The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Bogus Driver Shortage

Prof. Belman is quoted at
Bridgestone/Firestone Commercial Truck Tires

“If there truly were a driver ‘shortage,’ we would have expected to see wages rising and tractors sitting idle. And we really didn’t see that.”

This article has a ton of good points. This was serious research done on the trucking industry.

This same article has been quoted in Roadstar Online and I commented on their comments in “Intentional Churn”.

I said there were Too Many Drivers back in Sep 2003. Prof. Belman could have asked me what the problem was and saved himself a bunch of work.

The big companies drummed up this so-called driver shortage to keep wages low, thereby keeping rates low trying to undercut each other and all they did was shoot themselves and everyone else in the foot.

I’m not sure if the good professor has come up with an answer to this problem. Just pointing it out will help the rest of us understand, but I really don’t think these companies are going to change on their own.

This is nothing new to most of us. Larger companies hire people fresh out of school, run them ragged until they either quit or leave or just shut up and work. If they stick around too long, they might expect a raise. So, work them hard, then when it’s raise time, quit giving them the miles they need to survive, then they quit and go somewhere else or just quit trucking altogether. But the companies don’t care. In fact it’s to their advantage.

“It’s a business decision. If retention means paying ever-increasing wages – when there’s a ready supply of qualified drivers willing to work at lower wages – it may be in the firm’s best interest not to try to retain drivers.”

But how can that practice be safe? Rookies get tired and don’t or won’t say no to their dispatchers. If they have a wreck, the company is rarely at fault and even if they do have to cough up some cash, that’s what insurance companies are for. The drivers career is ruined because he was trying to keep his company or broker happy. And no one cares, because there are a hundred waiting to take his place.

So how did this vicious rumor start that there was a driver shortage? My goal now is to make OOIDA aware and maybe they can come up with something. There are a lot of unnecessary work visas being issued in the name of a driver shortage. I have nothing against legal immigration. And if there truly were a driver shortage, this wouldn’t be a problem. As far as I can tell it’s only to keep wages and rates low.

I’m sure the trucking industry lobbyist can convince Congress that lower wages, mean lower rates and that means the cost of living for the rest of America remains low. But why should we or anyone else suffer to keep prices low. If they need to raise prices, they need to raise prices. Either that or take fewer profits and we know that’s not going to happen.