Posted on 05/28/2018 12:38:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Retailers are facing a shipping squeeze, and the trucking industry just can't keep up.
According to the American Trucking Associations, there's a shortage of roughly 50,000 truck drivers across the country. And it's hitting both businesses and consumers in the wallet.
Companies are complaining about how the driver shortage is impacting their business. Meanwhile, the cost of convenient shipping is starting to catch up with consumers.
Amazon recently hiked its Prime membership to $119 a year from $99 a year. The retail giant said one of the reasons for the price jump was increased shipping costs.
But the driver shortage isn't just because of demand created by online shopping. There's a lot going on behind the scenes, according to Bob Costello, chief economist at American Trucking Associations.
"We have a demographics problem, demand is strong, trucks haul over 70 percent of the freight tonnage, our average age is very high, [and] we don't have enough females," said Costello.....
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
An them truckers gets to listen to all that great trucker music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TuB2zuyoIA
I drove for Werner. How youre treated depends on your fleet manager. Still, the pay and lifestyle make driving not worth it. I did love seeing the country though.
They don’t pay enough. It’s real simple.
If they expect people to live behind the wheel in a stinking truck and in tacky trashy truck stops, having little or no life whatsoever, they better pay way more than their paying now.
I see, and for all those that do pass and give up their lives for the highway, pay them chicken feed.
Great strategy!
It depends on the job. Local P&D requires freight handling, a skill most woman are physically unable to acquire.
I hope ALL applicants are vetted to the max. Too easy for a terrorist to do their killing.
Really, how many women do ya see unloading/loading trucks/strapping down/securing loads on flatbeds etc, as well as driving 500 miles a day?
I drove a box truck on a few runs for an electronics recycling crowd and I got a couple of healthy doses.
BJ McKay never did either.
**Almost every cross country rig you see on the highway has a sign on the back: “Hiring drivers.”**
I passed one a week or so ago that someone modified. Instead of “NOW HIRING DRIVERS”, the W had been peeled off. Lol
**Federal regulations imposed upon drivers makes it difficult to recruit.**
The elogs stop the cheating on hours, but there are plenty of times that a driver gets in a traffic delay that pushes his delivery ETA beyond his remaining hours of service. Then comes the 10 hr shutdown (or even the 34hr reset). Sometimes a driver only needs a extra hour or less to make a delivery. There needs to be some sensible flexibility in the elog rules. But the bureaucrats don’t use common sense.
I haven’t looked, to be honest. However, given the other options for women, they might be better off trying to recruit Martians.
As I see it, anyone thinking about getting into Trucking now is going to have about three years of steady employment before their job is superseded by autonomous delivery vehicles of some kind. Which is unfortunate, but probably true.
The shortage has a lot to do with the ridiculous Electronic Logging Device rule that essentially takes 30% of a drivers productivity away.
The hours of service rules need to be updated so they enhance safety instead of government control.
Organizations I am familiar with in the US are calling together their employees and telling them, we are now at full employment in this area AND EVERYONE WHO WANTS A JOB HAS ONE and we cannot raise our prices sooooo
we are not going to raise pay, instead we are going to hire from the world pools of immigrants instead of from the local pool
I am serious, this has happened in the past month. A number of folks from different companies have told me.
Mostly leftists in shock.
Welcome to our third world country.
“It’s an excuse to try to allow more Mexican drivers on US roads”
It’s also an excuse to continue the testing and promotion of the driver-less trucks like Uber, Google etc are experimenting with. A moving disaster waiting to happen.
“gonna be a truck driving man”....
I've been saying that since high school!
They’ve had such success with automatic-driving cars, so far.
I think the market will bear a lot more than $119. We live in a rural area and Amazon Prime gives us access to all sorts of things that used to be found only in the "big city". Others just like the convenience. For families with young children any outing is a mighty journey with car seats, strollers and diaper bags at every stop in a store. Amazon Prime makes life easier.
But, Walmart is coming up fast in online shopping. Don't count them out prematurely. eBay provides plenty of price competition also.
No you don’t see petite women throw’in chains and binders. But I’ve seen some big boned ones that get it done.
The tarps is what I hated. Rarely have to use one anymore. Sure, there’s lots of uniform, low height, easy to cover loads. The irregular, hard to cover loads could be high and dangerous to get the tarp over without tearing. Some days the heat would make the job a pain.
I hate tarping. I hate tarping so much that if the guvmint knew how much I hate tarping they’d have me arrested for a hate crime.
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