In a new video released by OOIDA, President and CEO Todd Spencer breaks down what he calls “The Driver Shortage Myth.” He also reveals who the myth benefits and why.
Industry groups like the American Trucking Association have been warning about a driver shortage for a long time now. In fact, Spencer claims that he’s been “hearing about it for 25, 30 years” or more. Currently the ATA claims that the driver shortage stands at 50,000 and will go up to 175,000 drivers by 2026.
But Spencer points out something that drivers have been saying for a long time: It’s not a driver shortage issue, it’s a driver pay issue.
“Those that perpetuate the notion of a driver shortage ask you to believe that basic laws of supply and demand simply don’t work,” Spencer says in the video. “In that they say we’ve got a shortage, yet if there’s a shortage of anything, it will be reflected in the price or value of that particular service. Incomes for drivers adjusted for inflation going back to 1980 would be twice what they are right now – or more – if they had just kept pace for inflation.”
Over 400,000 new CDLs are issued every year. The only reason that enormous number isn’t enough is because most new drivers that enter the industry leave within a year. And Spencer knows just who to blame for that.
“Those that talk shortage are interested in having new people simply because they will pay them a starter wage. And they’ll keep their cost down,” says Spencer. “It’s a crazy way to do business.”
You can watch the whole video here.
There is none and never was a driver shortage! It’s just a shortage of drivers who are fed up being lied to by dispatchers, setting all day at a grocery warehouse for free, and basically being treated like 3rd class citizens.
After 25 years and 2 plus million miles safe driving, I hung it up 3 years ago and now driving a local gig for a construction company. No logs, no headaches and sleeping in my own bed every night.
True I’ve got 20 plus yrs was a trainer for 9 yrs had a hip replacement now company’s what to pay like “0” experience just not worth the effort
They should regulate how much brokers can take they make more then the driver gets
I am a truck driver here in Nigeria and i am 42 years of age with fourteen year experience in driving tractor trailer, why can’t this company come than to Nigeria and look for drivers?
Why can’t you come to the US to look for work? Same reasons.
We they don’t need any! What they want is free labor.
Megacarriers are recruiting overseas and bringing unknowing drivers to the US. Drivers here thought their jobs were safe and couldn’t be outsourced, well guess what, no “outsourcing” needed when the cheap labor is brought in, burned out, and tossed to the curbside….
Yes that’s true is not a shortage of drivers 👎 the companies don’t want to pay a decent pay check. I am a owner operator who wants to sell everything and go to work for a company but I don’t find a company that pay me a decent pay check .I have more than 25 years experience and they want to treat me like a rookie.
I would suggest you consider driving for an Ltl company. For the most part you will pull doubles, and depending on the company a van. The pay is good, as well as the benefits. Essentially all of the companies, minus a few, provide newer equipment for their drivers to operate, and you will be home every night.
Wal-Mart , but they treat their none employees like crap.
I have over 25 yrs in the military moving all types of equipment and personnel and I understand starting wages, but not counting and looking at someone’s dedication and loyalty to commit themselves to something bigger than self. Just shows companies do not value people, just the profit.
Mr. Spencer is right on the money. I too remember the “driver shortage” myth going back at least 20 years.
Agree with Mr. Spencer totally!!!
New drivers, cheaper labor ,Ceo,love this they make 8 million driver makes 8 bucks
I am a driver for 10 years and had one accident in 4 years and it was only a street light so these compaines would have drivers if they would quit trying to get the perfect driver and there is no such driver maybe one in a thousand.
right there with you it wasn’t a Cadillac it was a speed bump quit being so picky ! Pay us what we are truly worth ! lets see these owners of these big companies stap on a pair of work boots and spend the time on the road like their drivers and live on what you pay us to run the loads for a couple of months . it wouldn’t be long till their wifes and children are upset because payroll screwed up and didn’t pay for a load you delivered , or paid you .80 cents a mile because first driver delivering the load customers tank was too full to take the load!
