It was the worst accident I ever seen ...
Posted on 07/04/2018 10:46:48 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As the Trump administration considers alleviating a shortage of truck drivers by lowering the age requirement to 18 from 21, a truck industry leader said that would do little to solve the actual problem – retention.
“We’ve been hearing about a truck driver shortage for about 30 years now,” Todd Spencer, the owner-operate of the Independent Driver’s Association said during an interview with FOX Business’ Charles Payne. “What they’re really talking about is they have retention issues.”
According to the American Trucking Association, the industry was short more than 36,000 drivers in 2016, and estimated that number could surpass 63,000 in 2018, and 174,000 in 2026. The trade group attributes the driver shortage, in part, to a lack of qualified applicants that lack the desired experience or qualifications. But according to Spencer, the low pay and lack of benefits for truck drivers is what’s driving the lack of employees. Drivers are hired, but when there’s little pay-increase opportunities, they leave, he said.
“They’re adequate enough to attract people,” he said. “But not adequate enough to keep them.”(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Sounds like the free market will push wages higher. Or other forms of transport will be found.
Why would anyone want to do this when they pay 40 cents a mile, you are regulated up the ass, if you get a ticket the ticket cost a fortune, you are away from your family for what could be weeks at a time. No thanks. They want more drivers then pay them by the hour a good salary, it will also stop them from driving 90 mph to make as much money as they can. I saw a rig crash into the support beam of a bridge a few months ago in Massachusetts, going way way way too fast and he lost control in a turn and BANG
They’re quitting for better pay/perks and better treatment.
What could be a solution?
Truck driving is one of the few areas where people can make big bucks without a college degree, but to make that money, you put in long hours with very little personal or family life.
1. Mandatory sleep periods
2. Travel to the job to pick up a truck was counted as on-duty time...that is travel by plane, train, bus, taxi...and thus required a 10 hour rest time before starting.
Previously I could ferry new trucks from LA to Oakland during the day and return overnight by Greyhound to pick up another next morning.
You got that right. The most famous words ever said by the trucking firms is..home weekends.
YA RIGHT.
It was the worst accident I ever seen ...
Well self driving trucks are coming.
Solves the labor shortage issue, the sleep/staying awake issue, the ticket issue, the crash issue.
But now we’ll need more jobs for unemployed truck drivers.
What is wrong with TRAINS, as goods used to be shipped by trains!
It’s a very unhealthy lifestyle, prone to blood clots and unhealthy eating.
Most goods should be shipped by train..Trucks should only be used the last 20 miles or so to destination.
It used to be like that, even small towns had rail spurs. Socialism killed it, with the federal government paying for interstates trucking became cheaper because of course railroads have to pay to maintain their own rail.
“The low pay and lack of benefits for truck drivers is what’s driving the lack of employees. Drivers are hired, but when there’s little pay-increase opportunities, they leave.”
I am no economist but I heard that there is thing called the law of supply and demand that might provide a solution to this difficult conundrum. Crazy, I know.
I work in Logistcs. The ridiculoous level or regulation placed on driver during the Obama regime is driving many older drivers out of the business. They aren’t going to drive and face almost daily harassment from the state and federal bureaucracy. I know many long time drivers who simply gone to do something else rather then deal with the Govt over regulation.
They imposed 60 billion in new regulation that EVEN the safety Nazis admit might save less then 100 lives a year.
THIS is the new fascism now that the Global Warming scam does not work with voters. Claim you are imposing onerous regulation in the name of “SAFETY”
Not true..drove for 2 years and didn't put on a pound.
Salads..sardines oil and vinegar...snack on apples.
As gps maps show you the speed zone you are in (sometimes incorrect), the time is most likely near that it will interface with the truck computer to govern the engine and not allow it to exceed the speed limit. Now that won’t take into account weather conditions.
Electronic logs systems already alert company safety departments of drivers going more than 10 mph over a posted speed, so modern means are starting to regulate fast drivers. I don’t know if on-the-go de-rating of speed limit and/or hp is now available. But I know that the company my truck is leased to will have the shop set the speed for no more than 65 if the driver gets a speeding ticket.
The pay issue is partly supply and demand. Also, truck driving jobs vary greatly. A driver decides that he has had enough of seeing the country via long haul (gone from home sometimes for one or more weeks), and chooses regional (gone a week or less), or maybe local (usually home daily).
Many want a switch in the type of trucking work. The variety driving jobs can be minimal effort outside of driving (dry van, refrigerated van), to more physically demanding specialized (chains, straps, tarps). Construction driving (dirt, rock, concrete, asphalt, demolition, etc.) can be quite physical as well, and is almost always local. (I worked as a driver for one construction company that occasionally took on distant jobs that required hotel stays).
I don’t know anything about trucking. But this thread makes me wonder, how are pay scales set for truck drivers? Who pays them? Do trucking companies have contracts with retailers such as Wal Mart, or do big stores such as Wal Mart hire their own truck drivers?
Higher pay to compensate for issues in trucking sounds appealing, but then there’s the question of how they get paid, and who pays them, and where does the money come from to pay the drivers. And also, are the wages and benefits not subject to supply and demand? Is the shortage an artificial shortage?
The solution.
Better pay and treated better.
Don’t have the rail infsastructre to follow this Environment Nazi pushed rail nonsense. To start with, the rails do not go everywhere people need to ship goods. There aren’t rail depots withing 20 miles of everywhere to ship everything 20 miles away
Also rail is SLOW. It takes 3-5 times longer to move on rail then it does truck. Forget moving anything perishable or time sensitive by rail.
There is no shipping benefit to rail unless you ship bulk goods like grain or oil or have no time sensitivity. Given the almost universality of “just in time” logistics there NO way to ship most goods rail. Customers don’t want to order 3-4 weeks in advance which they would have to do to make rail feasible.
To ship rail you have to pick up the rail container, take it to the loading point, load it, take it back to the rail yard, wait for them to mount it on a rail chassis. Then repeat the whole process at the other end once they finely get it to the end point. In society that wants to order today, have it ship tomorrow and deliver the next day, rail cannot replace trucking. It is too slow, and too limited in where the rails run
In addtion, inJune rail road stop accepting “prioity” shipments because they face a serious shortage of rail containers. They moving all the freight they can right now.
There is no easy solution to the problem. And that is going to be seen in prices soon. My Company spent 2xs what it spent a year ago in shipping costs in June. My bosses just about burst a blood vessel about it and there is not a thing I can do to fix it
It supply and demand in action. Too much demand to ship goods, not enough supply of freight haulers.
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