CCJ editor Jeff Crissey interviews a panel of fleet executives at the 2013 CCJ Fall Symposium about the driver shortage. They say the public’s image of the transportation industry is the single biggest obstacle for attracting new drivers to the profession:
In the next decade, the trucking industry must add 239,000 drivers, per year, to keep up with freight demand and replace the 37 percent today’s drivers that will retire. A panel of fleet executives discussed solutions to this pending crisis, Dec. 4, at the CCJ Fall Symposium in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The panel agreed that improving the .
“We need to turn that ship in the right direction,” said panelist Keith Tuttle, president of Motor Carrier Service (MCS), a 100-truck carrier based in Toledo, Ohio. As part of the discussion on how to improve public image, the panel, moderated by CCJ Editor Jeff Crissey, discussed the Trucking Moves America Forward campaign, a new industry program.
Don Lefeve, executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA), added another obstacle to solving the crisis — federal and state funding for CDL schools. Congress has not dedicated funds to train workers for a career in transportation. CVTA represents 180 locations that train 50,000 drivers a year. The association has about 20 carrier partners that hire entry-level drivers.
Tuttle said MCS does not hire straight out of driving school. The company with its regional, Midwest operations received the 2012 “Best Fleet to Drive For” award from the Truckload Carriers Association. Its turnover rate is about 27 percent, he said.
“The best hire is somebody who has got experience. There is a much higher turnover rate with guys who are right out of school,” he said. In recent months, however, Tuttle has noticed an alarming trend among his long-tenured drivers. “Drivers who are leaving now have been with us for 10 to 15 years.”
Tuttle didn’t have an explanation for why long-tenured drivers are changing jobs, but he expressed concern about the dwindling supply of qualified drivers.
“Most good carriers will not hire a large percentage of drivers,” he continued. “We will look at one out of 150 applications sent to us. We do very well financially but we are frustrated with our ability to show substantial growth with the driver situation right now.”
Panelist John Hancock, director of training and driver recruiting for Prime, Inc., cited studies from a book, The Coming Jobs War by Jim Clifton, that 20 percent of people in the United States are underemployed. The book also says only 28 percent of employees are engaged and trying to line themselves up with the company’s objectives. Fifty-three percent are not engaged and are “just showing up.”
“We want to have much a higher number engaged,” he said. “We believe in weekly measures. All associates are paid this week based on what happened last week.” Drivers also receive a weekly fuel bonus.
“If we can give people a vehicle to accomplish (income growth), they will come and be part of that,” he said.
