Trucking firms, short of drivers, stretch to find more

[kscarbel2]

Star Tribune / October 27, 2014

Across the country, trucking companies, and manufacturers and retailers with their own fleets, are resorting to an array of incentives, including higher wages, to attract drivers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation’s biggest retailer and operator of one of its biggest truck fleets, is using radio ads to appeal to qualified truck drivers with an offer of a $76,000 salary plus benefits to join the company. That’s far above the national average trucker pay of around $50,000.

Walmart has 7,200 truck drivers but needs more, spokesman Brian Nick said.

“There is definitely a shortage in the company … and an overall shortage in the industry,” Nick said. “We are anxious to get more folks’ applications so we can pursue more hiring.”

The American Trucking Associations reports that the country has 750,000 “for hire” drivers but needs at least 30,000 more at the moment. It estimates the industry must hire 100,000 drivers every year for 10 years if it hopes to keep up with retirements, turnover and industry growth.

Tim Hoag, who owns Copeland Trucking, estimates he turns down about 10 hauling requests from potential customers every day. He’s looking to add eight drivers to the 56 who currently work for the firm.

“We could grow as big as we wanted if we could find drivers,” said Hoag, who owns Copeland with his longtime friend Richard Copeland. “We probably passed up $500,000 to $1 million of work this year because we don’t have enough drivers. But everybody’s in the same boat.”

The reasons for the shortage are plentiful. The job has limited appeal to start with, because it takes drivers away from their families for extended times. Meanwhile, cost cuts by companies during the recession in 2008 and 2009 compressed drivers’ wages. In 2013, truckers were paid 6 percent less, adjusted for inflation, than they were in 2003.

Railroad capacity has been consumed in much of the country by the movement of oil, gas and coal, putting pressure on trucks to move more freight. And new federal regulations have limited the time drivers can spend on the road.

“With the new federal regulations, it is harder to find a qualified driver today than ever before,” said Kyle Kottke, general manager of Kottke Today.

U.S. truckers can only drive 70 hours a week or 11 hours a day. They can only work 14 hours a day, including the hours frequently spent waiting for short-staffed warehouses to load or unload their rig. Drivers must regularly pull their rigs into checkpoints where officers check their time on the road. Violators are now reported on national databases.

“It gives the industry a great transparency and allows us to I.D. who we don’t want on the road,” said Kottke. “But it also takes some of these people and puts them permanently on the sidelines.”

Demand for truckers is so great that trucking companies – and the shippers that use them – are seeing their growth constrained.

Hoag said he recently heard about a firm in West Texas that was having trouble attracting drivers despite offering $83,000 a year.

“You do whatever you have to do to keep the drivers happy and productive,” he said. “You treat them like family. That’s been our secret weapon.”

[carlotpilot]

my 2 cents worth. if co owners and the drivers themselves and the shippers would push back hard at some of the political hacks who dream all these bs new unworkable rules& regs up they would not have as much of a shortage as they claim to have, will add more to this post when i have more factual examples of some of the absolutely stupid new regs just recentlly foisted on us

[carlotpilot]

mr karbel what say you?

[mowerman]

very interesting thanks...bob

[mike69mackman]

Just my two cents here. The only shortage we have is of good, safe, clean cut drivers. This "new breed" is none of the above. Just walk around a truck stop and look at some of the slobs walking around. The same ones griping because they are not treated like the so called professionals they claim to be. I wouldn't hire most of them to clean the dog shit out of my yard let alone drive a truck. Then they wonder why our industry is so over regulated by the govt. and looked down on by the public. You could get rid of all these guys and still have enough good safe drivers to move Americas freight. Sorry to go off on a tangent but it's a touchy subject with me.

[carlotpilot]

mike you hit part of the problem right on the head

[MACKS]

The average anual pay for an over the road truck driver is 50,000,is that right?