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The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

nytimes.com

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Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#51

Post by dehmlow »

the_ancient wrote: post #40
dehmlow wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have some familiarity with the trucking industry in the midwest. I can also confirm that there's a shortage of drivers in the region. The funny thing is that at some companies, working some overtime (although under the safety limit), drivers can make ~$80k including benefits, which is pretty good considering the cost of living there.

The only people I know that can make that level of money is Owner Operators, and while gross my be 80K most of that ends up back in the truck. If you know of a company driver making 80K a year let me know the name of that company

They are all hazardous material tank drivers. Some are owner operators, some are not. And some were close to that as local drivers.

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#52

Post by gsnedders »

idlewords wrote: post #12
kazagistar wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As far as I understand, many places use trains for these purposes. It means that less drivers are needed and the cargo spends more time in transit. Alas, the united states has a fairly poor cargo rail system, which in fairness is due to its spread out geography in many places.

No, in the US the two systems are used for different things. Trucks allow point-to-point delivery. Trains are more useful for carrying bulk commodities. John McPhee has written some wonderful articles about modes of transport, and the people who work in them: http://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Carriers-John-McPhee/dp/08654...

What's stopping intermodal containers being used to displace the long-distance trucking? Trains should on the face of it be cheaper, even when you're not transporting bulk commodities (you're talking in the US case a train 1500m long, potentially with the containers double-stacked depending on the route).

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#53

Post by [deleted] »

the_ancient wrote: post #21

It is not a matter of paying "more" but changing how they pay Most Truckers are paid by the mile... So if your sitting in traffic no pay (next time your stopped in traffic look around, how many semi's are sitting with you, most of those drivers are doing it for free) Then there is load and unload time, which for some companies is non-paid, other is a nominal flat rate of like $35 that could take up hours of your day.…

[deleted]

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#54

Post by l33tbro »

twothamendment wrote: post #50
l33tbro wrote: post #43

Hmmm, why are we still talking about truck drivers exactly? The trucking industry is about to tank hard. Mercedes demo'd its first driverless truck a couple of weeks ago (!). Yes, there will be specialists drivers sure and niche companies. But the day of the interstate road train will be done shortly. The biggest new niche in my mind will be vehicle security. These trucks will be flying solo across the nation - unman…

Can the driver-less truck put chains on its tires in the winter? I didn't think so. I'm sure that we'll make use of the tech we have but there is so much more to driving a truck than driving. Maybe the "drivers" will be able to climb in the back and sleep while the truck does they driving and they can take care of everything else.

This is why I think the "driver" will shift more to a "captain" type archetype. Ie, driverless road-trains will travel in fleets and there will be a mechanic somewhere in that convoy to deal with breaking down in dead of nowhere. Also hard not to imagine this guy being armed.

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#55

Post by sokoloff »

twothamendment wrote: post #49
makomk wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, the working conditions in the industry are apparently not great - lots of management incompetence, unrealistic expectations, and pressure to break safety laws, and it's never the people pressuring the drivers into breaking the rules that get into trouble.

Yes, like incompetent management who tells a driver in freezing temperatures that they will not reimburse him for fuel additive to keep the truck from gelling up. Management was in Florida. The truck was in Montana. Eventually a call to a mechanic with a clue got the expense approved. If there is a way for management to push a driver to cook the log book, they will. The best thing for drivers is the electronic log bo…

> The best thing for drivers is the electronic log book that can't lie.

Not while they're getting paid by the mile... They aren't called comic books for nothing.

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#56

Post by Houshalter »

l33tbro wrote: post #43

Hmmm, why are we still talking about truck drivers exactly? The trucking industry is about to tank hard. Mercedes demo'd its first driverless truck a couple of weeks ago (!). Yes, there will be specialists drivers sure and niche companies. But the day of the interstate road train will be done shortly. The biggest new niche in my mind will be vehicle security. These trucks will be flying solo across the nation - unman…

That's not good news for the truck drivers. I can even see automation getting banned in many states. In the same way some places require an attendant at gas stations.

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#57

Post by stretchwithme »

l33tbro wrote: post #43

Hmmm, why are we still talking about truck drivers exactly? The trucking industry is about to tank hard. Mercedes demo'd its first driverless truck a couple of weeks ago (!). Yes, there will be specialists drivers sure and niche companies. But the day of the interstate road train will be done shortly. The biggest new niche in my mind will be vehicle security. These trucks will be flying solo across the nation - unman…

Cameras, GPS, an inability to force a driver to pull over, no drivers helping on an inside job. It might be harder to steal from these trucks.

Plus Robocop will be hiding in the back and killing him with carbon monoxide will not be an option.

Of course, when thieves start using robots to do the stealing, it will get tough.

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#58

Post by tdicola »

l33tbro wrote: post #43

Hmmm, why are we still talking about truck drivers exactly? The trucking industry is about to tank hard. Mercedes demo'd its first driverless truck a couple of weeks ago (!). Yes, there will be specialists drivers sure and niche companies. But the day of the interstate road train will be done shortly. The biggest new niche in my mind will be vehicle security. These trucks will be flying solo across the nation - unman…

I like your optimism, but realistically self driving trucks on American highways are a long way off. How will the trucks refuel? How will they handle loading and unloading? How will they handle inclement weather? What is the insurance liability for putting them on public roads? Who will be sued when a driverless truck crashes into another car (at fault or not)?

Even Mercedes says in that article, "the Highway Pilot system could be launched into production trucks 'as early as 2025 if conditions permit'." Which is basically corporate speak for, "we have no idea if this will ever launch, but it will get investors excited now."

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#59

Post by tdicola »

l33tbro wrote: post #54
twothamendment wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can the driver-less truck put chains on its tires in the winter? I didn't think so. I'm sure that we'll make use of the tech we have but there is so much more to driving a truck than driving. Maybe the "drivers" will be able to climb in the back and sleep while the truck does they driving and they can take care of everything else.

This is why I think the "driver" will shift more to a "captain" type archetype. Ie, driverless road-trains will travel in fleets and there will be a mechanic somewhere in that convoy to deal with breaking down in dead of nowhere. Also hard not to imagine this guy being armed.

What is the advantage of this system over the modern railway system? Trains can go faster, don't have to stop for traffic, and can carry far more goods than trucks.

Re: The Trucking Industry Needs More Drivers. Maybe It Needs to Pay More

#60

Post by idlewords »

gsnedders wrote: post #52
idlewords wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, in the US the two systems are used for different things. Trucks allow point-to-point delivery. Trains are more useful for carrying bulk commodities. John McPhee has written some wonderful articles about modes of transport, and the people who work in them: http://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Carriers-John-McPhee/dp/08654...

What's stopping intermodal containers being used to displace the long-distance trucking? Trains should on the face of it be cheaper, even when you're not transporting bulk commodities (you're talking in the US case a train 1500m long, potentially with the containers double-stacked depending on the route).

This paper seems to give an interesting perspective: http://intermodal.transportation.org/Documents/brown.pdf

It comes down to highway transportation being massively subsidized in the US, to the detriment of rail. So rail is cheaper but much higher latency than trucking, with the potential for long and unpredictable delays.

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