With a tight freight market, the cost of shipping goods is going up. So it’s no surprise that it was a topic of conversation at a logistics summit last month. Nor is it a surprise that shippers are blaming the driver shortage. What is a surprise is that at least one presenter is blaming shippers for causing the driver shortage.
The conference was the 3PL and Supply Chain Summit and the presenter was Yone Dewberry, Chief Supply Chain Officer for Land O’Lakes. Dewberry places the blame for the current predicament that shippers are seeing squarely on their own shoulders. “We’ve done this to ourselves,” he said.
According to Dewberry, there are multiple factors contributing to the capacity crunch. He points to a strong economy with rising demand for goods as one factor driving up demand. But there’s also an issue with supply. An aging workforce, low unemployment, and regulations like ELDs are pushing drivers out of the industry. And they’re only too willing to go since wages for truckers have been mostly stagnant for decades.
Dewberry says that stagnant wages are largely caused by shippers’ demand for low freight costs. And low freight costs mean low driver wages.
“We’ve forced our carriers to drive their prices down,” said Dewberry. “Trucking companies don’t have many levers. There is fuel, carriers cannot control that. And there are driver wages.”
Like other shippers, Land O’Lakes is looking to shore up their supply chain. With the for-hire market so volatile, they’re looking elsewhere. According to Dewberry, they’re hoping to partner with companies that have private fleets. But they’re also running pilot programs with on-demand freight services like Uber Freight and Convoy. And they’re hoping autonomous trucks will provide some relief. While they don’t yet have any freight moved autonomously, they’re already partnering with Uber Advanced Technologies and are hoping to open up some routes for testing.
Source: gobytrucknews, forbes
One shipper out thousands. Nothing will change. Trucking is getting worse. More foreign rookie drivers will be dumping their freight in the medians of America’s highways. The only way for trucking to make a comeback is the government getting out of our business and paying the driver by the hour.
Something to to ponder.
One shipper out of millions is right but at least one gets it.
But going to autobots is not the answer. And once the government gets out of our way and lets me drive ill be glad to haul land o flakes product
Not Autobots, Decepticons.
😂
Lol
Yup
Yes Decepticons trying to rule the world and make all the humans slaves.
Been saying that for years
Billy,
You got that right it’s a known fact when the government steps in anything in the prior years it is a total flop and disaster and getting paid by the hour might be pretty good but not minimum-wage I would not step foot in this truck for minimum-wage
Right ! JUST LOOK AT AMCRASH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You make minimum wage now driving by the mile or percentage genius.
Why? You’re getting less than min wage now. It would be a raise
By the hour plus overtime!
Yes.
Hi I Ben driving over the road for 30 years. When you have company’s like JBH.and other big truck company who don’t want to hire Americans drivers only people who come from other countries. Truck company’s don’t want to pay drivers no money to stay out for long periods of time. When they can pay low pay to drivers that come from other countries. Don’t blame it on drivers company’s are to blame not drivers.
35 – 50 hr dollar range is where it ought to be and every hour over 8 should be paid overtime!!
Yup. Totally agree. Regulations on everything else about the truck except, paying drivers and owner operators. Rates need to be regulated, just like airfare, etc.
Doesn’t that bring the government in on it I thought we wanted less of that?
It’s a joke truck drivers aren’t paid overtime.
You hit it dead Centre with that wage. A truck is far more complicated than a skidsteer but the guy operating that is considered a heavy equipment operator and is making 38 to 48 dollars an hour at most construction sites. I’ve been driving a 60 ton float for over 20 years and before that heavy haul coast to coast yet my wage is less than his by far. I make $32/hr and while it’s considered a decent wage I don’t consider it a fair wage. A truck driver is more than a guy who steers a wheel and steps on a brake peddle, he has to be a combination of many things to do his job safely, on time and still deal with federal, municipal and state or in my case provincial laws. Government wage regulate yea right we need someone to step up and take the lead, and than stand behind that person as a group like we used to, not like the soup sandwich driving today. I apologize for that little outbreak, but if you’ve been around awhile you understand I’m sure.
23 yr rookie
I totally agree not a penny less actually $35 is low but we might deal w it.
In your dreams.
Calling you stupid would not even justify what you just wrote
Your statement is very true, Mega Carriers don’t want to admit that they make the job attractive to foreigners.
This is exactly right. I would say more than not anyone else the owners of the actual trucking companies are to blame for the mass majority of the issues. I have worked for 5 different trucking companies over a 10-12 year span (I have a real problem with working my ass off for world class scumbags and still getting treated like trash and cheated on my paycheck so i dont last long) before coming back to the brokerage. Every owner i worked for were loaded and constantly flaunting their new boat, new car, new whatever… but at the same time wouldnt dish out money to put hiring adds in reputable newpaper with most only posting adds on craigslist for free. They would only hire members of the flip flop brigade or straight up bottom of the barrel drivers aka only drivers that would work for the absolute low of the industry low in pay. At the same time rates were booming we were making good money but never ever was it passed on to the drivers. A couple in fact who had a brokerage dept also would get a customer load with great money and have our brokerage dept broker it to the trucking side for much much less when an owner op was the driver just to pocket the profits while never paying the drivers anything more than rock bottom. These trucking company owners are some of the lowest forms of scum and will cheat, steal, and deceive their employees mainly their drivers out of every penny and yet demand they basically live on the road. As of right now rates our beyond out of control stupid high as in higher than ever and we should be even paying these rates but have no choice kinda high and yet drivers arent seeing any of it… why because the owners of the companies you guys are working for are pocketing all the profits and lying to you about how much they are getting. Trust me it has been the same in every single place i have worked they are all the same.
Well said
You are absolutely right. With electronic logging, truckers should be demanding hourly pay. The computer assures that drivers can’t work for more than 14hrs a day. So why the hell are they still paying drivers by the mile, or by the load?
I am a rookie river here, don’t let my driving scared you, I drove truck for 15yrs in the Army before I became a professional driver. I USED drive for CRENGLAND. MY TAKE HOME IS LESS THAN WHAT I USED TO MAKE AS A MECHANIC IN 2008. I usually ended up waisting 2-3 hrs for fueling, scaling, and returning the trailer at Walmart DC before I return the tractor to CRENGLAND YARD. I definitely agreeing with the other comment about $30-50 per hrs., plus OT on anything after eight hours of driving.
I also think that there should be a DRIVERS UNION to prevent these trucking companies written rules that only favors themselves.
If i got paid by the hour i would make less! We need options too!
Nothing will change unless us o/o stick together and demand change.There is too much division out near between o/o.
You got driversout here moving the hell out of cheap freight
You are right..mileage pay is a dinosaur item..hour pay…percentage pay..salary is not the answer..why that leads doors open to companies to screw you over
Do you know how many driver’s would abuse hourly and drag there feet !!
Then they will be fire just as quickly. Don’t think for a second that a company would tolerate that. There are MANY ways to validate a drivers BS claims nowadays.
Yea about 97% of them. They would severely abuse the system. I hate to say it but from personal experience drivers lie relentlessly and about stupid crap they have no business lying about that doesnt even matter its like its ingrained into them.
I hope th re is never by the hour…. minimum wage is BS and you know that’s what it will be.
Why? You get less than min wage now with all the hrs you are in the truck – it would be a raise
Yep been driving of and on since 1999, and it didn’t take me very long to figure out the drive has to get paid by the hr… otherwise their getting ripped off.. also I won’t accept a job if it doesn’t pay around $30.00 or hr time and half over 40
You’re working one now that pays less than min wage – can’t you do math?
Everyone can moan and groan about it,like we have for yrs.our government has ruined trucking by all the rules regulations.what needs done is drivers go home and sit.shut the freight down,for 5 days.but everyone has to do it.watch what happens.ive been out here since 1988 and have seen this industry just go to shit.keep the American trucker and get rid of the rest.keep the shiny side up drivers..
Couldn’t have said it better myself
Totally agree
Amen
If we were paid by the hour that would help as long as it was a fair rate. And not run us to death. E logs. If you are sitting for hours to get loaded or un loaded give us that time back on our clock.
Umm excuse me but being paid by the hour is not always the best solution. I get paid very well by the mile and I would have to be in the truck an extra 10 hrs if I was paid by the hr.
Honestly said,government is driving me out of the driver seat,my truck is paid for so why do a job that I just can’t stand any longer.The company I pull for is gonna be in t trouble soon,a lot of 12 hr runs that none of us will take,who else would work 2 days for 1 day pay?A couple 5 hr runs with 2 he dock time=12 hrs,no thanks.Another 2 for 1.Its a shame,my company is family owned and run and has built relationships on trust and dependability,government is killing it.We all know that the paper logs are adjusted accordingly,everyone knows it has to be like that for some deliverys.No 2 runs are alike.The only ones that are going to be able to do so are the big company’s that can afford to have equipment sitting every where and drivers to relay such loads,but us 1 truck and small company’s are in trouble and that should alarm someone,because us small operations make up 90% of the trucking world,we already lost 10% of the 90% on or around December 18,the ELD deadline.WAKE UP MR.TRUMP,MAKE THE ELD OPTIONAL AND DEREGULATE A BIT BEFORE ITS TOO LATE.
