Even Carriers are having a hard time filling jobs.

[Bruno]

I wanted to share this link with everyone in regards to carriers finding it hard to fill jobs with drivers.

Truck driver jobs hard to fill even in bad economy - Business - Ohio

 

[EASYTRADER]

This truck drivr shortage is another persisant myth. Let me explain. If there truely was a shortage of drivers, than driver pay would increase and so would rates.

I've been around this gig for 7 years and driver pay is exactly where it was when I started. Rates are mostly lower. The reason big companies complain abou driver shortages is becase there is a federal law that allows them to import aliens if they can't find americans to do the work. HB1 visa I think it is called. So everytime you see a knucklehead somali in a swift truck taking 2 hours to park.

Yes somalis and ignorant indians will drive a truck for half of what an american will. Same thing happened to construction in CA except it was illegal alliens.

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[skyraider]

Maybe folks are getting smarter, wiser and the lure of truck driving and the false adventure that seems to be promoted in that career has died. Smokey and the Bandit comes to mind, looks like fun but it's not happening Jack. If one reads all the wonderful articles in here on DOT rules and red tape, who would want to drive a big rig.? I had the experience once and that was enough. It was fun for about 4 months, expediting in a van or sprinter is way less stressful, imho.

 

[ATeam]

This truck drivr shortage is another persisant myth. Let me explain. If there truely was a shortage of drivers, than driver pay would increase and so would rates.

I agree. I have listened to carriers cry about a driver shortage for years but have yet to see a load of freight sitting on a dock because no driver or truck could be found to haul it. Shippers may have a hard time covering a load when the pick up time is 4:00 p.m. and the order went in at 8:00 a.m., but give it a reasonable time and/or a little more pay and a driver will show up to cover that load.

Looking at it from the point of view of the carrier mentioned in the article that Bruno posted, those driverless trucks could be filled if the carrier (1) raised the pay, (2) treated his existing drivers better to gain word-of-mouth recruiting and retention advantages, (3) lowered the standards, or (4) told more lies.

 

[OntarioVanMan]

and as the economy gets better...the part timers will move into a more conventional job...like punching a clock...who in their right mind wants to put in all these hours and government aggrievation for little money...
speaking from the CV market....I can't wait for the part timers to say good bye...

 

[spongebox]

You know we've only been otr for ten months but I was mechanic before taking this current position, I noticed that the fly by night drivers or part timers had a habbit of driving unsafe equipment, it seems that if they did stay otr longer that six months they payed less attention to the maintenance and safety of there truck and more attention to keeping it moving..

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[davekc]

There is only a shortage of "good" drivers. Too many out of work currently that will keep the door open. The new CVSA madness only promotes more inexperienced people on the road for lack of a record. The wave of foreigners will continue to increase as we let more in and they are willing to work for much less. The difference is at many truckload outfits is most can't sustain the lifestyle for any real period of time thus creating that high turnover number. I see little for carriers to change anything as long as that continues.

 

[zorry]

I wonder when the last time,if ever,DaveKC had a truck empty for 30 days due to lack of drivers.
The elite fleet owners seem to have little turnover.
An occasional opening due to medical or retirement. These seem to be filled word of mouth quickly.
If I were a fleet owner I thunk I'd want to imitate their operations.
Don't understand why some owners can't see the forest for the trees.

 

[davekc]

It can happen but it has been quite some time. We don't do much hiring and when we do, the likely team is going to come from existing drivers. Being around for awhile helps as it is a distinct advantage over someone with no reputation or just starting out. Very tough right now on a new startup. But as far as a truck sitting thirty days, I'll let it sit for six months verses "I have to get a body in to it". The strength of any fleet owner is always the drivers verses equipment or anything else.

 

[blackpup]

Trucker tale/rumor was the bigger carriers were profiting from driver turnover.

jimmy

 

[zorry]

I think the "I have to get a body in it" is what hurts alot of start ups. It often compounds their problems.
I would never add another unit until I was fully staffed with drivers I considered "keepers."

 

[davekc]

Thats true. I think some get forced in to that thinking when they are under capitalized, have a truck sitting and can't make the payments if the truck was financed. Often times this is where the hemorrhaging starts.

 

[ATeam]

CSA has turned things upside down. When it was first announced, I cheered it, thinking that CSA would motivate carriers to hire good drivers and weed the bad ones out. But what has happened instead is that customers, carriers and insurance companies have become hyper-focused on carrier CSA scores (SMS).

With that change, a driver with a million accident free miles but two speeding tickets in the last three years looks worse to a carrier than a driver with no experience and a limited grasp of the English language.

