why is turnover so high?

CR England has both a high turnover and overturn rate.

 

That they do. Not that I care for unions much, BUT I will say that the mega's desperately need to be unionized.

 

It would put and end to what I refer to as "free trucking."
Them Union boys are always getting paid as should everyone.

 

It needs to happen, or this industry will continue on its downward spiral as drivers continue to underbid eachother to oblivion and allow themselves to be screwed over. The industry is the way it is today because we allowed it to happen. We sit at the buffet complaining, and yet do nothing.

Maybe be we need to set our biased viewpoints aside, and actually start comparing union vs non. The difference between the two is enough to make a non union company driver sick.

 

By the way, there is no such thing as a absolute 'free market'. At least not in the US anyway.

 

This is correct. The free market in this case is a specialized critical service supplied by tradesmen, like plumbing or heating/AC repair. There needs to be an absolute hard bottom on wages and benefits for the drivers who sacrifice so much out of their lives for this job. The union trucking companies keep going strong, and also have lower turnover than the cheap-freight megas so something is working over there. Until this wage uncertainty is removed from the trucking employment equation, there will be fat turnover rates on the lower end and lots of people will do the math, both on the financial and family-life/relationship/social sides and stay out.

/Just got a non-trucking job that pays more than trucking, in logistics, with benefits, working four days a week, 14 hours between shifts, three day weekends, regular hours, all on-duty time is PAID. Trucking loved me, but I couldn't love trucking...

 

Unions will remove that bottom out wage and replace it with what drivers and the employer can agree on.

I just landed my first union job in 8 years of driving with YRC. I was a little skeptical at first, but I'm growing into it, and I'm starting to love it. It's not just the pay (starting at 52 CPM, per diem not included), or the benefits (100% company paid), but also how I'm treated. I never have to sleep in a truck anymore. If I have to stay overnight, I'm shuttled to a hotel that the company pays for.

 

Does an accident early in your career mean you are screwed?

 

lol... almost sounds like a title to a Merle Haggard song. Gives me an idea for a bumper sticker too.