America has a massive truck driver shortage. Here's why few want an $80,000 job.

[A HERETIC I AM]

40. I'm typing this on my 30 min break sitting in the cab of a Navistar LT

And if I had the time I would type out the essay needed to correct all the misinformation on this thread, but I don’t have the time just now.

Suffice to say, there seems to be a lot of confusion and lack of understanding about the industry I have been a part of for most of my adult life. But this has been the case on DU for as long as there have been threads about trucking!

So perhaps I’ll write up an OP when I get home in about 6 hours in an attempt to clarify where the author of the article as well as many of the commentators on this thread seem to be laboring under a misapprehension.

And for what it’s worth, here’s a short curriculum vitae;

Drove my first tractor trailer in 1978, before deregulation
3 years driving in South Florida
Started Over The Road in 1987 before the national 55 limit was lifted
Closing on 2 million accident free miles which have encompassed all of the lower 48 and 3 Canadian Provinces in all seasons and terrain.
12 years in the motor racing industry. (This is the reason I don’t have over 3 million miles, as those gigs only averaged 30 - 40K miles a year)
10 years open-rack auto transport.
7 years general freight which includes my current gig (US Mail contractor)

And just for the record, no newb to the business is going to make anything CLOSE to eighty grand, unless he falls into the sweetest deal there is.