What to do about the driver shortage?

Money, only money solves this.

 

It all comes down to pay. Trucking companies are notoriously inefficient because they have the ability to be.

The average driver does not get paid to sit there while dispatch finds a load, while the shipper looks for your appointment number, while the loader goes to lunch, while your flat tire gets fixed on the road, while the consignee makes phone calls to figure out who ordered the shipment, while the unloader goes to lunch, while the unloader is fighting with his girlfriend over text messaging, and while dispatch looks for another load.

Hourly pay would solve all of this. Nobody would stand there like a brain-dead ####### and let you twist in the wind if there were actual financial ramifications to their inefficiency.

 

Oh! God, my favorite at Schneider.

"We should have an empty...at... this lot, the computer says."

Rinse and repeat two more times before you find an orange trailer, and you've made $12 in three hours. Woohoo!

 

The driver shortage was manufactured for the MEGAs. Thank the ATA and Washington. I have 5 Cat powered KWs, ‘97 to ‘05, and my pay rate is in the top 5% of all the carriers in my region. Ever hear me or any other small carrier like me screaming about a driver shortage? If you want to attract truck drivers you better have some trucks in your yard for a start, and if you want them to stay you’re going to have to pay them.

 

My .02 there needs to be at least 100% increase in rest
areas especially on both sides of the nation, stream line
shipping and receiving like Amazon did TIME is MONEY,
help drivers instead of treating them like disposable
garbage, especially in the cities. Lastly fines and
penalties like WTF is that ? 90% of the fake shortage is
because $1000 fine for sneezing in the wrong direction.
Should be two warnings then a bankrupting fine.

 

My company seems to try but then mess up other things. They will pay for reserved parking at truck stop. They don't even have any limits on it. They say use it if you need a parking spot and turn in receipt and don't go crazy with it, like every night.

Their dispatch system is so messed up. I have call and remind them I'm out of hours and can't do more loads. They just keep putting loads on the truck.

 

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I always wonder how a CEO can run a trucking company but can't figure out why drivers quit. They must know, and don't care or ignore the problem. My company does driver survey two time a year. They never ask what drivers don't like.

They called me asking what time I was picking up load that had open appointment till 3pm. I tell them 2:30pm. Dispatch says wer called because we see your been doing an inspection for 1 hour 45 minutes wanted make sure everything was ok. Their ELD program was not showing them what my log book had a 19 minute inspection. They are telling me I need to be a pickup by 2pm and how I'm basically waisting time. I had open appointment customer did not close till 3pm. They don't want to believe what they are seeing on my log book is not correct. Dispatch is 600 miles away and KeepTruckin ELD program is not syncing correctly.

The CEO is so far removed from drivers, he has no clue how dispatch talk to drivers. Plus I don't think any CEO really wants to deal with dispatch talking down to drivers because dispatch see driver doing 1 hour 45 minutes inspection vs driver really did 19 minute inspection and already on way to pickup load.

 

Why would they care? They manufactured a driver shortage, and now they have the government training them a never ending supply of replacements.