Robert Crumb will be 71 years old this August 30
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 ...
That’s what happens when you regulate the independents out of business and raise the bar on hiring so high very few qualify and then pay per mileage wages equal to $6.50 per hour.
Those are Sikhs. Good people, but why don’t we employ Americans first?
Supply and demand should take care of things. Maybe that and being allowed to haul bigger loads.
One thing i admit I don’t understand; I’m not saying that rhetorically—I really don’t understand it, because I don’t know the industry.
Why would it be in trucking company’s advantage to push drivers to work overly long hours? You get a few more contracts because you can deliver stuff faster, but if just one of your drivers falls asleep at the wheel, the millions in lost goods, driver insurance hikes, workers’ compensation rate hikes, and potential lawsuits would hardly seem to make it worth it.
Robert Crumb will be 71 years old this August 30
The hell you say. I just drove on a college visit to Ohio and could barely tolerate the huge aggressive trucks all over the place. BEE ESS I say.
Another reason I am not getting a smaller car, will keep the 10 year old Honda Pilot.
There are programs where a company advertises a skill job at a low wage. If they get no takers, they can get a special visa to bring in a foreigner to do the job at a low wage.
Some of those visas end up being auctioned off overseas.
Most long haul needs to be moved from truck to train.
Some of those Sihks and other Indian truckers are running their own businesses and driving their own trucks. They’re not working for anyone but themselves.
It does make me wonder how in the heck they can keep going with the prices of fuel and insurance, not to mention the utterly insane amount of regulation the trucking industry has to deal with.
The government of the united states is a two sided coin. On one side is bit FedGov. On the other side is big business. Their common enemy is small business.
For commodities, that’s already the case.
There are lots of specialty manufacturers that are expected to deliver large items on short notice because of all the just-in-time manufacturing and inventory. Long haul trucking is about the only way to deliver large high-value items.
The big outfits are importing Russians, Romanians, Sikhs, etc...to drive. How they get green cards and CDL’s I have NO idea.
Watch the help wanted ads you will see companies hiring for jobs that YOU will never qualify for. They will cry that no American ‘s will take their job offer so they get to hire cheap foreign help.
There has been an ad running here in the local paper here looking for a mechanical maintenance tech for a dot head owned motel for 3 years.
Just regulating law abiding operators out of business.
When there is a company posting drivers and nobody has adequate hours left to drive, the illegals continue to work, so the companies never adjust to comply with the regulations.
Slowly, the entire industry slowly is even more corrupted.
When they pay more, they will get more. Unless, of course, they hire Mexicans instead...
Post 32 and 27 spell it out perfectly. Another form of Cloward Piven IMHO.
1. Drivers are paid by the mile, not by the hour -- which means their pay has effectively declined over time due to increasing congestion and regulations that limit the time they can spend on the road.
2. The barriers to entry in the industry are so low that the trucker's job has become completely commoditized and the only way to compete is by lowering costs and keeping labor costs down.
3. Now look at those two previous items in the context of the very strict regulations for a commercial driver's license. A lot of companies have a hard time finding drivers because too many of the ideal candidates by any other measure simply can't pass the drug tests and background checks that the industry uses.
Areas of employment that suffer from shortages of available labor to fill them, aren’t paying enough.
Its really that simple.
2. The barriers to entry in the industry are so low that the trucker’s job has become completely commoditized and the only way to compete is by lowering costs and keeping labor costs down.
I think part of the large turnover rate in the trucking industry has a lot to do with overzealous enforcement when it comes to truckers and their equipment. An example would be that a company I used to work for will not take any jobs going into California due to the hassle of regulating authorities.
Retirement dittos! I could do that job but parking/backing up would be my undoing. Vagabond lifestyle is for me. Anyone who can maneuver those rigs could be available using uber at the final destination. The grunt work(long haul) can be done by those like me ready to work cheap. Sleeping compartment can transfer passengers. Where am I wrong?
driving tankers, oil from well heads, bulk chemicals, fracking materials, oil well pumps and valve clusters....etc
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