Fair to assume the driver shortage is real?

You did and some other young people did but the truth is that young people who have to wait til 21 years of age to get a CDL typically find something to do for a career before then so it is a huge obstacle and feeds into the driver shortage. People in their 40's are coming in because of the economy. How about when the economy picks back up? A lot of newer 40 something drivers will go back to their old careers and young people will be starting their own careers in their 19's and 20's, not going to be interested in starting over entry level in a brand new career.

 

What part of sc are you from

 

How many hours a year were you responsible for the deep fryer?

How many hours a year are you responsible for your truck?

 

....even though i'm making less money now than when I first started 2 years ago

 

I don't qualify for Walmart

and I have my HazMat and Tanker.

 

They hire you before you finish school or are they just signing you up for their orientation? I thought most of them signed you up for their orientation first before hiring.

 

The whole point is being missed here.
If I own a trucking company with 100 trucks each one generating $250k in revenue, I gross $25 million. If my ROI is 5%, I profit $1.25 million.
But supose I could find another 100 drivers, stealing them from my competition. I double my gross and I pocket $2.5 million.
He who has the drivers wins. You could just pay more for drivers but then your ROI goes down. So, just because someone out there is hiring doesn't mean there is a shortage. It just means that someone wants to increase market share at the expense of their competition, without paying compensation or benefits.
In real inflation adjusted dollars, otr truckload driver pay is less now that it was in 1982, when deregulation started.