Mainstream media seems to go into “truck driver shortage” blitz mode shortly after any political discussions occur on the nightly news about current job numbers and unemployment rates.
Few people understand that favorable tax incentives, subsidies, state and local job training grant programs are incentives for truck driver training carriers to cash in. When you see these hysterical reports you should recognize that what is really going on is a positioning for a money grab.
There is no incentive to create qualified drivers, but there is an incentive to create turnover.
We have created a corporate welfare program for big trucking and this has sacrificed safety, good judgement, ethical recruiting and contributes to high turnover. There is little accountability for the lack of retention. This is directly related to mis-management and corporate greed.
Very few qualified truck drivers ever emerge from training carriers , yet these same carriers reap rewards from favorable job programs, high interest tuition loans and selling novice drivers on lease owner operator situations where they are set up to fail from day one.
Qualified drivers begin with qualified truck driving candidates who are prepared for the challenge of living the life of a truck driver. Carrier trade groups like the American Trucking Association who continually report a shortage of “Qualfied” truck drivers take little responsibility that the training carriers they aggressively represent in Washington D. C. produce few qualified drivers , yet recruit many unqualified candidates. Any trainer who has quit training for fear of their life will atest to this.
Until initiative is taken to examine how a person off the street is sold the “dream” of becoming an “over the road” truck driver, which is an entry level position into the industry, this qualified driver safety issue cannot be resolved.
Poor management is the reason there is poor retention. Management is in charge of hiring and putting unqualified drivers on the road and keeping them there. If a truck driver trainer is assigned a student who is not learning, or that continues to have substance abuse problems during training they are often stuck with that person on their truck. Students are worth money to carriers in the form of government incentives to hire the disenfranchised, this is why some carriers target those who can be exploited rather than seek those who would make more qualified candidates.
Personality clashes between student and trainers are frequent. Trainers who have little more experience than the student they are teaching are often stressed , many are pressured into training because they were misled into the industry with salary expectations that are false.
Commission structures interfere with intelligent judgement in truck driver recruiting. It also interferes with a dispatchers judgement to push drivers to get more performance against fatigue or bad weather delays.
To retain qualified drivers, you need to treat them like qualified human beings and recruit them in the same manner. One size does not fit all.
This is especially true for Women who have proven they are reliable and responsible truck drivers.
Attracting Women is not the problem, retaining them past a poorly managed and monitored training period is the problem.
A lack of leadership to pave a clear path to success for Women and Men has been lacking in truck driver training and this is why most do not make it past one year in the industry.
Preparation is essential in training fleets that claim they have shortage of trainers who can or will train Women. Men should understand that women truckers are not being represented accurately. This less than serious image hurts Women in male dominated industries where training requires living in highly intense quarters with no supervision.
A single woman does not equal a lonely woman, a lonely woman does not equal a single woman.
Women should not be encouraged to put their guards down as they enter training carriers. This should be apparent when you consider the massive CRST sex harassment allegations and understand this is not occurring in one isolated carrier. Carriers with low standards of personal conduct are havens for poor behavior. These entry level carriers have a revolving door of student truck drivers and this has not changed despite high profile litigation.
Carriers that receive training incentives from the government are not held accountable, taxpayers are not educated on the topic. This is the recipe that creates a reason to promote turnover, not retention.
If carriers are not producing qualified drivers but they are producing lawsuits for harassment, discrimination, and high turnover in their training programs, perhaps the taxpayers should demand a review and revoke these funds to trucking companies that cannot make the grade to produce what they are being funded to deliver, Qualified Drivers.
Driver turn over is a joke. I have been a truck driver since 1974. No accidents or moving violations since 1981 . I see this new crop of so-called drivers and want to run the other way. A friend of my went to work with a large nation wide trucking company. They trained him for 70 hours , got him his cdl, then turned him lose in a brand new truck and sent him out trucking. NUTS, NUTS, NUTS !!!!
