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America's truck driver shortage
Innovation Trail ^ | August 6, 2013 | Kate O'Connell

Posted on 08/18/2013 7:21:43 PM PDT by Fiji Hill

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1 posted on 08/18/2013 7:21:44 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill; HoosierDammit; TYVets; red irish; fastrock; NorthernCrunchyCon; UMCRevMom@aol.com; ...
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2 posted on 08/18/2013 7:22:52 PM PDT by narses
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To: Fiji Hill

How much does it pay?


3 posted on 08/18/2013 7:25:10 PM PDT by babble-on
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To: Fiji Hill

My son tried it. All the big companies wanted were drivers who leased their truck. If you were not willing to lease, you were paid next to nothing, regulated out the wazoo, treated like dog dung and given loads where your 11 hour day included 4 stops...when you were being paid by the mile.

He gave it up and is now bringing in more money getting $9/hour as a security guard. And they wonder why they cannot fill the ‘demand’?


4 posted on 08/18/2013 7:26:52 PM PDT by Mr Rogers (Liberals are like locusts...)
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To: babble-on

You want to be paid?


5 posted on 08/18/2013 7:27:39 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Mr Rogers

The big guys have driven all the independents out.


6 posted on 08/18/2013 7:30:17 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Fiji Hill

Oil field trucking companies are paying $3,000 signing bonuses right now.


7 posted on 08/18/2013 7:37:19 PM PDT by razorback-bert (I'm in shape. Round is a shape isn't it?)
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To: Mr Rogers

Pretty much the same story I hear every day.


8 posted on 08/18/2013 7:37:25 PM PDT by Darksheare (Try my coffee, first one's free.....)
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To: razorback-bert

Great!

Then afterwards?


9 posted on 08/18/2013 7:39:59 PM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Fiji Hill

In Obama’s world, there isn’t/won’t be adequate salary for truck drivers or anyone else.


10 posted on 08/18/2013 7:46:17 PM PDT by citizen (We get the government we choose. America either voted for Obama or handed it to him by not voting.)
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To: Mr Rogers
This article doesn't cover a lot of the issues facing someone who drives a truck for a living, but they do a good job of hitting on the big ones.

Getting paid by the mile is one of the most problematic aspects of a driving career. Under this system, the truck driver ends up bearing the financial burden as well as the heavy personal toll of all the inefficiencies in the motor freight transportation system -- from congestion to Federal hours-of-service rules to inefficient terminal operations where the customer doesn't load or unload the truck very efficiently (and the driver is "on the clock" but isn't getting paid because the truck isn't moving).

I hate to say this, but it's likely that the only way to fix the system is to have the Teamsters make some serious inroads into the trucking industry.

11 posted on 08/18/2013 7:52:01 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

Comment #13 Removed by Moderator

To: Alberta's Child

Teamster’s? Gotta be kidding? Right? They are part of the problem.


14 posted on 08/18/2013 8:01:51 PM PDT by bigfootbob
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To: bigfootbob
Maybe in some cases, but I think that entire industry is practically begging to be unionized.

Who else but the Teamsters has been standing up to prevent the implementation of that provision of NAFTA that will allow Mexican trucking firms to do business in the U.S.?

15 posted on 08/18/2013 8:15:11 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I've never seen such a conclave of minstrels in my life.")
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To: Alberta's Child

They’ll “fix” the problem by having Mexican drivers work US roads under NAFTA.

Little different than how they “fixed” the engineering shortage by importing H-1Bs from India and China.


16 posted on 08/18/2013 8:16:55 PM PDT by null and void (Frequent terrorist attacks OR endless government snooping and oppression? We can have both!)
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To: Fiji Hill

Trucker: Very long hours, very low pay. For the hours a person could get two jobs and do just as well.


17 posted on 08/18/2013 8:17:23 PM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: Jonty30

5 dollar diesel and all the regulatory BS hasn’t helped, either


18 posted on 08/18/2013 8:29:43 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: bigbob

Trucking has not been the same since deregulation.


19 posted on 08/18/2013 8:34:23 PM PDT by DonaldC (A nation cannot stand in the absence of religious principle.)
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To: Fiji Hill

Raise wages and you won’t have a shortage of truckers. This is basic market economics for conservatives who actually care about such a thing. Or is this another job ‘Americans won’t do’ ?


20 posted on 08/18/2013 8:43:06 PM PDT by sunrise_sunset
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