basictraining
BY ART VAN BODEGRAVEN AND
KENNETH B. ACKERMAN
Driving Miss Daisy to distraction
YEAH, YEAH—WE’VE HEARD THIS SONG BEFORE. IT HASN’T
been all that long since the Chicken Littles of the industry were running in circles, squawking about impending doom—specifically, a
looming shortage of warehouse workers.
With a bit of training and improved wage structures (i.e., above
minimum but less than website developers), that problem seemed to
solve itself. To be sure, demand remains high in logistics hot spots,
and workforce development is a high priority in those locales.
We had miraculously escaped that catastrophe when the Jeremiahs
began to rant about another impending shortage—this time involving truck drivers. And not without cause. Given the aging driver population (currently, the average age of over-the-road drivers is over 55)
and the difficulty attracting new people to the
field—not to mention the prospect of burgeoning freight volumes—it’s probably no surprise
that we began hearing projections of a shortage
roughly equivalent to the combined capacities
of the Ohio Stadium and the Rose Bowl.
Then came the economic meltdown of 2008
and ensuing Great Recession, which collapsed
the demand for truck drivers and erased the
expected shortfall nearly overnight. We began to
breathe easier. Like Jessica Tandy’s Miss Daisy,
we saw only the things we chose to see, and we
interpreted what we saw in the light of mysterious factors known only to ourselves.
The problem was solved, never mind if only for a moment. Perhaps
if we squeezed our eyes tightly shut, a tornado would not come our
way again. If it did, it would spare the barn. The trolls would go back
to living under the bridge, and the monsters under the bed would not
dare venture out to get us in the night.
WELCOME TO 2012
The recession is over and has been for a while, except in certain verticals. Goods are moving through the supply chain at levels approaching those of 2007. Guess what? There is a shortage of truck drivers,
and it’s looking as if we’ll need at least three stadia worth of drug-free
individuals with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs)—now.
But we don’t know where to get them. And the factors that were
limiting our ability to maintain a stable driver supply, let alone grow
it, are still with us, in spades. They include the following:
▪ Pay is essentially piecework, so many cents per mile
▪ Traffic delays and wait time at pickup and delivery points consume a greater number of a driver’s hours, reducing his (or her)
mileage potential
▪ Federal HOS (hours of service) regulations,
while well-intentioned, have the effect of reducing miles by capping daily work hours
▪ Quality of life: time away from family, diet
and recreation on the road, long hours
▪ Wages that do not fully compensate for time
and effort, leading drivers to change employers
for trivial per-mile amounts—or leave the field
altogether
▪ The investment (indebtedness) and payback
involved in the owner-operator model
▪ A negative perception of the
field, its current population, and
the lifestyle—in short, the lack of
an aspirational image that
involves honest work by decent
people for fair wages
▪ Late entry as the only option
for getting in. The high school
graduate has already been working some three years in another
field before being eligible for consideration as an interstate driver.
In addition, there are training
requirements to consider in making a career shift.
▪ The CSA 2010 (Compliance, Safety,
Accountability) program, the federal government’s far-reaching initiative to remove unsafe
commercial drivers from the nation’s roads. This
has not yet had a major negative effect on the
driver supply, but it has reportedly caused some
unease in the driver community.
▪ The added scrutiny of on-board monitoring
systems. Some companies report that drivers like
the systems, but it is another “eye in the sky” that
can unnerve independent spirits.
Not a pretty picture. Yet we must address the
grievances and find workable remedies.
AND WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT IT?
Shipping more by rail. Maybe. The railroads certainly hope so. And significant growth is projected for rail and intermodal traffic over the next
