# WTF is Up With the Trucking Industry **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 21, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938 "2014-05-21T15:46:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![bluezooky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e8c25b/32.png) [@bluezooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluezooky)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/41 "2014-05-23T08:19:27Z")
> [@Ken001](#): > > This thread is an interesting coincidence because just this evening, here in New Zealand there was a news item about the dearth of truck drivers. In fact it isn’t exactly a new problem - the government has allowed immigrant truck drivers preference for the last 5 years. Now that preference has ended but there still aren’t enough. > > There don’t appear to be any big reasons. Truck driving as a job isn’t highly paid - $16 - 25/hr although that doesn’t seem too bad to me. The better money is in being an owner/operator but that takes time to reach and as others have said, the costs are high. > > My thoughts are that kids today all imagine themselves in white collar jobs earning $100k no effort required. Not all kids of course but the idea of training and paying to get a license just doesn’t fit with the exciting iphone digital world they imagine everyone else is living. > > Truck driving has lost its romance. No shortage of Kiwi truck drivers over in Australia, most drivers would get at least $ 25 NZ Dollars, you wouldn’t bother for $16 NZ. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/42 "2014-05-23T13:38:20Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > You want to know what’s stupid? I have a squeaky-clean driving record, the FAA says I see well enough to fly airplanes, but I can’t pass the vision test for a CDL in many places. > > Really, there’s a bunch of stuff that needs to be re-jiggered in the entire system. That’s not as stupid as it sounds. If you are flying a plane, something has to go pretty catastrophically wrong for you to injure someone else. If you are driving a semi-truck, you can quite easily fuck up someone’s day just by changing lanes. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/43 "2014-05-23T14:26:39Z")
No, in my case it _really is_ a stupid thing. I have a very mild color deficiency, so mild you need something like the Ishihara vision test to find it and has zero effect in real life, but _any_ color deficiency whatsoever disqualifies you from interstate driving and can severely restrict any commercial driving. The FAA sent me off for an additional test to determine that, although the deficiency is detectable it’s not a problem in regards to safety and identification of color signs and lights. The CDL? F you. Likewise, I’m permanently disqualified from working on railroads, same reason. Otherwise, my vision is 20/20, I have depth perception, excellent peripheral vision, etc. Oh, and a perfect driving record (so far - don’t want to jinx anything). Frankly, if there aren’t enough people with perfect vision who can also stay off the drink and not crash into things maybe they should loosen up rules irrelevant to safety to widen the pool of potential applicants. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/44 "2014-05-23T16:17:44Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#): > > Don’t truck stop diners serve home made comfort food? Let me put it this way: It’s not physically impossible to find healthy food when you’re on the road, but it’s damn close. The overwhelming majority of food choices are some type of fast food. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/45 "2014-05-23T17:03:13Z")
> [@danhanegan](#): > > Driving a truck is a business. There is a constant stream of paperwork to be dealt with, if any of it doesn’t get done right you are screwed. Every time the vehicle is parked or unparked you need to update your log, if the DOT catches you without an updated log it’s an instant fine. You have to save all your receipts from fuel, scales, and toll bridges and keep them organized. There’s a guy at my gym who’s currently entering the last week of his 6-week CDL training. I’d guess he’s in his late 40s, with not too much formal education, and possibly some trouble with the law in his background. He’s a good guy, but one who is working at a minimum-wage job right now, and who wanted a shot at a new career. When i see him, i ask how the training is going, and he says that one of the hardest things for him to deal with is not so much the driving of the truck, but all the ancillary stuff to remember, including how to perform pre-trip inspections, fill out the appropriate paperwork, keep logs, stuff like that. Now, i don’t know exactly how hard this stuff is. It could be that he’s having trouble because he’s not especially well educated. But still, it shows that the challenges of driving a truck aren’t restricted to staying awake on long hauls or avoiding assholes in cars who dive in front of you in traffic. I haven’t asked him how much his training is costing him. I’m not sure, either, what sort of organization is doing the training. But he seems pretty sure that there will be guaranteed work for him when he’s done. I hope, for his sake, that it’s true. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/46 "2014-05-23T18:48:44Z")
> [@danhanegan](#): > > People think all you have to do is drive the truck and stay out of accidents. There is more to it than that. Driving a truck is a business. There is a constant stream of paperwork to be dealt with, if any of it doesn’t get done right you are screwed. Every time the vehicle is parked or unparked you need to update your log, if the DOT catches you without an updated log it’s an instant fine. You have to save all your receipts from fuel, scales, and toll bridges and keep them organized. You have to be able to read a map, you’d be surprised how many potential drivers can’t. Don’t even think of depending on GPS directions, those things don’t take into account low overpasses and weight limits. If you work for a company that owns the truck, they will typically argue over every possible expense item, knowing some drivers will give up the argument as a waste of time. If you own your own truck, then you have additional paperwork, licenses and fuel tax in every state you drive in, finding loads, getting the shippers to actually pay you, filing legal claims against the inevitable percentage that won’t, it goes on and on. Some of the most successful owner operators I have seen are actually married couples, one (not always the husband) on the road while the other stays home and deals with all the paperwork. Like you say, even being the owner of the equipment, and driving it yourself presents a whole new set of issues. You don’t have any staff to find loads for your next trip, because you are driving. Typically you will phone a truck brokerage firm, this a business with some people sitting around computers and phones hooking up businesses with freight to move, with trucks to move it. They have developed connections with business that need to move freight, you do not have time or staff to develop these relationships on your own. They can be successful if they turn over enough loads, have enough connections. But you can’t do that. I used to do logistics, among other things, for a small company that shipped a million pounds of freight out, and another million in bound per month and I had to rely upon a great relationship with my truck broker. His staff could spend their time looking for trucks heading in the right direction, I didn’t have that time. You are in Portland, Oregon and have just delivered your load, you call your pimp, I mean broker, and they have a load that pays $2800 to Kansas City to be delivered in 4 days. The broker keeps $200 for being the middle man, because even small companies do not have the staff to do this on their own. You have now a $2600 load. No problem and off you go. Every cost you will encounter between here and there is your responsibility. Insurance for the truck, insurance for the load too, some loads are quite valuable, tires, diesel fuel usually is about as expensive as premium gas. Maybe you have a good trip and are $1000 in the black, or you blow the tranny and you are -2800 in the red. You need a good relationship and a large line of credit with a bank, or the slightest little thing will put you out of business. In Kansas City you call the broker again and pick up a load to New Orleans. Sure, you can take time off and just go home and chill out. But the clock is ticking for every day that the truck sits idle. So you keep moving. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wtf-is-up-with-the-trucking-industry/688938/47 "2014-05-23T18:55:35Z")
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