Getting paid by the hour traps you into staying at work for a certain amount of time to get paid, I can make what someone would make at work for 8hrs in 30mins with percentage
Pay by the hour minimum wage should be minimum of 25.00 an hour and overtime after 50 hours time and a half and double time for any holidays. Not like they can’t track hourly with Elds. Only going to get worse with autonomous trucks. Eventually they will eliminate the need for human driven trucks. Just like they replaced the need for human welders in automotive companies. Only Difference is Welders Don’t drive on public highways see uber Arizona lol. Ran over pedestrian.
Wouldn’t that require Government to “get into our business” to pass legislation to make this happen. Carriers certainly won’t do it on their own. We can’t as drivers keep them form dropping their (our) shorts on rates as it is.
Bill W. Car Hauler
Pay the driver by the hour that is rediculous. I know because I am a Driver and I get paid by the hour, and I am lucky if I make $400.00 at the end of the week. I agree Trucking is getting worse by the second, and hourly pay can only work when companies decide to pay $16 to $17.00 an hour and continue to give a 60 or 70hr work week. Anything less would be a step down.
Let me get this right, which I have been saying for years, (My career in moving industry), which in that segment, rates have went up every year. Now with that said, this article CLEARLY states, rates have went up, probably a lot more than these cheap goats are leading you to believe, yet also states driver pay has been stagnant for years, (more like decades). My question is this: Just what exactly is causing a driver shortage? Come again cheap pos’s?
Too many dead monkeys behind the steering wheels today. Truck driving schools are to blame. They hire dead monkeys an took out the clutches. This is what ya end up with. For my 36 years of driving it’s always been the truck drivers fault. The folks pointing the fingers must be democrats
What is causing the driver shortage is cheap ass trucking companies that don’t want to pay a driver a decent wage so they can make a living, so trucking companies go to other countries to get people that would die to have a job teach them how to drive and how to operate a gps and hand over the keys to them and pay them .25 cpm and they are both happy as hell
Like a waitress is this time to pay by the hour and at a full rate mileage pay is killing a driver when he has to wait an hour two hours doing things for nothing and he realize that for those two hours or 3 hours he could be at home he could be with his family he could be with his friends pay-by-the-hour with decent hours that’ll be great these guys want us to work drive save 11 hours and say okay that’s it well you know what after that 11 hours is up we’re still in possession of that truck and we’re still responsible for that truck and yet we don’t see any pay for it now some die-hard truckers don’t mind but the younger breed and some of the older breed says no I don’t want to babysit your truck for free I don’t want to give away my life my hours my time for free when you’re sitting at home and enjoying yourself so if a trucking company wants to make a living and keep up with the times they have to change
Right on.
well said!!! But its a pipe dream we get paid yea right you still will get ripped off companies will charge shippers $150 plus an hour for the truck and $100 plus for the driver, and pay you $30 an hour. along comes the Hunt and Schneiders cutting rates and putting non us citizens behind the wheel for a year theb swap em out . or more Canadians will be running our roads.
wow i run short of breath reading that one.
– said the driver as he climbs back into the truck. Thank you sir may I have another
Well said
Autonomy. That’s why transportation industries across the board, from airlines to trucking companies, will not change their policies already in place; very little has changed. Sure, I’ve seen wages rise from .45 to .50+, but it’s too little, too late. In fact, with rising healthcare costs and inflation, company drivers should be receiving $1 per mile. Or start a new driver at .50 per mile, then after 3 years make $1 per mile. That gives the incentive to stay and work your way up. And that 2 to 4 hour wait time before you start receiving detention pay is quite frankly a scam. New equipment is cool, but not at the expense of my pocket. That’s why autonomy will prevail, because the technology is right around the corner and companies will just wait it out. Robots, don’t need anything accept code, and algorithms. Good luck!
Because I have been in this industry all my life I understand your pain. I own several trucks and try to pay my drivers all I can. I was raised in this industry. It is a business like all the rest. Economics dictate pricing based on supply and demand. I would like to pay my drivers a dollar a mile, but it costs about a dollar twenty a mile to run a truck excluding driver pay. Then there’s matching fica costs as well as 15 percent workers comp. I need to make a living too. Not trying to get rich, just feed my family like the driver. I can demand higher rates but someone else will just haul it cheaper. If I can’t make a living then I don’t need any drivers or trucks. I will just find something else to do. When things get bad I still pay my drivers all I can even if I loose money. Just a perspective from the other view. Thanks for letting me put in my 2 cents worth.
I wouldn’t back up to a dock any where ever again , the way you get treated is ridiculous , I’ve been a driver for 52 years and I stayed away from freight docks and it didn’t pay nere enough to put up with crap you had delivering to those kind of places thank you .
There’s no DRIVER SHORTAGE when companies like WESTERN EXPRESS and other’s treat driver’s who are people like CRAP and say by doing things like ABANDONING DRIVERS OUT ON THE ROAD AND TELLING THEM TO FIND THEIR OWN WAY HOME, well need I say word of mouth is truckings own worst enemy. Maybe for their next trick they will just shoot themselves and blame someone else. Gotta love trucking companies.
There is a huge driver shortage but if we all parked our trucks now we could really fix this industry
Good luck with that! I agree it would spur change, but people have been saying it for years and efforts have been made, but it never completely happens.
Jason,
I agree sir things would change quickly but most of these drivers are scared you can’t get to drivers to agree that the sun is bright somebody will say it’s not Plus you have a lot of foreigners and Mexicans driving for cheap labor and will not shut down I’ve seen in a articles and this truck or report that the ATA says freight is up and rates are up yeah right that’s hogwash this has been the worst month yet
Actually, last month was pretty good…. until produce season ended in Fla. Now we’ve got all the cats who were hauling produce outta Fla hanging out in the northeast and Midwest looking for a load. When the number of available trucks outnumbers the available loads, then it drives the freight prices down quick. Even the 15-day average which I subscribe to isn’t fully accurate now because of the produce haulers spreading out.
That’s your first mistake believing anything ata says. They are against the trucking industry. They are only for the schneiders,jb,swift etc
So very TRUE a week would show the people who are clueless how everything they Want and Need gets to them!!!!
Agreed! Never will happen because of greed, but it would definitely fix the problem.
Good idea, but folks don’t get together on any idea! The big story here for me is; where am I going to park?
🙂
When you say “We” who do you mean? There is no Trucker nor Professional Driver Union. I would like to know your plan to fix this.
How long do you plan on parking your truck? One, two, or three weeks, a month or two? Are you willing to lose everything? I have been in and seen two truck strikes and only about 10 to 20 percent of drivers will park and the others will steal freight from those 10 to 20 percent. Take a look at company drivers, they have been underpaid and abused for 40 years that I have been in the trucking business and they are all “gonna” drivers that say they “gonna” do this and “gonna” do that but in the end, they are “gonna do nothing” drivers. Take a look at the gullible drivers that are so gullible that they will speed and take the chance on getting tickets that will go on their records and increase their personal insurance for their company and/or shipper. Do you really think these drivers will stand up to their company or for anything? Get used to the fact that the majority of drivers are spineless and are more “talk” then “action”.
Do you really think that drivers with good jobs or contracts that have worked hard and for years to keep a safe and professional driving record will risk these jobs or contracts for drivers that will not even stand up for themselves?
Where is Jimmy Hoffa? Oh. THAT’S RIGHT THE GOVERNMENT KILLED ME!!!
I love your input !
I totally agree with your point of view I’ve been saying that for years.
That’s the first smart comment I’ve read when everybody gets their head out and starts to understand the power and control that the trucker would have if he just got a strategy and work toward a common goal for example if fuel is 350 a gallon then the bottom price of freight is $3.50 life is always more fun when you at least make a good living when are you going to understand that
Absolutely, that’s the only way to change to transportation industry as a whole, but as long as the freight is moving forward they could care less who’s moving it, drivers jump around from company to company, means nothing if the freight is still moving down the road. They only want more TRUCKS to keep the rates low so drivers can’t compete against them.
Yes, Yes, Yes
Better that that, Unions is the solutions! Don’t rush the industry to robotice their fleet
Amen
If you could actually make them agree to it. The game is to starve people so th ed y cannot pay their bills which forces people to keep working. Bcause they are actually scared to loose their creditability. And really loose everything drivers are actually a dime a dozen . i wish we could strike. And actually everyone would shut down but there are people worrying about their bills… if it was possible that everyone get along and shut their. Trucks off for days . everyone request.home time at the same time and see what happens. 4 or 5 days. Of hometime. Solve peoples problem of being able to shut down. Or not. People would all have to agree like certain days . to this and really inform others. Ahead of time shut down days. Be organize.!!!
Simple economics prove there is no driver shortage. Drivers are sitting waiting for loads all over America. Driver wages are also stagnant and have been for a decade. The driver shortage is purely a myth.
the company you work for is only as good as your dispatcher. Your dispatcher gets paid rather they load 1 truck or 100 trucks and goes home at 5:00.
