Don't use other pin pullers, You could get hurt! 
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Truck driver shortage could affect consumers
JESSUP, Md. -- It's been two weeks since Dyneius Goodson has been home to see his five kids.
That's not unusual for the 28-year-old, long-distance truck driver from Atlanta who spends most days hauling appliances, paper and other goods from one coast to the other.
And he's tired of it.
"Another six months," Goodson wearily predicted about how much longer he'll drive long distance as his truck idled at a Maryland rest stop off Interstate 95. "I told my wife: Before I lose my family, I'm going to stop driving a truck."
That's bad news for an industry where driver turnover is growing and the demand for delivery of goods is rising. It's also bad news for consumers who are facing longer delays and higher prices for food, clothes and thousands of other products that must be trucked each day.
Consultant Lana Batts said the industry already is 195,000 drivers short of what it needs.
"The market is tighter than it has ever been," said Scott Arves, president of transportation for Green Bay, Wis.-based Schneider National Inc., one of the nation's largest trucking firms. "It is a very tough, demanding job: long hours, significant time away from home, increased road congestion, an increase in regulation."
It's a lot to endure for an industry average of $40,000 a year.
The increased costs of recruiting new drivers, plus higher fuel prices, can add pennies to the cost of a gallon of milk and dollars to a plasma television set.
It's also taking longer for goods to get to market, Batts said, delays that force consumers either to wait or buy something else.
Government has only exacerbated the shortage, drivers and analysts say.
Hauling fuel and other hazardous substances used to require little more than a clean driving record and some training. Now, due to homeland security regulations, drivers who want to transport such materials have to undergo a background check and fingerprinting.
And new regulations designed to ensure that tired truck drivers aren't on the road have forced a lot of them to sit at rest areas unable to deliver or pick up their loads.
At the same time, federal regulators have rejected industry attempts to expand the use of triple trailers and lower the minimum age to drive an 18-wheeler from 21 to 18.
And Congress' inability to pass a comprehensive highway bill means the increasing congestion on the nation's roads will only get worse.
All of which means an industry that isn't as efficient as it could be, said Batts, a former senior vice president for the American Trucking Associations.
"We have too few drivers, driving too few trucks, pulling too few trailers," she said.
The shortage began to emerge in the early 1990s and has slowly worsened except for around 2001 when the recession that hurt construction and manufacturing sectors made trucking jobs relatively attractive, Arves said.
It's not unusual for drivers to leave after only a few grinding weeks on the job.
Trucking companies must spend more to recruit and retain prospective replacements. Schneider's Donald Osterberg said the cost of recruiting an individual driver nearly doubled from 2003 to 2004.
Dart Transit executive Joyce Jordan said that of 1,000 potential drivers contacted by her company, 100 are legitimate prospects on average. Of those, 60 apply, 10 are approved, five show up for the interview, three pass the training tests and one lasts beyond six months.
That's why companies such as Schneider have begun to reach out to less traditional groups to find new drivers. They've met with Hispanic community leaders in Los Angeles, for example, to recruit potential employees.
The percentage of minority drivers has inched up since 2001 to roughly 30 percent.
The industry also has tried to improve working conditions for a job that, because it is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, pays no overtime or minimum wage.
Pay per mile has risen, training has improved and driving schedules are more commonly worked around family life so that long-haul drivers can spend time at home during the weekends.
Thanks to a routine he's worked out with his bosses at J&E Trucking, Charles Cunningham, 37, gets to his Okolona, Miss., home most weekends to spend time with his fiancee, Martha Gladney. Even so, it can be a bit of a strain.
"I do miss him, but I'm getting used to it," Gladney said by the cell phone that's become Cunningham's primary connection to his home. "Hopefully, he won't be in it forever."
That's not unusual for the 28-year-old, long-distance truck driver from Atlanta who spends most days hauling appliances, paper and other goods from one coast to the other.
And he's tired of it.
"Another six months," Goodson wearily predicted about how much longer he'll drive long distance as his truck idled at a Maryland rest stop off Interstate 95. "I told my wife: Before I lose my family, I'm going to stop driving a truck."
That's bad news for an industry where driver turnover is growing and the demand for delivery of goods is rising. It's also bad news for consumers who are facing longer delays and higher prices for food, clothes and thousands of other products that must be trucked each day.
Consultant Lana Batts said the industry already is 195,000 drivers short of what it needs.
"The market is tighter than it has ever been," said Scott Arves, president of transportation for Green Bay, Wis.-based Schneider National Inc., one of the nation's largest trucking firms. "It is a very tough, demanding job: long hours, significant time away from home, increased road congestion, an increase in regulation."
It's a lot to endure for an industry average of $40,000 a year.
The increased costs of recruiting new drivers, plus higher fuel prices, can add pennies to the cost of a gallon of milk and dollars to a plasma television set.
It's also taking longer for goods to get to market, Batts said, delays that force consumers either to wait or buy something else.
Government has only exacerbated the shortage, drivers and analysts say.
Hauling fuel and other hazardous substances used to require little more than a clean driving record and some training. Now, due to homeland security regulations, drivers who want to transport such materials have to undergo a background check and fingerprinting.
And new regulations designed to ensure that tired truck drivers aren't on the road have forced a lot of them to sit at rest areas unable to deliver or pick up their loads.
At the same time, federal regulators have rejected industry attempts to expand the use of triple trailers and lower the minimum age to drive an 18-wheeler from 21 to 18.
And Congress' inability to pass a comprehensive highway bill means the increasing congestion on the nation's roads will only get worse.
All of which means an industry that isn't as efficient as it could be, said Batts, a former senior vice president for the American Trucking Associations.
"We have too few drivers, driving too few trucks, pulling too few trailers," she said.
The shortage began to emerge in the early 1990s and has slowly worsened except for around 2001 when the recession that hurt construction and manufacturing sectors made trucking jobs relatively attractive, Arves said.
It's not unusual for drivers to leave after only a few grinding weeks on the job.
Trucking companies must spend more to recruit and retain prospective replacements. Schneider's Donald Osterberg said the cost of recruiting an individual driver nearly doubled from 2003 to 2004.
Dart Transit executive Joyce Jordan said that of 1,000 potential drivers contacted by her company, 100 are legitimate prospects on average. Of those, 60 apply, 10 are approved, five show up for the interview, three pass the training tests and one lasts beyond six months.
That's why companies such as Schneider have begun to reach out to less traditional groups to find new drivers. They've met with Hispanic community leaders in Los Angeles, for example, to recruit potential employees.
The percentage of minority drivers has inched up since 2001 to roughly 30 percent.
The industry also has tried to improve working conditions for a job that, because it is not covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act, pays no overtime or minimum wage.
Pay per mile has risen, training has improved and driving schedules are more commonly worked around family life so that long-haul drivers can spend time at home during the weekends.
Thanks to a routine he's worked out with his bosses at J&E Trucking, Charles Cunningham, 37, gets to his Okolona, Miss., home most weekends to spend time with his fiancee, Martha Gladney. Even so, it can be a bit of a strain.
"I do miss him, but I'm getting used to it," Gladney said by the cell phone that's become Cunningham's primary connection to his home. "Hopefully, he won't be in it forever."
