Blogs

I've been a Truck Driver for over 20 years, and I really don't understand alot of these Truking Companies. They hire dispatcher's that have any trucking experience. They'er taking advantise of driver from other countries. Every company will tell you that you're a fool if you're not driving for them, the great pay and home time is still a joke! I have come off the road for these reasons, I'll only drive local. The Trucking companies are the reason that theres a driver shortage. Let keep it real. And we can't leave out the truck stops, pricies are so high on everything and alot of truck stops want you to pay for parking if you don't buy 50 gallons of fuel. And all of the BS rules and regulations. 
 
 
 
This is why there's a driver shortage. 
 
 
 
Larry Daniels. 
 
Cincinnati, Ohio

I feel the driver shortage is exacerbated by several factors: 1. there are lots of drivers, but fewer good ones--the bad ones quit or get fired. 
 
 
 
2. Increasing regulations imposed by companies and the government, leading to a sense of frustration and alienation. 
 
 
 
3. An overcrowded highway infrastructure, coupled with arrogant and dangerous drivers. 
 
 
 
4. Unreasonable demands and lack of 
 
communication between companies and drivers. 
 
 
 
5. Stagnant pay along with diminished benefits.

WHO WANTS TO WORK AWAY FROM HOME 14 TO 21 DAYS AND GET PAID A FEW HUNDRED DOLLORS A WEEK.I HAVE A bROTHER IN LAW WHO DROVE FOR A LARGE CO THAT "PAID FOR HIS TRAINING"hE BROUGHT HOME 150 OR 200 ON HIS BEST WEEKS. .WAIT TIME DISPATCHERS DELAY GETTING BACK TO YOU ECT....I WOULD HAVE STOPPED DRIVING ALLTOGETHER TOO IF I HAD NOT BEEN BLESSED TO PAY CASH FOR A GOOD TRUCK AND BECAME AN OWNER OPERATER WITH A GREAT OUTFIT(SO FAR.LARGE AND MEDIUM TRUCKING CO ARE TAKING MORE AWAY FROM THE DRIVERS TO MAINTAIN THEIR INCOME THAT DECREASED WHEN RATES WENT DOWN.

Some one asked me what I did for a living. I offered them the following clues: 
 
I'm up all hours of the day and night. 
 
The work I do is dangerous. 
 
If I mess up I could end up in prison. 
 
I'm constantly hassled by cops. 
 
The person I talked to thought I was a drug dealer. The answer was: No. I'm a truck driver!

You just dont get what they say, home time, and the pay is the shits, all the hrs,and no home time, you cant do it and have a life , And the truckstops are well you know

Reason(s) for driver shortage> Trucking companies have and are continuing treating drivers like crap, the police, politicians and the public in general treat us like crap. You have drivers from other countries that don't know how to drive, have no professional courtesy, they just drive the truck up and down the highways, ALL of these news laws aimed at making our lives miserable. I used to love being out on the road (OTR)but drive local now (it's not any better). People need to see life from our point of view and see what we go though everyday and night so they can have a comfortable life and not have to worry about having gas in their cars, food on the table and all the other things that make their life easy. Drivers are fed up, no money to be made, no decent, if any hometime and always having to worry "what if" I have an accident due to unforeseen equipment failure or the 4 wheelers carelessness or stupidity and some one gets hurt or killed. because I as a professional driver will be the person at fault because I am a truck driver

i feel older drivers are leaving,retire,local wrk. ect..and newer drivers can,t commit to a 2 year spand to find a way to operate to meet there need,s.

CSA 2010, falsified DAC reports,etc. 
 
Too much BS in this industry. This has to be the scummiest industry to be involved in. I'm considering getting out myself.

So far, some great comments!  
 
 
 
I contemplated writing a blog about a handful of reasons, but thought it would be best to include a driver's perspective first. 
 
 
 
I agree with a lot of the comments that have been posted so far.  
 
 
 
There are increasingly stringent regulations (CSA 2010, Hours of Service, EOBRs, etc.) that will surely have an impact on the existing pool of commercial drivers out there. 
 
 
 
That existing pool of commercial drivers, by the way, is aging and exiting the industry (retiring, etc.) with a much smaller influx of drivers to replace them. There are too many barriers to enter into a commercial driving career: Must be at least 21 years old (23 in most cases), must pay $6000-8000 for a CDL, and must be an "indentured servant" to an OTR company for at least one full year. This is not attractive to potential commercial drivers, even though truck drivers stand to make a decent living under the right circumstances. 
 
 
 
We certainly can't discount some of the comments about the way truck drivers are treated. In many cases, especially where turnover is so high for a trucking company, you can pinpoint the primary issue to one person (or a group of people) in Dispatch who have no interpersonal skills in dealing with truck drivers - instead they talk down to them and treat them like they're a dime a dozen. 
 
 
 
Personally, I'm all for the FMCSA's goals of making the highways safer and reducing the crashes and fatalities on the road. However, they need to embrace how they can better entice people to consider a career in commercial driving or we will be in for a driver shortage of epic proportions.