I was a driver for over 20 years before moving to the office 7 years ago and be assured my trucks on my board don’t set or run cheap freight.My office has very little turnover because we care about our driver’s.
SK,
I totally agree with you 100% there is no driver shortage if companies will use their drivers effectively there would be no shortage there is a lot of sitting and waiting at truck stops ramps shippers and receivers and a lot of trucks running empty up and down the highway also if companies would stop lying to drivers and be more affective There would be less turnover just like the company I just left went in there and they pretty much demanded you get 3000 miles a week at least and they can’t even do it but they said that is a requirement or they can get rid of you I told them bring it on 3000 is not good enough show me
There is a huge demand for drivers and the average age of truck driver is in the mid 50s or older. 25% of the trucking imdustry workforce is within 5 years of retirement age, that compares to 10% nearing retirement age of ALL workers in other industries. It’s a generational created problem that also involves culture and behavior changes in society that have different goals, hopes, and ambitions in their lives. The trucking industry is losing its workforce and carriers are now looking at teenagers and immigrants to help them maintain a low paid pool of drivers.
Good morning Jeff,
I run about 62 hours a week, I’ve hit 3000 miles twice in the on-demand mileage company policy. Awesome check, also been accused of favoritism, by less than motivated entitled drivers.
Western express and companies like them SUCK…I gave a ride to a western express driver who got fired on the road…that and a lot of others suck.. seen the movie with Sylvester stallion ..FIST…we all are living like that movie…
Truck company are to blame for shortage of drivers. Don’t blame drivers. When big truck company’s don’t hire Americans.This is what they get. If you don’t want to hire Americans drivers maybe you should move out of the USA and move your company to India these are the only people you hire anyway.They will take what ever you want to pay them.Us American are a little smarter we don’t drive for free.
Amen.Thats to separate trucking from state
Western express and others like them…SUCK the big one..when drivers quit screwing each other the maybe we all will win..
Well we all know it’s the end of times all this comes back to money the root of ALL evil we all know the government is not gonna change all that so nothing gonna change but only get worse unless God is put back in the picture of everything then it will get better
We can’t park our trucks
Slick Wiley slid a bill in under our noses that if we strike the government can put national guard troops in our trucks.
Let them drive them. They dont have enough sence to driver and deliver products.
You dont have to shut down. Just slow down to 45 miles an hour for three days
That’ll put everything behind and good off shelves for few days
please state the law. i am interested in reading that.
slick wiley. i knew sooner or later that coyote was going to nab that darn roadrunner.
The H-1B visa’s need to be revoked and the entire H-1B program should be abolished. Cheap labor has never been good for this country and these European drivers coming over here aren’t helping. They’re making it worse.
This is a myth. The problem lies in retention issues. Figures released by FMCSA show there are 449,000 new entry-level CDL holders and 98,000 reinstatements every year. Historically turn over rates hover around 100% that’s 2 asses for every driver position.
We have to shelve our biases and look at the truth.
WE NEED TO GO ON STRIKE !!!
AMEN LETS GO!!!!!!!
If all company truck drivers were always getting paid by the hour and not by the mile, there wouldn’t be a truck driver shortage. I found a local milk hauling job 13 years ago and I’m still working at the same company. We get paid time and a half after 8 hours. Clock in and at the end of the day I clock out. It’s the only way trucking companies are going to keep drivers from quitting.
I have been a driver for 25 yrs, and in 23 of those years, the pay has never gone up to keep up with the cost of living. Its slowly(sludge) changing but when you can work locally and make more money, sleep in my own bed at night and not be “married” to the company’s equipment for days on end… new drivers will entertain driving OTR, and mileage pay needs to go away …period. detention needs to start the moment trailer bumps the dock… driver compensation is whats causing shortage of drivers! Im not sitting babysitting company equipment on my dime… 2 hr delays, no pay ??? Drivers need to demand better pay… working for free no more! When companies start putting drivers pay AHEAD of stockholders dividend checks… the world will be a better place…
I have been in trucking all my life and it has gotten pretty darn nasty how not only carriers but shippers with their own fleet, treat drivers like “subhuman” carriers and shippers are both evenly responsible for this “qualified driver” shortage. Someone else noted here, “if we all park our trucks” well guess what “WE ARE ORGANIZING” right now and we will bring this industry to it’s knees and get paid and treated with dignity. ..STAY TUNED!
You want this messed solved? The government needs to sit down, shut up, stop trying to make something better they have no clue about. Put us back on our 8 and ten log that worked for many years . Take these e.l.d. pieces of crap out of the trucks, stop making medical laws so tight. We are not all training for super stardom in fitness. We drive truck. Let us do our jobs without governing trucks and all this other crap. YOU THE GOVERNMENT HAVE MADE THIS PROBLEM!!! We get stuck in and are a big cause of traffic jams from governed trucks and trying to meet del. Or loading times, and get parked before the eld says done for 10 hours. Then all parking is messed up with drivers parking any way they can, including blocking others in, or open spots others have left and we cant get to now . You want drivers.
Well undo all the crap you changed in the last 20 years. Your voters complain, tell them to drive or shut up. We give up alot to keep this country moving, and our families do to supporting us. Do you want all this crap we put up with and be gone away from home all the time? More laws, less drivers, less laws more drivers. Americas waiting.
That’s the truth from the heart. Just let us drive it used to be so smooth now people are running the clock with no sleep to make it to the delivery. It’s more dangerous on the roads now then before you see some drivers driving with no sleep because they got a eld to tell them when they can rest or drive. I’m a owner operator and I haven’t been driving much at all why would I risk it out there with all these tired drivers on the road racing to make their eld time.
It’s the shippers felt that wages are low. Lol But everyone these Mega carriers can keep buying buying buying other carriers but there’s no money for raises. Lol
You want this messed solved? The government needs to sit down, shut up, stop trying to make something better they have no clue about. Put us back on our 8 and ten log that worked for many years . Take these e.l.d. pieces of crap out of the trucks, stop making medical laws so tight. We are not all training for super stardom in fitness. We drive truck. Let us do our jobs without governing trucks and all this other crap. YOU THE GOVERNMENT HAVE MADE THIS PROBLEM!!! We get stuck in and are a big cause of traffic jams from governed trucks and trying to meet del. Or loading times, and get parked before the eld says done for 10 hours. Then all parking is messed up with drivers parking any way they can, including blocking others in, or open spots others have left and we cant get to now . You want drivers.
Well undo all the crap you changed in the last 20 years. Your voters complain, tell them to drive or shut up. We give up alot to keep this country moving, and our families do to supporting us. Do you want all this crap we put up with and be gone away from home all the time? More laws, less drivers, less laws more drivers. Americas waiting.thx for reading.
Let me get this straight, they admit they are the reason for driver shortage, they admit they drive down wages by demanding cheap rates, so their solution is Uber Freight and autonomous trucks. How about paying drivers what we are worth. They just don’t get it. Land o lakes products won’t be touching my plate no more.
Mine either
Jim,
You got that right or my trailer just like Rhode Island won’t go there or thru it or any toll road.
Driver Shortage?
MOST of the large trucking companies have trucks with no drivers because they buy MORE trucks than they have individuals to put in them!
NO companies want drivers to sit and wait for a truck! That has always been the case.
While it is true that many drivers are leaving permanently, because of government regulations, AND being treated worse than dogs by shippers and receivers. No company that I am aware of has made any effort to fix the problem of dealing with shippers/receivers making drivers wait for HOURS past SET appointments with NO pay!
Big freight company’s don’t care. All they want is for some poor driver to drop there stuff of. This way they get there stuff they order so they make there money the he’ll with ever one else
That right the shipper , receiving,ELD,and government regulations push the driver out of business, but nobody make regulations to the BROKERAGE because many of then don’t wants PAY
I know when you right.
You know I’ve driven over 5 million miles autonomous trucks bunch of crap pay us what we’re worth can the government get out of our way. If it wasn’t for us the store shelves would be bare
Exactly
Government is to blame on the drivers shortage. With all the new laws they come up with. .maybe they should just keep out of the trucking business. Things would be better for us drivers.
You better preach.
As was mentioned in the article,there are several factors that are contributing to the driver shortage. Blame it all you want on wages and churning .The old business model of putting drivers out for weeks is obsolete! YOU have a new breed of Drivers.The plan is simple.IGNORE IT and the problem will only increase.Change the business model and you will have the drivers you need.From an old trucker with a college degree in transportation management who has been out there. The system is already in place but is not being utilized fully.
No shortage down here in South on flat beds. The leased companies go through drivers by running these loads through several brokers which they own or parent companies thus taking over 30% off top before the load is dispatched and then they take another 20 to 35% thus running leased operators out of business. Thus a continuous revolving door. Their unabated thieving has reach new heights even for an already crooked businesses.
