Freight shortage?

Okay so it's over saturation not freight shortage. That's a whole other issue that's equally as damaging. Good news is I know I would definitely have a very tough time keeping up with all of the expenses on a tractor at only $2 a mile so that would definitely weed me out eventually and probably a lot of others as well. So there may be light at the end of the tunnel for the survivors.

 

Good question huh? The truck stops fill up earlier and earlier. Somehow we have simultaneously both a driver shortage and a parking shortage. Did they destroy a lot of truck parking? Then there goes a CR England clown truck rolling by with legs sticking out the window but there's a driver shortage? Oh wait, a shortage of qualified drivers. Okay more than 10 million Americans have a valid CDL license. There are currently 3.5 million Americans employed as truck drivers. So that's 6.5 million Americans with CDL's that aren't driving. Why not?
So you work 70 hours a week for $1,200 a week. That's $17 an hour. That dope smoking high school drop out working at the Amazon warehouse starts at $15 an hour. Then since he's not a truck driver he has to get overtime after 40 hours. So if he puts in a 70 hour week that's 40 hours at $15 an hour plus 30 hours at $22 an hour for a total of $1,546. Oh and he's on the clock for the entire time he's at the warehouse. That truck driver spent 168 hours at his work location (the truck) during his week on the road. So for all hours spent away from home at his work place that truck driver made $7.14 per hour. The federal minimum wage is $7.50 an hour. Of course there are a lot of drivers making more than $1,200 a week but I also know there are a lot of drivers making less than $1,200 a week so I figured $1,200 a week is a good median to go with. Also yes your $1,200 a week is more than a lot of other "unskilled workers" most of whom don't require any kind of special license, medical certification, etc and work a 40hr week, home every night. So do you really earn more? In total yes, it would make sense that someone working 70+ hours a week would earn more than someone working 40 hours a week. Factor time away from home and very few drivers are earning above minimum wage. I don't know if there's any actual stats on it but if I were to take a guess I'm betting that at least 50% of truck drivers are homeless. So why aren't those 6.5 million CDL holders working in this business?
Yet in spite of all that the truck stops are still packed, there's still an over saturation (excessive competition) keeping rates super low, etc.
The companies want maximum productivity for minimum labor costs to ensure maximum profits. The government is worried about inflation. Inflation concerns is what brought about the 1980 motor carrier act to begin with. Increased competition would drive down prices and it worked like a charm! Driving down freight rates helps combat the rising costs of goods. It was an anti inflationary measure along with raising interest rates taken by the government to slow inflation. The average American likely agrees that we should be better compensated then we are but they don't care enough about us to be willing to pay more than they already are for their goods. So truckers get thrown under the bus.
Lots of industries are claiming to have labor shortages. The ATA is far from alone amongst the industry lobbyists complaining about shortages. All those jobs experiencing "shortages" like service, retail, etc have a few things in common. Long hours, crap conditions, low pay, little to no vacation, few if any benefits and to add insult to injury looked down upon by our snobbish society.
However don't expect that anything is going to get any better anytime soon. Fully autonomous tractors are not going to be replacing drivers in the foreseeable future. However, they will definitely administer a lot more CDL exams in Spanish in their pursuit to add truck driving to the ever growing list of jobs "Americans just don't want to do".