Posted on 08/23/2014 7:24:59 AM PDT by upbeat5
Truck driver Anthony Plummer remembers when he was in the middle of the country on a long-haul delivery when he learned his daughter was sick in the hospital.
“I was told to get back [home] as soon as possible. But there are a lot of rules that limit how much I can drive, so I told them I would get back as soon as I could.” It was after this incident that Plummer decided to make a career shift to become a regional truck driver. “It blew my mind if something were to happen and if I was way across the country. Every now and then I still go out there to long run because she is doing better, but it’s rare.”
Plummer isn’t alone with his career move as the trucking industry suffers a shortage of drivers across the board, especially among long-haulers. According to the American Trucking Associations (ATA), the industry is about 30,000 short of qualified drivers. Over the next 10 years, that number is set to rise to 200,000.
The industry, which has an average 115-120% annual turnover rate, according to Brian Fielkow, CEO of Jetco Delivery, a logistics company specializing in regional trucking, also has an aging problem. Bob Costello, chief economist at the ATA, says the average age in the for-hire truckload market is about 49, and for less-than-truckload drivers (LTL) and private carriers the average is about 55.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
Absolutely. The government is handing out our money for people to not work. Of course they are going to show up in droves to take it and “bemoan” the lack of jobs because they are too lazy to go after one.
There is no trucker shortage. The is a shortage of firms willing to pay a reasonable wage for the work provided.
On researching the prospect of commercial truck driving, I do find that the trucking industry business and training model seems awefully flawed in many cases, largely because of government regulations and hiring practice subsidy interference that drives business owners to churn through drivers and treat them like a cheap commodity rather than a valued asset that gets properly trained, gains experience over time and stays with a company. From what I can gather, most companies treat long haul drivers as cheap labor "contractors", not employees, per se. At least that's my perception.
There is no driver shortage. I, and millions of others, have a class A CDL with a clean driving record and a couple of years of over the road experience.
The shortage is in the compensation and working conditions.
Offered the right pay/benefits/ working conditions, I (and many others) could be enticed back onto the road.
And: Yes, you are right about govt. regulations.
I-80 or I-90? I-70 is crowded with trucks in that part of the country too, so I can sympathize with your misery a little. But only a little.
Midwest production of lots of things, circulating in-and-out of the Mid-West, and just passing through...being that the majority of the population lives East of the Mississippi helps make that part of the nation busy. Being mid-point, they can have traffic during daytime rush hours too, whereas receivers (who themselves are distributors) in big cities often schedule midnight-to-5AM deliveries for inbound product if they can...leaving tucker's crossing the Midwest needing to drive-drive-drive just to get there in time. I don't know how many times coming from CA I ran out of hours in Indiana while headed for Boston. Laws indicated I was supposed to stop for a full 8 hrs (at least). I could only afford 4 (or miss the 3AM Boston delivery window, a day and a half away. Luckily I got away with it. One little mistake (not even my own) and it would have been seriously bad news for me. All of that risk I was forced to shoulder so other people could make the big(ger) money while I was being paid circa 1971 trucker's (low, "company driver") wages in 2011.
I-80 is a major East-West route. There are reasons for that, like I-70 kind-of hits a wall (that one can go over, albeit slowly) but then dead ends in Utah. One can go from there to LV, or go back North to SLC, but one can't hardly drive much of a truck through Yosemite -- so it's either Donner Pass I-80, or I-40, for the most part.
And yes, I know about Tehachapi. Lovely scales there (they are so smiley & polite!) but not quite as perpetually cheerful & happy-face as a few other CA scales I can think of. Like the one at Banning on I-10. That one is famous, but the guys at Dunsmuir can be 1st class, 360 degree, uh,'smileys', and there is a reason the inspection bays at Castaic (I-5) are all worn-out looking...
Barely tolerate the "huge and aggressive" trucks, huh?
So much for lettuce and broccoli from Salinas, melons grapes & carrots from the San Joaquin.
Boston, Philly and New York (including upstate NY) will just have to do without.
We wouldn't those trucks to get in the way of your Honda car..and hold you up for a minute and a half. No sirree bob. We must focus on what's most important. Right?