I am a rookie with 27 years of experience . Let’s address the white elephants in the room . Shippers and receivers demand more get more . Lowball Freight rates bring lowball drivers with severe hygiene issues and cannot take care of themselves let alone anything else . Therefore we can no longer park at the shipper or receiver . Shippers and receivers should let the trucking companies and Brokers know they want clean Dependable non smelly drivers to pick up their load or deliver it . If the company or broker you use keep sending you poo up your Freight rates and find a better company or broker . If shippers and receivers and drivers treated each other with respect they would be lined up out the door to haul your Freight . Drivers treat the places you go with respect you would not want me to pull up in your driveway jump out of my truck and pee and defecate all over your property at your home would you why do you think your shippers and receivers do. Be a professional. Be courteous. Be respectful. Understand we all have a job to do.
YOU SAY REPECT! THERE ARE SOME SHIPPERS THAT TELL YOU THEY DONT’T HAVE RESTROOM, GO USE THE PORTOR POTTY. BUT YET YOU ARE GOOD ENOUGH TO PICKUP THE LOAD BUT NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO USE THE RESTROOM. COME OM MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
The reason for the driver shortage is all the technical garbage that they are equipping the trucks with. From on guard systems, beepers going off all the time inside the cab, cameras watching your every move, racing to beat the clock because now you have electronic logs. So, my thanks to the engineers and safety department for taking an all ready stressful job and making it 10x’s worse. I’m a driver, born and raised in the industry for 44 years and this is their bed, they made it, now let’s c how they sleep in it.
Everybody is screaming driver shortage but hiring bonuses and starting wages aren’t doing the situation any favors. Companies are basically still paying the same cpm they were in ’04 when I started. 60k a year was manageable in ’04 but isn’t near as good money a mere 14 years later. These companies shipper and trucking, can afford to pay alot better rates without passing the cost on to the consumer but the greedy folks at the top don’t wanna take a cut to their multi-million dollar salaries!
I am new to this driving industry and from the research I’ve done, part of the reason there’s a shortage of drivers are the restrictions placed by some of the companies for new hires fresh to the trucking field because of a criminal past. But maybe that’s just my observation. Having experience in the field is one thing but having a serious person that’s looking to get into driving restricted because of their past is crazy. The trucking industry can’t be in need of drivers too bad or they would begin to revisit their hiring policies in order to bring new, motivated hires on board. I mean no disrespect to experienced drivers, or to anyone for that matter, but if there’s someone looking and can see there’s a problem in the industry, me personally. I think ALL avenues of solutions should be considered
I run containers out of the port. I worked seven hours last night. I could have worked more. I make an ok wage but not super. Once the sun comes up it gets tougher so I work even more for less. Not enough incentive.
I lasted 3 mos in ports. Spent 9/10 hours waiting with only 35 miles ea day. Pay could be ok but you’re at mercy of longshoremen. Too many breaks, pissed off pickers who slam empty containers down on your chassis etc. Wait till they automate ports like some in Europe then goodbye to $250k jobs. Maybe it will get better for drivers.
This is not a Trump post ,just understand the definition of these things.”America”like make it great again,…may sound like the Good ole warm feeling in your heart to certain ears, but it’s Really a CORPORATION, with a CEO/PRESIDENT……which does business with other Corporations,… that’s why it seems like”We the People” make No difference in the final law….These trucking laws are simply about money,..One Corp paying another Corp ,or lobbyist to push their ideas for their best interest..SAFETY and improving the driver’s life is not even a concern…..Elds , regardless of how well you can use them, should not have been forced upon us based on false data to start with….but also an agenda by Mega Carriers to eliminate a section of competition…..In closing, You see the Land O Lakes guy basically say he’s looking forward to other options which bypass improving driver conditions and get freight moved to fit in with the system…. Solution!!!!….Quit watching the news where Your mind gets programmed daily….and think about what YOUR FAMILY actually needs and how the very fabric of hard working people in America is being deconstructed right before our eyes and how we are willing participants in our own demise….there is no Left or Right wing, “Wake up”…both wings connect to the same bird/Head.
We’ve gotten over 10% in pay increase over last year. Plus other incentives and company just added a production pay bonus. Plus miles are up. Find a trucking company that gets it.
Get the damn governments paws out of the trucking industry. The electronic logs are not safe at all. The electronic logs create more problems for the American driver because now your racing around trying to get the most efficient amount of miles with the time allowed. It becomes a race against time which in turn adds unsafe pressure to the driver who is already on a tight schedule. Please do something Donald trump you have the power it’s time to act.
Truckers have to stop completed , paralyzed everything , they don’t have enough time to replace millions of truckers thru out the country , it will only take few days to get their attention and force them to come to a agreement of what we are worth and stand for , angel
Alright reality chk,there is no driver shortage swift,werner,jb,all of you they overbuy trks.and because you have 100 200 trks sitting at all of your terminals,oh we are short drivers no you buying too many trks
The only problem with shippers is that they take too damn long to load or unload you up! Nobody wants to sit there on their property for hours!! They always have the same excuse to give…. we are short on our staff right now, you’ll just gonna have to bare with us”. Don’t make appts for truckers to all come in at the same time if you don’t have the man power to get them loaded up fast. Here’s a thought….. how about shippers hire more employees to help with loading! Taking 5 hours to laod is unacceptable!! I was once a forklift driver myself and i could get a truck loading up in a half hour! No truck driver makes any money just sitting there!
I did almost 3 million miles in 21 yrs. My health went in the toilet too. And this my second career after retiring from refinery work at 39. I was always loyal to my employers, just like the cowboys of old who rode for the “brand”. I still have a current CDL; but with no respect from these companies, I’ll be fishin’!
You are right.
Same here in the UK. Paid a pittance about $10-$12 per hour, 14 hour days, if lucky, rules galore, trucks limited to 52 mph and 56 mph, yet shippers benefit from higher payloads. We run at 96000lbs gross weight over 6 axles. After all deductions tax, insurance, this and that, you’re lucky if you can feed a small dog.
Just to touch on stagnant wages. My dad was a trucker and took home about $600 per week in 1970. Its sad that 47 years later many truckers in the UK are taking home much less !!!
I believe there is a real shortage. It’s not based on the number of trucks owned, it’s measured by demand and a lack of capacity to move product. And while I feel that carriers can do a LOT to treat drivers better, I also think it’s high time for drivers to lead by example and show the industry you deserve the respect you seek. I know that a segment of the drivers are GREAT – hard working, conscientious, cleanly groomed, well-dressed and intelligent. And then there is the group that wear sweats, baggy pants, use foul language and have crappy attitudes. If drivers want to be paid well and treated right, I believe “lead by example” is the best solution. I personally want to see drivers flourish and be highly valued. I’m a proponent of that change with new solutions to make a driver’s life much better on the road and I hope you’re the driver who wants to always have your best foot forward. Think about how you can restore a perception of being one of the “knights of the highway”. Let’s not complain, let’s LEAD.
In this industry there’s no ethnicity to blame,especially calling countries.there are so many type of face immigrants driving this semis and if we want thing’s to change then we need to parked it and have them feel it. But I know that won’t be simple or easy I get it. But no one is better than other. It just making it right and seeing where it goes
CRT offered me Minimum Wage to Start, offered to train me for one year, and wanted me to pay for tuition, The first year I would have worked for free, lol good luck with that.
The kids hardly get to see daddy!! But whenever they do, you can’t do nothing for them!!!. Do you think after the experiencing that of what daddy goes through the kids would want to be a truck driver????????????
Trucking is supply and demand. There is no shortage of drivers. There is just a shortage of guys willing to live in a semi being away from home for extended periods for shit wages. But companies and shippers are willing to talk endlessly about “solutions” that never include more money for drivers lol
Truck drivers do way more work than pilots, face way more danger every mile of the day, but get way much less pay! Pilots get to sleep in five star hotels, truck driver sleep in noisey vibrating truck cab!!.
Aint that the truth.
There absolutely is a driver shortage, the last two Generations of people have no interest in becoming truck drivers. Generation X and millenials are not pursuing blue collar jobs and truck driving is not the job that is appealing to them. Carriers and shippers indeed created their own problems since deregulation, they made their money off the backs of truckers and now since the Internet become of age 3PLs, agents, and brokers with no investment or knowledge of the trucking industry have their hands in the truckers pockets. It’s no longer a good career and I advised my only Son who is 30 to never consider a job in the trucking industry. It’s an unhealthy job, a lonely job, and a job that doesn’t pay as much as it should. The DOT sees drivers as revenue generators and that keeps people from becoming drivers. Years ago there was no Internet and no way to find out about the job of a truck driver, but now with YouTube and Facebook a person can see that it’s not what they may want to pursue as a career. Its going to get much worse before it gets better and rates and wages will need to substantially and steadily increase to ever attract new drivers to replace all the many and majority of older drivers that are leaving within the next 5 years.
While I do agree that there are improvements that could be made, because no industry is perfect, however, it is unfair to blame the state of your health on the trucking industry. If you’re not taking care of yourself and your health, then that’s your own fault. Some people were unhealthy before they got into trucking.
Its the working comditions of truck driver.if paid by mile companies do not pay overtime like hourly workers and 1 day off 4 6 days worked is nit being changed.younger workers smart and do not pursue this path for career….
GET RID OF THE BROKERS AMERICA RUN LIKE A WELL OIL SEWING MACHINE!!!.
