Fair to assume the driver shortage is real?

Its odd that some with two or three years experience understand what's going on in the industry.

The problem is this - there is no shortage of drivers - it is made up to perpetuate the on-going idea that there is a labor shortage all over the place when there is not. There is a wage shortage among professionals.

The same thing happens in the nursing world, there is supposed to be this great shortage of nurses so they push through a bunch of them to become nurses and then put them to work only to find out that there are long hours, lower than expected pay and worse of all, mismanagement of the nurses with things like scheduling and services. The good nurses who expect good pay go somewhere else in another industry to work,

IT is the same thing, such a BIG shortage of workers of which you have all of those who were laid off in the past 4 years who are looking for jobs with loads of experience, no company will hire them because they expect good pay for their knowledge and experience but companies won't hire them because they are too expensive.

 

"it's one thing finding a class a driver with a clean driving n criminal record" man! That's the truth, I see more and more threads about "can I get hired with felony on my record" or "I've got drug convictions, can I get a CDL and a driving job?" Then they justify their behavior on youth, sorry doesn't fly with me, I was young once and never ended up breaking the law, now their getting older and think their past shouldn't be considered, yes their past should be considered, tells companies if their trustworthy or not, if they can trust them to handle a 80,000 pound vehicle with out drug use, sorry 6 months clean isn't a change in mentality!

 

"I worked at Burger King for 3 years and the MOST I ever made was $13K/yr. my first "full" year driving a truck (I had to miss like 3 months because I lost a job) I made $26K"

Never mentioned money. But using your numbers a trucker works 70 hrs plus a week. You made exactly what a fast food worker makes if they were to work two full time jobs flipping burgers at 80 hours and you would be home most nights.....You just made fast food wages driving a truck...

My point was you can jump from one trucking company to the other and you loose nothing. Most are all the same. They can fire me at the company I work for and I could be hired the same day. Clean out the truck hop a bus from there to the next Orientation. Just like you can be fired from McD's and walk across the street to Burger King and go right back to work. Thats where the retention problem is and leads to high shortage from one company to the other.

 

Almost every trucking company has driver shortages. It is the nature of the business. Turnover has always been very high, and it always will be. There are plenty of reasons.

1. Drivers who can't hack being away from home..........( wife troubles, kids, loneliness, can't handle 3-4 weeks out, etc. etc.)
2. Drivers who fear city driving..................................( seen a few quit after a steady diet of NYC & Chicago)
3. Drivers who can't take the frustration.......................(sitting for long periods, slow periods, missed pay, shippers, receivers, dispatchers, etc. etc.)
4. Drivers who get into legal troubles.......................... (logging, accidents, speeding, DUI's)
5. Drivers with bad attitudes......................................(I have met more than I can count, they get weeded out sooner or later)
6. Drivers who job hop..............................................(thinking the grass is always greener at the next company)
7. Drivers burn out...................................................( It happens, they leave the road and come back again later on, or they never come back at all)
8. Drivers with a family illness...................................( I left the road because of this, and know a few others as well)
9. Driver illness........................................................(Diabetes, overweight, Sleep apnea, poor eating habits,....etc. etc. etc.)

 

Poor eating habits is me that's why i left otr i was eating mc donalds everyday 2 mc chickens nd a larger fries that's it for the day nd work for like 10 hours or more then i fell at a truck stop in ohio when i got released from the hospital nd they said that was the reason i went straight to my home terminal nd quit then get a local job.

 

Shortage of Drivers?... not hardly... there are, however, a lot of short drivers. Is that what you meant?

I have never had a problem finding work but then, I have other skill sets (mechanical, clerical, electrical...). I like driving,... not for the hours because, if you were to factor in the hours relative to the income, you're better off flipping burgers full time which brings me back to your question of a driver shortage.

There are drivers out there who are out of work because of this political agenda some thought would improve something. Sadly, twice we've elected a community organizer who likes to take vacations, play golf and scrutinize our rights and liberties. There is a record number of companies going out of business, reorganizing, firing employees in order to stay afloat and merging with others in an effort to stay profitable.

Shortage of drivers?