Big trucking companies like Swift , Prime and all the others, get paid by the government to help driver’s get their CDL. After that, they could care less about the driver.
Show me the invoice that proves your statement. Why does the government care if anybody gets a license?
the gov’t cares because it lets them say unemployment is down under their administration
It’s a vocational training thing Douglas. They especially like veterans, because they get to collect a chunk of the GI bill money, on the premise that driver training continues on for years. Know anybody with a Bachelor’s degree in Truck Driving?
A driver instantly loses 10% or more with the PC Miler or HHG routing via zip code to zip code. So a lazy driver (in my book anyway) running only 2,500 miles per week lost $125 (at .50c/mile). In what other industry is this sh!t instantly allowed?? This along with having to argue over detention pay when the electronics show exactly where you are at any time is BS. That’s why I said FU to driving 3 weeks ago and will do local now for close to the same wages and less BS. Shortages if there were any are due to big Corp & Gov’t ignorance in ripping off drivers… highest turnover rate in probably any industry workforce. Unfortunately those with little to no decent education get stuck driving till at some point they realize how unjust and stupid it is to drive OTR…..
Correct they love to prey on us Veterans for that Gov’t check
Me
It doesn’t but they give out billions each year in bogus job training grants.
It’s called economics and, for good or bad, the government loves to do their best to try and control it. By picking winners through grants and programs it in turn creates losers.
couldn’t care less
Bush and Obama gave trucking companies an incentive to train and hire new drivers. Part of the economic boost thing.
The government paid the trucking companies $3000 to train new drivers and $120,000 insurance coverage for the trucks they drove.
But that’s long been over.
And boy do they stick it too those people. Now if they would just teach their drivers to use the right lane.
It IS a supply and demand issue but in reverse because perpetual driver recruitment intends to ensure a surplus of drivers in order to justify maintaining or even further reducing driver wages. A steady turnover also keeps enough of those new drivers at starter wages as mentioned above which further improves the carrier’s bottom line but does nothing for driver retention which is sort of the whole point. If fleets spent half as much on retaining good drivers as they do trying to recruit more drivers they wouldn’t have a turnover problem but they would have a burgeoning payroll problem because those drivers will expect compensation for their loyalty to that fleet.
That’s not remotely the problem. It’s theft of services and collusion to run the industry as a serfdom. See my comment below.
Trucking is nothing more than modern day slavery. Keep the wages about just below inflation forever. The longest running ponzi scheme ever created.
I didn’t read your comment before I posted mine but we said exactly the same thing lol
Well, not quite. Slavery is forced servitude. No one is forcing anyone to get a CDL and drive a truck. And one can leave anytime they want.
Hear hear!!
Yeah, it kind of is slavery. Slavery is making someone do something that they don’t want to do, without compensation.
Even slaves were fed and housed. A slave was at least as valuable as the value paid to purchase them, or the value they might represent if sold. Truck drivers – especially new ones – make little more than subsistence wages, and since they are not bought or sold, the only inherent value that they possess, is whatever remains that can be extracted from them, or from the government on their behalf. Since that number declines the longer that they stay on the job, high turnover is incentivized.
How is high turnover incentivized?
If I can get money for losing drivers…please tell me where to get it. I have hired at least 80 drivers this year and lost 85.
Why did you lose them. You must be doing something very wrong.
We are all part of the free slave society meaning we do get a choice some what how to pay homage to the big corporations that run this once great country we all need to pay income taxes to the IRS so they can pay The Federal Reserve interest on the debt the 1% rule the world
We are all part of the free slave society meaning we do get a choice some what how to pay homage to the big corporations that run this once great country we all need to pay income taxes to the IRS so they can pay The Federal Reserve interest on the debt the 1% rule the world
You hit the nail right on the head! The only problem is we keep driving.
The available practical alternatives are not an improvement.
Despite that, about 90% of drivers do still stop driving in their first year.
So let’s shut it down.
I’m with you shut it down, then if they don’t play ball, shut it down again!