Just one expenses we can do without facts!!.
That right the shipper , receiving,ELD,and government regulations push the driver out of business, but nobody make regulations to the BROKERAGE because many of then don’t wants PAY
It’s all about paying the drivers, period ! What else ? They expect you to do the same for less and in less time, forget that. I may make a little less money, but I don’t haul cheap freight, period . By
Too much hand me down in Trucking, and the driver do all the work, but get the lease of profit, and all of the expenses!! Where they do that????
I have three friends which was owner operator!! All three drive for more than thirty-five years, all three died of diabetes complication!! But the worst part their families have to take up collection for burial in the name of TRUCKING.
Pay’s down,fuel up,inc.up,ELD ,still setting for hours to load or unload,food’s up.I’ve had it selling truck getting out,no money hear any more…..20yrs down the shiter.
It’s hard for a company to pay drivers what they deserve when they are taking millions in bonuses. I think it’s wrong for a company to take big bonuses, when they make their drivers take a pay cut.
There is no driver shortage just a shortage of drivers that will work for cheap pay. They are trying to get a surplus so as to drive wages lower
How many people do you know who will give up Their pay for the 1st two hours of the day?
Stagnant wages as due to over regulations. DOT staff trucking companies have to hire ,get there wages out the truckers wages not all that company profits. I can’t tell you how many times I have run into DOT staff that knows everything about the trucking industry but has never ran a load in their life.
What about truck repairs? These 150,000.00 trucks don’t buy or fix their selves. Expenses Are equipment, maintenance, fuel, and drivers. Not just fuel and drivers.
Let’s set a date. Let’s park it for a week! Just one week to begin with.
A week? Just 4 tractors stopping on the 405 on Friday afternoon in LA would paralyze Southern Cal. Don’t need more all the others will have to stop. They don’t have enough wreckers to pull us all out
RIGHT AFTER THANKSGIVING ! HIT THEM HARD. LETS PUT SIGNS OUT AT ALL TRUCK STOPS PUT IT ON THE INTERNET AND FACEBOOK.LETS GET THE WORD OUT!!!!!!
There is no driver shortage!! is only large companies trying to convince law makers to pass laws negative impacting drivers Pay and increase there bottom line. As a owner operator I believe rates actually need to be higher do high operating cost. Thanks to Petro and TA that started the pay parking now up to $15-$18 a day others have followed and taking more free parking “Greed”. Shops are $130hr truck parts $$$, fuel prices, insurance, cost of living…. Drivers are out of there homes for weeks and month at a time and stay broke. Large companies are destroying USA and creating low paying jobs we need to brake them in order for USA to survive.
Autonomous trucks? Crap, they will be rendered useless in bad weather, road spray, bug splatter, heavy snow and ice, heavy rain! Do these shipper and receivers ever think ahead!? Autonomous trucks will be 80,000lb missiles rolling down the road when this happens!! There will have to be a driver in these so called autonomous trucks for this purpose so there will still be a so called truck driver shortage! Good Day!!
They can’t keep the forward looking radar and the lane departure unit working all the time on my 2018 cascadia. Its always needing adjustments. It was the same on the previous 4 tractors i drove here. The breakdowns i have on a regular basis are all technology related.
I never have a mechanical problem, its ALWAYS a sensor or a plug or an update or a download. Or an adjustment.
Likewise with the DEF. The factory man from Detroit says the programs and fuel mapping and parameters that most big fleets prefer and not good. They blame lots of the DEF problems on owners.
Keeping this new junk running is very very expensive.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing autonomous trucks for a long time to come.
Do you ever wonder why they don’t have autonomous trains? Seems like that would be the place to start, the only thing the driver of a train does is blow the horn! It’s cuz they are organized. If the company decided they would get rid of all the engineers, they’d strike and shut the company down. We’re not that smart.
Everyone of these comments left by a company drone 😐 none of you have figured it out yet …. work for yourself, get a truck/get your own Authority/use load boards – if the guys from the other side of the pond can do it ( and barely speak English ) so can you
Driver shortage. No it’s not. It’s a wage and retention. The average fleet has a turn over rate of 100% to 150%.
Wages for trucking are less today than in the 70’s but more restrictions on the driver due to regulations and insurance. Many of these factors due fall on the supply chain system. I wounder if the supply chain system realizes that logistics of what they do often has identical company products cross paths several times a day. That’s an efficiency that is 100% loss.
They can’t keep the forward looking radar and the lane departure unit working all the time on my 2018 cascadia. Its always needing adjustments. It was the same on the previous 4 tractors i drove here. The breakdowns i have on a regular basis are all technology related.
I never have a mechanical problem, its ALWAYS a sensor or a plug or an update or a download. Or an adjustment.
Likewise with the DEF. The factory man from Detroit says the programs and fuel mapping and parameters that most big fleets prefer and not good. They blame lots of the DEF problems on owners.
Keeping this new junk running is very very expensive.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing autonomous trucks for a long time to come.
I’ve read countless articles on the subject of Driver shortage and the real issue at hand has been skirted over. PAY MORE! PAY MORE! PAY MORE! That’s it! These greedy corporate bastards only care about filling their pockets. Men and Women drivers alike are the sole reason why any of this works. The starting wage for a driver should be $25 dollars an hour! Now, we’re having to spend 4 to 5 years with a company working toward a pay we should have received from the start.
Also, the pay structure while on the road, away from home needs to be changed. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should have to sleep in a truck, hundreds of miles from home, while under a load and NOT receive pay around the clock. An employee should ONLY be off the clock when he/she is no longer responsible for the company’s merchandise. Until, a driver drops the load he’s carrying and is no longer responsible for that load – HE SHOULD BE PAID! A ten hour break while still having to watch over the truck and merchandise inside it – IS NOT AN OFF DAY! The driver should be paid even if it’s at the minimum wage just until he’s able to run again.
As a company owner (14 trucks) that spent 21 years personally OTR up until coming into the office 3 years ago I can honestly say there is a driver shortage yes. We have not experienced it as a company ever but we could easily double our size if we wanted to. The shortage is caused by a combination of factors. 1st government regulation has taken the enjoyment out of the industry. 2nd drivers wages are probably 20% below where they should be. 3rd technology/society has created an entire generation of people that are not emotionally equipped to live the lifestyle.
Shippers should have gotten involved years ago and stopped the government intervention but most companies are more concerned with short term profits rather than long term solutions and in this industry the biggest carriers manipulate the government to regulate their competitors out of business. Competition is a great thing but when the top tier companies are leading the industry towards full automation and the government is pushed to subsidize those that support that position the results are predictable. Small carriers have to be better, more flexible and allow the time off that drivers request while competing wage wise with big carriers and trying to update equipment or they lose their drivers. This cuts down their profits dramatically but it keeps their drivers happy enough to stay.
Short term solutions to long term problems are what we have seen for the last 15 years in this industry.
All shippers know this. There are just very few who will say the truth out loud because blaming yourself for a problem isn’t the way things are done today. Driver’s and carriers have known the truth for a very long time. In the very near future as more drivers retire than enter the workforce as new drivers because of low wages and bad working conditions, they will truly know what a driver shortage looks like, and it won’t be pretty.
There’s A PUSH TO SLOW DOWN the economy to help bring about a New World Order. The best way to go about that is to SLOW DOWN the trucking industry, and not many truckers know about this. I’ve been driving since 1997, and more and more regulations by D.O.T is making truck driving a BURDEN.. A brother in Christ…
There needs a huge overhaul in this industry. The company I work for has many, many…many faults. 😉 They did raise the wages recently and we have problems – but wages aren’t one of them. So long as the work is there and we can move our loads quickly, we are in the money. Good money. Damn good money. It’s delays, mechanical issues and organization that stunts the growth and fortune for the drivers.
If a company abandoned me on the road and left me stranded I would cost them ten’s of thousands of dollars in repair costs.
Take the second and third broker out of the picture. The wages for the trucker will go back up. There are so many businesses out there that broker freight and take a cut of the trucker shipping cost that drive the cost up and take monies out of the trucker pocket. We ignore all of this and let broker take money off the top for there business.. All they have is a computer, internet , and access to broker load. That is no cost at all. The truck driver that is in business has to pay for a truck, trailer, insurance, all the fee that go along with the access to drive a truck. Then a broker call him a ask him to hall a load. But the broker takes 50% right off the top. And all he has is a computer and access to broker loads. We have let this go on and drive trucker out of the business of doing there job. We’ve let these broker make million off the trucker industry and take money out of the trucker hands.
Get rid of eld and give the American truck driver back his or her freedom that has been taken from us. Fine shoppers and receivers that make you sit for hours because they cant do the job they are being paid for.
Its the working comditions of truck driver.if paid by mile companies do not pay overtime like hourly workers and 1 day off 4 6 days worked is not being changed.younger workers smart and do not pursue this path for career….
And companies say we get u home on weekend..right just 34 hr restart..should be 48 hrs…you no longer have time to get sleep and mow yard and ur back to work again.tired of companies abusing drivers and not paying us to reserve park it in truck stops..when there is no other place to park and ur running hos legal parking their equipment…spme of truckstops 1/2 parking spots are reserved parking example TA Chicago north just br mi line..
