Where do all the drivers go?

no I had a great job 3 months after getting my license.

I currently, just last week, went through orientation with a company that preferred 5 years experience OTR and their insurance "suposedly" mandated two years OTR.

I have 3 months OTR and 10 months local/regional home everynight.

I am hired and very happy.

but I am still paying my dues.

Dues referring to: no vacation for a year and then (one) week paid. I am not getting 5 weeks paid after one year. Vacation is set up as a longevity bonus which is just another way of short changing you until they have to pay up. Vacation pay is "PAY". If you only get a week off paid versus 5 weeks off paid then you are doing the same job for less money.

Dues (not applying to me but to the industry in general) you won't start at top pay per mile until you have "X" numbers of years experience. Again meaning we aren't paying you what we could be until we have too.

Most companies have both of these maxims and the first is universal as far as I know of.

 

I missed your posting on that, can you please enlighten me?

My current, new company, working my butt off and gone I could make 65k

Will likely do high 40's low 50's same home time "4-6 per week".

 

Maybe it is the way I look at things.........

I consider extended paid vacations and paid sick-leave as "benefits" or "perks".......... both of which can be aquired through several methods.....not just seniority......

So, what you may be saying is that people new to this industry believe they deserve to be paid and/or treated the same way as a veteran is without proving their value to their employer?

I am going to think about this for a while and continue my thoughts.....

 

I read or heard someone quoting Bureau of Labor stats about the trucking industry recently and they said that there is currently a 40,000 driver shortage today, and in 2012 it'll increase to 100,000. So I'm assuming with the high turnover and the massive demand, this may be some of the reasons as to why there's such a shortage of drivers...don't know if that makes sense or not.......lol