Posted on 08/03/2018 7:32:32 AM PDT by mac_truck
Some 500,000 nonlocal, for-hire truckers are delivering freight in the U.S., and the industry needs 51,000 more, experts say.
The average driver is 50 years old, and only 6 percent are women.
Trucking companies including Saia, Titanium Transportation, ArcBest and Ryder System have all noted wage increases for drivers on recent earnings calls as the shortage worsens.
Trucks hauled more than 70 percent of freight tonnage in the U.S. last year, generating $676 billion in revenues, according to the American Trucking Associations. But the industry is grappling with a growing problem — a shortage of qualified drivers, as its current workforce ages and the labor market continues to tighten.
"We have more freight than we know what to do with, but in order to haul that freight, you've got to have more drivers — trucks don't drive themselves," said Bob Costello, the association's chief economist. "We have a couple of demographics problems in the industry — we have a high average age of the current truck drivers. We need to do a better job to get females in as truck drivers. The supply side is tight as well."
The crunch is being felt in industries from construction to retail as the labor shortage's ripple effect grows.
C.R. England, a Salt Lake City-based trucking company, works with big companies like Nestle and Walmart and employs some 6,500 drivers, but Chairman Dan England said it could use 500 more.
"It's frustrating for us not to be able to meet the goals we have set in terms of growth. … We do have to disappoint customers on a regular basis. Every day we have many loads that are called in, we just can't answer the calls and put a truck there," said England, whose company has been in his family for four generations.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
Jobs available ping!
When you look at what truckers and trucking firms have to put up with, regulation-wise, I’d only be a truck driver if the only other work I could find involved flipping burgers.
Indeed they are needed TODAY...But in 10+ years, self driving trucks/cars will eliminate the need for drivers. Much like buggy whip manufactures, elevator operators, and switchboard operators their jobs are going to disappear.
My 21 yo son just started driving a couple of months and loves it so far. It seems to suit him.
My 19 year old son got his CDL a couple months ago. He had a summer volunteer commitment and will be returning in two weeks. Because of his age, he has to stay in the state until he’s 21 but I don’t think he’s going to have any trouble finding a job.
Yesterday on the radio I heard a Schneider Trucking hiring ad, first time I’ve heard one in Atlanta.
I’d say you don’t know much about trucking.
“Labor crunch” = “need to raise salaries to attract people”
Truck driving is not all that bad. If you’re a clean person you can be a clean driver. And you don’t have to eat in truck stops.
As for getting younger drivers, first they’re going to have to find younger people who can drive period.
There is a nationwide trucker shortage. I have heard radio adds for over a year offering signing bonuses for CDL drivers and diesel mechanics. The latest was Waste Management. It is really going to affect school bus companies because they can not afford to pay as much as other transportation companies. The biggest problem for the trucking companies is that a large percentage of potential CDL drivers can not pass a drug test.
What we do NOT need are a bunch of foreign drivers on our roadways and highways!
Too much power given to aliens in this country to create more problems hauling contraband drugs, humans, etc.!
With the new DOT e-log, a trucker basically must give up his 4th amendment rights while driving. Literally every action the driver takes is data-logged, and made available to cops, insurance, regulators, etc... The latest round of rules implemented this past spring had the effect of reducing available truck capacity by 15% in an already tight market. They are incredible bureaucratic over-reach, all done in the name of "safety" with of course zero evidence.
Drugs. Railroads have the same problem. My boy is an engineer and say they are hurting for help, but the majority of applicants fail the drug test. (Why do they even bother to apply?)
This issue kinda reminds me of the big “unsolvable” problem NYC had in the very early 1900’s: What are we going to do, long term, about all this horse sh**?
Technology solved the problem, as self driving trucks will solve this one. And it’s a lot closer than a lot of people realize.
One can earn $70-80 K flipping burgers in parts of Texas where oil drilling is going on. Truckers earn more.
I have a nephew with some years of past experience, as an employee, in long and short haul trucking. If his experience is common, I’d say it is a lousy industry run by a lot of lousy bosses. He could work in it today if he wanted. He won’t do it.
I’ve heard that a long haul trucker can be less than a mile from his destination and if he’s reaching his hours limit he must stop.
Reminds me of the end of THX-1138. It excellently and comically made fun of this sort of thing.
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