Every year, the American Transportation Research Institute publishes a report on the top issues in the trucking industry. For many drivers, owner operators, and small carriers, the results can be surprising.
For example, in last year’s results, driver pay wasn’t among the top 10 issues in the trucking industry. Neither were shipper/receiver wait times, lack of home time, equipment maintenance and safety, or issues with dispatchers and managers. That’s probably because – if last year’s survey is anything like this year’s – those issues aren’t even included on the list of possible problems.
That’s because only topics that “have been identified as the top industry issues for 2017 by industry professionals” are included on the list. The ATRI is actually the research arm of the American Trucking Association, so the “top industry issues” on the list seem to reflect the concerns of “industry professionals” who are executives at large carriers.
To give an idea of who usually fills out this survey, “Driver Shortage” and “Driver Retention” were both ranked in the top 10 most important issues of 2016.
ATA Chairman and President of Jet Express, Kevin Burch, claims that thanks to the survey, the ATA “can speak with a collective industry voice on what is most important to us.” But given that many issues important to drivers aren’t listed, that may be tough to do.
This year there are “other” boxes, that let respondents to the survey “enter any important issue that you feel is not addressed in the above list.”
If you’d like to take 5 minutes to tell the ATA what’s actually important to you, you can take the survey here and then let us know what you think is important in the comments below.
Funny you should ask, i just quit the industry, here is my my letter:
To Whom it may concern,
This is a notification of my last day of employment with JB Hunt Transport on August 27th. 2017.
After months of contemplation, and 10+ years of employment with JB Hunt, and previous OTR experience, I have decided to leave the industry. We as a team have made money for our customers, company and myself. I am not happy with the industry, where it is at, and where it is going. I believe it has hit the bottom of the barrel with drivers when companies outwardly advertise they can put you behind the wheel in three weeks.
Where CDL mills teach someone to pass the DMV test only. Where as a naturally skilled person can do this, many cannot, and are accepted by the system merely to put someone in a seat. I have seen this first hand where trainers refuse to certify a trainee, who is just passed to another trainer until someone finally certifies the person. I’ve then seen that driver get into accidents and be fired for it. This is obvious to me by the lack of professional courtesy and safe operation among other drivers, and is most prevalent on the northeast seaboard. I have watched this decline first hand for over ten years. Add into the equation, traffic congestion, amateur non commercial drivers, HOS, Speed limiters, CMS alarms, Line alarms, book miles, and time away from home, were all added into my decision.
I’d like to add a bit more background into this decision also. I started on the ___ _ account in 2007 where we were paid actual miles. I was happy for many years being there, ________ my manager was fair and made the job bearable. JB lost the account to M&M trucking, and I decided to stay with JB to keep my seniority, which we were promised we would keep. I was told most of my options started with C and ended with S. I did not want to run into NYC because of traffic, and increased possibility of accidents.
I decided to transfer to ________ because another driver had gone there before me. I was willing to do a couple of overnights a week and invest money into having my own tractor instead of slip seating, this I did. Where as the ______ account was acceptable, _______ was reality. To start, I felt many of the deliveries could have been made safer by not going there with a 53 foot trailer and condo. I know if I had a JB safety person with me on many deliveries they would have been seriously concerned. I felt if I voiced my opinion, that my skills as a driver would be brought into question by management because the stores had been delivered to before. Many locations took all my skill to maneuver in and out of, and safety could be increased with a 48′ and a day cab. The account paid book miles, and for a example: A run from Westfield Southern States to Pitt Ohio in Hazleton PA and back, was paid at 512 miles. That was if you followed directions JB directions through NYC. Running the path of least resistance traffic wise through Albany NY and down to 84 to 81 was actual 560 miles, this speaks for itself. I believe my assigned tractor was in the shop more than I actually drove it on the account. One overnight would turn into two over nights many times on a Friday less than an hour from the warehouse. this means I would have to spend 10 hours of a Friday night in a rest area to drive less than an hour to start my weekend. We found out at a safety meeting when drivers were given their one year award and mileage advancement that we had not kept our seniority pertaining to pay on the account. basically we were brought in at ________ start pay. This was brought up but never resolved. My own son who is a OTR driver just passed his one year milestone with a competitor and is making more a mile than I was. I should say that I am not the only one not happy on the account, the driver turn over speaks for itself. I also have to say, this is the industry we are in.
I also have personal reasons for terminating my employment pertaining to, caring for my parents health and welfare, to having a special needs step daughter at home, to my own health.
Well it’s been a great run, but the time has come to shut her down.
I wish all of you the best in your pursuits.
You don’t really think they read the whole thing do you? I guarantee they stopped reading after “August 27, 2017.”
They don’t care why you’re quitting or how you feel about the industry.
Please STOP drinking the Cool Aid. There is no driver shortage! The real issue is the large trucking companies having too much equipment sitting around. If there really was a driver shortage then where is all the freight that is unable to be moved? Why are the hauling rates not rocketing sky high as a result of excess freight? Why are we struggling to build a healthy maintenance fund balance and instead seeing hauling rates go down as fuel prices rise? And before you start telling me about all the ‘available unbooked loads’ on the load boards just take a look at how many times ONE load is listed. Yesterday I counted just one load listed 11 different ways by one major broker; not to mention that 5 other brokers also listed that very same load. This is duplicated over and over again, thereby creating unreal overinflated statistics on supposedly ‘available loads’. Please understand that the large trucking companies benefit from you drinking the “driver shortage” cool aid since they are able to lobby the Congressmen and Senators they have in their pockets to usher in more foreign drivers and paying them at reduced rates! As a direct result of this we now have countless drivers out here today who can’t speak English, who have no idea about driver courtesy/driver code and professionalism. Many of these foreign drivers are being seduced into entering an agreement to buy equipment thereby becoming an “Owner Operator”. They end up owing so much and having to run non stop just to keep up the lease purchase payments and bring in a little take home money. It’s no wonder rates aren’t climbing rapidly, these guys will accept the low rates just to get the load and keep their equipment moving! Please don’t buy into the “driver shortage” story anymore! All we are doing by drinking this cool aid is enabling the trucking magnates and pushing out the small independent carriers and owner operators. We are giving them exactly what they want. It’s time to stop buying into the lie.