I agree with you. There is too much money in recruiting , truck driver training, cdl training … this is why it keeps going on. They don’t care about safety, they care about supporting this inner industry
I got into trucking in 1991 despite warnings from some old time truckers. I blew them off. Hey, what could be better than going to a school and then after only 8 weeks coming out with an exciting, well paying career? Lol. What a joke. I am now 56 with not much to show for all of these miserable years behind the wheel of a truck. I despise the trucking industry and resent the government that has allowed this crap out here to go on.
Des, I would like to point out that not all trucking companies are this way. I work for a company that treats their drivers with respect. But, like we have always been taught, respect is earned.
The company I drive for has 97% retention rate. With those that do leave, many have returned to the company. While it is unusual to have that high retention, it really seems that the bigger companies fall into how you have described.
Our trainers, if there are any issues brought up from their trainees is addressed immediately without retribution, must have 2 years verified driving experience with the company and must attend annual training to ensure that they are training in compliance with D.O.T.
As far as turnover is, it boils down to how drivers are honestly treated. I started with one company and have gone on to my second and have been here for 2 years. It is the case of “you can please some of the people some of the time, but you cannot please everyone all the time”. As I recently told a friend of mine – Every company has their issues, it is what a person is willing or able to tolerate if that company will work for them.
Hi Patti:
Thanks for the comment. I agree with you that it is what a person is willing an able to tolerate. In our weekly women truckers phone conferences we often share this information with female students because there is no silver bullet ‘BEST” training carrier to attend. You did not mention the carrier you work for and I agree also that some training carriers are much worse than others who have honed profit potential from student truckers with extremely low wages matched with team driving and sometimes a lease owner operator program they are pushing too boot. 97% turnover in any other industry would raise eyebrows but in trucking it is celebrated as a success. I find this laughable because there are numberous things that can be done to curb turnover. Truck driving is pretty cool …conflicting federal regulations to company unpublished procedure is not. It wears down longterm health and vitality in a person.
I meet many unqualified drivers who take little pride in taking care of equipment or themselves, but they are also being scheduled so tightly and it is understood that logging oneself in the sleeper or off-duty not driving when you are actually on a loading dock or shipping office is standard operating procedure.
The government and taxpayers should know more about what real trucking is and how the “just in time” freight movement system applies to their sponsorship of truck driver training carriers who benefit from their generousity.
Thanks
Desiree
For my personal safety and security, I do not disclose which company I work publicly.
Retention at my company that I drive for is 97%, which is excellent. And many drivers who leave the company do return because they thought the grass was greener on the other side.
I was recently injured and as part of my light duty, I was an instructor at our company ran school. There were some it came natural to and others who struggled every step of the way. We had to identify those who were struggling to work with them as often as possible. In other words, we would do all that we could to help them, but in the end it is/was up to them if they were going to be able to do it.
The one class had previous drivers all the way to the I.T. administrator who had never even been that close to a truck all trying to learn how to operate such a big piece of equipment.
The previous class had one lady student. She grasped things very quickly, but still struggled in her backing until I got with her to show her what it takes. 3 students failed the state exam. After getting all 3 of them in the truck with me before the state test, explained to them a few things, they all 3 then passed the state test.
The company ran school is really good, and I would say it is probably one of the best out there.
Thanks Patti:
As I said before, 97% might be excellent in trucking but it is a joke in any other industry to claim a victory with that excessively high number. You bring up light duty while on workmans comp. Here is another issue that many do not understand. The way drivers are handled by some of these carrier after a rollover. I can think of 3 carriers off-hand that will insist a driver ride the greyhound bus after a rollover before seeing a doctor of their choice to acess how badly they might be injured. I have met many injured drivers who work on the training course while they are recuperating that work with students and often there is an exchange of information about the way the injured are kept with one thumb on their head to be steered to certain doctors that may not have the drivers health on priority but rather the carrier potential loss from a workmans comp claim.
