Loadsmart Resource Center

Is Paying Truckers by the Mile Contributing to the Driver Shortage?

Although the drivers shortage is currently estimated at around 35,000-40,000, it is predicted to reach 240,000 drivers by 2022. Although there are several factors that contribute to the shortage, an interesting one might be how truckers are paid. Not necessarily how much, but how.

According to Larry Kahaner from the LA Times being paid by the mile and not by the hour results in drivers making no money when sitting in traffic or waiting at warehouses, it also promotes speeding in order to make money.  A driver stated “Because payment is by the mile, warehousers and others don’t respect drivers’ time. Any inefficiency in their operation — and even from my own carrier — is soaked up by the driver at no cost to anyone else.”

A drivers opinion on how their carrier values them definitely impacts their performance levels and the turnover rate. Dupre logistics who started paying their drivers by the hour for safety reasons stated“The company realized that even though it was following the rules governing how many hours a trucker could be on the road, its drivers were fatigued, and therefore accident prone.” 

This resulted in the company crash rate plummeting, they attract experienced and reliable drivers and their turnover rate is 17% in an industry where the rate is normally around 90%. Thoughts?

For more information go to LA Times>>

For more on us go to LoadSmart.com>> 

Subscribe by email