University of Arkansas Student Gathering Insight on Driver Shortage

I would run nights ALL the time if I could. However, my company has too many customers whose hours don't permit it.

 

The best part of about running nights is you pull in somewhere at sunrise, get a meal and go to bed when everyone is raging in rush hour gridlock.

You are right though, many receivers do deliveries in the early morning.

 

Leaving it? Already left. Poll should be modified. Left only because of market implosion and market never regained traction in my area.

 

And there are so many more who have left either by choice or not.

 

- Why do you think there is a driver shortage?

There isnt one. There is a fear of a driver shortage that the mega carriers have monetized and perpetuated. The so called shortage has been exaggerated by the way they calculate turnover and they keep hundreds of extra trucks on the lots to claim they have no drivers for them. Ask their drivers if they get enough miles and they will say there isnt enough freight for them. All smoke and mirrors.

A driver shortage should be measured by loads not hauled, not empty seats. Throw out the bottom paying 10% of freight and i will be you find everything is moved.
- What do you like or dislike about the industry currently?

Biggest problem is too much of the pot is grabbed before it gets to the truck or driver.
- Was there a golden age for drivers, and what was better about the industry then compared to now?

Hard 1 to answer. So many of todays issues that arent money just stem from there being so many more trucks and cars on the road.
- What has the industry done specifically that has pushed away drivers?

Forced wages to remain low so people who could make good drivers go elsewhere.
- In your opinion, how does the industry need to change to solve the driver shortage issue?

Again, theres not one. If they would quit allowing the megas to be over represented in the industry and look at it honestly and still found a shortage, i would be willing to speculate but not til then.

 

The data is here all you have to do is the work to find it trust me it's here.

 

Drivers are going to give entirely different responses than trucking company upper management people. Take the two viewpoints, add them together and divide by 2 to ge t a half way accurate idea of what is really going on out here.

Granted some carriers, big and small really push the bounds of what is considered a "fair apprentice wage". But the reality is everybody has choices. And the reality from carrier management perspective is that there is an infinite number of bodies flowing through "the system" to keep the seats warm and the freight moved. Even if many drivers are there only 4-6 months, that's fine as long as there are always more in the pipeline.

One can argue that large "training carriers" like this quick turnover model as it insures the lowest wage and benefit costs possible. They seem to have assumed the incident costs of having a mostly inexperienced driver base are more than offset by a lower wage and benefit expense that comes with a lot of inexperience in their driver pool.

 

Suits in the Ivory tower sometimes lose touch with what is possible or not. Many trainees are like children so to speak. They are told to do this and do not know enough to say no. And they accept pay so low that I consider it being taken advantage of because again they don't know what a good pay should really be in this industry nor how much per mile a company REALLY gets on that trailer load of widgets. Literally by knowing nothing they are not in a position to stand up for anything.

 

Much of the "so called" driver shortage is actually similar to the game "whack-a-mole." Some company loses 50 drivers and they pop up somewhere else with another company. One time 50 of us left a company at the same time and all went to work at another company. Within 3 mos. 49 of us had left that company and spread out to other companies.

 

There is no driver shortage.
There is a shortage of people driving trucks who:
A. Will stand for lengthy unpaid time at shippers and receivers, taking care of the company's equipment or waiting days on a load when being dispatched.
B. Will allow a driver facing camera.
C. Operate in a safe, professional manner.
D. Can pass a drug test.

And for all that,
E. Work 80+ hours a week away from home for less than they can make at McDonalds.

Real life example:

I received 4 calls with load offerings in the past 24 hours. All of them offering sub $2 per mile rates. Could I have pulled those loads? Sure. But why would I when I am booking double that right now?

Does that mean there is a driver shortage?