Trucking Faces Tough Competition For Blue Collar Workers

It's kinda obvious isn't it?

They pay thousands of dollars in sign on bonuses (payable over 6 months) but never give raises. (Guess how long it takes a new driver to hear scuttlebutt about never getting raises? 6 months?)

And they wonder about turnover?

We're now paying labor more to start than some of our C drivers make after being here 3+ years.

D'oh!

 

It's like that everywhere these days. My mother worked for a company assembling electronics and training new hires for 7 years. When she left (retired), that company was hiring inexperienced workers for .15 less than she was making.

 

taking trucking salaries say over the average worker, we get paid pretty darned good.

of course more professional workers like plumbers, mechanics, machinests, etc, make out better than us.

how.??

regular work hours, regular work environment like a garage that has heat, maybe even a/c.

plumbers get paid to walk in your door, then the job itself

drivers have irregular work hours, which leads to irregular sleep, eating and resting.

all others pretty much have set schedules.

when i wrenched in my youth, i only worked 5.5 days a week. had all holidays off, and vacations.

i got regular pay rasies, and i always worked in a dry, (warm or cool depending on the season), garage.

those other jobs can be stressful, but the day to day BS of traffic, and everything else, isn't even a thought in thier minds, they esstinally have it easier and are in the end, paid better, maybe even healthier that truck drivers.....i never saw a 500 pound plumber, or mechanic.

yeah, those other jobs have someone looking over thier shoulders, but so so we as well (in a sense).

but a mechanic and ALL other trades people can have an over run on (hours longer) a repair and not be in any trouble.

truckers being late, may have to stay till the next day, and most times gets a service failure, cutting into any bonus for "on time delivery".

 

??????????

 

Maybe if wages were on par with inflation this would not be a problem.
The avg inflation rate has been 4.02 percent since 1970.

 

and not only that, but also, we HAVE to take a reset, before we can work again. as a mechanic, if i had worked 7days a week (and i did several times to get caught up), i didn;t need no darned reset hours.

plus i got time and a half or double time.......

if it wasn't for being a puzzle solver and getting constantly dirty, i'd have stayed a mechanic.

i learned to hate solving not only the customers problems, but other mechanics problems as well, when they gave up.

 

There is definitely a shortage of qualified drivers willing to work for companies that want to pay peanuts and treat their drivers like bad dogs.