastards whose upset there company’s not make 10 billion a year so they squeeze there drivers more but not sure that’s the case at least not entirely. I mean with all the regulations/taxes/fee’s/cost the government is forcing not just trucking but every company out there to abide by everyone’s being squeezed to the point of insanity/going out of business. This is not just trucking, it’s our whole country and every company/job/organization out there for the most part has the same issues, there being squeezed at every angle by big government to the point of going out of business.. long and short of it is big government needs to get out of the business of business, there horrible at it. Everything they put there hands on tanks! the government should be in the business of making sure honest good men can make a living/prosper with out having to worry about being murdered/abused/taken advantage by evil/greedy/immoral men. it’s not that way now. the rotten are prospering while good men are being murdered/abused/taken advantage of. I’m using this kind of wording to get a point across.
John 3:19
Anthony says
if The companies would stop treating drivers like 2nd class citizens they would retain more of them.
Dan Jeffers says
A General I once worked for said and his policy was “You take care of your people, the people will take care of the Mission” Something trucking companies need to learn.
ewww says
Let’s see!!!! Governed truck at 64 mph or less. Mandated elog system. Driver facing cameras. Very poor treatment by co workers. Lied to from breath one. Paid very poorly. Many drivers are leaving trucking because they sick of having others step on them to get ahead. And then treat them like garbage.
Steven says
Not only better but quit working them into tbe ground and expand delivery times and adaquate rest the governers wouldnt be such and issue, i dont get why it so hard to figure out the issues and take care of them would have alot less leaving.
buggz says
Most of the trucking companies pay their drivers less than minimum wage yet nothing is done about them…. they tell the driver because you’re being paid by the mile you don’t fall under the tax code I have news for you any job that you have in this country you pay in income tax on you fall under the davis-bacon fair labor standards Act they have to meet or exceed minimum wage…. instead of pushing the driver so much blame it on the drivers why don’t you jerks go ahead and start investigating these companies for money laundering fraud payroll theft but you won’t because you’re paid off by them…. you’re not American Trucking Association ……you are the American Trade Association you’re a lobbying group you Lobby for the rich for anyone that has a lot of money for you to Lobby why don’t you tell the truth for once…. oh I’m sorry you’re the people that receive that tons of money from Elizabeth dole…..
ewww says
To remedy the turn over rate in over the road trucking. Stop hiring students outta school. And putting them into local jobs they didn’t earn. Trucking was the earn your way to the local driving job. And to be home every night and off every weekend. Nobody got to start out working local. The new drivers had to be over the road for 10 plus years. And then they could apply for local jobs and the better income. Now it gets handed to them on a silver platter. No earning it, no having to sacrifice for it. The new drivers coming outta the schools are getting it too,too easy. And for those of us that have been out here over the road for years and years. And made our sacrifices, paid our dues. Are being left out in the cold. And being told we don’t qualify for local jobs and icome levels we have earned. That’s a big part of why drivers at my experience level are leaving the industry. saying the he’ll with it.
Patriot says
So many two faced people running these trucking companies no one knows who to work for or trust anymore thus creating the perfect storm then drivers act the same way they are treated.
Darkness says
Drivers are just doing unto others before they do it unto them…