Its the working conditions of truck driver that has not changed keeping problem stirred up.if paid by mile, companies do not pay overtime like hourly workers and 1 day off 4 6 days worked has never been improved for driver with most companies..younger workers are smart and do not pursue this path for career….especially if there parents are truck drivers and they no better…
And companies say we get u home on weekend..right just 34 hr restart..should be 48 hrs…you no longer have time to get sleep and mow yard and ur back to work again.tired of companies abusing drivers just 1 example…not paying us to reserve park it in truck stops..when there is no other place to park and ur running hos legal parking their equipment…some of truckstops 1/2 parking spots are reserved parking example TA Chicago north just b4
mi line..
Always this idiot talk, the demon government. Short memories and empty heads make these comments laughable.
Truckers are like big dumb herd animals whining to be fed.
You want the change to hourly? Only the government can do that.
You want companies to pay more as a minimum? Only the government can do that.
You want to run as much as you want?
I remember those days some 33yrs ago.
Drivers who can’t say no to a load without fear of a vindictive dispatcher.
24 + hrs of driving.
Drugged up truckers turn drug addicts to stay awake, go to sleep, and keep there jobs.
Your magical, glorious, wonderful, big billion dollar company? They ran the raggediest trucks, out of the crappiest places.
Sick from cold and in danger from poorly maintained equipment, a driver was fortunate to survive the encounter with big business.
Not a shortage problem. IT’S A RETENTION PROBLEM. Experienced drivers leave because of all the BS so when the rookie comes in they’ll just use him until it’s time to replace him. The trucking company’s (cause they recruit trainees 24/7) can fill an empty seat the very next day. AND, if the new rookie driver works out for a time all is well with the company. Bottom line is they need to pay experienced drivers better. Not to mention treat him with more respect which should come along automatically with his experience. The only way things will change is when they learn the difference between a shortage vs retention problem.
I think Mr. Dewberry is right that shippers hold a lot of the blame but the reasons given aren’t the biggest problems. Freight rates, though it has only been this way for 12 – 16 months, are way up so let’s table that argument for now.
Shippers hurt trucking by their overall lack of respect for the driver’s time. Until they start having to consistently pay for wasting a driver’s time, they’re simply not going to care. They also hurt trucking by the overall lack of driver-friendly facilities. I’m sure that part of this is related to insurance/liability concerns but it needs to be addressed. Paying drivers by the hour doesn’t seem like it would work in regional and OTR, either. Too many holes in that, such as why would a carrier/shipper pay if a driver picks up a load early/delivers it early? Easy to get around these things. My humble opinion here but if you’re a driver and not making significantly more than you were 18 months ago as a driver, the problem is not related to the shippers.
This is our time for drivers to stand up the sad part there’s too many foreign and rookie drivers out here that are scared to do it teach shippers and receivers that were not playing anymore sitting in Riverside 4 pallets of the same product been here for 8 & a half hours this is the s*** that makes people want to quit with low pay Shamrock Foods we need to stand up but no one will do it
Diesel price and not only Diesel raises every day. Shipper still pays the same for freight. Those cheap brokers who stay at same price was monthes and years ago and they don’t even think to increase freight free. Shippers won’t have any problems for transport their if they pay minimum 2$ per mile no matter what direction. When east cost droppes price west goes up, west down east is up and freight stays at shippers for no drivers! Driver wont take your god damn freight for 1$ per mile you stupid!
So right never has a worker been fined for doing ther job but truck drivers have been and still r today this meed to stop and wages need to increase. Truckers are an important part of our country. They have worked long hours faught traffic and with no respect from car drivers and the law makers of elds have no clue of a truckers life on the road. If you get in your car u drive u get ther. If you a trucker your at work we dodge cars we dodge road crews we have to set wait for lpads we set wait get unloaded now this takes from 1 hour to up to we have waited 10 hours get loaded or unloaded so as a trucker law maker u have no clue what goes on.
Shippers and Receivers treat drivers like Coolies, and so does some of the companies. I dont blame people for getting out of this god forsaken industry, and refusing to even work as a driver. This is why they want 18 yo drivers. Just another group to exploit.
Driver shortage lol…hard to believe when its ridiculous trying to fuel and or park any more….rookies, no common sense and no common courtesy prevail….
Truckers are in short supply because for years and continuing we basically get treated horrible. About the only place you can get a smile is when your buying coffee at the fuel stop. Shippers, receivers, DOT, police officers, employers all treat the driver like second class. Maybe not all employers but many. We seem to be a nuisance to a job shipping/ receiving and dock workers hired in to do. Commuters don’t want to be behind us or in front of us and practice unsafe behaviors to make that happen. Without them knowing I have allowed them or there friends and family to get home for dinner due my defensive and safe driving habits. The public, businesses, employers and the government have driven out drivers. Now the roads are filling up with knuckleheads that think they can drive, yet can’t read a overpass or street sign.
Good Afternoon Ladies and Gentleman, I have read the Headline es and all of your comments. The problem is and will always be the Quality of person, that chooses to be a PROFESSIONAL DRIVER. You people that complain and have excuses WILL be replaced, all million miles- yers, and I’ve been here for 20 years, and the government this and the government that. Including there is no RESPECT for us PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS, are the same PROFESSIONALS that don’t maintain RESPECT for the places they deliver to i.e ( piss bottles or just pissing on said disrespectful shippers property with cameras everywhere, trash, sweeping out trailers, backing into fences, talking disrespectfully to people that make less money that you do.) We are not special, we are point A to B, and repeat. If you are respectful and professional, you WILL be treated with respect and with Professionalism. Your Welcome,
AL CUTCHA
There’s one way to solve the problem if they really wanted too. That is every major Logistics Corporation and major shippers and receivers are required to remain open 24hrs with 1st 2nd and 3rd shifts 365 days a year, that way hundreds of drivers aren’t all rushing to the truckstops at 4:00 in the afternoon just to sit all night until they decide to open the next day at 07:00, where are the JOBS Mr. President? RIGHT THERE THAT’S WHERE. LOL, But that schmuck CEO would have to trade in his Mercedes for a Prius. Awww shucks, poor him.
I live in the North and have been driving for 40 yrs. I haul specialized and oversized loads. I’m relocating to the south, and seeing what they pay, lol half of what I’m getting now, I’ll sit, maybe get a hot dog truck. Let them hire the experienced , the illegals and what have you out there these days, the economy will suffer and so will the American public. As far as autonomous vehicles, in a very few situations it might work but to think someday there will be big rigs going everywhere doing everything on battery power and driverless is a giant fantasy.
For years companies being making huge profits the biggest buying out the smaller companies, where do you think does earnings are coming from most of them from low pay. So trucking companies have a lot of blame also.
If shippers are paying 2.55 a mile per load and making company owner ops /driver’s have long wait times between loads sounds like a bottom line problem for all in the industry
Is the middle man Broker to blame, they holding the load and they want to pay very low to the carrier and driver get low pay.
There’s a lot of good driving job’s but some people would rather blame other people for their own screwups like job hopping being late messing up driving record or I’ve always got good driving job’s just look within sometimes you then find the problem
Thank you Mr Dewberry. I walked away from the trucking industry a few years ago because of stagnant wages and total disrespect. I have been looking to come back to the industry thinking perhaps this shortage may have woken some people up. I have found that all of the carriers wages are about the same their fix to the problem is keeping drivers out for 3 weeks and letting you have two days off 3 if you’re lucky. You better hope robotic trucks happen soon or you will be out of business by continuing this disrespect. We are not machines we are people who have families that want to spend time with us and that we want to spend time with. You get two days a week off I get two days a month after putting 70 hours a week in. This problem goes deeper than shippers. I would like to see some articles on companies that care about their employees and that are looking to hire drivers.
You have hit the nail on the head, the lack of respect for drivers’ is causing the huge shortage, while companies rake in record profits.
It’s time the Government to step in and set minimum rates that all companies have to pay the drivers’, and hours of work that reflect family time and work time – balance.
If the government won’t step up then all the drivers’ need to organize across North America and set our own standards and make the companies tow the line.
Not enough pay,current cdl pay us we will drive.
im an owner operator id love to see someone try to pay me hourly what id really love to see is land o lakes come off some money to pay those of us that haul the cheap crap they have
It’s a combination of things, not being home, wages(doing things for free), crazy hours, DOT/cops citing you for petty things, poor directions, being treated like crap by dock workers/dispatch, distracted drivers, poor equipment, companies trying to force you to do illegal stuff, HOS, that’s just off the top of head.
Why would I go out and get a CDL when you’re just going to replace me with Automation in a couple of years?
If the pay was there, I’d consider it. But you factor in the low pay AND the guaranteed unemployment in the upcoming future?
