Trucking FREEZE???

I love working with numbers. On this point, I offer the following:

The ATA swears there is a perpetual shortage of drivers... there are over 10 million CDL holders in the US, yet only 2.5 million positions that require a CDL.

That means that a shortage of drivers is only a part of the sentence. The full sentence should be "there is a shortage of drivers willing to put up with the crap many companies put them through."

I read somewhere that 50% of drivers are new, 40% are scrambling for a better position, and 10% have a good gig. The other 90% (50 + 40) are all trying to get where the 10% is, and many will quit before ever finding that position. While they are trying to find that better place, they enter a revolving door of craptacular places. I see application littered with employers, usually in this order: CRE/CRST/Werner, followed by USX, Swift, or Western Express, then a few Chicago 1099 joints (most reporting abandonment), and finally to a long-standing position or applying here where we become the long-standing employer. I bet there are double the amount that never even apply to a good place before giving up along the way, being starved out while burning/freezing in a truck with no APU or ability to idle.

That last bit is what needs to be addressed. If a company payed a decent wage, had steady freight, and gave the very basics, like heat and air when parked or sleeping and an inverter to run everything when parked, drivers tend to stick around. I just don't see how the big players don't realize this.

 

well said. i hate this industry due to the crap we gotta put up with. where i am is not the highest paying but leave me alone, lax with hometime/return. & lotta lanes from I40 & south. seen 7 days or so of winter driving last year.
so, if i make it to retirement, will be here. lol

 

Big. Place is like the others, Covenant, Useless Xpress, etc. bring them in with lies, false hopes, blah blah. Then when the driver sees all that...bye bye. Next......

 

Go to Schneider.

 

The USX bashing is really hurtful as well.

The OM and I love USX.

 

Kind of sounds like where I am. I have gone weeks without talking to anyone at the company, other than having my fuel reworked because I wanted to run the backroads for a few days. That does amazing things for my mood. ESPECIALLY if I run US and State highways almost exclusively from San Diego to Iowa, or from Ontario, CA to NJ. And I run at night for the most part, so half of my driving there is no real traffic to speak of.

 

No need. Truckers are too vulnerable and we are all too isolated, not team players(won’t stick together to change a thing) we are all ignorant loners and won’t ever demand fair treatment. So it’s acceptable to be treated as dirty verbally by employers, physically by accommodations from employers, forced to endure 130 degrees because you’re not allowed to idle, financially by employers who cut 90% of what should be the drivers(it’s not ok to think working for free is ok, fueling, waiting at docks, waiting on dispatch til who knows when, sometimes days and all away from home. Pay being held ransom, not being paid, not getting home….. the truck driver, we are perfect subservient slaves.

 

I don't deal with ANY of that. The only mistreatment I ever get is from a very few customers. But this company WILL get rid of customers that make that a habit. Even them being habitually slow will mean that we just won't go there anymore.

 

i get treated decent, better than most i suppose. i resigned from current company twice. lol.
they know i have a low tolerance for stupid. they also know i can do my job well & dont need a sitter.

 

Depressing, but true.