'Indentured servitude': low pay and grueling conditions fueling US truck driver shortage

[turbinetree]

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At Joe’s Travel Plaza, a neon-lit rest stop on California’s main interstate highway, truckers can get a brief respite from life on the road. There’s a TV lounge, a laundry room and a free shower if you buy at least 75 gallons of fuel. There’s even a pair of massage chairs in the corner.

But drivers here are worried about the future. The supply chain crisis roiling the US has inevitably drawn them in, with a shortage of drivers being blamed for containers idling in ports and packages being delayed for months.

The trucking industry’s main trade body has said America is short about 80,000 drivers, a figure that’s made headlines around the country.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/nov/22/indentured-servitude-low-pay-and-grueling-conditions-fueling-us-truck-driver-shortage

[MarineCombatEngineer]

1. I must be the exception because I'm doing quite well,

of course it helps to have a great agent to get me good paying loads and I contract my truck out to WalMart frequently.
Doing so well that I was able to buy a new truck, a 2018 Peterbilt with only 200K miles on her and hire a driver to drive my other Pete.

[drray23]

7. That's great. Out of curiosity what is low mileage for a truck?

A car with 200K would be high mileage. Apparently that's not a problem with a truck?

[MarineCombatEngineer]

10. 200K is considered low mileage for a big rig,

a well maintained truck engine can go for 1,000,000 miles or more, especially the Cat engines.

[moniss]

17. Actually

Cat stopped supplying engines for on-highway use prior to 2010. The Cat dump truck ended in 2016 and was a very limited production in any event and not really in the realm of over-the-road Class 8 trucks. While your premise of good maintenance furthering their longevity is correct the available supply of used trucks with Cat engines continues to decline in the market. Some of the factors responsible for that decline are that the rest of the truck deteriorates to the point where repairs become horrendously difficult due to lack of available parts and fewer truck mechanics with expertise in working on older trucks. Sadly I know all too well about these issues.

Another factor that moves against maintaining older trucks is the fuel mileage improvements made in newer trucks. It is quite easy for a more recent model to get a 20% and better improvement over a model that is 10 to 20 years older. When you are running this as a business it is about your operating costs versus revenue. Unfortunately we have many people who get into owning a truck not because they want to run a business but for "seeing the country, getting away from the rat-race,thinking they want the lifestyle etc." and so they fail in the business unless they use a spouse's income to paper over their poor management. Of course as the article points out you have facets of the industry openly lying, basically committing fraud, and falsifying the realities and needed skills to survive in the business. They do so because they can mostly get away with it and because they keep making money.

The carnage to credit histories, marriages, family relationships etc. is enormous in this industry and despite the big boys in the industry blathering on about how they care about the drivers the reality is that there are thousands upon thousands of current and former drivers/owner-operators who can recite chapter and verse about the lies and crooked behavior on the part of those big boys over the last several decades. The turnover rate for drivers in this industry is indefensible and so they don't want that metric getting attention. Simply put the facts show that when they do hire drivers they lie to them, abuse them, cheat them and burn them out. Then they cry to the government that they should be able to bring in 18 year olds to drive. The Feds (responding to their campaign coffers) have now blessed this idea. While at the same time they are screaming about accident prevention they make this move that will massively contribute to an increase in those accidents.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

20. All very good points.

My 2015 Pete has the Cat C-15 engine, which has been very reliable, my 2018 Pete has the Detroit engine coupled to an 18 speed transmission.

[moniss]

26. Someone

must have swapped the engine or you have a glider kit. Either way it's good to have the Cat. I have the first generation 3406E. Minimal sensors/electronics/computer. Just enough to help with timing/fuel/diagnostics. Detroit got much better after the mid-90's. The 18 speed is a great selection for that big Pete. Lot's of gearing options so that you can keep the rpms up along with the speed. If a truck has the ratios get too wide and the pull is heavy the engine can lug a little until it comes up in rpms. I run a 3.73 rear gear and coupled with the 18 speed it's a real nice combo for a big conventional.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

27. Very nice!!!!

I bought the 2015 Pete from the Peterbilt facility in Phoenix, AZ and they did tell me that it had a rebuilt Cat engine in it, so I assume it was a replacement for the original engine.

The biggest selling point was the Cat engine 18 speed trans, I love the gear jammin', except in traffic, then it becomes a pain in the ass.

Keep on truckin fellow road warrior and don't feed the bears.

[soryang]

2. Good article

the sources know what they're talking about.

[2naSalit]

3. Yup.

And the driver lease to own thing has been around since at least the early 1970s that I recall. Willis Shaw comes to mind as the scourge of the highway, they kept those drivers so poor it was a shame. Then they somehow turned into JBHunt right after deregulation. I forget what all took place but it was obvious that the trade was going to go to shit in a hurry, and it did.

[jimfields33]

4. The question is what is the country going to do?

We can list reasons. We need results!!!! Like now!

[XanaDUer2]

5. Bump the pay up a lot

Make work conditions better. They'll get drivers.

[Magoo48]

8. Yes. We need a National truck drivers bill of rights covering ALL truckers, and, although ideally

every truck driver would belong to a union, this Bill Of Rights would be universal.