Doesn’t matter what the truth is, ATA will twist and lie about anything to get their way and money talks. That are trying to bring 18 year old baby drivers out on the road. That shows how much they care about human life. So much for safety!!
you do realize those “18 year old babies” are already out on the road driving, right? Where I agree, the realization is 18-21 year olds are already driving Class 8 vehicles.
As much as I disagree with OOIDA on many issues, Spencer has hit the nail squarely on the head.
Cliff you are so right, as well as the others here! A driver leaves his family to only hope that he gets the miles, paid for detention, breakdowns that occur or even scheduled maintenance, does and will the company cover motels should he be “out of the truck”, and some weeks he/she wins and some weeks he breaks even and of course some weeks there are loses… and it’s all off the backs of drivers!
Why can’t companies simply pay by the day, with all the “tracking” capable now by companies, trust me, they know down to the minute if your working or not… but, the bottom line is your gone from your family and you should be compensated! But, then again it would clearly show who the good companies are and who the game players are for sure! (A few companies are moving to this pay model and hoping for more…)
Pay by the day? How about pay by the hour.
The company I work for pays by the hr. regardless if it is local work or long haul. They,also,charge the customer by the hr. regardless of local or long haul.Many other trucking companies do the same thing in this particular region where it is estimated traffic gridlock accounts for $6 billion annually in lost revenue to the economy,at large. If it takes 3 hrs to get a load delivered 50 miles away,the shipper pays for 3 hrs.
I say a bunch of it is based on dispatchers, the fact that a lot of companies are switching to auto-tragic transmissions (not a fan of them in anything), Let alone the rules and regs. I had a couple dispatchers that had no concept of time or distance.
I bet you were born knowing the transportation business inside and out…..
I’ve been on both sides of the phone, and I can tell you that driving isn’t any easier ir more important than dispatching. Dispatching is also not any easier or more important than driving….
It’s a total team effort, and when you quit having this me vs. them mentality your life will be better
hear hear!
HELL TO THE NO IT WONT BE BETTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Really Doug, we respect our dispatchers if they respect us, plain and simple.
The difference is that dispatchers know how much they will be getting paid, and they get to go home every day, and see the families that they are supporting.
They also get to work and sleep in climate-controlled conditions, and their risk of injury or death on the job is much lower than ours… :-/
How does an automatic transmission relate to a “driver shortage”?
Should increase drivers ,more,drivers can drive automatic trucks
Auto shifts make it simple so ANYONE can drive a truck….until the traffic gets thick or the roads get slick or crooked or mountains are involved or animals run out in the dark…or…..
You are so right about that.
Ooida, just another Union style organization to take your money and support some deadhead job positions
Union lmfao you’re in no way forced to be a member. A member or not a member of an organization that fights for the rights of all truck drivers. Although it’s acronym is OOIDA it’s also for company drivers. There are lots of benefits available that would be much costlier as individuals instead of as a group collectively. Of course ignorance is precursor to a statement like this, lol.
I wonder if those Hondurans would qualify for subsidized tuition at a driving school near you????
Bet someones already looked into it.
There has never been a “driver shortage”. What there is you can call it a quality freight shortage. As a driver which load do you want one that is a 1000 miles that you get rest on or, a 150 mile load that loads late, delivers early.
Those little short loads pay more than the long haul but, the driver gets none of that.
Maybe someone will be able to set up an hourly wage for the driver. It would promote safety and drivers would get the pay and rest they deserve.
you overpaid drivers complain about everything you make good money for what you do. You’re not educated people so you’re getting paid what you’re worth don’t like it get out
How would you know what education a driver has you ignorant person! Do you even know how much it would affect you, or the country without drivers for one day? Some people just talk without knowing anything!
Hear, Hear!
