“This then creates a negative feedback where the drivers who are worth their salt pack it in, which leads to more yo-yos being hired, that then leads to more regulations, which then again leads to more experienced drivers giving up..”
Excellent observation.
I watched two great companies go down the tubes by hiring only driving school grads.
One of the companies I was working at.
When I was hired on there was a five year wait list to get hired on.
Your driving record had to be immaculate and your delivery record excellent.
Five years later the elderly owner died and his son took over.
My mileage, therefor my pay, dropped like a stone. I also noticed a lot of new young faces in the trucks.
They were hiring driving school grads at low pay and giving them the miles. All of us experienced drivers making top pay were being starved out. Can’t make a living on 1,200 miles a week.
The day I turned in my truck there were over 20 other older experienced drivers turning in their trucks as well.
Heard similar from other drivers too.
Eventually it will bite the companies.
It already has had a negative impact on the safety of the industry itself and the integrity of the freight.
Had a GPS zombie show up at my truck exit and argue with me about where I worked, he insisted I was stupid and his GPS was right.
He then said he was going to drop his trailer at my truck exit.
The problem is, he’d signed for a load worth almost two million.
And he was seriously going to drop it at a truck exit miles away from the place he was looking for.
Makes me wonder how often that happened.