NO,... there is a shortage of positions for drivers... there are plenty of trucks on the road, deliveries are being made on time, product is reaching inventory points and I don't see abandoned vehicles anywhere. The company I work for has acquired several trucking companies and the drivers that worked for them.

Shortage of drivers?

NOT HARDLY - just a shortage of real professionals (having a CDL certainly doesn't make you one).

NUFF SAID.

 

Years ago, when I was pulling reefer, I worked for a small company that had triple digit trucks. They paid 26% to start. The trucks were hot. All large cars. We ran like hell during the week, but were off on the weekend. I always liked to load up on Friday and leave out Sunday afternoon. I averaged $1200/week gross. Not a bad week. Yet, there was driver turnover.
You had your core group of guys that you could depend on, and then you would have that driver who would run for a few weeks, stack his bank account, sell fuel, and quit. You had the guy that took a week to run round trip from Chattanooga to Miami me complain about money.

Whats the problem? The company, the freight, the truck, or the drivers?

When I pulled Foodservice, we had to wear uniforms. Buster Brown was Buster Brown because of their uniforms. Back in the day, all drivers wore uniforms. Interesting... So when I see some guy in a wifebeater, in flip flops and sweat pants complaining about his pay, who do I blame? His company? If you went to school in flip flops and sweatpants and a wifebeater, they would send you home. What makes you people think that flip flops and wifebeaters are appropriate attire then? Even a 5 yr old knows that. If you showed up for a job interview in a wifebeater and flip flops, even if you were qualified, you would be sent home. ANY job interview. So you're doing a job wearing pajamas, and expect better wages and treatment, right? Riiiiiiiight.

There is is a reason why quite a few companies run teams. No, it's not because a team is going to run twice the miles that a solo can. I am sure there is a team out there that can run twice the miles of the very best solo driver, but I've never seen it. In fact most teams only run 4000 miles or less. Hmmm, a solo can do 4k, why do they have two drivers doing the job of 1? To insure the load gets there on time. There are so many drivers nowadays with piss poor work ethics that the big company solution to the problem is to put two pieces of garbage in 1 truck. Do 2 slackers =1 solid driver? No. And the pay reflects that across the board.

Will a company PAY for talent? Absolutely. Even the bottom feeders.

They only pay you $.24/mile. If you work at a bottom feeder, where the average driver makes $30k/yr, I'd bet money that there's a company driver that runs the same truck, same rules, same elogs making $60+/yr. that's why I always tell you that when you talk to a recruiter, ask what the average driver makes and what the top driver makes.

So, what does that top driver look like? Flip flops and wife beater? Or very polished and professional? Is he the guy in the drivers lounge at the terminal crying about wages and respect? Who is he? Do you know him? Probably not. He knows the game. If he went into the drivers lounge and told everyone what he was making, the company would have a bunch of fat guys in flip flops screaming and demanding to see someone in management.

 

You should see how some show up for a job interview , had a few over the years show up with another companies truck & trailer to put in application or for their road test and tell me they could start right away just gotta dump their old rig someplace 1 asked if he could just leave it in our yard until they decided to come and recover it.

Had another 1 who to everyone and anyone who would listen HE NEVER GOT PAID ON TIME , thing he forgot to tell was he was always late calling in his miles ( paid off the hub , call in on company supplied cell phone on Friday $ in the bank account on Monday ) and handing in his paperwork

 

I've always wondered how a job hopper fills out an app. REASON FOR QUITTING:

Now if a driver had long term goals, and found a job more suitable to the goal, I completely understand that. If you're pulling a box, and got a gig as a tanker yanker, that's understandable. Or you used a company to get into a truck, but you really want to haul cars. Or you finally got that dedicated gig or the local run. That makes sense. But if you bounced from TMC to Maverick to P&S to McElroy to Melton to Boyd. Or from Swift, to England to Weiner to USA....something's wrong. You're not trying to advance, you're doing something underhanded. It's like being in Oklahoma City and seeing a girl walk through the parking lot at the Loves, and at the Pilot and the TA. Is she a driver? Can't be. Whether you see her hop in trucks or not, you know she's up to nothing good.

 

Did you end up hiring them?