the debate continues about driver shortage.

One day there will be a driver shortage.Look at orientation many times only a handful of drivers attend.Well shoot who wants to work for peanuts.How can ppl live off that and still pay bills.Drivers in debt.Laws are ridiculously unreasonable especially for the driver.I ask you why do we have csa points on our record for 3 yrs and companies 2? How fair is that?Why do we get put oos immediatey and companies can keep on operating unsafely?Why does the DOT give companies a notice theyre coming to do an audit?Then they wonder why the driver shortage.The ppl that don't have a clue about the trucking industry that publishes these articles should do research by asking drivers rather then companies that don't tell the entire truth.More and more drivers are quitting completely.FMCSA and trucking companies refuses to work with the drivers.Many of the new drivers don't succeeed and not trying because they've had enough mainly with companies.

 

There is no driver shortage, and there never was one. The only "shortage" there has been is on the pay! When I started driving back in '87, I made an average of $700 to $800 per week. Nowadays...that is still the going rate of pay some 26 years hence! It's the high turnover rate that companies fear, so they promote the "driver shortage" as a way to keep new drivers coming in and that keeps a rotation going so they always have a 'seatfiller.'

 

I think there are things that are being missed when there is a talk of any driver shortage.

The first is the lure of a "high paying" job with a simple amount of training and going hand in hand with that is the lease option that is pushed to drivers as a way to make more money.

The second thing is attitude, which a lot of revolving door drivers I have met have a poor attitude and were told that they would make the big bucks, as disillusioned as they are, there is a likeliness that they will quit sooner than to be willing to stick it out. This also comes from the lack of patients and the need to be an instant money maker - we see this all the time right here on this forum.

The third is simply part of the attitude problem, we are treated as a commodity, not as a professional and most allow the companies to treat us as a commodity and not a professional so until we stop acting as a commodity and demand to be treated as a professional, we will always have that revolving door issue. That said, I seem to think that those who treat this as just a job are the ones who are the biggest threat to changing this, they are the ones who are not willing to put an effort into stopping the revolving door policies of the carriers and believe in part there is truly a driver shortage.

The fourth is we don't discourage people enough by telling the truth. I have been accused of hating truckers and this profession but that's no where near the truth. I just see it as a saturation of the work force and the use of it not as a professional work force but rather as the revolving door.

 

[/h]
I am NOT short! My feet reach the peddles.

 

If there was a driver shortage, pay rates would increase.
I was making $.37/mile in 1997.
I see top pay at some companies is around $.39/ mile.
Companies want cheap labor .
Pay more $$. Get more drivers.

 

Wages for all workers have pretty much been stagnant since then. (Unfortunately expenses have not been...) That isn't just a trucking industry thing. Taking home $800 for the week was d a m n good money back in 1987.

In reality, there probably already is a driver shortage looming, and wages for qualified drivers will have to start increasing at some point. There will be a glut of baby boomers hanging up their keys during this decade and the transportation needs of this country are not exactly shrinking.

I think we've seen the worst of the low-wage/driver abuse days during the 2000's, where companies could realistically expect drivers to work for $.25 cpm. But now you have a confluence of issues - baby boomers retiring, with few young men who actually want to be drivers willing to replace them, feds clamping down hard on HOS regs, and the transportation needs of the country continue to increase. Until they invent trucks that drive themselves, companies will have no choice but to start raising wages and passing the added cost onto the shippers (who in turn pass the added cost onto the consumers).

 

There will be some trucking companies driven out of business (pardon the pun). They'll get pinched too hard between increasing wages for drivers, and lack of freight/loads that pay the bills. If they can't effectively pass the added cost onto their customers they'll be toast.

I already saw a decent sized freight company in Seattle called Express Transport go belly up earlier this year.

 

All valid and very well said! The government needs to get out of the mix. All they have done is further the downfall. But ever since the CDL became the law of the land, good ol' Uncle Sam has been raking in even more money than before. "All in the name of safety," they said. Yeah, we have never heard the end of that line of dribble! They use that line to enact anything from money scams to deterioration of rights.

 

QUOTE FROM AN EARLIER REPLY ..."I ask you why do we have csa points on our record for 3 yrs and companies 2? How fair is that? Why do we get put oos immediately and companies can keep on operating unsafely? Why does the DOT give companies a notice they're coming to do an audit?

REALLY! You have to ask why? .... What do the companies have that the driver does not have.....the ATA ..American Trucking Associations ... "ATA is a proactive and vocal leader, representing trucking in the legislative arena before regulatory agencies and litigating on behalf of the trucking industry" .... ~trucking industry=trucking companies~ ....

Where is the ATDA .... the American TRUCK DRIVER Association .... that should be representing TRUCK DRIVERS in the legislative arena before regulatory agencies.

The American trucking companies have their representation through the ATA ..... The American TRUCK DRIVER has his/her representation through ....... hmmmm ..... NO ONE!