WHERE HAVE ALL THE TRUCKERS GONE?

Where have all the truckers gone?
I remember when I would sit in a drivers’ room and the drivers would tell stories about their trucking experiences. They'd laugh, cut-up, and make a joy out of the wait. Today, it’s just guys complaining about how they aren’t making any money.

Maybe there's a reason.

Consider: customers want their shipments there yesterday. However, the uncertainty of the new hours of service rules still hangs over everyone’s head.

Another point: total tonnage per year has been increasing. But so has the average number of days truckers are spending on the road, from two hundred seventy to over three hundred days per year, and more. But at the same time revenue to owner/operators is decreasing. If owner/operators can’t earn a reasonable income for their time and effort,--they leave.

Trucking companies’ profits increased from twenty to ninety-two percent for the first quarter of two thousand six. When these high profit companies offer a nickel to a dime more per mile to owner/operators, it’s like offering a hungry grizzly a tablespoon of meat with an entire side of beef hanging behind the company door.

So, owner/operators, are you feeling hungry?
How’s your bottom line? Got your bills paid?

What’s it going to take for you to stay? Is this being communicated to the trucking company executives? Or are they even listening?

Something to think about.