The driver shortage (solved)

Go past any mega yard, and there are hundreds of trucks sitting. What the shortage is is getting bodies to fill those trucks thst are excess capacity. Many of these places the drivers only put in about 400 miles a day, and never get close to putting in a hard week. But the megas need to fill those trucks!

 

Can't find enough to take advantage of their lucrative L/P deals...
=Shortage!

 

There are way better paying non-trucking jobs, with better conditions, better hours, benefits, etc.

 

Money isn't everything. Ask me how I know. Some folks have the personality to chase the dollar and in so doing, compartmentalize their life. There's absolutely nothing wrong with going down that road; I surely won't pass judgement. OTOH, for some folks that mindset leads to broken marriages, broken families, high blood pressure, and that forever feeling that you can be a happier person by ignoring all of the naysayers and living your dream. You have no idea how many of my "friends" look at me now and say to my face, "WTF have you gone and done."

I sleep better at night than I have in many, many years.

 

If you're expecting truckload shipment growth to expand 30% in the next 3-5 years, that's hard to hire and/or train that many to a job that not many care to do, and keep up with driver loss, too. The shortage claims is not so much about the here and now as it is about the forecasted future demands.

There's a lot of other factors besides "too low of wages", that work to deplete the current driver pool, too, that must be factored in.

It's not just truck drivers that are hard to lure. Every business from large to small complains about not being able to get enough qualified applicants to apply. A lot of people just don't want to work, period ... For whatever reason.

 

Trucking companies can’t recruit at traditional job fairs for mining, trades etc
They would get laughed out of the building.
“Sir we are offering you a tin can to live in. Those poor tradesman are housed in hotels with all expenses covered “

 

When you add more drivers to the driver pool rates go down to levels that you can't keep trucking companies in business doing everything legal. When you have the number of drivers on the road that we have now it keeps the rates up to where things can be done more legal.
The people who say there's a driver shortage are the people who want to make more money on the loads brokers and shippers. That is why core big corporations are always looking to hire drivers outside of the United States and bring them here to lower the rates.

 

Lower what rates, driver wages or freight rates?

 

They claim due to the shortage freight rates are up and companies are leaning on shippers to get the trucks loaded. After waiting at CEVA for 9 hours to be loaded my company finally got with it and started doing drop and hook every day. Worked much better.

 

Go to any Pilot on I-40 at 7:00 pm. The shortage will be parking spaces. I do believe that the insurance carriers being so strict (and with way too many attorneys) that it's contributing to it. There are cases where trucks were sitting still but over their time, so the lawyers contended he shouldn't have been where he was when he got hit. This actually wins cases. Almost impossible for any trucker to win due to built in prejudices. Saw a pic today of a smashed Toyota rear ended by a semi. It was on a show room floor to prove how safe it was if a truck hits you.