COME ON COMPANY DRIVER. JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE THE BOSS SIDE KICK. A LOT OF US DONT brown nose
Educated. What does that mean? Are you talking classically educated like all the great minds that founded this country and built up its industrial base or its modern farcical comparison? I see this argument from time to time and never grasp why spending a few years being “taught” what to think entitles one to a higher wage. But I digress…
The counterpoint to your opinion is that drivers don’t get paid for their ability to regurgitate Dostoyevsky, (though some can) they get paid for production and sacrifices in time away from their loved ones. Sacrifice, not education, built this country.
Very. Well. Said.
I would say that this person doesn’t understand
If drivers all leave then who will deliver the goods that everybody wants. I would like to see these people try and get all their milk meat and tv’s home at a cheap and convenient time and price if they had to do it themselves.
That the job does not require a degree to get, does not mean that drivers do not have educations and degrees.
Sometimes, you study something that was valuable when you went to school, but didn’t stay that way. For some of us, the cost of retraining or changing professions is greater than the income difference that can be gained from doing so.
This is a profession for the desperate – not the stupid. The desperate don’t have valid alternatives. The stupid can’t even do this job.
Which category do you think you’re in? Because the drivers here, can already tell which is yours…
Not all of us are uneducated, seems maybe you are though, and that attitude toward anyone is childish and obtuse. Do us a favor Buck and go troll someplace else.
I take it your NOT a driver you must set behind a cubical and try driving your drivers
What’s missing from the “supply and demand” argument that Todd makes is freight rates have been flat for 20 years. When demand outpaced supply from 4th qtr 2017 through 2nd qtr 2018 rates rose. Guess what also happened? Driver pay increased.
You are all wrong 🙂
There is no driver shortage … Trucking company just bought too many trucks !!!
And they will keep on buying hoping they can drivers in them … there is just enough drivers to cover all the loads we have on the market.
Stop carriers from expanding their HUGE fleets and problem will solve itself.
Also that is the issue with pay … there is such a competition between trucking companies for loads that carriers cant afford to pay more … cant even cover maintenance most of the time
All interesting comments….. and while Mr. Spencer is correct that wages are a driving factor of driver supply and demand – it is also a free market of capitalists that need to manage and protect their businesses. The market drives the carriers to compete with each other to recruit (and retain) drivers through pay, bonuses and benefits. It’s not about how much they made 20-30 years ago versus what they do today – it’s about how the current market driver wages compare to competitive industries like construction and manufacturing. All said, I think the smart carriers will find ways to remain competitive while carefully balancing profit and compensation. If they can’t hire and keep drivers, they won’t survive.
That’s just the way it is Jeff, capitalism. I can freely choose to drive a truck and manage my money with a goal in mind, ( like the white picket fence), or bag groceries for a low rent room. Where I’m at and where l’m going is “mostly” the result of my own decisions. You don’t have to be real smart, you just have to be persistent with your plans. How I manage life’s surprises is simple but not easy. I use the Serenity Prayer from AA.
We live the ripple effect of:
The cut rate mileage driver!
Automatic transmission simply means even monkey can drive semi truck?Gee,it would solve two problems:”driver shortage” and how to minimaze to zero “driver,s pay”.
This may not be politically correct to say, but as long as there is an unlimited supply of immigrant drivers from third world countries, there will never truly be a driver shortage. They will gratefully come here to work for wages that people native to this country will not.
On this very site you’ll find this article headlined below. Yes trucking companies own truck driving schools.
“Werner Buys Roadmaster and AIT Trucking Schools”
I worked as an instructor for AIT for a 6 month period. The info boards are always full of articles about driver shortages. Werner and others Covenant, Swift etc want to keep the narrative about shortages in the news. Turning over drivers is not only fine with them it’s what they prefer. New drivers don’t ask for or get raises, experienced drivers do. New drivers get in more accidents, but it’s still cost effective when taking into account their low pay. These schools also promote foreign drivers. They can barely speak English. They don’t fully comprehend getting paid by the mile. Even if they did, .35 a mile is more money then they have ever dreamed of in Ethiopia. Cesar Chavez (an American) fought hard to keep illegals from lowering his wages. Adam Smith in the classic “ The wealth of Nations “ says worker shortages create very high wages. We have managed to allow shortages of drivers to LOWER our wages.
