It's a Hard Life

This article is from our latest edition of The Rising Tide, a weekly online publication for business people and economic developers. To read the entire edition, subscribe?here. Note: Only paid subscribers are granted permission to republish this article in another format.

For more than 100 years, truck drivers in the United States have answered the call to bring products over the road to their final destinations. Today, more than 72 percent of American freight moves across the country using semi-trailer trucks.

A shortage of drivers in this industry can seriously impact the flow of goods and create trouble for retail stores that depend on the trucks to continue to move. Last year, U.S. trucking companies suffered a record deficit of 80,000 drivers, according to the American Trucking Associations.?

“There’s no silver bullet for fixing this,” Robert Costello, the trade association’s chief economist, told?The New York Times. “We need to get more people into the industry.”

But some experts counter that the real problem boils down to the trucking industry's poor rates of retention due to bad working conditions.?The average trucking company has a turnover rate of roughly 95 percent, meaning that it must replace nearly all of its workforce in the course of a year.?

As the trucking association itself?noted, more than 10 million Americans held commercial driver’s licenses in 2019. That was nearly triple the 3.7 million trucks that required a driver holding that certification.

“This shortage narrative is industry lobbying rhetoric,” Steve Viscelli, a labor expert at the University of Pennsylvania who previously worked as a truck driver, told the?Times.?“There is no shortage of truck drivers. These are just really bad jobs.”

In his book “The Big Rig,” Mr. Viscelli tells about how truck driving was a lucrative pursuit.?until?the Carter administration deregulated the industry in the 1980s.?One union represented the truckers as a whole, the Teamsters, which had enough power to ensure better pay and more favorable working conditions than most truckers?find today.?

?Deregulation cleared the way for an influx of new trucking companies, while massive retailers built their own private trucking fleets. The result was that pay dropped for the truckers while demands rose. The trade-off truckers had made was gone, and many left the industry.

In short, truck driving was downgraded from a middle-class profession to one best avoided, Mr. Viscelli asserts.

Eleven hours of driving, followed by Department of Transportation-mandated 10 hours of rest time, makes for some lonely days away from home. A truck driver can expect to come home every four to six weeks.?

Long-haul driving jobs take drivers all over the country, requiring several weeks away at a time. Long-haul truck drivers are usually home a few days at a time, adding up to just a few weeks during the year. Short-haul truck drivers are home more often. Local drivers may drive as few as 100 miles in a day. Regional drivers may drive up to 500, taking them away from family only a night or two at a time.

Isolation and loneliness are some of the main complaints from drivers, especially long-haul operators who may have initially thought that they would relish being by themselves for long periods of time. Not only does loneliness affect a person's mental well-being and judgment, but studies have also shown that chronic loneliness can have the same effect as smoking 15 cigarettes a day; increasing the risk of early mortality by about 30 percent. Loneliness can lead to impaired immune system function, arthritis, cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Truck driving is also a stressful job. The drivers must meet deadlines, go wherever the trucking company sends them, and the safety of themselves and those around them at all times. Drivers must find ways to remain alert, leading to more caffeine than most people consume in a day.

“The lifestyle probably is the first thing that smacks people in the face,” Stephen Graves, a 20-year veteran of over-the-road trucking told?The Times.

?“You know what it does to you. You’re thinking about it all the time. We’re tired. Our bodies are starting to go. Our bladders have been put to the test. And no exercise. We end up with all types of heart and other health ailments. You can’t truly fathom what it’s done to you.”

Dean Barber is the principal of BBA, a Dallas-based advisory firm, and publisher of?the weekly newsletter?The Rising Tide. Need a speaker for an upcoming event? Go to barberadvisors.com