Workmans comp is a factor in turnover and I observed firsthand how little safety training was provided to students yet oddly they are often picking up freight at shippers and receivers who post their achivements in have accident free days.
This is rarely done in trucking carriers who bring people from all walks of life & education levels & put them in charge of equipment that can kill them and others.
I appreciate you trying to defend you unnamed carrier but truck driver training across the board must be standardized with an emphasis on safety first and FOR REAL not just for the ATA press releases to applaud carriers that drivers know to run business contrary to what they portray. This harms all carriers, esspecially the ones who are trying to put good drivers on the road and being overshadowed by the exposure of bad ones who claim to be good.
Hmmmm Where have I heard this before 🙂
good article!
This so the truth , I went to CR ENGLAND a year and ahalf ago . I had good training but I saw alot of people who were just rushed in and should have not leased a truck but were anyway then turned around n were unsafe drivers . all england cares about is the money not the drivers or safety . Luckily I had good trainers and I enjoy driving more since I quit England a year ago.
Thanks for the comments on CR England. I often hear people got very good preliminary training with them but in phase two training it is a free for all and very unsafe, unprofessional and hearing some people who have this haphazard training are becoming trainers themselves a few weeks or months later just so they can try to make enough money to survive at this very unethical carrier. Scary for everyone who uses the highways
wondering which company to go with CRST or Swift.My husband and I are wanting to become team drivers.
I would not go to CRST. Please read the following two posts and watch the video embeded in the first one.
The Qualified Truck Driver Shortage
Truck Carrier Warnings
Also, there is a video embeded on the front of this blog of the first Dan Rather Investigative report that mentions CRST, although it is regarding the sex harassment allegations, you should educate your self on their lease owner operator program and poor training before you commit to them.
I am attempting to get into trucking but on the Canadian side I find your videos and posts very educational, any connections on the Canadian side? I am a male senior who is very drawn to the industry.
Hello Everest:
I do know some Canadian Truckers but I am not familiar with the process to enter the industry up there. I have heard there are some similarities but I will share your comment in my social media networks to see if some of those Canadian drivers will post a reply to you.
Thanks,
Desiree
Hi Everrest. Im Canadian trucker, any question you are wellcome to e-mail me at hgerda@shaw.ca or find me on twitter @hgerda
Thanks for your response. I am totally hooked on the industry and hope to be driving commercially very shortly. I simply want to be the best that I can possibly be.
Hi Everett: I hope you saw the reply from Gerda to you on my blog, she is a driver in Canada and gave here email to let you know about the situation for training there. Here is her email just in case. hgerda@shaw.ca Good Luck to you!! Desiree
Hi Desiree, I just found your site a few days ago and am seriously considering OTR Driving…..I am a 59 yr old female & after raising kids and 30 yrs of marrige gone kaput..I just want a solitary job! I love driving (have driven RV’s across the country). I live in San Diego…..what is your advice @ schools here, and any other input will be greatly appreciated!
Thank You for you do to help others
sheilajo
Hi Sheila:
My family lives in San Diego and I spend part of my time in Del Mar. First thing I will say is to stay away from any school that promises you an entry level driving job of anything more than 35K to 37K , they are liars and you should realize truck driver recruiters are sales people. They rarely care about your long term career. Try to find a community college program, they are cheaper and take more care to teach you.
Stay away from any training carrier that has a lease program associated with training or several months of team driving as a phase of their training. Check out the post called “Truck Carrier Warnings” and listen to out Women Truckers Network conferece replays which are on the tab of this site and on “REAL Women in Trucking” We are transitioning to a blog talk radio this month where will will answer student driver questions and provide information.
Good Luck!
Desiree
The trucking lifestyle has a very sweet and very bitter side to it. The sweet side is being able to see the country and make good pay by delivering things to companies in various places. The bitter side is that they are always on the road away from their family and friends. It needs to be done though, and I’m grateful that there are men and women who are willing to make the sacrifice.