Fair to assume the driver shortage is real?

Pay is a big part of it, no doubt about that. But its not the whole picture. Hometime plays a part, too. Guys my age (upper 30's) grew up with that friend who's father drove or had that father who drove for a living, and remember how Dad was never around, how Dad missed ball games and big dances or recitals or whatever because he was out on the road earning the family living. None of my friends want to put their families through that. So when a carrier requires a three week dispatch or more for OTR, they lose out on a larger possible hiring pool. Heck, I ain't staying out that long anymore. I go home on weekends, no matter what. If I had a family, I'd be hitting the house even more. I wouldn't want to miss all those opportunities for the firsts (first step, first word, first date) that people in other fields get to enjoy.

 

I wouldn't say that. Old D pays .57cpm starting top out .63cpm and have to go to job fairs to find line and city drivers in a city. We fired a guy in his first 90 days cause he falsified a log and other things and had been let go from a previous employer and still got on at Old D. Other LTL's are hiring and need drivers badly all starting at .49-.55cpm starting. Making 70k-100k+ with no college education is pretty dang good in my opinion. That's far from crap pay compared to most people with college educations.

 

I think driver turnover is more of a issue than a shortage of drivers. Both situations would leave empty seats, in which create the same problem for trucking companies.

OK....... I think I got this now.

 

An offer right out of school is not exactly a FIRM offer. It is often called a pre hire. Even after you go to orientation you are not actually "HIRED" until they check out all your references and do the usual background checks. Only then do you actually have the job. I have never liked how most of these carriers handle the so called pre hires. As long as you have been truthful with them during the application and initial interview process, you should not have a problem when you get to orientation. If you have skeletons in your closet you are attempting to hide, they will usually find them and you could not find out until you are at orientation. Most inexperienced drivers with whom I have spoken assume that they have a guaranteed job with the pre hire. Just trying to give you a heads up. Most carriers don't even start the background checks until you are at orientation. They have too many who don't show up and doing a complete background check is expensive. Good luck.

 

I have not read all the posts, so I will say this, There is NO driver shortage, never was, never will be. It is not even a fabrication from the Dept of Labor job statistics either. Because if it was, the ALL trades would be in a shortage. What there is, is a "shortage of driver's" at any particular company that NEEDS a driver or two, right now.

One company "reports" they need drivers, all because they are "short" driver's right now. But this is NOT true of all companies, out there, now is it? Why do some NEVER advertise for help, not even asking thier current employee's for driver's? It's because they probably pay well, have good benefits, working conditions etc.

It's the "low-end skank" companies that do not pay well, etc, that are always in NEED of a steering wheel holder, RIGHT NOW, that created this farce of a "driver shortage". To eliminate such a fabricated "shortage", if the companies paid well, and had a good employee benefits package? Amazingly, this so-called driver shortage would disappear!

 

There was a low-end skank company here in my area, well quite a few actually, over the years. Ok, this one place, now long gone, would pay well. They would also give the driver x number of dollars "truck money" for incidentals like tolls, lumpers, etc.

With me so far? Well this company was still a skank company because when a driver called and asked for more money as he used up what was given for tolls etc? They gave it to him, then guess what,



here it comes,





get ready for this





that skank company had the local PD waiting at the terminal and placed the silver bracelets on the driver, and he was charged with stealing/embezzlement! That company was somewhere's in the Somerset, MASS area, I cannot remember the name, and no, I never worked for them, but at a place I did work at, 2 former drivers came to work, each one did NOT know each other, but each one DID wear silver bracelets!

 

In the heavyhaul end of things, there used to be a time where if you didn't have 10 years experience open deck, they wouldn't even look at you. Now they will. Driver shortage? On the bottom end, no. But how many drivers are there with 10 yrs verifiable open deck experience AND a clean record? Very few to go around.

You have 10 people sign up for orientation at a bottom feeder. 1/2 won't make the grade. Out of that 10 that showed up, only 3 will be there for a year. At the end of a year, 2 of the 3 decide to upgrade and the 3rd stays. The 2 that upgrade go into another orientation class, 5 total. Things are tougher here. The drivers are better, the standards are higher. Out of 5, two don't make the grade. 5 years later only 1 out of the 3 have a spotless record. The top end company needs drivers. They see these drivers at the mid grade companies hauling to the same sites as theirs. They recruit these guys on the job.

Ive seen drivers brag about the loads they pull, and running 19 axle rigs. See them all the time. But if you were high end heavyhaul and wanted a driver, would you approach the guy bragging in the truckstop or the guy behind the wheel of the 19 axle? What if instead of your mandatory 10 yrs experience, he only has 6 yrs? Are you lowering your standards or are you making a grab for talent?

its like pro sports. Kids start out in middle school football. They go to highschool, make the team, however, only one on the team is a star. He goes to play college ball. There are a bunch of college players vying for the pros, but very few that had a successful career in college have a successful pro career. Does that mean that there's a shortage of football players in the country?