The Driver Shortage - Better Pay or Better Plan?

As an article on CNBC’s website recently noted, the shortage of truck drivers in the U.S. is driving salaries higher, with gains up to 12 percent over the past year. The shortage has grown to nearly 48,000 and could expand further due to a combination of industry growth and a retiring workforce, according to the American Trucking Associations' Truck Driver Shortage Analysis for 2015.

This is good news for drivers. Unfortunately that’s where the good news ends. From where I stand – and I’m betting many others agree, even if they aren’t saying it publicly – there’s not enough margin in the process to sustain this kind of increase.

After the cost of equipment, drivers, insurance, maintenance, legal, fuel and more, the profit margin of carriers is very low – unsustainably low, and getting worse, thanks to the increase in salaries. It’s understandable that carriers must raise salaries to get drivers, but it’s not sustainable. Thankfully there is a solution - a way to immediately attract more drivers without paying a lot more. And its simplicity is wonderful.

Get drivers home at night.

My company is close to drivers. They’re extremely hard workers, they’re professional and they work with pride. But they’re not robots. Who wants to be away from their family, home and friends almost constantly? Not many. If we can get them home at night, they will be much happier and so will their families. And a heck of a lot more people, women and men, will want to drive.

Proof? No problem. UPS/FedEx each have a driver waiting list out the door– and it’s not easy work. These drivers have to get in and out repeatedly throughout the day, carrying many packages, some quite heavy. It’s a job that requires more labor than many long haul trucking jobs. Yet drivers want these jobs. Why? You already know. Home is where the heart is.

So how do we get more drivers home (and attract more people into the profession?) That’s simple too, if the industry is willing to work together. Carriers are going to have to move to a hub and spoke system, allowing trucks to travel 200-300 miles to a drop-off facility and get back home again. Shared warehousing facilities, cross-docking facilities and trailer drop locations are a good step, but without a "return home” model, nothing much is going to get accomplished.

We must recognize the driver shortage as a collective problem that the transportation community can collectively solve. The motivation to find creative solutions should be easy for each of us to find if we understand the implications of the driver shortage for all Americans. Whether as I see it or another’s strategy, the answer undoubtedly lies in working together.

Image Courtesy: American Trucking Association