[XanaDUer2]

9. Great pay and benefits

Fill jobs. Seems like a no-brainer to me

[hatrack]

21. COUGH Decent HOURLY Pay COUGH

.

[XanaDUer2]

24. Isn't this the free hand of the market?

Scarcity drives up prices.

People shouldn't have to take shitty jobs just to grease the wheels of capitalism

[Magoo48]

25. Yup.

[dutch777]

6. I just drove coast to coast and given the yahoos the truckers need to deal with, you couldn't pay me

enough to do it for a living. Too many bad (non-truck) drivers, bad road conditions, endless highway construction work, massive time away from family and friends...if you can get a decent wage in a stay at home job, can you blame anyone? We were moving west to east and had a national brand moving company take the household goods. First the truck was delayed getting to the west coast by a breakdown and parts and mechanics were in short supply. Then he got our goods and headed east and had another breakdown with similar delays. He sits, he doesn't make money. And the guy was from Alberta, Canada and does this from about April 1 to mid November, the whole time away from home and family. Now apparently he makes enough in that time to cover him for the year but still, what a hassle. When I drive I cut the truckers any break I can because without them life as we know it would stop....fast.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

11. +100. nt

[imanamerican63]

12. "Leased to Own" is a con by the trucking companies.

I have been a career of driving a truck for better than 36 years. I heard a lot of night mare stories from those who lease a truck from a trucking company. The biggest problem is someone with little experience of how the business works? They don’t understand the cost and the knowledge what it takes to operate in in a successful manner. Often failing behind the promise of great opportunities which never happens. Yes, some do make it work and good for them. But my belief is “why lease a truck from a company that controls everything you do?”. Go get a loan and work for yourself!

[MarineCombatEngineer]

13. Which is exactly why I own both of my Pete's.

I'm not beholden to any trucking company, I get to pick and choose what loads myself and my other driver haul.

[Hortensis]

14. They aren't paid enough. No to the dishonest nonsense of "indentured servitude."

When you think about it, it's extremely insulting to today's free drivers.

Also to those who suffered and died as indentured "servants," a form of slavery. An estimated 40% of those sent to America died before regaining their freedom, and the health of many others was permanently broken. Rebellions by the growing numbers of of angry survivors, who'd survived only to be cheated of the workable land that had induced them to sign up for indenture, lead to replacement with chattel slavery from Africa.

"One of the biggest problems is that most drivers get paid by the mile, often meaning that while they’re waiting to load their trucks, stuck in traffic jams, or on mandatory rest breaks, they aren’t making money..."

“Drivers earn a piece-rate wage that may look attractive but, when they realize the big promises aren’t real, they exit,” ... If you can work construction and get paid $20 an hour and be home every night, why would you drive a truck and get paid $10 an hour to not be home for weeks?”

Demand is also very volatile, and many truckers are competing in an exploitative gig economy. We're going to have to get used to paying more for deliveries.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

16. Exactly!!!

We have a saying in the trucking industry to goes like this,
If the wheels ain't turning, we ain't earning.

[madville]

19. The trucking companies do indenture new drivers with debt

It’s a common tactic that the large trucking companies use to trap new drivers for at least a year or two. They send them through a CDL school (that they usually own) or in-house training program and the new driver goes anywhere from $8000-12000 in debt to the company or school. Then the company will give them maybe $50 or $75 a week “tuition reimbursement” so it takes year to pay back. Then the new driver quits or gets fired after a few months and that debt gets sent to collections and ruins their credit.

It’s the very definition of indentured.

[Hortensis]

23. Not really. I don't think anyone should WANT to imagine Americans

helplessly trapped in indentured servitude, though, which involves what amounts to involuntary labor.

Allowing it would be incompatible with both the principles of our constitutional democracy and of today's liberal Democratic Party. We've had almost everything to do with the fact that indentured servitude has been illegal here for many years. It also is in most other nations and it's outlawed by the U.N.'s anti-slavery conventions.

Regular debt is different. The situations you describe are deplorable, but cheating scams designed to trap people in debt without proper recompense and way out have also been illegal for many years. Different of course from ordinary situations where people make bad, usually inadequately informed, choices and are stuck with the consequences without legal recourse. These days I'd hope online forums would provide incredibly more, and very accessible, information than available in the last century.

[madville]

15. OTR trucking suites very few people as a career

The way the industry is set up, the OTR (Over The Road) or long haul segments are largely marketed to and designed for entry-level rookies with no experience. Last I saw the average length of a OTR driver’s career is around two years. It’s a “pay your dues” kind of system because more desirable short-haul/LTL/local driving jobs almost all require 1-2 years of experience that most people have to go OTR to get.

So due to the high turnover, the OTR trucking industry needs a constant influx of fresh meat to put in the grinder. And the large OTR companies prey on those rookies, either “trapping” them with tuition reimbursement debt for CDL school loans or conning them into lease and lease purchase scams that typically end in financial ruin for the drivers. But the companies don’t care, they just need a butt in the seat for a year or two and then they are replaced with a new one.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

18. Nailed it!!!!

This is another reason I own my 2 Pete's, I get to pick and choose what loads my trucks will haul.

[ripcord]

22. Pay isn't the only problem

The working conditions are ridiculous, for many they are lucky if they get a couple of days home a month. I don't know the solution but relaxing the hours of service is not only dangerous but stupid.