I have no statistics to answer the question, but I wonder if the number of outlaw carriers has increased since CSA went into full effect? When the rules and consequences for violating them become too onerous, the incentive for some is not to get out of trucking. it is to stay in and proactively violate the law, making money off the radar and under the table.

As someone once said, "If they're going to hang you for being a horse thief, you might as well steal the horse."

 

[xmudman]

...the incentive for some is not to get out of trucking. it is to stay in and proactively violate the law, making money off the radar and under the table.

As someone once said, "If they're going to hang you for being a horse thief, you might as well steal the horse."

Same thing with the Chinatown bus companies; that's why the Feds had to crack down on them. They were reincarnating themselves because it was so easy to do. A new MCS-150, and suddenly the "Fah Kew Bus Company" became the "New Fah Kew Bus Company" . Finally the good boys & girls in DC caught onto them, and now they're trying to stop Mr. Kew before he Fahs them again. I say to them "Bravo! Keep it up!" It's past time to hang a couple of these horse thieves, legally if not physically.

 

[Turtle]

When CSA started, it was no different to me than when they started the "test scores standards" in schools. Teachers immediately started teaching to the test scores. Education, and the quality thereof, didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was those test scores. CSA is the same thing.

As for the driver shortage myth, it's not really a myth. Between insurance companies and CSA scores, there is a driver shortage out there. Carriers are being prompted to hire only drivers with unblemished records. Not so much in expediting (although the Panther van driver turnover rate is astounding) but it is in general trucking, TL and LTL. They key is the drivers have to be qualified, and the qualifications these days remove a significant percentage of drivers from consideration.

As for driver pay, that's actually up about 5% this year over last year, to between $45,000 and $50,000 a year. Line haul rates are up 2-5% this year over last. But the driver shortage has resulted in about 10% of TL and LTL loads being 1-2 days late. But these are not numbers for the expedited sector, these are overall numbers for trucking.

 

[Cacique]

Yes somalis and ignorant indians will drive a truck for half of what an american will.

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Really?
And you call them ignorants?


GO DAWGS!!!

 

[blackpup]

Before CSA was even on horizon, most truck load carriers had quite a bit of driver turn over.

jimmy

 

[ATeam]

Before CSA was even on horizon, most truck load carriers had quite a bit of driver turn over.

Very true. But driver turnover and a driver shortage are two different things. When a driver leaves and is quickly replaced, that's a turnover but not a shortage. A shortage would be when a driver leaves and cannot be quickly replaced for lack of other drivers or prospective drivers.

As long as the hiring standards remain low (three weeks to get a CDL at no up front cost to the applicant), the hiring pool will remain large, keeping the supply more than ample for the demand.

 

[spongebox]

Please explain this, a driver with three years no moving violations is better than a driver with ten years experience and one to two moving violations in three years? I'm still in my first year otr but have held my cdl for thirteen years, I have been a fleet mechanic and triax / redymix driver with no moving violations in better than five years, but I'm still amateur on these CSA CVSA issues

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[purgoose10]

Truckload carriers have always been their own worst enemy. Right now according to the AMA T/load carriers have an average of 15% of their fleet parked for lack of drivers. 40yrs ago you had to know someone in Trucking to get a job driving, you also had to be at least 24 yrs of age and 2yrs experience. Most of that was insurance companies required it. Then came along self insurance. If a carrier could post a million dollar bond they would cover a carrier with drivers 21 and graduate from school. Then enter the Hunts and the rest of them and Jimmy Carter. Well Jimmy pushed this to get this done so the minority's could have a better life. Oh boy. Hunt and other required the drivers to be on the road 8 weeks than return for 1 day off. How long do you think the driver would stay? Then entered the 150% and more turn over. So on and so on. Companies won't raise their rates because they have high rates in certain markets. Hunt or Schnieder and others will get with a national account and find out where the manufacturers heaviest volume will come from that year. They will give really cheap rates to customers just to move trailers to the highest volume area then charge a contract customer twice as much to move it. The internet has made it easier for the traffic manager to get loads move now since now everyone wants to bid. Well guess what that does. Another reason for driver shortage is the investors of companies go to a board meeting and they want the company to haul more and grow. So the only way to do that is buy more trucks. All these trucks sitting at the terminals because no one to drive them. Your right about one thing they have to raise rates, the problem is they will not get together and do it. Most large carriers at least 99% of them are run by investers and boards. If they don't produce profit their gone, end of story. Enter the Expedite industry. What we rely on is the inconsistant service of the general trucking arena. It's our on time record, customer service, and there when they call. It's still a nitch market, maybe not a big as it once was but its still there if we keep our reputation untarnished, sharp trucks and clean drivers who don't need to cuss like a sailor.