An owner-operator out of Charlotte, N.C., offered an addition to the “driver shortage” phrase that he — along with many others — feels might well clear things up a bit. He’s not the first to say it, but it bears repeating.
With competition for freight high and too many willing to take rates “down to the bottom” to the point where some are running “for free now,” among other contributing factors, he says, it might well be time for an official addition.
“It’s a driver wage shortage,” he says.
Among other commenters, responding to both our recent exploration of the disconnect between the money and the shortage mantra as well as National Transportation Institute Principal Gordon Klemp’s subsequent analysis of long-term driver pay stagnation stacked up against inflation in the Consumer Price Index, concerns with rate transparency, worry over rate undercutting at the expense of all drivers and more round out a variety of voices in this mailbag podcast on pay. It ended with a few commentators on the FMCSA’s Safety Fitness Determination rulemaking.
Take a listen below or at the head of our mailbag-podcasts playlist at bottom. And if you’ve got a thought you’d like to share in a voice message, call our podcast line at 530-408-6423 anytime.
