Being a CDL instructor for my company, I tested out a new student driver yesterday. He is a young man from Atlanta, 23, very considerate and professional and looking forward to a future in trucking. This has got me to thinking about what he has to look forward to in his career as a truck-driver/Owner-operator.
On the same day he was passing his backing and driving test, the courts threw out challenges to opening the borders to Mexican trucks, hours of service regs are in limbo, and the economy is in a downturn, what kind of future does he have? Will he be starved out of the business by cheap foreign labor, will regulations and political games make it impossible to have a life in the industry?
I am afraid the “American Truck Driver” is an endangered species. If we expect to survive as a way of life then we must take matters into our own hands. We need to remind our politicians that they work for us not the other way around. It is doubtful that truck-drivers will ever organize into unions, unions always seem to fail in the end, but we can vote. We need to make Congress take responsibility for the decisions they make, instead of letting them pass off legislation to Judges that have no knowledge of our industry and are swayed by special interest groups.
Will my student be able to succeed through hard work or will he be forced out of the business by regulation and foreign competition. I would much rather see a future for this young man in this business than for someone from another country. I would much rather see him behind the wheel of a truck than flipping hamburgers while others drive the trucks that feed this nation. Unless we get our act together we are sure to go the way of the Passenger Pigeon and Dinosaurs.
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I hope everyone has a safe Labor day weekend;
Don Rogers
Popularity: 14% [?]
This is a case of where I’m in full agreement with what you say, except that I have a very pessimistic view toward our representatives.
Based of past observation I’d say we have the best government that money can buy. Obviously WalMart can afford to spend more than I can so guess who gets the carrot and who gets the stick?
I’m sorry, I just don’t see it that way. More and more freight moves across the country, be it raw materials to production plants, or finished goods to and from the DC’s, rail is falling even further off; we need more drivers. The baby boomers are getting ready to retire, so there goes your older timers who know how to take care of business. All these young kids want is time off, and go from company to company without worring about benifits, just the rate per mile. I don’t see Mexican drivers being an issue in that if they continue to get the lower wages they get paid in Mexico, there’s a very important fact of life that will stop them: It’s damn expensive to run OTR. Living on the road costs money, and if they’re not making much anyway, how can they afford it?
More and more freight? The ATA keeps track of that and there has been a downward trend in the last several months.
Thanks to outsourcing of our factories overseas, production plants are getting fewer and fewer. Even Mexico is complaining of losing factories overseas to Chinese cheap labor.
Last year rail was over capacity and trucking was getting the overflow, because of not enough track or locomotives. This year, I don’t know. Freight, rail or trucking is cyclical.
“Baby Boomers getting ready to retire”, that’s in every press release by someone spouting the dreaded “driver shortage”. Companies are making up for it by importing thousands of immigrant drivers using h2b visas. Been to a truckstop lately?
It’s not just the young kids that want time off and go from company to company. Trucking has had 100% plus turnover rates for at least 10 years if not longer.
When I used to drive to Canada, I could fill up the tanks and bring enough food to last several days. I wouldn’t have to change money or even buy a soda. It’s not “that” expensive unless you’re eating in truck stops all the time. I don’t, and I know a lot of people that don’t.
Fuel isn’t that big of a difference anyway. About the same difference from the US and Canada fueling. And I would only get enough fuel to get back to the States.
Don and his student have several reasons for concern.
I’m basing it off what I see. I’ve got my older drivers who come to work everyday, do what needs to be done, and take care of business. I’ve got my younger drivers, like age 30 and below, that want atleast 2 days off during the week each month, and then complain about not getting miles. I’ve got 3-5 great drivers who I’m about to lose to retirement in the next 3 years or so. Lost a great 12 truck lane from El Paso to Detroit because of going to rail. There’s freight out there to bid on, but it pays crap because everyone and their cousin is cutting each other’s throats to get dedicated freight.