Anyone else sick of hearing about a trucker shortage?

Corporations make the rules for their slaves though. They're doing the dirty work for the government. I went to Home Depot the other day and the only people wearing masks were the employees. I asked why and the cashier told me they had to or get fired.

 

Millions!!! Every Truck Driving School, Real Estate School, Barber School, Cosmetology School, Medical Assistant School, Veterinary Tech School...... (you all get my point) would have been out of business 30 years ago if everybody stuck with it!!!!! These are industries that get $#!T loads of Govt. Grants, tax breaks, Tax Credits for " Training" "New Entrants" into a particular Trade or Craft! Everybody has their finger in the pie...... Corporate Welfare..... that is what is going on. Get the Federal, (and State and Local) Bureaucracy out of the way..... let the Free Market take over..... VIOLA...... problem solved. It is nice to dream sometimes! Lol

 

Same deal mismanagement.. drivers are sitting often everywhere for peanuts so they leave the industry or switch away from megas . Nothing has changed in decades except social media

 

It just isn't the MEGAS!! Drivers sit daily.....everywhere..... Working for Companies from A-Z.

 

Yes driver's sit daily. That's just common sense. The real question is, do they get paid for that?

 

It's a media frenzy. I'm waiting to hear the ATA or some gullible reporter claim the worst kind of driver shortage is one where every year there are more new drivers entering the industry than the number industry spokesman claims they need over the next five years.

 

The vast majority......no they do not. That is a big problem in the industry.

 

My experience with detention is if I am delayed a few hours, they'll pay. If I am delayed almost a full day, they won't.

 

There's no reason detention can't start as soon as you hit the dock, $2 for fueling, $2 for pre trip, $2 for post trip, breakdown pay starting right away as soon as the breakdown is called in, $2 per drop, $2 per hook and finally warehouses being REQUIRED to allow truck drivers to use their bathrooms (NOT A PORTA JOHN, AN ACTUAL BATHROOM WITH SOAP, WATER AND HAND DRYERS OR PAPER TOWELS) if the driver is going to be on the property for 30 minutes or more.

OTR reefer and dry van are SEVERELY behind the times in ALL of these regards. SEVERELY.

And that $2 number comes from minimum wage being $7.25 in the lowest minimum wage states, round it to an even $8 for easy math, on average it takes 15 minutes to fuel, 15 minutes for pre trip, 15 for post trip, 15 for dropping and hooking. 15 minutes is a quarter of an hour. So 8/4 = 2. $2 per every on-duty action. That adds up.

LTL linehaul is about the only sector that can get away with this, where the drivers don't feel 100% ripped off on the CPM type of pay (I think they're one of the few local, home every night jobs that aren't paid hourly and yes I realize extraboard is a thing I'm talking about the guys on dedicated runs).

$1800 - 2k gross per week paychecks doing LTL linehaul in a 5 day stretch is a pretty fair wage, and a few LTL carriers actually DO pay their drivers for each time they fuel or each time they have to break or build a set of pup trailers. And LTL will actually pay minimum wage for breaking and building sets, I think Estes was at $8 per set or something like that.

But you can't just tell OTR reefer and dry van drivers to "just go to LTL". I mean, do the people who make sure the supermarket down the street from you not deserve to get paid fairly for every on duty action they do, just like the hourly local guys do?