Trucking company CEO knows why there is a driver shortage

That might be an issue in some places with the weed, but the younger generation wants everything for nothing... I hear it all the time I wanna be an O/O and they only got 6 months experience.... then they try lease purchase and fail at it... you can't come out fresh making 200k a year I'm sorry it doesnt work that way... And there is no driver shortage... if that's the case then why are trucks parking for miles on the exit ramps... We might have a shortage of guys that actually know what there doing..

 

To add to your point, we dont have a steering wheel holder shortage, but we do have a professional driver shortage.

 

Yes! No flip flops were harmed in the making of this thread..

 

Also other industries are very competitive in pay right now, depending on where you live.
In North Texas entry machinist can make 40k+ their 1st year, and climb to 55k+ within a few years. And that’s home every day/night, on a 5-5.5 day workweek, with decent benefits.
It’s not even that the current generation is lazy, it’s just that other careers pay similar to trucking now. In the 80’s people flocked to trucking because it paid substantially more than many other trades, which help offset the negative aspects of the career.

 

Got into this business back in 1963, best blue collar job that a person could have without an education. You never saw a trucking company advertising for drivers, to even get your foot in the door, you had to know someone "inside". Then came "De-Regulation" and union busting, the gates got swung open for every "tom, dick and harry". Well we are witnessing the results today. Oh, here is a truck driving job making $80,000 per year, but then unless you are with a LTL carrier such as UPS, Old Dominion or any of the others large LTL carriers, you are going to stay out at least a week or two and maybe a month or better, sleeping in your truck, taking showers in a truck stop, eating truck stop food and the negative points go on and on. Figure what you are making per hour with the $80,000 after all deductions and road expenses. You might be clearing $11 per hr.

Talk about the younger generation being lazy, maybe they got better sense than to take a job that the "bottom line" doesn't justify the time, the frustration, the stress, being treated like a slave, being profiled by the law, being profiled by every crooked truck owner in the country. Who in the hell wants this job???

 

I would like to chime in and add to my 2 cents to this. Firstly I think @Grouch makes a well written post and really interesting post, and something I have thought also as of late. I don’t necessarily know if there is a driver shortage, as much as there is a good driving job shortage. I relocated 2 years ago for family reasons and left a major LTL company. I realize I was spoiled with my LTL checks I was used to, but the fact of the matter is nobody wants to pay anything, yet they expect everything.
400, 500 even 600 dollars a week, to be gone all week, deal with the ever building stresses of the general motoring public, the rude customers, the inconsiderate fellow truck drivers, and the seemingly endless unpaid for wait times at shippers/receivers, who would want to do this?
As stated above there are a lot of jobs that have regular work schedules, good benefits, and home every night, that are offering very competitive wages.
Say what you will about our long posting friend @x1Heavy but he has made this valid point time and time again. There has been little to no compensation adjustment for inflation. One of the first driving jobs I applied to is still paying what they were 13 years ago, and complaining how they can’t find anyone due to the “driver shortage”.
I’m not totally bashing the industry, Hell I guess I’m one of the crazy ones who enjoys trucking. I think my point is this, if you’re not passionate about it, you’re not going to be. If that makes sense? My grandpa drove, my dad drove, I was around it since I was little, I’d go on trips with my dad, he taught me to drive and shift when I was 18 I got my CDL at 19 and here I am. I just almost think if you don’t have it kind of instilled in you in a sense, or at least be very passionate about it, you won’t get there. For the general Joe who just needs a job and wants to get into trucking, I think there’s WAY too many opportunities to say “F@&$ a big bag of this” rather than “this is awesome!!!”

 

I’d say BOTH of you are way off the mark. And furthermore, the last thing this industry (peer drivers and driver employers) needs is 10% of the workforce being chronic stoners.

 

As someone who is part of the younger generation, holds a license and seriously considered trucking as a career, I will tell you straight up the entire reason I decided to wrench instead. Starting pay is pure ####. Plain and simple.