Question:
[b]PHILADELPHIA —
Short on Drivers, Truckers Offer Perks
Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

Answer:
I like this one..
"Since 2000, drivers' wages have started to rebound, though they have not caught up with construction, according to the association. In 2004, the average annual pay for a truck driver was $34,920, compared with $37,890 for a construction worker, according to the Department of Labor. "
Notice everything else is OTR driver or such. They do not point to a source for the information. The best I could find from the national labor statistics board is all truck drivers. adverage 35k a year.
That inclueds the swans man, the septic tank pumper, the truck driver, the semi driver, the snow plow driver, school bus driver.
The adverage first year pay for OTR drivers is close to that at 36-39k a year for the first year.
Hey, if you got a 40 hour a week job. You would have to earn 18.75 a hour to adverage that. That takes in holiday and sick days.202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

Answer:
Someone else already posted this article, and I already commented on it's idiocy.
http://roundtable.truck.net/viiewt.php?t=58867&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=
Answer:
For 650 a week. I better only be working 2 days a week.
I will not give 5 days of my life for under 1k. I NEVER have had to.
My first truck driving job was my lowest paying driving job. It WAS UNION!
My first OTR job was at .34 A MILE with NO OTR EXPERIANCE over 7 years ago.
Many are now paying a bit better. they want to start you low like .34 and raise you in a few months then raise you again and again.
After 1 year with many of the larger better paying companies you will be around .36-.45 a mile.
50k a year with 3 or more years experiance is easy to do. Now, if you want to sit around, not go to this customer, only run this lane and not work at night. Then you will not be earning much money at all.
The biggest thing is being available to run and working for a company that has freight to run.
If most could make the same money doing somethign else easier they would go do it!202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

Answer:
I wish a good reporter woul dig a little deeper and discover what we already know:
The "driver shortage" is due to 100% newbie turnover. And the newbie turnover is due to one thing more than any other -- the average total pay package isn't high enough to justify the conditions and time away from home. Period.
They can hold raffles, install luxury features and use other gimicks till they're blue in the face. But it all comes down to the final paycheck. If average OTR started at 50k-60k, more new drivers would stay, carriers could cherry-pick better employees, and the "shortage" would evaporate.
Unfortunately, the models for this approach (J.B. Hunt some years back, etc) don't prove it's necessarily more effecient to retain existing drivers with better pay packages, than simplify the job for lower-qualified newbies who constantly turn-over but run cheap miles in the meantime. Enough new drivers come on line each year to fill all the openings, and then some. The problem is that the majority get out of trucking in short order.
The industry complains about a "shortage" they've created with the relentless cost-cutting they need for their predatory freight pricing. This is the inevitable end result of deregulation -- just like what the airline industry is going through after 20 years of unregulated competition.
The carriers are applying the same public relations logic as corporations out-sourcing jobs overseas, or hiring illegal immigrants under the table:
"We can't find American workers willing to take the job."
A more honest analysis would be:
"We can't find American workers willing to take the job at the pay we're offering".
Since they can't out-source domestic trucking jobs, I guess recruiting from the underclass (no offense intended) is the next best thing. After all, with gps, mapping display systems and other job-simplyfing technologies on the horizon, who needs drivers who speak english? Just teach them to point the truck and follow the arrows.....

Answer:
Claiming it is 100 percent newbie turnover is a complete crock of crap.
Most drivers like most employees in most fields today see themselves as temporary employees. They do not have the same loyalty to companies that was a standard in the past. Thats not a bad thing because most can not afford to give 100 percent loyalty as people once did. Many of us have heard story after story of some person who committed their life to a company only to be laid off late in life due to a company merger or closing. With the amount of change and uncertainty in trucking most drivers also view themselves as temporary employees although they may not state it. Companies are in a constant state of change. There are so may changes it is hard at times to keep up with them.
Joe blows company governs trucks at 65mph while John Blows company runs 68. Mr BBR's company isn't governed but pays 3cpm less than Mr Slow truck. This company claims to pay practical mileage and this one claims to have great dedicated runs. It goes on and on. While at the same time Mr Driver who once loved OTR now wants local and Mr Dedicated now wants OTR while Mr Local now wants dedicated etc. etc.. Companies change and drivers go back and forth with what they want.
A company like Swift having 15000 trucks or Jb Hunt having 13000 trucks and both having 100 percent turnover it definatly is not due to 100 percent newbie turnover. Anyone believing that is in the dark. It is due to drivers with 30 years experience (I've seen them in orientations), ones with 3 months and every stage of experience in between changing jobs for what ever reason.
It's not all the drivers fault either when it comes to job hopping. Recruiters for the most part are lying scum. They deceive drivers into thinking their company has what they are looking for. Then either in orientation where the lies usually start to come out or soon after a person starts driveing they see the real truth. It's not long after that when many start once again looking around and making ready for their next move.
With all the BS involved with being a truck driver there is almost no loyalty by drivers. They haver come to expect the worst when starting a new job and it usually comes true. They are temporary employees from the start. Being a newbie has little to do with it.
The shortage is not and has not been with drivers. It has always been a shortage of truly good companies to work for.

Answer:

Nope. That's what it is. Most don't consider the job worth keeping once they get there and experience the difference between hype and reality. It takes several newbies to find one that will stay a year.

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Nope, it's not all newbies, couldn't possibly be. It takes a combination of all experience levels to create the turnover rates that exist. Proof is by simply reading the forums here. Everyone from newbies to Owner Operators jump jobs quite often. A company owner in Lake City Florida made the statement to my wife and I that the average driver with 10 years experience has held atleast 6 jobs. He reads the apps.. It is a drivers market right now and probably for some time to come. Drivers have little fear of not being able to find another driving job if the current one sucks or their new one turns out bad. Since most do turn out bad and suck drivers hop jobs quite frequently. I know few who haven't changed jobs a few times. That is except the very few who sucker into one company for long term. Unless of course it is a good company. Some companies have a very low turnover rate because they provide a descent opportunity and enviroment. While others, most major OTR companies, have high turnover rates.

Answer:

is there any way to get the turn over rate info on Companies? I've read alot of polls online about outfits, but polls can be biased. There is usually more than one side to a story.
I realize Companies won't provide it, because it would signal how well they treat their drivers. I wonder if you could get that info from the Department of Labor?

Answer:
Deacon Slinger --
PM for you, re: truck driver turnover
Answer:

Correct.

Another thing to consider is that a driver with 10 years is today a veteran truck driver. Many drivers exist who might have had 25+ years driving by now if they hadn't left the biz for more profitable endeavors with less crap.
Answer:
I do not think you will find any other industry that a person in the same industry could have 6 jobs in 5 years. All in the same field.
Most places would never consider you after 3 in 6 years.
Its not to unusual for drivers to have had 10 employers in 3 years.
They spend more time in orientaion and learning the system then they do earning a living.
Fun example. JB HUnt and Scheider market for rehires more then new hires.
Some of these folks have worked at these places 2, 3 or 4 times!
I always think were they would be at now if they stayed after the first time or second time.
I think many just get board with the job and want change. The only real change is a new place to work with new rules.202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!