3 Ways to Help Truckers

America’s economy relies on truckers, end of story. With the increase in demand for available truck drivers in the US, there are delays in the delivery of fuel, furniture, groceries, and other goods with an increase in their price as the demand goes up.

When the trucks are moving, the economy is growing. Now, we’re in a bit of a lull. The economy is doing better than it was mid-pandemic, but we have a lot to catch up on.

The trucking industry has faced these sorts of shortage problems for decades, and it isn’t limited to the US. This strain is felt in Canada, Mexico, and overseas. COVID-19 made the problem worse, or at least made it more visible to the average person and an economy that took their drivers for granted.

Truckers are an essential part of the supply chain, and they are not an unlimited resource. Most of the workforce will be retiring in the next few years, and there aren’t enough new recruits to replace them.

Trucking is not a job for everyone, however. It’s a lifestyle that has drawbacks many modern Americans can’t consider. It has many benefits, though. It’s a career that can’t be outsourced with an average salary of $53,000 plus benefits, without needing to go to a 4-year college to do it.

Pay isn’t everything though. With today’s market, a truck driver can quit their company and get hired within the same week, getting more pay and a sign-on bonus while they’re at it. As demand for drivers increases, this becomes more common, and as counter intuitive as it seems, a high turnover rate doesn’t mean that a trucker is leaving the industry. Merely changing companies. This competitive market drives the drivers. Some have seen their pay double over the last five years because of this shifting market!

So, if pay isn’t the only thing, what else can be done? This responsibility falls on everyone in the industry: companies, shippers, receivers, motoring public, and policymakers as well. If we are to change the industry for the better, we need to understand the unique challenges that truck drivers face, and what we can do about it.

According to the American Transport Research Institute, there was seen at least 3 ways that the industry can improve driver satisfaction.

1. Increase truck parking capacity.

There are 11 drivers to 1 truck parking spot in this country, and that leads to big rigs parking on shoulders of highways, retail store parking lots, and anywhere they can safely fit their truck. This leaves them to face possible fines, danger from others, and the chances of collisions from careless motorists.
The average driver spends almost an hour looking for parking a day, which is not compensated. What’s worse, some policy makers are making the situation worse. The Minneapolis City Council passed a citywide ban on truck parking.

There’s a bright side, as the US House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee included a $1 billion provision to aid truck parking capacity across the nation.

2. Reduce detention time

Truckers can be forced to wait while delivering their loads, possibly multiple hours at a shipper’s location. Federal mandates cap a driver’s working hours in a day to 11, and their wait times eat into that.

It doesn’t matter if the trucker is even early, the wait times are a constant problem. These facilities rarely let the truck driver use their restrooms, and then after the long wait, there is nowhere to park their truck, and they are prohibited from driving more than 11 hours a day.

Shipping operations need to manage their orders so that they can get trucks in out efficiently, as well as providing their truck drivers access to restroom facilities.

3. Decrease taxes on drivers

Truckers pay nearly half the entire highway user fee, and they only account for 4% of vehicles on the road. Politicians typically hit truck drivers the hardest when balancing their budgets for infrastructure.

There have been pushes for taxes that specifically target truck drivers, like a Vehicle Miles Tax that puts devices in trucks that allows the IRS to tax every mile driven. That could cost the average truck driver up to $25,000 a year if he drives 100,000 miles annually. This would spell absolute disaster for retention rates of truck drivers, and make our shortage now look like a dip in comparison.

Nothing reminded Americans how badly we need our truck drivers like the pandemic. Truckers move essentials like food, water, gas, clothing, and lifesaving products like vaccines, prescription drugs, and medical supplies.

Everything on the shelves is delivered by truckers, and by making their lives easier, we make sure they can do their jobs with pride and keep doing what they love.

Source: trucking.org

By Samuel Barradas.