Industry created driver shortage
Freshly trained newbies hoping to get a foot in the door are finding it firmly locked
For the many years I’ve been licensed to drive a commercial rig I’ve heard the nonstop plaintive cry of “there’s a driver shortage.” To me, that is, and always has been, utter and total nonsense.
On this subject, I will state again for the umpteenth time, women big rig drivers are the most professional I have ever encountered coast to coast. They care more. They pay closer attention to details. They take their time to do the job right, the first time. Women big rig drivers are as rare as hen’s teeth, and will continue to be so until company owners haul their heads out of the sand or somewhere where the sun doesn’t shine.
The way to get into this industry now is next to impossible. I took a big chance, and got my foot in the door when one company left their door slightly ajar. Those doors are now locked solid.
Anyone who wants to get into this profession first needs to spend two to three thousand dollars to take a government approved driving course with classes, tests and hours on the road learning a little of what to expect. Then what? Company owners want qualified and experienced drivers, and usually tell the eager beaver to “come back in five years when you have experience.” Thousands of dollars spent, and nowhere to put that education to work.
Most jobs/professions offer on-the-job training. Happened to me in broadcast journalism. Spend time with the senior staff, learn the ropes and then you are able to go solo. Not in trucking. No experience, no job.
Back in the day, I took a $2,800 driving course, then heard about a company that hired no-experience drivers because they had a qualified driving instructor who also ran their maintenance shop. You had to pass his testing before you were sent out solo. It included riding shotgun for weeks all over town then down the highway to the Excited States. Loading, unloading, setting brakes, fuelling … everything that is not taught in driving school.
Then, the rookie driver gets the oldest piece of junk rig and sent off on a four-drop six-pickup trip and expected to be gone for no more than five days. If you come home on time, you get to do it again. Find it too difficult, then just tell them where you left the rig and they’ll send somebody to retrieve it.
As I’ve recounted in this space before, that first trip for me was filled with many moments of utter terror, but they were also intermixed with snippets of wonder and amazement. I made it back in four days. Over the years that I worked for this company I was sent out numerous times to pick up discarded, partially loaded and unloaded rigs when the rookie had walked away.
To get a job flipping burgers, a new hire must first have to go through the “how we do this job here” routine. In trucking, it’s still “come back with experience.” True, there is always the choice to go to work for some fly-by-night company with poorly maintained equipment, a poor safety record, lousy pay and take your chances. Those companies are still out there, but one has to be desperate or “nuts” to sink that low and risk everything, maybe even his/her life, just to get driving experience.
Everywhere I go, every trade paper I come across, I hear and read about the driver shortage. Maybe this column might wake up one company owner to re-examine his hiring policy. It might be a start. It will probably be quite a revelation for him when he realizes what a talented driver he just took a chance on. There are lots of those men and women eager to get behind the wheel of a rig, and will do a great job for the owner who had faith in them.
The world is ever changing. New ways to do business are never ending. The sad fact to me is, trucking company owners are mired in the1960s, and sliding backwards in their way of thinking.
I could fill a newspaper with stories about life on the road, but why not share yours? Send them to Driving editor Andrew McCredie at amccredie@postmedia.com.