a quick question about driver turnover

I agree with only 3 weeks experience you are not prepared to be an O/O. You lack driving experience, make no mention of a business plan, or the type of financial backing you have. It's best to put some time in the seat before choosing the O/O route to going broke. So far I'm averaging 59+ cpm which is far better than most O/O's. To be clear that's my pay not what the truck gets per mile.

 

No of course not. It's a future goal for me. Most CO's with load boards require at least a year OTR.

 

No 59 cpm is not profit. That my average pay rate year to date for 2014 as a company driver.

 

The lifestyle can be rough, weeks away from home and family. The money for new drivers is low, less than minimum wage in most cases, so most just quit the industry all together, many more leave for local driving work.

The main reasons for "firing" are usually serious, like criminal activity or health problems (even minor accidents will be ignored sometimes), insurance liability the main reason. Otherwise a company may "starve you out" to get rid of a driver by cutting miles and income to force a driver out, others impose "fines" (paycheck deductions) for various issues like log book violations.

Turnover is just a general number, and much of that is simply drivers jumping from one company to another.

 

I think the percentage of drivers quitting versus being fired is probably pretty high. I think most of that can be attributed to the drivers themselves. They obviously did not do their research before moving to "greener pastures". I left my previous employer after he bounced a paycheck. I did not leave before doing my research and even then it was a matter of timing. After settling on my current employer I still waited almost 4 months to change. We all know how the freight cycles are and that it's dead after Christmas. I made my move in April flush wish cash from my tax return. This allowed me a cushion to survive on as I learned the ropes.

 

Too much sitting. Not enough wheels turning.

 

Because they are lazy. I am surprised at how many people are used to a laid back $8 hour job where they just show up for work and that's good enough. In my teen years I lived in a small town without jobs so you had to work til you dropped in order to not get fired and replaced the next day by one of the 1000 applicants looking for any work. Doing that for many years I thought all jobs were that tough and that was life. I moved to a big city and worked jobs where you got paid to sit around and I was shocked. So trucking is still easy to me.

 

Wow great post.