Company Turnover Rates

Good point. Good companies have no need to advertise.

 

Recruiters are not just for drivers. They recruit for office staff, warehouse workers (if applicable) and also handle other functions within the company.

I am a recruiter in the industry and I do a LOT more than hire drivers.

 

Yes sir, but I think this would apply here in the oilfield with companies who run continuous "CDL Drivers Wanted" signs outside their yards year round.

 

Landstar Owner-Operator turnover is 22%

 

The biggest and most successful companies in the nation have recruiters, the military has recruiters... Has nothing to do with turnover rate.... Of course you need to hire as a recruiter... But its not a high turn over thing....

 

no because that would allow you to see the bad companies from the good ones.

 

I read an article a long time ago in one of those freebie truck magazines, it said the only industry that has a higher rate of turnover was the ocean fishermen.

Exactly! It seems people not in the industry always think drivers make tons of money so I explain to them that there's a huge difference between a driver who's working for a company versus a driver who owns his own truck. O/O's make so much more that company drivers it seems ridiculous but then they have a lot more bills that have to be deducted such as fuel, toll,repairs, etc .I would have bought my own truck a long time ago but personally I'm not a mechanic.

 

They all have high turnover rates! Even in the oilfield which was great while it lasted alot of guys were coming to the oilfield off the road and quit shortly after saying it just wasn't for them. I worked for Stevens Transport, Swift, JB Hunt, SRT, Landstar and BTT. BTT is an oilfield tank truck company and that was the only trucking job so far that I was actually happy and met my financial goals at. I went to Stevens driving school, ran good once I was solo but .26cpm added up to just afew hundred bucks a week net pay if I was lucky. Got out of that and drove for a guy who owned a truck. Went great for awhile but then went downhill. JB Hunt put us under forced dispatch and couldn't get me home so we leased onto Landstar and they screwed us over. He ended up selling the truck and I went to Swift doing local runs for $150 a day, not much money but it at least gave me a paycheck while BTT was taking awhile to go through my application. Once I got to BTT I was happy. Made $1,500 a week starting out hauling salt water to disposal. Then got terminated when the work slowed. Because they put me down as being terminated other companies I applied to told me I had to work elsewhere for at least a year before they could accept me. I got on with SRT and they paid me .40cpm but had me doing short runs and the Tyson plants never had the loads ready she I got there. I would spend a day or two at a Tyson plant waiting on a load to be ready and it would be a 150mi run. So my paychecks sucked. I couldn't take that so now I'm in Phoenix AZ doing flatbed training with Swift. They are starting me at .44cpm and it's full OTR so we'll see how it goes. If I can just get 2,500mi a week then I should be okay or if there's a shortage of freight and I have to sit they should at least have the decency to let me sit at the house. I hope it works out. If not I will see if I can reenlist back into the army. Made more money in the army then I have in trucking.

 

One thing to consider with the turnover rate of a given company is what type of company it is. Some training companies for example, make as much from training as they do from Hauling freight. This being so, other than trainers, they are not overly interested in driver retention as they need the trucks freed up for the next round of students.

This initself will skew the numbers considerably. This is why certain companies have over 100% turnover rate.

 

I don't have access to the hard data so I won't attempt to state facts, just my gut feeling after years of observing the industry. Company turnover rates are caused by many things and can't simply just be easily summed up in a few words. However I think the largest reason turnover rates are like they are is this. Far too many people have the impression this industry is (easy) and very lucrative. All you have to do is get that CDL and you have struck gold. NOT TRUE never has been never will be. This leads to maybe 3/4 of new drivers coming in with faulty information and then burn out before a year has passed. Another large group are people that simply don't have the stuff to be successful doing this. As evidence I refer you to almost any truck stop, trucking terminal or loading dock in the US. what do you see? Dirty and dented equipment, stinky drivers etc. Another thing I have noticed is all the trucks with bent or dented steps, fuel tanks and fenders on the right side of the tractor. I also have noticed tractors with dented, broken or missing fairings. Any driver with just a little bit of experience knows what causes all of this. Another thing I have noticed is 5th wheel damage, NOT WEAR but damage. My first tractor with WSE had to have the 5th wheel replaced because of such damage that comes from drivers not following proper procedures when they back under a trailer. So are turnover rates high, you bet your rear they are across almost every aspect of this industry. Btw I have seen this damage on tractors from the marquee companies too. Don't be fooled into thinking they are immune from this.