Are employment opportunities in trucking incredibly strong right now?

China is never wrong. When is the book coming out bud? Funny you say this as I am replacing a dedicated guy who is retiring and another driver I know is retiring as well after 30 years.

 

THere's countless surgeons, doctors, EMTs, fire fighters, police, bus drivers, teachers, therapists, architects, construction workers, etc who disagree with you.

We drive, that's it. Our truck breaks, we MacGuyver it back together until we can get it fixed, it's not rocket science. If this job is hard to you, you're in the wrong field. If defensive driving is a new skill that you picked up with your CDL, you had no business deciding "I want to drive a big truck". ###, it's pulling a trailer, something any idiot can figure out with practice, and basic customer service.

Now if you're doing tankers or flatbed, then yeah, there's more to the job, but still, not that difficult. 50k to drive a truck? Really? I know nurses who don't even make that, you know, people responsible for other people's lives... Oh right, we're responsible for their lives because crashing into them can kill them... Well so can my fiero. If you're crashing, you shouldn't be on the road, period.

This is the whiniest industry in the world, no wonder why nobody respects us.

 

Well you don't gotta get hot about it!

I don't know about the whiniest. Retail workers are a dime a dozen and are constantly complaining about low hours, too many hours, cranky customers, good customers that took too long, and the general drama mumbo jumbo.

Most truckers complain about two things. Cash and hometime. But even then you could pay someone to stay at home and they'll complain they had to check the bank account take sure the money was there.

That said this job isn't overly difficult. Overwhelming when you first start, yes. But you are right this isn't rocket science ... Although I will say some people make it seem that reading a map or atlas is.

unloader

unloader

 

I'll bite!

In short - yes. We are in demand. The average age is late 50's, so. Chinatown is right, they're retiring in droves.

Those that are getting close to retirement have sped up their plans due to elogs and increased regulations - I've seen it personally. They're done with it.

Right now - freight is up, seasonally - all round. Companies can't keep up, so there's a demand for us. But only if you fit their perfect little angel criteria.

 

I think you are all wrong.

The demand has always been there for company drivers, a lot of people don't seem to realize that there is a revolving door with many companies, a majority of the large carriers have them where their turnover rates are equal to the rate of disillusion drivers. Too many people get into this as a means to provide money for bills while at the same time many get into this because they think it would be cool to drive all over the place and get paid adding to the disillusion.

The OP mentioned two companies I know about, they have a demand to fill which now we are getting to the top of the business cycle and they need bodies to fill seats to make customers happy.

This is all normal just like the machine shops and press shops who are struggling to find people willing to work for them (that can be a hard job too).

 

You get paid, you signed up for it and can leave at any time. Doesn't sound like much of a slave to me.

To the OP, this is a great time to start a career. Of course, it has always been that way with our voracious consumer economy. As mentioned before, the turnover rates are company turnover, not industry turnover, which is probably much lower. People jump around to different companies a lot. Also, this is the worst job for relationships and families. Come to think of it, that is probably where 95% of the turnover stems from; problems at home.

I am single, an introvert, love driving, and hate working at a desk. This is the perfect industry for me.

 

If you add everything up that's happened in the last ~25 years, we have really gotten ourselves in a mess.

Just in Time manufacturing principles.
Increased FMCSA rules.
Increased DOT enforcement (revenue collection for bankrupt states)
Baby boomers retiring.
Increasing population.
Worldwide purchasing principles for manufacturing.
Increased insurance rates.
Increased law suit settlements.

It all points to alot of truckers and massive immigration.

 

every driver who runs with a eobr on their truck. is on a leash.

 

trucking works with the economy. it's a lousy job. that not many really want. crappy pay. lot of hours. no hometime. and as a bonus. gooberment regulation. and steep citation fines.

when the economy is doing well. there are jobs to be had. and everyone hates us. no one wants our job. so we are in demand. with higher wages. employers struggle for employees.

when the economy sucks. and there are no jobs to be had. some will like us. and they all want our jobs. we are no longer in demand. and wages are lower. drivers lining up for one job. now employers are flipping through pages of applications to find one person they want.

right now, the economy is picking up steam. trucking and wages are in our favor. and we are hated by the public again. ask ann ferro.

you have 7 years to make that cash. before the next recession hits. the economy goes up. and we all know that what goes up. must come down. and what goes down, eventually goes up. ((( the economy )))