Let's talk about the 'driver shortage'.

I can tell you guys about the situation with east european in Chicagoland as I am always looking for a (BETTER ) job.They all hire and I see the same ads every week.Some of them I called few times over last 3 or so weeks.The problem (for me anyway) is that they governed only want to pay certain money and won't go over it.Since they all offer pretty much same money there is no incentive for drivers with some experience (this is who they mainly look for due to insurance requirements) to move between jobs.To sum up,it seems that they will rather have their trucks parked than give a driver some more money.2 days ago i had one of those guys calling me after i spoke with him on monday I think asking me why i didn't come for an interview (i never made any promise i will!).Told him straight up that i am currently making same money as he is offering and there is no point for me to change a job but he didn't make any better offer,instead he appeared to be slightly upset.

 

Yeah most of those companies pay between $1500-$1700 for a California run plus for extra stops.

 

You don't happen to have a link to Sander's proclamation, do you?

 

I apologize in advance, but I can't find the link to a news story I read within the last week that addresses the topic of this thread. Mega carriers are running at about 100% turnover of drivers, something I've known for years. This means on AVERAGE a mega carrier needs to replace EVERY driver in their fleet.

In the news article I read it quoted a representative of one of the mega carriers addressing an industry group. He said that "IF WE COULD RETAIN 100% OF ALL NEW HIRES FOR THREE MONTHS, THEN WE COULD REDUCE TOTAL TURNOVER BY HALF".

Think about that.

I know from my own two years at Swift I ran into a LOT of folks that had been with the company for years. I also trained and some of those trainees were OBVIOUSLY not cut out for OTR or for driving a truck.

If Mega carriers want to reduce turnover they need better screening of new hires AND better pay for training and for new solo drivers. WWWAAAYYYY too many folks arrive at orientation who obviously DON'T want a job, just going through the motions to continue getting unemployment. The desparate ones are those who were running out of unemployment, THEY ended up training and MAYBE running solo until they had to run home to mommy.

 

http://www.livetrucking.com/bernie-sander-says-hell-take-semis-off-the-road-if-elected/




Sanders promised to “do great things” if elected president, including “creating a state of the art rail system which takes trucks off the road.”

 

Great, so the suburban Walmarts will all have "state of the art" trains running through the neighborhood.

 

Even if Colonel Sanders accomplished this imagine the traffic jams caused by railroad crossings every one mile?

 

There is without a doubt a shortage, a shortage of good comapnies to work for!

 

Crap companies and bad drivers. You get what you pay for. I'm driving local dump truck that looks scary parked. But I still drive it on my A game. That and 41.00/hr. It's the Indian not the Arrow.