Exposing the Driver Shortage Myth

Deregulation was brought in in Canada under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act 1989 (Canada) and it took effect January 1, 1990. The feds gave the provincial governments a 10 year period for deregulation to be complete. Some Provinces like Bc and a few others took their sweet time in particular with deregulating Intra Provincial Authority.

As for myself Dowen The Road, I have owned 2 trucking companies and sold both of them and have done very well. I started in the trucking game in the fall of 1960.

 

Prarie boy.

I come from the same "era". My family owned a business that my grandfather started in the great depression and if you wanted/needed to move anything on a regular basis you had to have your own trucks to do it. Drivers (ours were not unionised) earned a decent wage because of the number of unions that surrounded us,they could go work for an employer that payed the same or in some casses more and not even have to drive to do it. We had to pay them to keep them. You don't really see that anymore in the general workforce let alone in this industry. Free trade pretty much killed the family business,it was small in comparison to the US giants that came knocking on the door to buy us out in the end. They wanted the contracts that we serviced and the writting was on the wall.

With union number declining over the last 20 yrs employers have been chipping away at non union wages that were supported by union workforces. The last 20 years the economy has been powered by those that "sucked all the equity" built up over the previous 40 and now we are here today with bailouts and austerity.

Deregualtion equalled an ATM for the first 10 years after it was brought in for anyone willing to start a company.
I know of several carriers that were concieved in the early nineties then were out of the business within 15 yrs. They left mainly because they had made their money, saw how tighter the margins were getting and how "regulations" were creeping back into the industry eating up profits.
I am sure you can name a few as well.

Take your age out of the equation and answer this one. With all your experience and knowledge would you start a trucking company in todays climate?
I understand people know who you are personally, it's an answer you may not feel like giving us and that is fair. It is not a "loaded" question and I will not disect your answer. Mine would be an empahatic "no,thanks".

 

I sold my lasy one 6 years ago and NO, I wouldn't start another. Just like I keep telling a lot of people not to get sucked in to these "lease op" scams. Just drive for wages where you get paid for all hours worked and at the end of the day or weekend, go home, don't be crawling under a truck because you don't get paid enough for someone else to maintain it.

 

There is no driver shortage. The companies want experienced drivers. That is where the shortage is. The pay and conditions of being a trucker makes many people find other avenues to make a living. Trucking companies don't want to hear the truth.

 

There's no shortage of experienced drivers, just a shortage of good paying driving jobs.

 

All the EXPERIENCED drivers have bought there own truck, moved on to bigger and better things, or Retired.

 

I'll have to disagree with that somewhat. I consider myself an experienced driver. I have operated many types of equipment over the years. I have also owned my own equipment. I currently work for a company, as a company driver, that pays very well, has great benefits, and a great retirement plan. I have the current qualifications that would allow me to move onto other things, but in many cases it would mean A DROP in pay, benefits, retirement plan, etc etc. I enjoy what I'm doing now and don't plan on leaving it any time soon. It is a physical job and requires working in the elements, and the freight is generally considered 'high value', that's why we're paid accordingly. Now, I've also been an OTR driver, both as a broker and a company driver, and also made a good living at it. There are many reasons for that. IE - As an East Coaster, I prefered dispatch to places like New York City. Why ? Because no one wanted to go there AND companies were ( are maybe still ? ) paying a premium and a bonus for drivers to run there. I concur with most of the previous posts, that deregulation killed what was once a very lucrative job for drivers. Unionization is about the only thing that will change that, but that is highly unlikely to happen again in my time. Just my thoughts.

 

I had forgot to mention in my last post, that Exp. Drivers may also have a good paying job with a company too that are set with all the benefits and perks.

 

Exactly - I think the point is that specialty work gains specialty pay. A plastic surgeon in Hollywood, CA is going to make more money then a family GP in Thunderbay, ON. A vac operator, buried to his/her knees in freezing mud, in AB is going to make more $$ then a pin to pinner running back and forth between Halifax NS and Moncton NB.

 

This is true....there is no accurate blanket statement, but to say there is no good jobs (pay or otherwise) in trucking is nonsense!

I have friends with degrees (me included) and some can't find work should I tell my children that university is bad and a waste of time?

There is good and bad in every vocation. Are the wages not as good as days gone by? Probably yes... But that doesn't mean it cannot be a good and profitable career.