The Trouble With Trucking Continues

Same Article from the NY Times... Continuation....

"Stagnant Pay for Truckers

Average annual salary for drivers of heavy trucks and tractor-trailers, in 2017 dollars.




Because driver pay is low, trucking companies in the truckload segment where drivers like Mr. Oliveira work have a turnover rate of about 95 percent, said Stephen Burks, a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota at Morris. (Mr. Burks also once worked as a truck driver.) Fear of recessions — and being stuck with high labor costs — make many companies reluctant to raise wages even if doing so would reduce turnover.

Desiree Wood, a driver who founded the group Real Women in Trucking, said that she once earned as little as 22 cents a mile as a driver for a trucking company in Tennessee. “If everybody is quitting, and they have a labor shortage, it’s probably because it is a crappy job,” she said.

Ms. Wood now has her own one-woman trucking operation and refuses jobs that don’t pay enough for her to break even — her cutoff is about $1.60 per mile. But she said it took her years to figure that out. Many younger people are lured into the profession by promises of bonuses and the freedom to work when they want, only to be disappointed by the reality of a grueling, underpaid job.

Not only is the trucking industry’s low-cost strategy hard on workers, but some experts say it also makes roads less safe by compelling workers to drive when they should rest. After spending many unpaid hours waiting to pick up a load, drivers put in long hours behind the wheel. That’s because it’s the only time they earn money, according to Michael Belzer, an economics professor at Wayne State University and the author of “Sweatshops on Wheels: Winners and Losers in Trucking Deregulation.” Federal regulations prohibit truck drivers from spending more than 11 hours in a 14-hour period behind the wheel. In practice, many work much more than that because nondriving hours are not counted.

If the industry raised wages, it’s clear that employers would find a larger labor pool. Instead, lobbyists for the industry are pushing the Trump administration to lower the minimum age for commercial driver’s licenses to 18 from 21. The administration seems receptive: Last month, the Department of Transportation announced that it wanted to move ahead on a pilot project that would allow 18-year-olds with the military equivalent of a commercial driver’s license to haul freight across state lines.
These are dangerous ideas. Lowering the age requirement could make roads less safe: Studies have consistently shown that teenagers are much more likely to be involved in fatal and other accidents. It makes little sense, then, to encourage younger people to get behind the wheel of a big rig weighing more than 33,000 pounds.

Imagine, however, that the government instead decided to use its prodding power to improve the lives and incomes of truck drivers. Officials could, for example, do more to crack down on companies that misclassify employees as contractors to avoid paying for expenses and guaranteeing a minimum wage. The government also ought to require that trucking companies and freight customers compensate drivers for every hour of work, including the hours spent picking up and dropping off loads. What’s more, Congress could pass a law making clear that regardless of how the industry pays drivers — whether on a per-hour or a per-mile basis — drivers are entitled to earn minimum wage and overtime for all of the hours they put in.

Such changes would increase costs for trucking companies, their customers and, ultimately, American shoppers. But paying truck drivers a living wage would neither imperil the economy nor cause spiraling inflation — the costs would be spread among the billions of tons of freight moved by truck each year.

Eventually, self-driving trucks might make these problems irrelevant by replacing drivers altogether. But experts agree that drivers will still be needed for many years. Computers will not be able to navigate all driving conditions, nor can they perform other job functions, like loading and unloading cargo. The trials for drivers aren’t going away for the foreseeable future.


Ms. Wood closes the hood after conducting a safety inspection on her Kenworth truck in Albuquerque.CreditAdria Malcolm for The New York Times

Such changes would increase costs for trucking companies, their customers and, ultimately, American shoppers. But paying truck drivers a living wage would neither imperil the economy nor cause spiraling inflation — the costs would be spread among the billions of tons of freight moved by truck each year.

Eventually, self-driving trucks might make these problems irrelevant by replacing drivers altogether. But experts agree that drivers will still be needed for many years. Computers will not be able to navigate all driving conditions, nor can they perform other job functions, like loading and unloading cargo. The trials for drivers aren’t going away for the foreseeable future.

Despite the bleak economics of their chosen occupation, many drivers don’t want to quit trucking. They are loath to trade in the cab of a big rig, and all the autonomy it offers, for an office cubicle or a factory floor. And they like seeing places that they may never have traveled to otherwise.

They also are increasingly frustrated that they are not fairly compensated for their work.

“I love what I do,” Mr. Oliveira said, “but there needs to be change in the industry for the next generation.”"