Projected driver shortage to tripple by 2026 but companies keep closing?!

As soon as they eliminate the English language requirements (rule#2. #1 is must be 21) you will see the driver shortage disappear overnight. You will also see pay drop accordingly.

 

The only way to understand the current State of Trucking, is to study the history. Today it’s better in some ways, and worse in others. Doesn’t matter what We think. Major monetary forces at work. And the Economy benefits from all the Competition. Drivers being independent at heart, will never agree or Organize to better themselves as a whole. The best thing about Driving a Truck is Job Security, even if stretched out over a dozen Companies, always a Job available, mainly because, not many want to do it.

 

I think it's partly propaganda by the big companies to justify the eventual move to driverless trucks.

 

I don't know about that. It seems like that requirement has already been (unofficially at least) dropped.

 

Pass me some popcorn...reminds me of that movie Groundhog Day, a Lotta repeats of the same, but all true

 

That exactly what I said. I've worked entry level jobs but they require a skill set plus I have experience so I don't usually start at the bottom entry level but usually a level or 2 above.
I pull in a decent livable wage at both jobs and actually have better hours now and the work isn't bad.
I am tired of working with customers so to speak and I want to branch out to a job that is fun and something that is new and I will like. I have thought of different jobs and have thought of maybe 1 or 2 other paths. Not 100% sure which 1 I will follow.
I thought about the perception of truck drivers. Fat, lazy, stupid, ex-con it true as I've heard ppl talk. Think I think how people few positions I've had. So it's a tough call and I am sure not all truckers know professionalism skills.

100% true. Thought of getting into the career but have been reading as much as I can. Part me of figures I definitely don't want to go OTR! The more I read I wonder if I am making the correct choice.

 

I was going to ask you if you really believed that or if you were trolling, but I guess you really believe it, but don't know the truth yet.

Screw the news and anything that some so-called transportation expert may say. Simplify things...Supply and Demand. If there is a serious shortage of drivers, the pay rates would have doubled. What was the average wage for a megacarrier driver 10 years ago? What's the average annual wage this year? If the wage hasn't doubled, there is no shortage. Has the wage doubled in the last decade?

 

Watch a few old documentaries on Wal-Mart. How they pit vendors against one another in order to get the lowest price.

Then you will understand.

Ironically though. WM is one of the better employers for truck drivers. As a company driver for WM anyway.

 

There is no driver shortage.

THERE IS A PAY shortage.

Sometimes I kick myself paying 2.76 a pound for precut apples due to my arthritis. If the trucking company wants to ship walmart from Yakima WA Apples at 2.50 a pound and bill 5.00 a mile, paying the driver oh... 1.00 a mile from there to Searcy AR there is NO shortage anywhere. Driver good, fuel paid, truck payment made, payroll done, no need to close company.

It's the insistance on the decades old tired 0.34 a mile paying to drivers who cannot do anything with it that sinks the company on 1.80 to the truck. Come on. It's 1.20 or so to run the truck break even. What are they doing? Certainly not in the right freight with the right rate. They should ditch the entire trailer stock, buy RGN low boys go to Eastern SC and start hauling canisters of three Nuclear Waste to Nevada. The rates then will save the company store and keep everyone employed.