Every industry is the same! New hires start at the bottom ,Those nearing retirement are either offered a buyout or gently squeezed until they quit or retire on their own.
Companies avoid outright dismissal .
Look no further than the retail clerks ,who have been displaced over the years by inexperienced younger workers and or new immigrants!
Truck drivers are in that exact same situation .
Trucking companies are under constant pressure to provide services at lower and lower rates at a time that their real costs are rising higher due to Fuel costs ,Tire costs and Insurance costs!
Such a driver shortage. Well I QUIT. 30 Years out here. More and more steering wheel holders. It’s too much of a problem to move over for SOMETHING on the shoulder. Come down the on ramp and force your way in. I KNOW MY JOB, BUTT OUT.
I COULD GO ON AND ON.
GOOD BY AND GOOD LUCK
YOU ARE GONNA NEED IT
Good 4 u Paul Logan:
I feel it too, a camera mounted in my face, speed limiters, auto braking when I use cruise control, 3 minutes ideling or a ticket. etc etc give me a year I’ll b gone with u. Thanks for an honest comment.
Absolutely
Mr. Spencer is addressing the underlies Cause, but is partly incorrect. If too many drivers are leaving the profession within the first year, thus creating an opportunity for new people to come in to fill the positions that were vacated, then a shortage, or perhaps ample opportunities, exist. OOIDA,and other groups, are certainly interested in driving an increase in driver pay, and that would certainly benefit many drivers. But, he is being a bit when he claims that there is no anything but pay. If he spoke with Ruth, he would say yeah, there is a need for more drivers, but that need would go away if drivers were paid more. He also does not address some of the primary reasons drivers leave after their first year. It’s not just about the pay. The lifestyle is challenging for most people entering into it, more challenging than many want to stick with.
Voice to text fail. Spoke the truth, I have no idea who Ruth is
Siri trying to hook you up
Until company drivers REFUSE to work by the mile instead of or in addition to by the hour, mega fleets will continue to absorb huge profits and pass little of it to drivers.
If mileage drivers calculated their pay by dividing it by the total # hrs spent in the truck, away from home, being not only the driver but the night watchman too, they’d find that they are working for less than min wage.
You’d be better off staying at home and finding 3 min wage jobs you can slough at.
I have been both a company driver and an owner op for 23 years. As an O/O, I have been in both a captive lease as well as my own authority.
As far as truck driving occupations are concerned, NOTHING beats having your own authority.
I may not be uber wealthy, but, I decide when and where I run, how hard I run and for how much.
I just took 2 months off to rehab my left knee from surgery. I can step right back into my truck and take off again making great money like I never left.
You want to drive for someone else? That’s your prerogative, I couldn’t do it. I’d strangle dumb people…probably all the dispatchers, ops and terminal managers.
They are, for the most part, ALL morons. Oh sure, there are probably a handful worth keeping. But, most have never been in a truck, or, if they did, they sucked at it, hence why they do what they do now.
It’s up to those being taken advantage of to stop perpetuating the system.
Or, don’t. Frankly, I make more money when drivers get frustrated and simply walk away from their truck.
I charge a premium to go rescue abandoned loads.
I remember a young man crying, literally, that he hadn’t seen his newborn son who was 2 months old. He was looking for another company to drive for. People gave him all sorts of advice. Very few gave him the hard line of ‘it’s YOUR fault dude’. Lots of cussing and trash talking. If you let a company run you over… well you did let them do it. Every company has boogers. Bad dispatcher? Make a complaint to HR, be prepared to have blow back though. Crap equipment, meaning not legally maintained, get the shop on text or email telling you to just run it. I wouldn’t haul a load on a trailer with bad brakes, even one, no matter how ‘important’ the timeline was. Straight to a shop. Yeah I had plenty of blowback, deal with it or move on. Don’t let that crap build up till YOU blow up! Keep a log of everything wrong, 12 hrs to complete a 2 day run isn’t cool, and keep a thorough account of what happened when you made the report. Don’t be passive aggressive about it, you want to succeed and to do that you company has to as well.
