driver turnover

In the US, the average driver changes jobs every 4.3 months.

 

What is sad is that this is an occupation that can provide a decent living almost from the start. If you stay with it and grow your skills you can decide what you want to do and what you want to make. It's been a decade now, but I went from no income to $700 a week in 3 months, and 1 month I went from no income to $350 a week training pay. That was with a company that only paid $.27 a mile to new drivers. Look in the paper and on the internet, you won't find many jobs that pay that well. Even a phlebotomist only pays in the $10-$12 an hour range and they need about a year of training.

 

B.S.

 

At some point, the available driver pool and CDL school output will no longer support high turnover rates. Then - and only then - will the hiring companies start looking at ways to improve driver satisfaction. It might be pay raises, better equipment, equipment inside the trucks, or whatever, but soon enough, they know they are going to have to look better than the company down the road if they want to fill their driver seats.

We are almost there, I think. My last company lost 45 drivers and many students on one day recently. I don't care how large a company you are; that is a lot of trucks sitting and loads not being delivered on time.

 

This is so true. I was fired from a job that was a mile down the street from me where I only worked 4 days a week and took home what I was making OTR. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. I got in an accident and it was sort of a set up, the lawyer said if it wasn't me it would have been someone else. Anyway, I decided to go to school full time to get a degree and better myself. Got my degree and was making half of what I made driving.

 

If the feds would stop the benefits to companies that train drivers it would help drivers a lot.

 

This has been around for a long time, so why can't management understand that these are the needs and the order workers in every industry have to have them met in. If you pay a good wage, then it is time to meet the need for job security and stability, then you need to build a work environment that drivers feel part of the team. Being part of a team has to be more than just a slogan. If you want to cut down on turnover you have to understand that this is how to keep your best people. Ultimately your best and senior drivers have to be the leaders of your company.

 

I think drivers are their own worst enemy. For one thing they will go to work for a company like swift then act surprised that swift isn't necessarily a personable kind of company.

For the most part the hardships and frustrations they encounter are simply a part of ordinary every day trucking and many of them don't seem to know how to communicate person to person so well.

So instead of rationally trying to find a solution lose their temper, quit, whine about how terrible swift was on the internet, then move on to the next company.

Before they know it they've got 5 years of experience with a half dozen or more companies on their resume and they're still making entry level wages. Or the ones who only want to get that year in then jump ship to another mediocre company thinking it will improve their lot. It never does.

If you want top pay in this industry you go to ABF, YRC, or UPS (parcel not Freight!) or you go out and do your thing with your own equipment. The latter of course is a long shot.

But from Werner to Swift to wherever and whatever company out here is more often than not just a step sideways in a trucking career and not a real step up. So if you're steppin sideways how has that been working for you?