Good luck finding anyone to fill the gap.
rates are high now and finally making decent money … to fill there trucks carrier’s will have to pay more … eastern Europeans . and somalis ect. are pouring in fast so that will bring pay down .. still cannot figure out how the government says that when I am tired and could use a 3 hour nap I am legal to drive however if I pull over and take a 3 hour nap I would be too tired to drive
the aholes that take 3 and 4 hours to load or unload are having trouble finding people to haul for them unless they are paying a lot more that’s one benifit of eLogs companies are finally realizing it doesn’t pay to sit . way too many drivers out here that do not have a working understanding of the English language and unable to read signs coupled with the fact of little or no training makes for hazardous driving … did they ever do a study to see what % of foreign drivers are in accidents …. thank you Illinois California for putting the rest of the country in danger by the ease you give drivers cdl that are not fluent in English
It’s a drivers job market right now. Good, experienced drivers are in such demand they can get good paying jobs at the best companies.
Shippers make drivers wait for hours to get loaded and unloaded. There should be express lanes for trucks, instead of cars. Also, trucks should all be required to travel within 5 mph of any highway speed limit. No more governed way below the limit. Minimum rates should always be in place, to eliminate mega illegal runners, with mega DOT violations, driving junk trucks, with highly unqualified drivers in them, because of lack of minimum trucking pay. So many things could improve trucking, as an industry, and career.
I drive a new truck, only drive the West Coast, get paid an hourly rate for all downtime, and my company pays for my reserved parking wherever I choose. I get two bonuses a year that are way larger than my weekly paycheck. I get a sizeable bonus for simply crossing the border into Canada, though I usually spend only a few hours there. I can work as much or as little as I want, I can take any vacation time I like, and I’m home every weekend. Oh, and I earn more money per year than I ever dreamed.
I get all of this because I do my job and don’t complain like a bitch. Maybe some of you should try that.
Driving was ok in the 80s.. Now, you have to be a continental attorney, a mechanic, master negotiater, weather forecaster, miracle worker… And be completely insane…. I quit…spinning a sign pays better
Actually you guys need government intervention in this. Because they stood back from this, that’s why it got as bad as it has. the industry determines the wage standards, and that is 90% driven by megas and shippers. Megas can absorb the cost, and shippers just follow suit. This is capitalism. This is the free market at work.
There’s only so much the government can do before you guys cry foul. The industry needs to be accredited. A graduation program whatever you want to call it. Treat it like a trade.
You want to be able to make a decent living wage, and to afford all the luxuries that you want.
Well, there’s a guy over yonder that can do the same load for cheap because his or her idea of luxury is lower than yours. They don’t need as much, so they work for less.
Isn’t that capitalism at work?
Hello,
Here is a “Reality Check” for all those concerned about a trucker shortage as I left the industry after constantly being cheated out of my wages while also encountering all financial penalties for company errors of negligence.
I would be more than happy to email full documentation if you are truly interested.
It’s not a truck driver shortage but an unenforceable compensation and safety issue.
Since Federal, State or Local authorities do not enforce the laws when trucking
companies cheat the drivers, paychecks usually fall far short of compensation
earned .
Complaints of extensive promised but unpaid diverted loads in the Texas oil country fall on deaf ears at the Department of Labor where they focus on “minimum wage issues”.
So companies who stretch the truth and mislead drivers about weight limits, allowable axle spreads, etc. to leave the drivers personally financially liable for the thousands in overweight fines. Drivers quit merely to be replaced with more of the trusting naive willing to take a chance to put food on their family’s table.
And the local law enforcement who decline to prosecute the fully documented thousands in bad check’s paid to the drivers or the refused unemployment benefits for those refusing to drive CDL risking overweight poorly maintained death traps and fatigue conditions for the unsuspecting public.
It’s a question of trucking company integrity and accountability to attract and retain quality drivers.
Im a company driver and ill park the truck I drive. In not afraid to. And that’s a fact. Just tell me when.
Heres the truth..And I know it won’t happen unless 100% of all drivers just pull over and STOP Driving for ONE DAY..We demand hourly pay. Mileage is a Thing of the past..And the laws need to protect us So these Trucking Companies or Even Private companies can get away with not paying us correctly for OUR TIME..You watch..LETS ALL MAKE A DAY THAT WE ALL PULL OVER AND STOP FOR A FULL 24 HOURS..But it wont happen..Bunch of Big talking wussies..We all want the same thing and it wont “REALLY HAPPEN UNLESS WE UNITE”..Its the only way…Every company with a Truck needs to wake the hell up..Good hourly pay…We all deserve it…..And you make the job valuable too Drivers you get what you pay for…Shitty pay=Shitty drivers…
The Truth
Lots of drivers quit because they don’t make enough money, funny how the shippers love to keep drivers in limbo waiting to be loaded or unloaded and they don’t seem to think that is part of the driver shortage problem.
Should make more loads drop and hook that would solve a lot.
Shippers are the cause of low wages but receivers are the cause of all the bs drivers have to put up with.
Ok, so I can’t (won’t) claim to speak for all drivers, but I have been driving for a little over 12 years now, so I can speak to how much this industry has changed recently- and in a lot of ways, not for the better from my point of view. This guy is right, shippers absolutely have contributed to this shortage, but it’s more than that. Drivers used to look out for each other, even if they couldn’t stand each other on a personal level, it was understood by the vast majority of drivers that
1. We are all connected, the general public sort of sees us as all being the same guy, so if one of us is an ass, we are all asses
2. It is in EVERYBODY’S best interest for the roads to be safe, and traffic to keep flowing.
Drivers used to work together to protect everybody else from their ignorance (notice I didn’t say stupidity) and keep traffic flowing–not the case anymore, for various reasons.
It’s also about a general lack of respect in society as a whole for drivers. Most people, because of ignorance of how our vehicle are different than theirs, split speed limits & governor chips, drive like they would literally rather die than spend 30 seconds behind a truck. There are actually people out there who don’t know why trucks are even on the roads, other than to make them crazy and ruin their day. I’ve heard people say ‘let em hit me, I’ll just sue’-it is common knowledge all over America that if you get hit by a truck, odds are, you are rich, or your family is if you don’t make it. Most of them think it’s much more similar to driving a car than it is, so they assume we must be stupid or we would be doing something else, not true. I’ve met a lot of drivers over the years, and we are not stupid-sleep deprived sometimes because of the ridiculous ways the hos laws are set up, but not stupid. Wouldn’t it make more sense, since kids have to go to driving schools now to get their license anyway, to teach them a little bit about how our trucks work, and then actually hold everybody equally responsible? We are the only ‘professionals’ that I am aware of who not only share every inch of their workspace with their amateur counterparts, but are held accountable for their mistakes.
How does that make sense to anybody? Remember the driver in New Jersey who hit that school bus not too long ago? 2 people died. It was terrible. The driver and his company had a questionable record, and when the story broke, it was, of course immediately assumed that it was his fault. That’s even what was reported in the breaking news. Untill the traffic cam was released. Turns out it wasn’t his fault at all, the bus driver caused the accident. How many drivers were blamed in the days before traffic cameras for things that were completely out of their control?
We now have a supreme court justice who in the 80s ruled that a driver who left his load unattended to avoid freezing to death, and already had hypothermia, was not wrongfully terminated by his company.
The lack of enforcement of basic traffic laws-turn signals, yielding to oncoming traffic, merging safely, how and when to use ypur hazard or head lights, and such, for cars has made our job infinitely harder than it needs to be, and makes it much harder for companies to recognize bad drivers BEFORE they get behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound vehicle. Day time running lights mean that at random times, you may come across people driving down the road, in the dark, with no taillights, or a car might appear out of nowhere, because they hit their brakes.
Not all, but a lot of trucking companies treat us like we are trucks, not people. As a team driver when I first started, I drove for a company that actually was mad at us *no joke* for stopping for 10 minutes, while loaded, to get food. A lot of them will refuse to fix their trucks and trailers, even things that are out of service violations, without a fight, or a mandate from a DOT officer, and then they blame the driver for the violation, and the lost time. Some intentionally keep their drivers as far away from home as possible for as long as possible, because all they seem to care about is money, not safety, not their drivers health or sanity, etc.
Recruiters will flat out lie to drivers to get them into their trucks, dispatchers will try to compel drivers to do things that the driver thinks are unsafe, as if they can tell from 500 miles away, never having driven a truck what road conditions are, or they know better than the driver how they feel. I’m pretty sure I know better than anybody else when I’m too sick or tired to drive. I’ve even heard stories of companies bringing drivers in under the assumption of a company driver job, only to find out in the final stages of orientation that they have to go on a waiting list to get a truck…
unless of course they are interested in buying a truck from them, and being an owner operator, which is a lot more expensive, and a lot less glamorous than you would think. I could go on all day about the dirty tricks some companies try to pull on drivers.
The police are WAY more likely in most cases to pull us over, because our tickets are so much more than everybody else’s, and even if it’s just a random inspection, and we didn’t do anything wrong, some cops treat us like we are all criminals. To be fair, I have met some who seem to understand to an extent how things tend to go for us, and are actually really cool, but that is definitely not always the case.
