what happened to freight?

and when that area starts to get over saturated, then it is time to move to another. Been that way since the day of horse drawn freight wagons

 

Yep, just keep drivin those horses and wagons to the good stuff. "Go West Young Man, Go West", when you get west it changes to 'Go East Young Man, Go East", or whatever direction you perceive to be the best for your rig (also an old term for horse and buggy).

 

What truck driver shortage?

 

^^^^^Can you overlay that against company driver pay scale in the industry??

 

You will see the same dip, only the uptick occurred much later. That is how it works, economy goes bad, workers take the hit, the economy starts to pick back up and 6 or 7 years later the worker will start to get a little catch up with their wage.

Go look at some charts for yourself and make the comparisons.

 

Problem is the truckers wage is severely lacking as a whole, that's why I brought it up.

The so called "shortage" is caused in majority by ONE thing, WAGES.

VERY FEW people want to put up with the lifestyle , abuse and long hours of trucking for the average wage of the industry anymore.

Simply put, the average truckers wage is pathetic as compared to what you must endure.
There are many other jobs these days with far less required hours, that pay better than most companies offer to be a trucker.

Fix the wages = Fix the shortage

 

I could argue that. The wages in trucking has gone up. When I got off the road in 2000, the average wage OTR was around 30 cents per mile. Having said that I have been in the Cable Industry since 2002, and pay has gone down. You want to talk about abuse? There is nothing like showing up 3 hours late to install services, because you were over booked, and having the customer curse you and call you all sorts names, while you are trying to get their services working. For years we were told, "oh, we are cutting your rates, but you can make it up by doing more work", now they have cut the rates and have limited the amount of work they will give you. Not to mention the "backcharges" they throw on you too. Construction you say? I worked quite a few new build projects too, good luck finding "skilled tradesmen" who speak English. They will work 12 hour days for $8 an hour, so why pay someone a lot more?

The Trucking industy does have issues, but it is not a lot better any where else, unless you have a MBA and work in an office.

 

It may have risen, but it has risen since the 1950s also.

Problem is, the rate vs cost of living these days is extremely disproportionate.

That $0.30CPM in 2000 sure got you allot more living than a measly .40-45CPM these days.

With a $10+ meal at the craphouse called McDonalds....or $2+ bottled water....you get the idea...

Inflation has ran rampant and wages have stagnated due to the direction the US Govt. has decided to take the country in.

 

But you also show another problem. 2 $ water ? get a water jug.In 2000 I had never heard of bottled H2O. Ten bucks at McDonalds? Make your meals.We eat more now than then. We are much more used to convience than we used to be, and that costs more money.

 

Missing the point. I don't eat at McDeath, etc.
Inflation has dramatically increased the cost of living.

Most other industries have adjusted wages for "COLA". You can literally make hoagies at Subway or Sheetz for a better wage per hour than what many Megas pay. Trucking on average is a low pay career....you've gotta cost cut to survive....Like making your own food, bringing water by the gallon jug, etc...