why is turnover so high?

I think too much is made of the high turnover numbers.

We get a lot of people who leave after a few months when they realize that for one reason or another it's just not a good fit for them. On the other hand, of those who stay a year of longer the turnover rate is almost non existent.

Take the newbies and the job hoppers who will never be happy out of the equation and I would bet the turnover is low at most places.

 

Because, there's so much tire pressure to perform, and everyone's like "don't tread on me"!!!

 

Theres not really one blanket that will cover them all. I think the outfits that recruit people, school them and then give them a job are definitely going to have a lot of turnover from people discovering that driving is not for them.
Other than that I see the two biggest issues as being the nit picking policies some of these companies adopt, and over regulation from authorities which to many, makes driving appear to be a dead end profession.
Just my opinion...

 

Well yeah if you don't do your research here reading every post about any company you are considering then you can get yourself in a bad situation with little or no hope of making money or getting home. I did my research here and it steered me to a great company that first taught me what l need out here by giving me a trainer with 25 yrs driving and another with 16 over the road.

Next l got my near trade in mileage Columbia that had been jackknifed with one fairing bent in and the other bent out and l treated her like my own keeping it spotless inside and out. I drove it hard and kept my left door shut. Got into a nice Cascadia a couple months later and 10 months in after driving school am on a dedicated route with guaranteed miles and hometime making good money.

Thanks Truckersreport l would have not even known about Ozark Motor Lines without you specifically Chinatown.

To any noobs out there reading this do your research and work hard and you will be rewarded very well for i!

 

The amount of time away from home, your wife, your kids starts to take a toll after a while.

 

I don't doubt that for a second but once you've been doing this awhile you'll find a million other reasons why the turnover is so high.

 

Well spoken. Chinatown is a fount of information and part of the reason why TTR is such a valuable resource, especially for newcomers to the industry.

One thing about your post speaks to one major reason why I think there is such high turnover in this industry. You apparently did your homework (on TTR) and seem to have had a plan. You got on with a company and knew in advance what you would be up against, worked hard and THEN put yourself in position to land a dedicated run that gave you the income and home time you wanted.

bakken started a thread that I thought spoke very well about what I'm talking about, My pursuit of happiness as a truck driver. Note that he overcame a lot during his first year or so, with some pretty crappy situations. However, he stuck it out and ultimately found a situation that gave him great income. Certainly until that happened it put stress on his home situation, but it looks like he came out pretty darned well.

The point is that many folks get into this industry expecting to be handed their dream job right off the bat. It rarely works that way. You have to have your eyes on the prize, but realize that you very well may need to put in a year or more "boot camp" to get there. Lots of folks don't seem to have that ultimate goal in mind, hire on with a company without a plan in mind, and give up way too easily.

Have a plan, work the plan.

 

Chinatown should start his own website. The man knows every trucking company in America I don't know how he does it.

 

Thats what the recruiting ads say....What they dont tell you is this is for 60-70 hours a week & then that would still be about 25 k too high...

 

Too much work for the amount of pay. Companies could care less about the driver. As long as that truck gets to point B with no problems the company does not care. But as soon as you have a problem they have to step in and replace you. That's a lot of pressure on a person in any business. Then on top of that everyone around this new driver is telling him or her that the government will get you for the smallest infractions. I believe in today's trucking industry the bean counters are running the show and all they deal with is dollars per hour and cents per mile. I slowly saw the transition of power go from the drivers to the bean counters. That might be ok for a small business but in a larger company that economic major does not know a thing about the day to day operations of that truck. Also in that conglomerate of economic majors is the insurance man.