Shortage

You answered your own question, they offer peanuts as pay

For 800$ a week, you would need to offer full free benefits and be next to my house along with a perfect vehicle that never breaks down and give me a ton of freedom to do exactly as i wish.

In a reasonably free market, there is no such thing as a labor shortage, just refusal of employers and companies to charge rates that allow them to incentive employment

 

I think there is an industry shortage, but an individual company will not have a shortage if the pay is good enough. That ain't terrible for a local gig but you surely ain't getting rich off of that. If being home daily is what a driver values, they will make it work.

 

Theyre just outside of atlanta too, plenty of better options and i wouldnt trust theyd pay me for the extra hrs that will inevitably come from that.

 

Yup. Question answered itself.

We struggle to fill a local position in the Twin Cities, as it is mileage-based, gets all the detention it can handle, and comes with a minimum pay guarantee of $1k/week. that's $25/hr equivalent as the guaranteed bottom. Your company's position pays that as a maximum.

Not a shortage of drivers, a shortage of company integrity, combined with the willingness to pay a driver an honest wage.

Fun fact: The average pay for an OTR driver is under $50k/yr, yet the average advertised pay for an OTR driver is $70k. That 40% missing off the top of a driver's expected wage is the problem, so when a company advertises and pays an honest $70-75k, they have to overcome the skepticism of the drivers looking for a job (likely already abused and underpaid) on top of standing out from the companies claiming $70-75k that are really only paying $45-50k.

 

I think a lot does come down to what a man (or woman) is willing to put up with. O'Reilly Auto Parts pays $19.40/hr starting to their truck drivers. That's low. But you get decent benefits, get a dedicated route, run M-F, and are off on the weekends and holidays. Walmart pays upwards of $.89/mi along with paying you for everything else that you do. You also get good benefits. But you have to slip-seat a sleeper truck and get scrutinized for every little thing you do. Other companies want you to stay out for 3-4 weeks at a time. There is no perfect company out there. So a driver chooses the outfit that can give him close what he (or she) needs.

Regarding a driver shortage: Most drivers that you see are in their 50's and 60's or older. A lot of them are in piss-poor health from decades of a terrible diet, extremely long hours filled with high stress, and almost nonexistent exercise. And as these older drivers fall out, many younger Americans are not interested in the type of lifestyle that trucking requires including low pay and extended periods away from home. Like other unskilled labor sectors, trucking companies have attempted to fulfill this net loss by importing drivers...mainly from Mexico, Eastern Europe, and India. While this temporary stopgap worked for a time, it has ultimately resulted in the decimation of our industry's reputation along with keeping wages artificially low. Both of which further detract from people wanting to get into the industry. So is there a driver shortage? Yes, and it's only going to get worse.

 

I've only ever seen one driver at Crete that was taller than 5'7". There is no shortage.

 

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