The driver shortage (solved)

it's a lot harder now to get a cdl now then when I started I just took a written test and got grandfathered in (actually drove with 3 drivers license 1 in the home state to keep clean and 2 to run on for tickets. ... different era different circumstances. .. anyways it's to easy to get your own authority and about half the guy's running that way are not smart enough to handle it and that keeps the spot market rates lower. .. but as long as the economy stays strong the rates stay up its when the economy tanks they hit bottom

 

Exactly. When the economy takes a dive, and it will because it always does, then you have a glut of service providers (truckers) fighting for the limited freight. This will bring the rates down and if you didn’t save enough or plan ahead then off to unemployment for you. This is true for both o/o and company drivers.

 

yes 2008 and 2009 thinned the herd out quite a bit and was slow coming back for the whole Obama times. .. trump did start the economy going again and the hurricanes really got the rates going stayed good all fall and I was prepared to coast through the slow times after Christmas and instead of diving lower as normal the rates went up and have stayed up .... fuel keeps creeping up in price and it takes the spot market rates awhile to catch up but just ride the high wave while it's here

 

1k per week otr? Here lies the problem with otr driver retention. I make 1k per week home everyday, on a set route. I usually know where I am going and even have a good ballpark idea of when I will be done for the day. I see my house and family everyday. I'm able to mow the lawn, take care of the pool, and fix things around the house. I'm also able fullfill martial obligations, read in between the lines lol. I have none of the expenses associated with living on the road either. I don't have to worry about finding a safe place to park the truck at the end of the day.

Why would I want to drive otr for approximately the same amount of money? I would have to make almost double, and be home full weekends every weekend to even consider it. None of that 34 hours home per week nonsense, I would have to be home Friday afternoon leave Monday morning.

We ALL know that doesn't happen. The idea of traveling the country only goes so far.

 

Heck many days I'm done in 8.5 hours on a $200 day. That honestly is not bad.

 

You got to remember some of these guys have no home, no wife, no life..... So otr= free place to live other than mom's basement.

 

And for those people, otr is a match made in heaven. My Werner trainer was exactly as you described 24 years old still living with Mommy and Daddy. Then there is the divorced.

 

Wow ....

Anywho ...

If we had a real driver shortage, every driver would be hitting their 34 reset time every 8 days.

 

There are other insurance companies to choose from. A large part of this
problem is the companies letting the insurance make the rules.

I realize that insurance is a serious cost of operation......the cheaper the
better. But I think that keeping better trucks; keeping better drivers, etc are
going to result in better customers.....especially in the long term. I wondered
already how many customers are lost because one douchebag driver shows up
and causes problems and just like that the customer hires a different company.

There are times when keeping good drivers will actually save money. This constant
driver turnover; often over very minor issues" because insurance fired him"......is
not a strategy for success.

 

insurance companies have too much say in hiring and retention of drivers it's very easy to get pushed out in this profession sometimes for good reason and sometimes for not much of any thing at all ... and this theory of a new drivers being safer than experienced drivers is for the birds.