Western Railroad Discussion > U.S. Express facing difficult recruiting

The CEO of trucker US Express was on Bloomberg this morning. Unit growth is good, rates are holding, but labor is a huge head wind.

"Face it, this is a tough job. It's nobody's first choice. People are on the road for a week, two weeks at a time. That's a tough life.

We have raised pay. But we are losing people to better paying jobs in construction and manufacturing. People in the sweet spot of our recruiting have choices, and they want to be home every night."

Posted from Android



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/19 07:09 by Lackawanna484.

it's a simple solution: pay more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and you will get drivers.......

66

goneon66 Wrote:
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> it's a simple solution: pay more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
> and you will get drivers.......
>
> 66

Not quite that simple, barriers to employment like driving record, medical history, legal history, credit history, and even more for hazmat endorsement. 
My son stays squeaky clean but one slipup can be a big problem.  Plus now it is a computer literate job as everything you do is online, logs, hours, schedule, routes.
Plus there is a lot of BS dealing with stops if you make deleiveries.

Bob



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/19 07:28 by robj.

That's right - it's not that simple.  Railroads and trucking companies are also having problems getting people who can pass drug screenings.  The current crop of employees is a lot different from when I hired on the railroad in 1975.  You have a bunch who does not want to work nights and weekends.  The trucking guy is 100% correct.  

that article says that they are losing people to BETTER PAYING JOBS!

look at the oil rig industry.  the workers stay on the oil rigs for numerous days and are paid very well.  no shortage of workers in that industry......

66

goneon66 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> that article says that they are losing people to
> BETTER PAYING JOBS!
>
> look at the oil rig industry.  the workers stay
> on the oil rigs for numerous days and are paid
> very well.  no shortage of workers in that
> industry......
>
> 66

Exactly,  pay $200K annually with full benefits and these outfits would be surprised at the line at the HR door.  But that's not the corporate way in our nation.

Having been in the oil business and trucking most of my adult life I can say there is a big shortage of commercial drivers today. Especially those with a Class A and haz mat . We have a very hard time finding drivers for home oil delivery where you are home every night . There's also a very big shortage in oil/gas heating and a/c techs. Good pay and beneits  you get to use the company vehicle to and from work.  Between drug testing where about half fail and the simple fact that it seems that the younger people do not want a Blue collar job as that is demeaning. Too much emphasis on a college education for jobs that won't pay enough to cover ones student loans and living costs. This from a 70 year old Old Fart  who just gave up his Class A commercial license with Haz Mat !! ---------- Ken 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/19 09:21 by Kemacprr.

And I wonder if the company management and personnel staff  are away from their families for a week or two at a time sleeping in their trucks and using public restrooms and showers.  And I bet they get paid considerably more.

I also bet they get paid for all time at work, not just paid for miles driven but not paid for time spent waiting at loading docs.

Michael.

 

Having been in the oil business most of my adult life I can say there is a big shortage of commercial drivers today. Especially thos ewith haz mat . We have a very hard time finding drivers for home oil deliveret where you are home every night . There's also a very big shortage in oil/gas heating and a/c techs. Good money you gte to use the company vehicle to and from work. Health benefits. Between drug testing where about half fail and the simple fact that it seems that the younger people do not want a Blue collar job as that is demeaning. Too much emphasis on a college education for jobs that won't pay enough to cover ones student loans and living costs. This from a 70 year old Old Fart !! ---------- Ken 

goneon66 Wrote:
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> it's a simple solution: pay more $$$$$$$$$$$$$$
> and you will get drivers.......

Hummm...that sounds rather "Bourgeois Capitalist" to me. Just give them a shiny "Hero Worker of the World" medal and tell them to hum the "International" as they drive.  

A job, any job, is only worth so much and that's usually based on the level of contribution to the operation of
the company. All this blanket raise, higher minimum, etc needs to step back and look at what those jobs contribute.
Common sense would say that a decent paying local truck haul which picks and up and delivers at the pig ramp
would make more sense than one man (or two) hauling one trailer across the country. Now if common sense
would only make a showing we'd have it made.

Out

Kemacprr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Having been in the oil business most of my adult
> life I can say there is a big shortage of
> commercial drivers today. Especially thos ewith
> haz mat . We have a very hard time finding drivers
> for home oil deliveret where you are home every
> night . (SNIP)


My wife's nephew has a low six figure income driving haz-mat, he's home or on his boat most nights.  

When he was on their (paid) extra board, he gave up drinking for two years.  Couldn't risk being called out, and being tested.

Is the present day work force lazy or on drugs? I still assume there are sober, eager and hard working job seekers out there.

