Driver Shortage

you are a Mechanic, did Framing, roofing, dont care about warehousing. IMO, you will do VERY good in your life. You are in the Trades, and can jump right into any carpentry jobs. You will do very well at what ever you seek. If i could start my life over, i would go to school and be an Electrician, Pipe fitter, and be set for life.

 

Thank you kind sir. I had to leave the trades due to body being too beat up. That's why I drive now. But should I ever need to have a Plan B for this plan B then yes. I have other avenues to fall back on. Thankfully I put full honorable effort into all those industries and have been told each one I left that I have a job should I need to come back. Very thankful for my "Working Mans PhD"

 

All of the above plus a lot of other stuff.

Right now, the economy is still hot and has been for awhile. When that happens labor gets tighter in every industry. Here in Elkhart Country Indiana where all the RV factories are, anybody who knows which end of a hammer to hold can get a $20+/hr production job. The only people who don't work around here are the ones who truly don't want to or have to. Now, that does a complete 180 when the economy goes in the tanker and unemployment hits 20% or higher, but for now that isn't the case. Trucking is seen by most of the general public as a not very desirable occupation for reasons mostly already covered, so naturally when times are good not many will go into this industry when similar money and a more comfortable "normal" lifestyle can be had elsewhere. Trucking is seen by most as a last ditch "couldn't find anything better" type occupation. I started back in 2011 when times were still pretty tough from the 2008 Financial Crisis and it was hilarious how cheap the rates were for entry level drivers...they were all somewhere between $.25-30 cpm to start with and I honestly went with one paying 25 cents, but there was other perks and advantages to that outfit which appealed to me but anyway, the point is that there was still a bunch of unemployed or under-employed trade guys who needed a paycheck, so they came to trucking knowing there was a paycheck there if the tough lifestyle could be put up with for awhile. But it doesn't work for most people long term and they go back to more preferred lines of work as soon as they can. Either that or they rack up too many tickets or accidents too quickly and become un-hirable. That gets a few people. Also the medical standards are getting stricter and that nips a few also.

 

I have to say. I take offense at being called a short driver. Don't you know. We prefer vertically challenged.

 

It's one of those occupations that is relatively easy to get into but relatively hard to stay in. The rules are strict, the lifestyle is tough, the motoring public is stressful to deal with...a lot of people wash out for medical or driving record issues. The 10% or less who stay in it long term are probably a lot like the small minority of people who go career military. They just get a bang out of it and wouldn't do anything else.

 

Lack of people that want to work too. That includes drivers and mechanics.

You can find plenty who want to sit in an office or walk around all day doing nothing.

 

That's why drivers with 5 yrs/500,000 miles clean should be able to command top dollar. 2k/week min.

 

With all the big truck wrecks recorded daily I think there going to be a shortage of trucks.

 

People at the corporate need people below them. Otherwise, they aren't getting anywhere without them. You need to give credit when it's due.

 

No high schoolers can drive a truck or do any of those things, at least not yet. The reason for that is government regulations, granted it's much easier to get a CDL than completing any of the requirements for other professions. Learning to drive a truck is mostly done through the school of hard knocks while actually doing the profession like most other professions used to be as well, I can tell you in most of the oilfield companies that I've worked at the sheer amount of accidents that happen. Latest one I heard off was a guy flipping his truck while driving off-road in WY, normally that would be an automatic termination but they're so hard up for drivers that they kept him.

Don't compare someone driving a regular car in the US to someone driving a semi, there's a reason we get held to a higher standard than most other drivers on the road. You think some 4 wheeler is going to get 100 years in prison because he had a faulty car?

I would compare a CDL holder to someone driving a regular car in say Europe, I know from talking to Europeans that it costs them a couple of grand to try and get their regular license and even with that a lot fail. Driving is a privilege in Europe, in the US driving is a necessity which is why the only requirement is a pulse to drive a regular car.