The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Shortage in Roadstar

The driver shortage is still in the (trucking) news. This time Roadstar publishes a story how fleets should design their trucks to attract drivers in this driver shortage. I’ve sent a few letters to the editors at Roadstar, most get published. I’m not sure if they just publish everything or mine tend to stick out from the rest. In case it doesn’t get published, here’s my letter to Roadstar.

In the Dec ‘04 issue Tom Berg writes the cover story about fleets spec’ing trucks to attract drivers during this driver shortage. The driver might have a slight advantage right now in the trucking industry, but a shortage??? The only place I read about a driver shortage is in the trucking press. Nowhere in the main stream do I see reports of empty store shelves, produce rotting on docks or containers sitting on the pier. (Except in press releases from trucking schools and carriers.) A tight market where the shipper must schedule a truck in advance, pay a fair rate and be efficient in loading and unloading does not constitute a shortage.

I enjoy reading Roadstar and don’t miss an issue. They even have my site listed on their Trucking Website of the Month page. Anytime someone mentions driver shortage, I’ve got to say something. Someone has to stop the madness!!!

I wish you would stop perpetuating this propaganda put out by the industry. The only shortage is the shortage of cheap drivers willing to work for nothing and be taken advantage of. It’s about time carriers gave drivers and o/o’s a raise, after how many years? It’s about time driving wages competed with other careers.

You report about and for the trucking industry, but I wish, no, I beg of you to go outside the box and prove to me that store shelves are empty because of a driver shortage. You have the journalists and the talent to prove or disprove this myth or come up with a different term besides shortage. A shortage of anything is bad, scares the public and doesn’t portray the real picture. A shortage is going to allow companies to come up with creative ways that won’t be to the drivers advantage to fix this problem. That’s only going to allow the abuse of drivers to continue.

What I really meant to say when I mentioned “creative” was, the importing of foreign drivers and the possible use of Mexican drivers in the future. I didn’t want to mention that directly in fear of the letter being seen as against Mexican drivers or something totally unrelated then what I was writing about.

Only when Wal-Mart or Target hang a sign on their front door saying their shelves are empty because of a truck driver shortage, am I going to believe a true shortage exists. If trucking moves America and there really is a driver shortage, America must either slow down or trucking isn’t as important as it thinks it is.

For such dire straits, store shelves were pretty full this Christmas shopping season. Shippers must be finding a way to get their stuff to the retail market. Either by rail or by being more efficient. Whatever the method it’s working. Does that mean there’s still a shortage? I don’t think so, but if I owned a hundred trucks and couldn’t find enough good, cheap drivers, I’d probably be complaining about a shortage.