What the Driver Shortage Means for the Trucking Industry

As any trucking company who has tried to hire a driver knows, there are not enough truck drivers currently in the United States. Various factors have caused this shortage such as fear of self-driving trucks, a tight labor market in general and stagnating wages for drivers.

Currently, the driver shortage stands at approximately 50,000 drivers, and it stands to get worse. If you are in the trucking industry, this has likely been impacting your business in a profound way.

Increased Costs for Truckers

Although stagnating wages had caused the driver shortage, it is no longer the case. Now, it costs more to hire drivers. For the first time, drivers have bargaining power over the trucking companies. Anecdotally, there are stories of new truck drivers commanding annual salaries of over $50,000 and bonuses of $6,000.

If you are a trucking company, you are likely going to have to offer drivers competitive wages and flexible work schedules. If you are a driver, you will likely have more bargaining power and will stand a better chance of getting the benefits and schedule that you want.

Shipping Delays

It will become harder to deliver shipments in a timely fashion because it will be difficult to find the drivers necessary to accomplish the task. You will have to build in extra time when deciding on a shipment schedule since drivers may not be available to make the delivery.

Your customers will need to be managed and made aware of the fact that their shipments may be delayed. They will have to understand that any delays are not the result of your business failures, but rather occur because all companies cannot find enough drivers.

Higher Prices

Because wages are increasing, it follows automatically that prices to ship will increase, since wages are one of the biggest inputs into shipping costs. You will have to make your customers understand that they are going to have to pay more to have their products shipped.

Your customers will have to understand that you cannot shoulder the costs of higher labor without passing it along in the form of higher shipping prices.

Changing Composition of Workforce

The driver shortage is going to force businesses to get more creative in how they hire drivers. There is proposed new legislation that will allow businesses to hire from a wider pool of potential drivers. Truckers cannot drive a truck out of state until they are 21 years of age.

The new legislation would allow drivers aged 18 or older to apprentice by driving within the state before they have reached 21 years of age. This will allow companies to be able to put drivers on the road when they are 21 without needing an apprenticeship program.

Higher Turnover

It will become increasingly difficult to keep a good driver in your employ. Drivers know that they can receive multiple job offers at any time if they are looking to move. With wages going up, drivers will have less loyalty to your company.

You should be prepared for the fact that you will be continuously losing and hiring new drivers. This will mean a constantly changing group of employees.