So, what it comes down to is, why should I sacrifice my entire life, miss most of the milestones in my child’s life (if they have children), risk divorce(if they are married), risk my freedom (cuz lots of drivers have gotten life, or the equivalent, in prison over the years), risk every penny I’ve worked to accumulate (and yes driving a truck IS work, not a rolling vacation) to deliver all of this freight, and support the economy of a nation that on many levels acts like not only do they not appreciate us, but all out hate us.
The elogs were the final straw for a lot of the drivers I know, because these schools are not able to teach these new guys what they really need to know to drive it safely. It’s not rocket science, it’s common sense and courtesy, simple things like looking at on ramps for merging traffic- especially in heavy traffic or on exits with lots of truck traffic- before passing, passing slower trucks 1 at a time so that people in their cars can get by before they loose their minds, and do something suicidal, understanding that just because you are light, and can stop quickly doesn’t mean the guy behind you can, etc. When the roads started to get really crazy and aggressive most of the old school drivers not only compensated by driving less aggressively and in the process losing money, because most of us are paid by the mile, but they also tried to tell the newer drivers on the radio that what they were doing was extremely dangerous, and not worth it, only to be called old and told to retire. Whatever, drivers have to have a thick skin to survive, so not that big of a deal, but still not cool. Then April came, and all of a sudden, we feel like we don’t have time to be safe, or humor the rookies anymore. I actually now have a 9 second over my drive time violation on my record. 9 seconds?? Seriously?? I have a good record, so I will survive, but talk about micromanagement!! If I was gonna kill somebody in the 9 seconds that it took me to go on duty, then I was unsafe hours ago.
Yes, it is about money, and it is about shippers treating us like we have all day, so we don’t mind sitting for 5 hours waiting to get loaded, but that’s not new. It speaks to a broader culture that makes a lot of us feel like 3rd or 4th class citizens in a world that literally doesn’t exist, as we know it, if there are no drivers.
Also, if the bulk of this shortage is due to people not wanting to live in trucks, then why not use all of the advancements in technology over the last 30 years to coordinate drivers and freight, so that drivers can go home every night if they want to? 2 drivers can move 2 loads the same distance wether they drive it all the way, or meet in the middle and swap, finishing each others loads. You couldn’t move it all that way, but it would get more of us home more often, and maybe more millenials would be willing to do it if they thought they could balance it with a life, like most jobs. In the 20th century it was a necessity for drivers to run like they did, nowadays, it just habit. We are better at our jobs on roads we know. If I know what’s coming, I can plan for it, the closer I am to home, the more likely it is I know somebody in one of the cars around me. Not that that is a huge factor, no driver is trying to hurt anybody on the roads, just to do a job, but, it’s human nature to care about things, like communities, that you have a connection with.
ELD.ELD.ELD.. nothing more said. Electronic logging devices. Electronic logs has ruined the industry. We need to put everybody on an electronic log and see how they like it. we are not robots. Electronic logs are more dangerous than paper logs. Hurry hurry hurry I’m running out of time hurry I’m running out of time does that sound familiar. I need to stop my 14. Five-on-five off five-on-five off five-on-five off all the way to the receiver. When we’re at the receiver and shipper stop my 14. Or restart a new one. Electronic logs are the problem. Get rid of electronic logs and you’ll see drivers stay and you’ll see drivers come back. Mark my words
A trucker needs to look at US Department of Labor it has Trucking as an unskill labor. This is why most companies will not pay top dollar.
Only one way to demand hourly decent rate is to stop working and demand it ..imagine full on truck driver strike for 2 weeks what that would do to economy and will definitely get some attention it is time to change the whole industry
Deregulation at its finest. And it’s not going to get better. They are running us right out of what used to be a prideful, and lucrative business. As soon as the government got its hands in regulating drivers it started the demise of the career that I have loved for over 30 years. Most of the “seat covers” that people mistakenly call “driver’s”. Haven’t even been driving. Or for that matter alive long enough to have even heard of deregulation. But we are all feeling the effects on a daily basis.
Pay by the hour will only be fair if you get paid for every single hour from the time you get out of your personal vehicle onto the home terminal pavement, to the time you return to your car after the trip. The wage shiuld reflect the type of job, the area of operation, the length away from home and night driving. It should be way above the minimum wage. But knowing life, you can bet your behind that when the industry switches to hourly wage, you will be: Paid a different wage when driving, when waiting, when shipper is loading. You will not get paid when sleeping in your truck. And to top it off the driving hours will be set according to distance and speed limit, not according to how many hours you actually spent driving between the two points. So delays due to weather, construction and traffic will not be paid.
No company will ever just give someone a $30 an hour for all hours. Think about all the driver who will simply sit at truck stops watching tv, having a meal a little longer and not drive. The productivity will drop by 25% while the driver cost will go double. If you experienced professional driver company will never mistreat you and will do everything to make you happy.
Ride. Ignorant. Bitchy. This describes 80% of shippers and receivers.
Slow loading and unloading.
These are things that make drivers quit.
$25 per hour with benefits or I don’t drive period. Now I see companies offering a percentage on freight delivered but no benefits to the driver?! It’s a greed driven business replacing the smart skilled driver’s with drivers who can’t speak our tounge or even write? Soon they’ll be replaced with robitics? If drivers don’t flourish soon our country’s grocery chains and retail will come to a serious halt. Nothing for dinner? Restaurants closed too? No fuel? Don’t the shipping CEO’s, Big Insurance and the Feds see it coming?! We all have to eat.
When you treat a driver like dirt, you get dirt.
I am happy about this whole situation. Truckers have been underpaid for years. Total time in truck is less than minimum wage if you calculate your gross pay by the hours spent. And time away from home, eating crappy food, sleeping in 48 inch bunk, etc. Just maybe, maybe things will change. But I doubt it. Companys did this to the drivers and they’re paying the price. Karma that’s all I can say.
As always they said nothing about increasing driver wages only spoke of how to replace drivers. People talk of how we need our youth to enter trade skills while engineers actively look for ways to replace laborers and tradesmen. Tell your kids to go college.
Automious driving truck will not work until you clear the roads for them and the cars will not let that fly. The reason is God will always make a better idiot that will cause the accident that a computer cannot react to.
The person who wrote this story has no idea about the cause of truck driver shortage. Its not the money. it’s technology its on guard it’s computer logs it’s cameras watching your every move its the power of the engine cut back to a bare minimum. The old school driver will have to eliminated but in doing so its going to take 3 millenials to do his job. That’s were we are at.
Just simply do away with the 14 hour rule.
On the page I was reading this story on, was an ad for a driver facing camera…touted the coaching sessions for drivers…this too, is a reason for a lack of drivers:(
It’s not just the pay that’s causing drivers to quit, it’s also the liability. Look even if you make good money, but know when some fool in another truck or 4 wheeler does something stupid and you end up in a wreck where they are killed or seriously injured and the DOT and lawyers goes back 6 months to see if you did the tiniest thing that has absolutely nothing to do with the wreck and you are facing manslaughter charges, who the hell wants that on them. I’ve drove for 25 yrs. I can land a job with good pay for the work I do, but I will not work for an industry that will let me go to jail over some other fools mistakes. I don’t rob, kill or commit crimes so I don’t go to jail, so why would I do work that very may end up putting me there or at the very least losing everything I work out paying some lawyer to keep me out of jail, because of some other idiot. Nope.
It should be a free, unregulated market WITHOUT Hours of Service or any of that good-intentions-gone-bad mumbo-jumbo.
Trust me, if we were free to run according to our individual preference and the needs of the freight, then we’d make significantly more money each day, be better rested, eat healthier meals; heck I might actually have time to exercise instead of rushing to make my delivery before the ELD ticks down to zero.
Also we need to allow 18 year old’s to drive interstate, and reform the drug testing requirements because let’s face it, someone smoking marijuana on the weekends is NOT going to be impaired provided they don’t get high within 12 hours of driving. 30% of under-30 folks smoke marijuana, talk about an untapped market!
Get rid of HoS, lower the age to 18, allow potheads provided they smoke only during their weekends… we’d have a few more accidents and more people would die, but it would be 1000% worth the extra money we’d all make and let’s face it, billy and gina will happily pay a dollar less for that steak at wal-mart, who cares if some kid got run over by a sleepy driver 1000 miles away?
Throw the reckless drivers in jail, that simple. Let some people die. We’ll all benefit. The economy and freedom is more precious than a few random lives, including mine or yours.
😉
Noticed none of his solutions involved paying the carrier more money; seem to be quite proud of what they have accomplished. He also failed to mention brokers taking 20 -40 %, brokers holding your money for 6 weeks, HOS rule are un ethical and in human enforced with a ELD, and the fact that the FMCSA allows this business model of extortion to operate
The whole record of the trucking industry is going electronic, first it was a mandated that all PM forms (BIT & DOT inspections) had to be accessible via a network connection, now your hours of service have the same accessibility for all DOT employees.
I remember when the price of hauling a commodity was regulated, I also remember my father (an O/O) saying that deregulation would be the end of the little guy, that was 40 years ago and the big guy hasn’t been able to keep up with the demand thus making it in their best interest to keep the O/O around, if only on a short leash.