I have been driving trucks since 1985. In the "good ole' days", which actually started long before I started driving, drivers were treated with respect from both the general public and law enforcement officers. 
 
Now, neither is true. Trucks are an interference to drivers of automobiles on the highways and biways, they will do anything to get you out of their way, including taking extremely dangerous risks around the CMV that they are playing games with. 
 
 
 
DOT and other law enforcement talk down to you like you are a sewage covered rag fresh out of the cesspool. Inspection stations are out for blood, you run into them all the time and you are treated like s***. They do whatever they can to find things wrong with your truck and give you a hard time. With CSA 2010, it's going to become MUCH more difficult for the common, normal truck driver to get through these inspections without getting a ticket for some infraction that will end up putting points on your CDL. 
 
 
 
I pull a flatbed trailer and was reading the infractions and the points assessed. Flatbed pullers better learn about tying down loads according to THEIR way of doing things, there are dozens of infractions that are an automatic 10 points. 
 
 
 
Truck drivers are not paid for the time they spend, at least concerning OTR. You are not paid for waiting at a terminal to get loaded or unloaded. You are not paid for downtime. You are not paid for the time it takes you to fuel the tanks in your truck. You work many hours every single day that you receive no compensation for.  
 
 
 
I will ONLY work hourly now. I am a local driver and for me, it's the only way to go. I get paid for EVERYTHING I do, whether it's fueling or filling out logs.  
 
 
 
Moving on, truck drivers are expected to stay out on the road for weeks or even months at a time. I know full well the feeling of being out on the road for 3 months, begging my dispatcher to let me come home. He would dispatch me everywhere BUT Arizona, where I live. I did OTR for many, many years, I loved it at first but I grew to HATE it.  
 
 
 
Truck drivers also have difficulty finding places to park at the end of the day. "No Parking" signs everywhere. Unless you really KNOW a city that you are in and where, perhaps, a truck might be able to park without getting hassled by police, you are relegated to trying to find a place at a truckstop or a rest area, good luck with either of those. (BTW, I know many places in the Phoenix area, off the beaten path, if you need to find a place to park overnight).  
 
 
 
Truck drivers are, in a nutshell, expected to sacrifice their lives in exchange for low pay and extremely poor living conditions. What possible appeal can that have on the average young person today? Yeah, mom and pop, I can't WAIT until I'm 21 and can get into trucking so I can be treated like a piece of dog s***!! 
 
 
 
The industry will eventually begin to fail as older drivers exit and not enough come in. At that point, I would like to hope all of us drivers will band together and start making demands on the industry. Pay for hotel stops at least once a week instead of making everyone continually live in a little box. Raise the pay scale substantially. I don't CARE if everyone has to pay more at the grocery store, WE are the people paying the REAL price here. 
 
 
 
MANDATORY home time (if you want it, not all drivers want to go home, I know drivers that live in their trucks, have no house or apartment, have lived that way for decades and love it). For those of us that have families or even don't but want to be able to go home, this is hardly too much to ask for. 
 
 
 
There are all kinds of ideas out there floating around, some of them might work, others are off the wall. One suggestion that trucking companies simply buy out or rent warehouses or other such, large facilities, turn them into giant overnight stopping places with free laundry, sleeping quarters, everything. Terminals don't even come close to cutting it. The bottom line is money. Drivers aren't making enough of it to cover the amount of sacrifice that is encountered. There are a lot of "new" drivers out on the roads today, there because of the economy and the fact that trucking is a "last option" sebastion to be used only if nothing else will work. 
 
 
 
Many of these drivers have no more business driving a truck than an ape has flying an airplane. They won't, fortunately, be able to stand it for very long. I believe trucking and driving them is a sort of calling just like a police officer or fireman is. We are the lifeblood of the economy. Everyone knows that if the trucking industry shut down, so would America. 
 
 
 
I mean, the list is endless of why there is a trucking shortage. There is not an endless list of available remedies. Trucking companies don't want to shell out more money, DOT and law enforcement only want to make driving a truck harder and municipalities couldn't care less if there are places for you to park your rig. 
 
 
 
Again and inevitably, the shortage will continue to grow and at some point in time, there will be a breaking point. Hopefully sooner than later.

If drivers are paid for docktime and if the trucking companies would do more terminal to terminal drop and hook and let drivers have more time with there famlies than they do now. also we all have to do better to inprove our image when on the road. Safety and courtesy should be always on our minds.

Its the rediculous regulations and now this stupid no idling law. Give me a friggin break. They expect me to sleep in a truck with no ac or heat because im not allowed to idle my engine,they can all kiss my hairy ass. YOU go sleep without air condition and tell me how much it sucks. There is absoloutly no reason for any new driver to want to go through this crap. They keep busting our balls and were gonna quit in droves or forced out. Then prices will go up everywhere when there is no one left out there to deliver there precious shit. Then they'll be crying a sob story 10 miles long. I cant wait. Im fed up with the bullshit. Trucking will make a man bitter.