why is turnover so high?

Then the crappy stripped down fleet trk garbage, they do the least amt of maintenance they can get away with. Trk's breakdown, company b.s. rules like not able to idle,then they don't provide any apu's ect,no inverters ect. so glad i've never been a company driver. i wouldn't last a week, now granted some drivers don't have any common sense and need to be micro managed.

 

I think it is a combination of things. Guys and girls who have a home every night factory or secretary job suddenly lose it and are looking for another line of work. They see an ad to make x amount of dollars after four weeks of training at a driving school and think "I can do that". They come in thinking they are going to be a paid tourist and for the most part they are, until they realize that they are going to get one day off for every week out, or they have never driven in the mountains, or that their kids or wife will cry on the phone because the driver isn't home. If you didn't grow up in the trucking industry I assume it is a culture shock. You are suddenly thrown into the deep end of the pool with traffic, grumpy shippers and receivers, crowded truck stops and all the other fun things that go along with being a truck driver. After 22 years behind the wheel I can truly say that I still love driving a truck. I started by driving a log truck, from that I moved onto doing oversize loads. While doing that I added hazmat and doubles and triples to my license and kept my nose clean. When I finally decided I wanted to try something different I had four job offers: three with union LTL carriers and one with a union crane company. I took the job with the crane company for the simple reason I still like working outside and they told me we would be doing something different every day. I wish some of the newer guys would stick it out because once you get past the first couple years, it really is a good career.

 

its a lifestyle i love driving trk its all i know i dont have other options so thats why i do my best job everytime when your are new you get screwed to you figure it out

 

Well, I am sure I can blindside back a McRib right into my mouth.....a 53' van? Mmmmm, not so much.

 

... or killed or put in jail. This an industry where one, if qualified, can find employment... which means one will experience sooner or later, shippers/receivers who don't feel obligated to the designated time for the Live Load/Unload and are only too kind to assisst you in a HOS violation... which means that eventually one could be involved in a serious accident -though not caused it- and be found at fault still go to jail. That's one of the perks... along with questionable docking requests (from the customer, of course- as they say "The customer is always right")... miscommunication (lies) from dispatch/management... finding a spot to park the truck at night (thanks Big Brother)... once parked, trying to put in 10hr sleep, only to be woke up by other trucks running or a hooker performing her customary welfare checks..... Yeah I can't imagine why there is a turnover rate in the transportation industry. Maybe BRCM (Big Rig Collision Media) can do a investigative report on that topic since they're so thorough about covering the accidents us truckers cause.

 

Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and assume that the vast, vast majority of turnover isn't caused by truckers getting thrown in jail or killed.

 

Yes it is...LTL companies are always hiring and it's not because they are expanding. Not sure where you are at but in AZ pretty much every LTL company is hiring and I wouldn't work for any of them except ABF.

 

Dockworker turnover, maybe?
But I can see a high turnover rate for the line drivers. Especially for the ones who stuck it out 12 months OTR to get that "home daily" gig. Only to find out that they are still working 14 hour days, but now they have a commute and end up getting even less sleep.

 

After one year they have enough money they do not need to work anymore!!

 

unrealistic expectations by managment. Megas that put 25 year olds into management positons who don't know what the f theyre doing. need i go on further?

lack of incentive pay, failure to keep pay above inflation, driver wages staying stagnant. Lack of health, isolation, truckstop BS, DOT, cops, weightstations, shippers receivers treating you like a number, overzealous management who report every little negative aspect of your behavior on DAC.......need i go on further?

away from family, failed hometime requests, weeks late on a hometime request, companies failing to pay actual miles driven (swift), ridiculous idle policies (knight) ridiculous driver saftey programs that actually make drivers more dangerous (bendix: jbhunt) i could go on and on