In an article about the deteriorating shipping situation from the West coast, a British magazine has this to say about American truckers:
"JIM YOUNG, president of Union Pacific, America’s biggest railway company, told analysts last week that the company was ‘preparing for a tough winter’…
"As the railways falter, America’s truckers have picked up some of the slack…Bill Zollars, boss of Yellow Roadway, America’s largest trucking firm, says that poor rail services have forced him to put 20,000 intermodal shipments each month back on to trucks.
“Now, however, trucking too is near capacity. Roads are congested and good drivers, like railway engineers, are hard to find. Truckers must be over 21, willing to spend long hours away from home, speak English and have no felony convictions. Disconcertingly few Americans actually fit that description, at least among those who want to be truckers.”
Here in Canada you only have to be 19 to get a truckers license, though you only have to be 19 to drink too…
Something interesting about trucking, I was watching a documentary about trucking, and one truck driver was saying that he was making basically the same pay that he was 20 years ago…
I thought that was interesting, 20 years ago he said he was making a great living and now he’s glad he’s near retirement.
There aren’t many people out there willing to dedicate their lives to a job that doesn’t pay enough to make a great living, the expected quality of life is much higher now than it was a few decades ago.
Either raise the rates, or suffer worker shortages, it’s the simple principal of supply and demand.
…if they paid truckers what they paid longshoremen, there would be line-up’s at every trucking company for people wanting to drive.
Aside from that, Mark, what do you think of the magazine?
Long haul trucking is a terrible job. Just today, east of Chicago, Yellow/Roadway was involved in a wreck that killed four people in a SUV. Big winds today.
Imagine driving for 11 hours through a Montana winter storm - then sleeping in the back of your truck - then driving 11 hours through a North Dakota winter storm. $0.40/mile is considered good pay, but you’re never home. You won’t keep a marriage or relationship together.
The truckload carriers have a driver turnover of over 100% per yea
Hey I agree w/ ya now days I hear so much juck about how much the railraods are doing a shotty job of transporting goods. I remeber a long long time ago when the only type of reliable transportation was the railroad. AND many companys relied on them, without rail they were lost it was back to cannals for them. I don’t see the trucking industry taking as much heat as the rails, I don’t like that.
The world is jealous of our prosperity. The left may whine about a 5% unemployment rate, but the bottom line is this. Our eeconomy is booming and there are not enough trained workers to get the job done. You won’t read about how rough things are over seas because the news people don’t want you to know the facts. They only print garbage like the Economist story turning and twisting the news to make prosperity look like a disaster. Doom and gloom sells well in their newspapers.
Unfortunately as much as I like the trucking industry it would be nice if there was a level playing field umongst them. Trucks from the company that I work for get frequently scrutinized at weigh stations, (not undiservedly at times) and when the driver asks the inspector what about that tractor, (the one broke down looking one pulling the container) the inspector replies we would have to red tag it and they would just abandon and the state would have to deal with it. I work for a utlilty company that is very strictly regulated by the state. Usually what we get stopped for is small infractions such as mud flaps, but how many times have you seen that truck with lights out, a brake chamber hanging by the rod, or nearly bald tires. Its hard to for legitamte companies to compete with haulers that are able to cut corners like that.
This is probably one of the few times I agree with Mark on political/economic issues. The Economist tends to play to an elitist audience, mostly those with leftist leanings. You will find no dirt under their fingernails.
Well I’m a lefty and think their is more going on than meets the eye but generally speaking, after learning more from others, I would have to say that both sides are a bunch of complainers and really would be better off if they solved their own problems without nagging at the general populace who doesn’t really care.
They don’t want government interfearance so why have put it in a newspaper where voters and politicians can read it?
Having been a long haul trucker for 28 years I wam the first to admit it wasn’t always easy or fun. I have driven 49 states and all of the Canadian provinces and two territories in that career and looking back now I don’t beleive i would change anything. When i first started on the road the intersate system as we have it today was only in its infancy. You might drive twenty-five miles of interstate then it was back to the old two lane highway for the next seventy miles and then maybe another thirty mile stretch of interstate. When I drove most of the Alcan was unpaved great for winter driving but dusty as all get out in the summer and the traffic was horrendous in the summer months. My CB handle was Moose gooser at one time as I hit two that left me high and dry one I killed the other I dont think I even cripled but ended up with half his rack as a souvenir. He left me with $15,000 in damages and six weeks to get my rig repaired and road worthy again. . When I first began driving 185 hp diesels were considered big power along came the 220 cummings and we thought we had died and gone to heaven. Today the big cats, cummins and detroits top 400 hp and i listen to drivers still complaining. But some of us still have more sense than to take the interstate west from Larimie in the winter when the weather is snowing and blowing we remember the old route that runs alongside the UP mainline takes about thirty minutes longer but sure is less prone to closure in the bad weather. When U S 30 was all their was we got to see all of the UP streamliners and the turbines in their last years and then the centennials. So the old route wasn’t to bad if you were a rail fan as well. Not many of the interstate routes are conducive to train watching but the old highways where they still exist certainly are in many cases running right alongside the railroad right of ways. I have seen recent highway maps that don’t even show some of the old routes anymore. .