Too much regulation and the enforcement guys act like extortionists. Even if you’re above par they fight hard to fight something. Stop looking for revenue and pull that wreck you just passed on the highway on your way to the coffee shop over.
And You’re very right concerning thus. And yet there are those of us
who hadn’t doe anything wrong such as DUI’s, etc. But then we’re being done dirt and set up for unable for being successful by a couple of
no-account companies. And although we’ve given our best they have
then done something for making sure a driver has a difficult time for even getting a load where it needs going. That or nobody answers over on friggin phone in any department, or on Qual-Comm at any hour. And then they blame you and come up with an illegitimate and non true reason for releasing a good driver for where they can neither protect themselves or get unemployment. And that driver had been very successful with other previous ones worked for. There oughta be something a driver can do and say against such ones as many have been through: and a couple are; swift; werner; k b transportation;
S.R.T.; covenant. and they flub up your DAC Report thus causing a hassle on getting reemployed anywhere
The ATA is for trucking OWNERS. They don’t give a damn about the driver as they have proven many times by their past actions.
“Quick turnaround ” driving schools and lack of experience in new drivers.
awesome comment. so true.
That is also a problem for standard passenger driving, the schools just want the tuition $$$ and ACTUALY teaching ow to drive is not a major priority.
The ATA is the problem with trucking. Low quality drivers due to lack of experience (no offense intended my fellow jockeys.) lack of parking due to their need to put as many trucks on the road as possible due to investor profit needs. Low freight rates due to this needless undermining of available freight. How about instead of the drivers doing the strike always talked about, we instead refuse company driver jobs and all become independents?
All your idea’s sound good except for 1 thing. Most driver’s are no different than most people in America. Living from paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to shut down or buy a truck. By the way the reason most (not all ) but most of them are living from paycheck to paycheck is no fault but their own.
no kidding! And get a company reparing things such as a bunk heater is unheard of unless they cause a hell of a time for the driver for even mentioning in the first place.
A good truck is essential, but having said that if the Drivers time isn’t just as important to the Shippers/Receivers and their life/time isn’t a consideration you will continue to lose quality drivers. Hurry up and wait is stress unnecessary and inefficient to the drivers life/time.
Basically if you don’t seem to care why should a Driver? Too many times attitudes are drivers aren’t important especially “outside” drivers. Especially with certain retail hubs, mobile storage doesn’t pay for the drivers.
shippers and receivers. Some of these drivers get there late and still have attitude. But, a driver can show up on time with a smile and still get treated like crap. 4 or 5 hours is not unusual. Don’t show up late though. lol.
that’s correct! And thanks for speaking up fellow driver. Cause they don’t actually care about us drivers. They only care about their pockets until they spring a huge hole in them!
I don’t care what ATA (big Trucking) does, you can put your ELD’s in trucks, and govern the hell out of us drivers…Just pay us a decent hourly wage for ALL time spent in the truck while on duty and driving, and time away from home while stuck on the road during a mandatory reset on a weekend….Then we as drivers wont mind it when we have to sit in a truck stop eating garbage food for 36 hours away from our family, or waiting 6 hours to unloaded or load, or sitting in traffic…This is what will make the roads safer, no more road rage, speeding, carelessness, high blood pressure ect….
Low freight rates, even in the specialty fields like tanker haz. mat. endorsement, twic, and passport documents required not comencerate with Owner operator pay.
As someone said above, we’re beating a dead ATA horse here. The ATA does NOT defend drivers’ interests, never did, never will. The ATA represents “trucking COMPANIES” and as we all very well know, trucking companies have yet to realize that they wouldn’t exist without the people driving said trucks and the ATA reflects that.
To most companies we’re “power units” or “trailer pools” etc. Drivers are a needy, whiny, HR inconvenience mostly.
I completely agree with your assessment. But we don’t necessarily want a truckers union either because unions now are more about putting money in their pockets than taking care of the people that are depending on them.
to he_ _ with any union. They’re as worthless as they’ve always been. We just need, as drivers, a right for having a say against over rules and regulations and things behind the scenes that a driver hasn’t any clue of until they happen come upon it in a way they weren’t even aware of. UNFAIR!!
Too many damned regulations!!!!
Tell the ATA whats wrong with trucking? THE ATA is whats wrong with trucking.. they could give a rats rear about who they used to care about..the small carriers.. they just care about the big carriers.. I used to be a member of the ATA ..until i realized that i didnt have 100 trucks.. so they took my money and told me to go away..Now they have these high paid lobbyist that try to get laws and regulations past to put the small trucking companies out of business..So their big mega companies can take the freight that we are currently hauling…and get even bigger…
This is BS. All the reasons listed as not a problem are the problem. More propaganda
Ata took 8 years to study speed limiters, no professional drivers on this panel . Really, who are they asking for input, they obviously do not listen To cb radio broadcast
Shipper and receiver inefficiency. There is no excuse for poor process management. Not even cost.
ELD will give them a clear and cistly lesson in why THEY are the main problem. When no one will cheat to compensate for them, and they can’t move their freight, rates will climb, and they will pay, or improve. Their choice.
The other major problem is large ATA types who operate as though they have no soul, cheat elogs (documented, provable), and cheat drivers out of a just and reasonable living.