I stopped driving OTR in ‘03 or so. Small company driving was a lot more interesting. Explosive blend trucks and bulk hazmat was good pay but lot of internal politic issues with some companies. Hauling oversized loads was good and bad as well. Ever see a 757 fuselage cruising down the road? Me neither, mirrors wouldn’t go that wide. Look for the niche market driving jobs. I love driving and may be going hotshot soon, I don’t care about selling out the last penny from my day. I want a good, quality working environment that pays the bills. No job is perfect just do what you can where you like to be
And that’s ‘ eeking ‘ out the last penny for a day of work
Great job OOIDA. Tell the truth and shame the devil
The devil can’t be shamed. Shame requires conscience, or at least some interest in other people’s opinions.
Tbe devil has neither.
Yes truck drivers aren’t educated enough to find other employment so they must take the abuse of the trucking companies. The way a lot of you drivers are driving Middle Lane doing 50 55 passing on two-lane highways I can tell that your uneducated just by the way you drive
The Government will protect, and favor what the trucking companies want….not the truck driver….the government just passes more regulations against the truck driver,,,,because they know the driver hasn’t enough money to “bribe ” them like the trucking companies do. The trucking companies are the Government’s “money makers”. So the truck driver loses over, and over…all he can do is complain to other trucker in the same situation. Nothing gets changed.
” Camptown racetrack five miles long,….oh the dooda day ! “
How many people would become truck drivers if they were told, up front at the driving schools, “You’ll be away from home for weeks at a time, sitting for hours on end at a customer’s dock waiting to get loaded/unloaded, stuck in traffic, blamed for every wreck near you whether you are involved or not, sleep in a box every night, eat questionably healthy meals, and still be expected to deliver your load on time”? When I worked as an instructor in Detroit, we were told not to tell the students about he downside of being a driver since that would scare so many away from the school and the industry. As some have stated already, it’s more the lifestyle than the pay that causes the new drivers to quit. This job ain’t for everybody.
Most valid comment on this entire thread. That is exactly where corrections are needed and new solutions provided.
I work as an instructor at Steering Wheel Holder Academy. Our students are issued wife beaters, gym shorts and flip flops the first day. Then we go out to the driving course where we relentlessly practice the “crank, put in drive, and stomp.” Once on the road a student has to be able to wear headphones and stare straight ahead.
Before any of them graduate, they must be able to mount two to three GPS o. The windshield. Then, put a sunshade on the driver’s window and put your phone on the gauge cluster so you can watch a movie. They aren’t allowed to carry any tools and they must not do a pretrip or they forfeit their tuition. Our program has been very successful, you see my graduates out here every day.
Spencer shoulda handed in his resignation as he and his association failed at stopping the elog implementation.The battle was lost and he s just counting the bodies! Sad.
Why is my comment awaiting moderation when the comments after mine have been published?What s there to moderate in my simple straightforward comment?
I started in ’72 for team level splitting a dime a mile…in ’75 I was making $32K solo with FULL benefit package pulling flatbeds… I’m currently getting .38 a mile as a casual (retired at 5 million miles 3 yrs ago) Adjusted for inflation the driver rate for OTR should be .90 a mile…ain’t never gonna happen…..auto shifts and disposable equipment ended fair pay for high skill….drivers really are a dime a dozen…throw in winter and whatever you make is NOT enough!!
I think this “adjusted for inflation” comment gets thrown around somewhat carelessly. Consider this – you state you made $.10/mile then and $.38/Mile now. A multiple of 3.8x.
In the early 70’s, a production type entry level home in Phoenix was about $38 per square foot. If I multiply that by the same wage growth factor of 3.8x above in your example, it would suggest entry level housing in the same geographic area would be $144 per square foot which is damn close to what the market is today.
