Truck driver shortage will make cost of goods rise
TULSA — Nearly 80 of Melton’s 1,300 trucks are sitting idle.
Mitchell Henize walked along a row of tractortrailer rigs at the Melton Truck Lines headquarters Thursday in Tulsa.
The Tulsa-based trucking company would have no problem running all of its trucks and more if it weren’t for one problem: a shortage of drivers.
Industry experts have been talking about a pending driver shortage for about 10 years. Those speculations became real near the end of 2016.
About that time, Melton started hiring drivers straight out of school because the number of experienced applicants had dwindled significantly, said Robert Ragan, chief financial officer.
“That’s the sign of a shortage and one that has increased our costs significantly,” he said.
Nationwide, the trucking industry is short about 50,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations, and that number is expected to grow.
Donnie Tulk, instructor/coordinator of professional truck driver training at Tulsa Tech, said he fields calls from companies owning as few as two to as many as 15,000 trucks that are all wanting the same thing: drivers.
“Whenever they tell me they can’t purchase the trucks they need to do business because they can’t find the drivers to put in those trucks, it means it’s pretty critical,” Tulk said.
He said one company he helps train drivers for typically grows its fleet by 200 trucks a year. This year it is purchasing 75.
Shippers are now reserving trucks in advance with companies to ensure they can haul their loads.
“Capacity is maxed out,” Tulk said. “Shippers are having to pay a premium price to transport their goods, so they are passing that cost on to the consumer.”
Trucking companies like Melton, which ships heavy industrial equipment throughout 48 states and Canada, have to compete with their own customers when it comes to workforce.
Improvements in the economy have resulted in increased demand for goods, so manufacturers need more employees, and those typically come from the same pool as truck drivers.
Improvements in the oil and gas industry also have pulled away from the pool of potential drivers as more workers return to oil fields.
“When guys have choices, it’s harder to fill our trucks. We have to have pay packages that are competitive with a lot of other industries,” Ragan said.
The average Melton Truck Lines driver will make $70,000 annually with the top drivers earning up to $90,000. Starting pay with the company is in the mid-$50,000 range.
“That’s good money, and until we can solve this driver shortage, those wages are going to continue to go up,” Ragan said. “Of course, as a business we have to pass those increases on in order to stay in business.”
As costs rise for the shippers, they in turn will pass that increase on to their customers, leaving the consumers ultimately to pay for the increase.
“Something like 95 percent of all goods moved in the United States is touched by a truck, so everyone is going to feel this,” said Russ Ellio, chief operating officer with Melton.