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Pay has skyrocketed and even that's not enough to draw drivers in. $.60 CPM is low now. Lots of companies are over $.70 CPM for regional company driver runs; more for long haul. Local company runs that used to pay $40K to $50K a year are paying upwards of $80K or better. Regional and OTR; many are well over $100K. O/O's on pct. pay are grossing $500K or better a year. The old guard is retiring and the new guard...well, they're not much of a guard. Companies are desperate. I was at a conference a couple weeks ago and at that point, there were almost 8 loads available PER truck in North America. And that's not including all the cargo ships sitting off the ports everywhere because of the lack of crane operators and longshoreman. This is literally the time to build retirements in the industry, especially if you have or can get your own truck; problem is, the younger generation doesn't see that.
So Windy, right now the industry is in shambles. Personally, I think the only thing that is going to ultimately save it is automated fleets, reducing most driving to local LTL. But that'll be past my expiration date.
Boy howdy about the pay increases!! So, here I am looking to retire or at least go part time and I had it all lined up and then Pilot/Flying J called me with an offer to haul DEF for them. First thing I asked was how much per hour and the second thing was can I work part time? Hiring manager says, they were paying $26 ph but just bumped it to $32 ph. Averaging about 60 hrs per week. OK, I told him I'm listening!! What about just working part time. We agreed if I give him 6 months of full time then I can do part time. Beginning of March is my goal to go part time. Until then...come on big money!!Originally Posted by Twilight Flyer
Having been in the industry for 20+ years now on the other side of the wall, I can tell you that no one has seen anything like what we are dealing with today. It wasn't so much COVID itself that did it, although I'm sure there were some permanent losses because of it. However, it was our government's response to it. That extra unemployment bonus drove a lot of drivers out of the industry. Hard to argue with a guy that says he's getting $1500 to $1800+ per week from the government to do nothing, so why work?Pay has skyrocketed and even that's not enough to draw drivers in. $.60 CPM is low now. Lots of companies are over $.70 CPM for regional company driver runs; more for long haul. Local company runs that used to pay $40K to $50K a year are paying upwards of $80K or better. Regional and OTR; many are well over $100K. O/O's on pct. pay are grossing $500K or better a year. The old guard is retiring and the new guard...well, they're not much of a guard. Companies are desperate. I was at a conference a couple weeks ago and at that point, there were almost 8 loads available PER truck in North America. And that's not including all the cargo ships sitting off the ports everywhere because of the lack of crane operators and longshoreman. This is literally the time to build retirements in the industry, especially if you have or can get your own truck; problem is, the younger generation doesn't see that.
So Windy, right now the industry is in shambles. Personally, I think the only thing that is going to ultimately save it is automated fleets, reducing most driving to local LTL. But that'll be past my expiration date.