Yep, no thread dedicated to trucking -- until now! Even though this article is about Indiana's situation, the article notes the problem is nationwide. Sadly, a shortage of "qualified" truckers often means a shortage of those that can pass drug/alcohol tests.....

 

 

State Facing Trucker Shortage

Andy Ober, InsideINdianaBusiness.com

 

Indiana is part of a national trend among trucking companies, which are finding it difficult to hire qualified drivers. The Indiana Motor Truck Association's Barry Miller says the state is facing a "very significant shortage" of more than 1,200 drivers. He says the trucking lifestyle is one of the biggest hurdles to recruitment, as drivers are often away from home for days or even weeks. Miller discussed the shortage and what's being done to address it on a recent edition of Inside INdiana Business Television.

 

Miller says the problem is being felt throughout the United States, saying there is a shortage of 25,000 drivers nationwide.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=57694

Yep, no thread dedicated to trucking -- until now!

 

Keep on truckin'!

 

Even though this article is about Indiana's situation, the article notes the problem is nationwide. Sadly, a shortage of "qualified" truckers often means a shortage of those that can pass drug/alcohol tests.....

 

Obviously, we don't want people driving trucks around under the influence. But the most common way of failing a drug test is to have used marijuana, which is detectable for up to a month after use. Most, if not all, harder drugs tested for are undetectable within hours of use. Maybe this shortage should be a wake-up call for rationalizing the policy of drug testing.

I agree the drug testing is out of hand, but it really is difficult to sell the long-distance trucking lifestyle these days.  Deregulation slashed the pay for drivers of all kinds 30 years ago.  If we want to solve this shortage, we need to pay them like professionals again.

^As always, "shortage of qualified labor" is management (and media shill) speak for "we aren't willing to train new labor, or to pay experienced labor for the qualifications we are asking for".

 

Not only that but the volatility of gas prices must be making smart would-be truckers think twice.

Not only that but the volatility of gas prices must be making smart would-be truckers think twice.

 

That's true for the owner-operators but not for the carriers. Drivers working for carriers care less what the price of gas is as long they still have jobs.

Matters to the carriers if they are planning out a career and ever want to be an owner operator.  Also, it matters if volatile gas prices make truck shipping relatively less competitive to other freight methods, as that will put a squeeze on employment for all truckers, as it did just a few short years ago.

I will try to keep this simple, unless somebody wants the 10,000 page overview of the trucking industry.

 

Driver (or Company driver):

 

Works for a single company (carrier) usually paid by the hour or per mile.  Expenses IE fuel, tire, licensing, buying the tractor and the trailer are born by the company he/she works for.

Usually treated as a payroll employee.

 

Owner Operator:

 

Can work for a single carrier/shipper or many different Carriers or shippers, usually paid as a percentage of the revenue of the trip or by the mile.  He/she owns the equipment and is responsible for all expenses

 

Usually treated as a 1099 vendor.

 

Carriers are 2 flavors

Private and Common.

 

A private carrier works exclusive for a company or companies

 

A Common Carrier will carry freight from any/all shippers.

 

A carrier may employ Drivers/Owner operators/ or even other carriers.

 

A driver or owner op actually moves the freight...the carrier employs them to do so.

 

It can get real complicated, real quick.

 

Agents, brokers, consolidators, Shippers,  freight forwarders....drayage, cartage, local delivery

 

and don't get me started on inter-modal....moving freight via multiple modes of transport, Air/sea/rail/land  containerized/non container, different containers....totes, pallets.....

 

Dry/liquid bulk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sounds like a synopsis of my textbooks from majoring in transportation & logistics management at KSU. We spent a lot of time studying motor carrier in the 1980s and being so close to Akron (Roadway et al).

Nice summary. 

 

I used to be a planner for some of the larger outfits, years ago.  An owner operator once told me that every time I sent him up the east coast, he was paying us 2 cents a mile.  Fuel was their cost, but the company fronted it and took it out of their settlements.

Nice summary. 

 

I used to be a planner for some of the larger outfits, years ago.  An owner operator once told me that every time I sent him up the east coast, he was paying us 2 cents a mile.  Fuel was their cost, but the company fronted it and took it out of their settlements.

 

Oh yes, we can really start down the rabbit hole.

 

I have seen some real "company store" type stuff.  Instead of a driver you are an owner operator,  you "rent to own" the truck, we will "lend" you all the money you need for licensing insurance fuel et al, and we will then take it out of your pay.

 

People who choose to be O/O understand the pluses and minuses and can do the math....then there are those who are O/O because the company chooses that for you.

 

You can make a lot of money driving....and/or work hard and long and wonder where the money went.

 

Some people are cut out to be small business owner/operators, some people are much better off when somebody else is running things for them, even if the top line is a lot smaller, the bottom line can be better if you are not a sharp operator.

 

 

I watched a documentary called Big Rig on Netflix last night. Here's the description:

 

Filmmaker Doug Pray journeys coast to coast to chronicle life on the road with America's long-haul truck drivers in this engaging documentary, featuring candid interviews that reveal the drivers' passions and colorful personalities. Driven by fierce independence, these unsung heroes of the highway will surprise and touch you with their wit and down-home wisdom. You'll never look at an 18-wheeler in quite the same way again.

 

One of the truckers interviewed said something like, "I wish the general public would give us more respect." However after watching the documentary, I definitely did not come away with more respect for truckers. Every trucker they interviewed had basically the same views, which could be summed up as:

 

• They're anti-government! Boy do they hate all of the regulations the government has placed on the trucking industry. Especially the federal government! Lots of them were flying the confederate flag, because they're all about states' rights... yeah, sure. (We'll just ignore the fact that they make their living by driving on federally-funded Interstate highways.)
  
• Gas is too expensive! Truckers should organize a massive strike so that the government steps in and "does something about it." (Because government regulations suck, unless they benefit us personally.)
  
• Doomsday is almost here! Something about American values declining and the Chinese having nuclear weapons.
  
• They hate the corporate takeover of America! (I'm sure none of them are delivering cheaply-made good to national retailers like Walmart, right? They're all delivering made-in-America products to family-owned businesses, right?)
  
• Your vote doesn't matter! All politicians are corrupt, and the Electoral College just votes however they want anyway!
  

 

Every trucker that they interviewed shared all of these views. There are probably (I hope?) some truckers out there that see things differently, and I wish the filmmakers would have interviewed some of them.

^ Thanks for the review. I might have been suckered into watching it, but now I don't think I will.

^^ This does not sound unlike anything you might hear on America's Trucker Network with Bubba Bo, which broadcasts after midnight on WLW. Gas prices are the most important thing in the world to these people, and anything the government does is bad, unless it has to do with lowering gas prices.