16 DC VELOCITY AUGUST 2018 www.dcvelocity.com
newsworthy
Truckload driver wages must hit $75k annually to boost supply,
executive says
Truckload driver wages need to hit at least $75,000 per year
if truckload carriers have any hope of attracting and keeping qualified drivers in the fold for the long haul, according
to one of the industry’s top executives.
Lana R. Batts, co-president of Tulsa-based driver screening specialist DriverIQ and a long-time American Trucking
Associations executive, said in an e-mail that driver wages
“certainly” must hit the $75,000 threshold for seats to be
filled and stay that way. Another possible metric, that of
wages equaling 60 cents per mile, is irrelevant, Batts
said, because drivers aren’t getting the miles they
need to make a solid living due to issues such
as delays at shipping and receiving docks
and a federal mandate requiring virtually
all drivers to use electronic logging devices
(ELDs) to track compliance with hours-of-service regulations.
Batts’ comments indicate that drivers
must be assured of miles equating to an
annual wage of $75,000 or more for the truckload sector to
compete with other industries for valuable labor.
As of May 2017, the median truckload driver wage was
slightly more than $42,000 a year, according to the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The top 10 percent of
earners pulled down more than $64,000, according to BLS
data. Since then, an increasing number of fleets have substantially boosted driver wages. Many salaries have risen by
double-digit amounts during the past year or so.
Still, wages remain below the levels that Batts believes are
necessary to bring steady supply into the market. Benjamin
J. Hartford, transport analyst for investment firm Baird,
said the average driver wage is between $45,000 and $50,000
a year. Batts pegged it at between $55,000 and $65,000 a
year. The shortage of qualified drivers is most keenly felt
among the larger fleets.
In related news, DriverIQ’s second-quarter forecast on
driver recruitment and retention trends found that 45
percent of fleet recruiters surveyed expect driver turnover
to increase in the third quarter over already high levels
in the prior quarter. The percentage is twice as high as in
the fourth quarter of 2017, according to the survey. The
remaining 55 percent were split on whether
turnover would increase or decrease in the current quarter, the survey found.
About 7 percent of carriers reported no
unseated trucks, the report said. However,
an equal percentage said more than 10 per-
cent of their trucks were unseated. Smaller
fleets reported that they had less of a prob-
lem filling seats, according to the report.
About 60 percent of the larger carriers—
those with $100 million or more of gross
annual revenue—said they would add 1 to 5 percent capac-
ity in the third quarter, while smaller carriers said they
planned to add between 6 and 10 percent. The report defines
small carriers as those with less than $30 million in annual
revenues, and mid-sized carriers as those with annual reve-
nues of $30 million to $100 million.
While about two-thirds of recruiters at larger companies
said their drivers were retiring at their expected times,
about the same percentage of executives at smaller carriers
indicated their drivers were staying longer, according to
the survey. DriverIQ said the wide discrepancy may point
to a broader trend of drivers preferring to work for smaller
firms rather than their larger brethren.
—M.S.
Regal Wine Imports, an importer and wholesale distribu-
tor of wines and spirits, has selected supply chain planning
solutions from Blue Ridge to optimize its inventory with
anticipated demand from its customers. … 3Gtms Inc.,
a developer of transportation management software,
has partnered with 10-4 Systems to expand the visibility
and automation capabilities of its software. … enVista,
a consulting and software solutions firm, has deployed
its unified commerce cloud platform solutions for Walker
Edison, a manufacturer and distributor of ready-to-assem-
ble furniture. … Unit4, a provider of enterprise systems
for not-for-profit organizations, has entered into a new
partnership with U.S.-based Humanitarian Software LLC.
… Cask Industries, a manufacturer and wholesaler of
luxury home remodeling products, has selected Cloud
Logistics’ transportation management system to manage
transportation for its fast-growing business. … Hemlock
Harling Distribution, a marketing, postal, and third-
party distribution specialist, has chosen supply chain
software developer ProShip Inc.’s ProShip Multi-Carrier
shipping software for use at its seven Canadian distribu-
tion sites.
alliances