I’m not suggesting that drivers shouldn’t earn more – because we know that there are drivers with good companies that are currently making $.50 – .$70 per mile. I’m just saying as a whole, the drivers should be more focused on the most important metrics which are freight pricing, operating expenses, carrier profitability and competitive industry wages for jobs outside of trucking AND the value a driver personally delivers as a good employee/partner to the company that pays them. The latter is quite subjective and that’s just a simple fact of business.
The job should pay $100k a year or more if based on mileage .. that’s roughly .70 but when divided by TIME that’s about $12 per hr….I base the “adjusted for inflation” on price of gas. Diesel was .07 gal back in ’72……over $3 now. That’s 40x. The dime was SPLIT with 2nd driver…..06 for lead and .04 for 2nd seat. Miles averaged over 250 k back then with minimum fwy travel as there were few completed
Driving ain’t for everyone but they’re trying to make it simple with automatic trans etc. GPS and fancy trucks…ugh….drivers today operate trucks like cars…hard on brakes. Dropping off hills with no fear. Not adjusting speed with weather. Tailgating and no signals JUST LIKE 4 wheelers. The danger is tenfold and SKILL is LOW or non existent
Your e a moron to be settling for such low pay! Obviously you dont know your worth and are letting these companies abuse you
You name call me?? I’m retired just filling in to keep boredom at bay…..made enough in the oil field to DO NOTHING for EVER. Morton fits you more than me. I’M RETIRED comfortably .. have a nice life “driver”
Moron
Not just starter pay, but companies getting government subsidies for bringing drivers to orientation like Arrow was
The big companies, the exploiters of the human flesh, have a rigged income tax system that benefits them over the little guy/gal.
If the federal income tax were eliminated, individuals would be able to compete on a level playing field. Hundreds of thousands of people would be able to go into business for themselves almost overnight. Accident rates would go down dramatically because owner operators are more responsible. And then we can abolish the HOS and let the weigh stations focus on equipment inspections and teaching safe driving techniques using real life simulators.
I’ve being saying that ATA and other so-called called truckers association’s, are the ones lobbing for this “fake news” about shortage, isn’t, shortage, commercial driving schools graduate hundreds of new drivers, very poor trained,every day, all over this usa, now, every one knows that, but no one do anything about it, a commercial driver are more regulated than a airline pilot, all those regulations and getting a little over minimum wage, .80 cpm to 1.25, pm, for owner operators. Its a theft, brokers, trucking companies all stealing from drivers, , fuel surcharge, layover,detention, etc? Someone is keeping it, unions such a Teamesters Are just another way to rob a driver, no one’s say nothing, do nothing, ignorant pencil pushers create rules and regulations that take our way to make money, and doesnt make legal way for us to play by it, insurances are way more expensive for truckers, DOT, troopers, police pursuing truckers regardless, general population are lead to hate and discriminate drivers, all that for.what? An average 50 to 60 thousand a year salary if you.luck? Yah. Such a shortage, is on payment and benefits, not disregarding the rest..
I appreciate this info because I’m 2 months in the industry & already felt l was being hoodwinked.
Never mind, the minimal home time, lack of parking availability, inflated prices for necessities at food/truck stops, if calculated your salary you would feel hoodwinked too.
Although starting salaries are much lower, let’s say you are $50,000 per year. Mind you, $ 50,000 appears good at first glance, but this is the way I see it.
$50,000 per year is,
$4,166.66 per month,
$1,041.66 per week,
$148.80 per day,
$10.63 per @ 14 hr a day.
So, it appears to me a shortage in salary which explains the shortage in drivers.
I hope this driver shortage thing finally happens. Then big carriers will have to raise their driver pay, which will lead to them refusing to haul cheap freight because they can no longer make a profit on it, which will hopefully lead to higher freight rates all around.
It’s cheeper to train and use an unknowing person and repair wrecked trucks than it is to pay a trucker for their knowledge, safety rating, on time delivery and experiences. Self insured companies run thru people because of GREED!