Trucking Future???

Hover trucks are the future!

 

Tough questions!

When I was trucking back in 81' the trucks were smaller there were cabovers, conventionals were the luxury rigs if you could afford em. The pay is about the same as it was back then, that has not changed that much at all. You rarely see cab overs anymore everything has gone conventional. The dot rules are changing, getting stricter.

Trucking will always be here as a whole since the need will never go away. Dot will start weeding out companies that don't meet the scores they are supposed to. It's already happening in the bus industry. Just about every day you read about another bus company that was shut down for thier csa scores being too high.

I dont like where this is headed as far as rules set by dot. I don't like being told when I'm going to be tired. I can figure that out all by myself.

 

Is this the new Lego hover truck...lol

 

Bottom line, this one doesn't see any significant changes to driver gross pay or hours behind the wheel in the foreseeable future. Perhaps a slight increase in pay to almost match inflation. What you see is what you'll get.

 

From what I am hearing things 'may' start changing, specifically for good drivers ie. drivers that do their job and don't get caught breaking the rules, or just don't break the rules. Being a driver you have value. If you have a clean MVR, clean PSP, and have a record of clean inspections you become valuable. Before long drivers with shoddy MVRs, lots of dirty inspections, and a history of late deliveries are going to get weeded out. CSA has changed a lot, brokers and shippers look at a companies csa score and if it is bad that broker will look for another company. Now CSA is flawed and can make good companies look bad and hopefully it will get fixed.

What this means is when there are less companies with good csa scores shippers/brokers are going to have difficulty finding trucks to ship their loads. Supply and demand dictates that when the demand is high and the supply is low the cost goes up. Hopefully meaning better rates and better pay for drivers who have good value established by their own responsibility and hard work.

Disclaimer: This is all my personal opinion based on what I have heard and read relating to the trucking industry. Feel free to disagree and offer your own opinions on the matter.

 

those reasons, and i think too the days of the owner-operator will diminish considerably. at least those o/o's that are on thier own authority.

i see more company "buy-outs" of smaller not-too-profitable companies.

i see more regulations, rules, laws many as a result of the pee-poor training schools give for the extreme amounts of money charged, and accident rates climbing steadily.

i see more freight going by trains than ever before, requiring less drivers as a result, but more work as shuttle drivers to and from the train yards, unless some place still have R/R tracks behind them.

i DO NOT SEE anymore money or benefits or better working conditions, as it'll still be a "buyer's market" to hire any scumbag off the street, put him behind the wheel and say, "go deliver". this will keep the wages LOW.

in the end, the old timers will retire, newbies will tire of all the things we talk about and see for themselves the declining way of things in trucking, and they too will fall by the wayside.

 

hmm, I have been hearing that companies are reducing or getting rid of their company drivers, and even lease operators, in favor of hiring o/os. Maybe I heard wrong.

 

Wal-Mart drivers will eventually be phased out as well.

 

I don't think the future is a pretty one. It has turned into big companies requiring their drivers to fuel at these chain truck stops. The decent Mom and Pop truck stops are almost all gone. These big companies will hire just about anyone to fill a seat. With insurance and CSA scores a fresh body off the street with a clean score is better than veteran trucker with a few scuffs on his record. In a crappy economy there is plenty of fresh meat to send through the meat grinder. When they get sick of the BS of long times away from home, little home time, being told when and where to stop, what roads to run, how long they can run a truck to stay comfortable, they will quit but a new body will take their place. In the last eight years or so every pay raise I got was swallowed up by rising insurance or the rising cost of living on the road. Nothing is being done about the problem of unpaid compensation that plagues the industry. Drivers are paid nothing or very little for waiting in between loads, waiting to get loaded or unloaded, truck repairs or other delays. The other poster was right about more freight going on trains. With the high price of fuel it is more cost effective to ship long distance, non-time sensitive loads by rail. I saw a lot of my good loads going to rail so I went to the railroad. The pay, home time and benefits are also much better.