Druggies are doomed anyway. Too much of a risk.

Posted from Android

utwazoo Wrote:

>
> Exactly,  pay $200K annually with full benefits
> and these outfits would be surprised at the line
> at the HR door.  But that's not the corporate way
> in our nation.

However, noone will be willing to pay the consumer facing prices that such pay will drive. Sure there's a small bubble of folks who might make this amount as you suggest, but that's not even a blip on the economy. 

Let's face it, there are a huge bunch of people in our society who simply do not want to work.  They want big pay, but don't expect to have to make any effort or take any responsibility to earn it.  A good bunch of  them want to be able to sit around and smoke pot (or worse) and then complain about why they should have to pass a drug test to be able to work at jobs where impaired reflexes or judgment can get people maimed or killed.

Speaking specifically about truck drivers--it used to be a honorable profession staffed by professionals.  There are still some of those around, but the overall quality of truck drivers is getting pretty horrible.  Of course, if the US would pursue a transportation policy that would quit ridiculously taxpayer-subsidizing of the trucking industry, a lot of what now is trucked would spend at least of some of its transit on intermodal trains--trucker labor shortage solved.  Of course, we don't dare do that--it would actually make sense.

Here's a solution to a lot of the "labor shortages" in many US industries:  require anyone applying for unemployment or welfare to be drug-tested.  Anyone testing positive for any illegal drug would be denied benefits for one year after any positive drug test.  I would bet the pool of job applicants that would be drug-free would jump substantially within months.

One final note: any person who is willing to take responsibility on the job, has reasonable common sense, is honest, doesn't use drugs, has realistic earning expectations, and is actually willing to work can usually find a job within a few months.  In fact, in quite a few cases, jobs come looking for them.

I work in the lowly apartment maintenance field. The key to getting good qualified workers is decent wages and a clean record.
Applicants are asked and told up front about passing a drug test and not being a felon, however we lose half the applicants during the process of hiring because basically they lied up front about these very basic requirements. Background and drug testing prove otherwise

Posted from iPhone

stash Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is the present day work force lazy or on drugs? I
> still assume there are sober, eager and hard
> working job seekers out there.
>
> Druggies are doomed anyway. Too much of a risk.
>
> Posted from Android

With more and more states legalizing pot every year, there are fewer and fewer sober workers out there than you might think. As far as lazy, the company I work for, which pays competitive wages and has excellent benefits has trouble finding people that will even show up to work reasonably on time for a month straight, let alone actually DO anything while they are there.

Not a "new" problem. Trucking industry has been having trouble attracting and keeping drivers for about 20 years now.
This was supposedly one of the reasons JB Hunt started shipping trailers by rail. 

WW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let's face it, there are a huge bunch of people in
> our society who simply do not want to work.  They
> want big pay, but don't expect to have to make any
> effort or take any responsibility to earn it.  A
> good bunch of  them want to be able to sit around
> and smoke pot (or worse) and then complain about
> why they should have to pass a drug test to be
> able to work at jobs where impaired reflexes or
> judgment can get people maimed or killed.
>
> Speaking specifically about truck drivers--it used
> to be a honorable profession staffed by
> professionals.  There are still some of those
> around, but the overall quality of truck drivers
> is getting pretty horrible.  Of course, if the US
> would pursue a transportation policy that would
> quit ridiculously taxpayer-subsidizing of the
> trucking industry, a lot of what now is trucked
> would spend at least of some of its transit on
> intermodal trains--trucker labor shortage
> solved.  Of course, we don't dare do that--it
> would actually make sense.
>
> Here's a solution to a lot of the "labor
> shortages" in many US industries:  require anyone
> applying for unemployment or welfare to be
> drug-tested.  Anyone testing positive for any
> illegal drug would be denied benefits for one year
> after any positive drug test.  I would bet the
> pool of job applicants that would be drug-free
> would jump substantially within months.
>
> One final note: any person who is willing to take
> responsibility on the job, has reasonable common
> sense, is honest, doesn't use drugs, has realistic
> earning expectations, and is actually willing to
> work can usually find a job within a few months. 
> In fact, in quite a few cases, jobs come looking
> for them.

In the company I work for, our manager says its people who just don't want to work hard. We are payed very well, but we work our butts off, and that is something that this younger genereation does not want to do. We are hiring 10-20 people per week, and may keep 1 or 2 and then those may not last their 90 days. I can only imagine how many don't get hired because of failed drug tests. 

This has already been discussed in a previous thread but this is nothing more than the industry "singing the blues" in a very public way in order to pave the way for automation. Railroads will soon follow.