These "aggressive" trucks you speak of...did you know they are trying to pass each other? They may swing out into the left lane when they see you coming...because if they don't, they know they'll be stuck behind that slow-a$$ Schneider (you'll know it's a Schneider when it's orange colored, and slow) for the next 12 miles, if he doesn't take the only chance he's going to get (for the nest 12 miles).
There are trucks on the road the companies that own them govern down (engine controls) to as low as 58 mph (maybe less?) though 62 mph is more common.
Trucks can be more heavily or lightly loaded at any given time, and have greater or lesser amounts of horsepower.
Gearboxes can make the difference too. A 13-speed can split a gear, making a downshift (on a grade) be about 200rpm difference, instead of 400 rpm difference between gears on a 10-speed. Pulling heavy loads, that small difference allows the 13-speed to downshift sooner and stay closer to the best parts of the power band.
It can make all the difference between a truck being stuck behind another for mile after mile after mile. This can make the difference between the one truck being able to maintain 65mph for the most part, instead of being slowed to 50 mph or less for long periods.
How about --stay out of the way? Like --- OPEN your EYES and SEE what is going on.
Is one truck gaining on another? Is there a grade ahead?
Pass or don't pass. GET IT OVER WITH. Mash yur' little foot down on the accelerator. That truck driver may have his own pressed firmly to the floor...and you could be fouling up his only chance to pass the slow truck ahead of him -- that he will have for the next quarter hour.
Don't linger near the back of the trailer or in the blind spot on the right-hand side, or the one near the driver's door, on the left either.
I’ve always had a certain admiration for truck drivers, but after spending weeks reading through trucker forums and youtube videos as a casual method of research, I have a much deeper appreciation for what they have to deal with on a daily basis.
Many years ago the major carriers used a relay system so everybody was local. They had a terminal in our town in a back lot at the truck stop. I knew a guy whose dad was a driver. He made the same run every time Fort Smith to Amarillo and back I think. Made the run, got a rest, turned around, rested at home and did it again.
He had a pretty good job for many years. Then it all changed and they ended that system. Nothing but long haul and out for weeks at a time.
I guess FEDEX and others like them with no sleeper cabs are regional driver runs?
Translation: We need to import truckers from Meh-Hee-Co.
Enforcement problems are an issue, too. Interestingly, I think the best way to make money in trucking is to do the work that nobody else wants to do and figure out a way to deal with all those things that makes it difficult to do business. One advantage of running loads to a place where nobody likes to go is that those runs usually command a premium from the customer.
The govt. regulations are far more onerous than the average person realizes. Most people are unaware of the hours of service rules beyond the maximum allowable 70 hrs/8 days (not 70 hrs/week).
The rules are set up to force drivers off the road for the same 10 hr window every day. Since many businesses work on a 24/7 schedule, and since almost all shippers and receivers require drivers to show up by appt., this wreaks absolute havoc with showing up ontime for pickups and deliveries.
The hours of service violations that you hear being referenced are most often of the "moving the truck in the middle of a 10 hr break" variety, as opposed to the "exceeding the 70 hrs in 8 days variety."
Most of the larger companies do not encourage violating the hours of service rules. However, they pay the drivers by the mile, so drivers have a huge incentive to do anything they can to deliver as many loads as possible.
When I was driving, I did anything I could get away with. I was eventually fired for my lackadaisical attitude. That was one of the best days of my life.
What sets trucking apart from almost every other private industry is that its business is carried out on public roads, which diminishes the capital costs considerably.
Illegals will do the job AND they will have the added benefit of not having to follow the regulations all the legal drivers have to follow.
It is clear you have been there done that also.
Instead of companies paying more wages, they had to pay more for fuel, thanks to OBummer.
.....
Almost all fuel price increases occurred under W.
Let me add that the oil industry is in high demand for truck drivers right now and they’re coming from all over to work in the Permian Basin. 50 to 60 hours a week and go home every night.
BINGO
Not to worry. the gov't is bringing in hundreds of Somalians and other like them - paying their training and turning them lose on the HWYs. They drive with sandals, 'towels' and whip out their prayers rugs at the fuel stops - and they have phones with contacts to 'cells' in every major terrorist cell hotspot. don't worry about planes. Worry about loaded semis.
I am not retired I am old enough but just can’t won’t do it.
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