hows the turn over rate high when trucks are everywhere

how is turn over rate high when i see so much trucks everywhere. esp truck stops/rest areas. and if someone does quit . they find another trucking job not really leave the industry?

 

Turnover is whenever an employee leaves their job and the employer has to hire a replacement. Turnover is a figure used by a company and not by an employee. The A.T.A. has acknowledged that turnover is a problem within the trucking industry, but most companies are unwilling to make the changes necessary to cut down on the problem. I know the company I am leased to sees drivers as a liability to protect themselves from. Since their turnover is low compared to other companies they feel they don't have a problem. Still they have a turnover of near 100% and the quality of new drivers continue to drop. Turnover has nothing to do with the total volume of trucks on the road.

 

An average company can remove drivers in many ways. One of the companies I worked for didnt pay me till 52 days after I had signed on. Consequently I could only afford to work for them with out pay for 35 days before I had to park the truck and go home.

Other things companies are known to do is not give a driver sufficient miles for them to pay the lease.

 

Most of the trucks you see filling the truck stops & rest areas where drivers are waiting for loads are dry van and refrigerated companies. You won't see very many flatbeds waiting & extremely rare to see a tanker waiting. Consider that when you start the job search.

 

.....flatbeds are busy summer time, vans can get the same rates if you now where to pick your load. I have 2 trailers, 53 van and 48 flatbed and I use them whoever pays more....

 

Turn over rate for large training companies like Werner, Swift, etc can be as high as 300% meaning they had 3 drivers per 1 truck every year (aka Drivers quit within 4 months and get replaced).

Other smaller/medium companies might brag that their turn over rate is only 60% and think those are good numbers.

Its about the money. They some how think they can abuse us, pay low wages vs hours we put in, and just replace us as a disposable resource for highest profit.

 

There is a truism in business, "High turnover is a sign of poor pay and bad management." The result is that the better drivers move up to better jobs leaving bad companies with the worst drivers. Think of it as a filter system. This isn't just a problem in trucking, it's why fast food, and retail also have such high turnover as well. The best employees move on to better jobs leaving everyone else behind. As long as management continues to live in a world of denial this problem will continue to exist. However, you do not need to be locked in to these low level jobs. Get experience, work hard, set goals and don't be afraid to leave everyone else behind.

 

Can someone please explain how you come up with 100% turnover rate? If a co. like Prime has 12,000 drivers do they go through 12,000 drivers a year?
Or do you only count new hires? Wouldn't that skew the real numbers? Just trying to figure out the math.

 

Nailed it Sailguy. 12,000 drivers, 12,000 new hires that year. Not that all 12,000 drivers left, could have 2000 that stayed, and 14,000 that left and 14,000 that started new.

When I was back at Stevens it was a common saying that it would be the first winter for 75% of the drivers there.