Trucking Employment Is Contracting The Fastest On Record This Century

Steve L.,

Sorry to read that you have moved on. Times are tough right now but there has been ups and downs in trucking for as long as I can remember.

The recession and fuel shortages back in the 70's caused me a couple of jobs but I was able to find another job and even some part time work to supplement the lean times.

Good luck in whatever you do and don't be a stranger here at TT.

Thank you Sir! I do think things will rebound; it's just a matter of when and whether this economy will go farther down, before rebounding. I'm not sure I have 10-15years to see how it all shakes out.

I was fortunate to be offered a position that is paying me pretty close to my truck driving pay, plus I'm home every day and weekends. With a 15 year-old going on 25, my trucking company going through some changes (that could prove good or bad, who knows?), it just seemed a perfect storm of events, along with (possibly) a nudge from God.

One of the things truck driving allowed me to do was, reduce my debt. I could survive, financially, on less than half my truck driving salary. This, I think more than any other financial strategy, is going to factor into how people and companies weather this financial storm.

As I said before, I'm so grateful for everyone here. Especially you and Old School; you guys helped me keep perspective throughout. I sincerely hope I'm able to share what wisdom I've been able to glean from minds like yours.

Steve, Congratulations on your new job. With a 15 year old son at home, I think you made a wise choice. You'll never get back the time you spend, or don't, with him. I hope you'll continue to hang with us if you choose, but we understand if trucking falls off your radar.

The business climate is crazy right now in a lot of sectors. Trucking is taking an unusual hit, and there is no way to predict exactly what will be happening. The things you said about the economy and the people who have influence right now ring true with me. There have always been swings in politics and results reflecting what's going on. This time period seems a bit severe in so many ways that it's concerning to most of us. We shall see what becomes of all this. We wish you every success in your new job!

I couldn't help but notice something as I was reading through this thread. Let me point it out for whatever it may be worth.

Look at the contrasts in these comments...

BK says these things...

My company is very stable... and hauls a lot of meat. It seems their market stays pretty steady.

I just calculated my miles for the past 12 months, My average was 3181 over 52 weeks.

And the company keeps hiring, bringing in about 6 new drivers to orientation every week.

Things seem to be steady in the refrigerated sector.

Klutch offers this observation...

PFG is going strong, still busy and growing.

Real Diehl shares his unbelievably painful week with us...

Last week was a rough one. Load for 0100 Monday canceled. I received another load assignment for 12 hrs later to repower a load. That load was canceled. I was given a couple trailer moves to keep me busy that amounted to about 4 hrs of work.

Parked at rest area Monday night at 2300. No load Tuesday morning. No load Tuesday night. No load Wed morning.

Got a load assignment for 20:45 Wed night at Amazon. Arrived to pick up load. Load had been canceled. Went back to rest area to park. Got a call asking me to go back to Amazon for a load at 2300. Arrived to pick up new load. Load had been canceled. Went to rest area to park.

Got a load assignment on Thursday morning to repower a load for 0800 Friday morning. Drove to relay location and had about 14hrs to kill while waiting on driver to arrive with loaded trailer.

Did the repower Friday morning. Dove 160 miles to delivery location.

Seriously, that hurts just reading it.

Kearsey shares some Prime inside information with us...

I am amazed to hear Bruce's number. The same is not true for reefer here... and several of my reefer friends are in the same boat at other companies. Average week seems to be more like 2200.with occasional high miles. This week prime has a deficit of 1400 loads. More people seem to be around 1800 the past couple weeks than higher.

Stevo tells us about changes going on at CRST, and then drops a comment that I found very interesting...

Talked with my mentor from CRST, he was telling me, since they quit training drivers, they let go the staff at the terminal... They moved out of the Riverside terminal to one in Ontario, Cal. Gardners, moved into the old terminal (HUGE)... they just bought up some trucking company in Dallas as well.

The cafe and game room, movie room, laundry room etc all been cleaned out.

He pulls dedicated for R&L had some changes, due to load cancels, got diverted a couple times to different loads. Sucks they terminated a lot of office staff by Dec 15th!

He said with his inside contacts, they even said, NO ONE had any advanced warning, of those changes, til the last minute. hmmmmm

It is obvious folks are seeing different things and observing differing experiences. That is a little unnerving to me. We've had about 35,000 trucking companies shutter their operations during the first three quarters of this calendar year. According to the pattern, this will show an increase by the end of the year. There is a bit of a domino effect going on.

What intigued me from Stevo was his friend who was a trainer, and knew a lot of management type folks said that none of them knew of the pending plans for quick and decisive changes in the way the company operated. This has been a typical scenario throughout many changes in the trucking industry. Drivers are often taken by surprise when their employer decides to close the door. I can't really offer any advice other than try to be prepared for sudden changes, that is usually the way they occur.

I have more personal opinions and general information on the trucking business I want to share on this subject, and I will try to get to it tonight. For now, I've got a busy day ahead, and I need to get to it. Keep those wheels turning if you can. I'll jump back in here when I can.

To put things in perspective... i am down $27,000 from this time last year.

I started driving in 1969 and retired in 2011 and I saw many up and down periods over those years. The oil embargos, work shortages, O/O and Teamster strikes all played hell with the economy at that time but it always rebounded. I'm sure that it will come back strong eventually but no one knows how soon with all the uncertainties around the world and here at home. I can't relate to some of the problems a lot of drivers are having being as I am retired with Social Security and a 401K as long as our government doesn't fall off the face of the earth and funding stops.

Steve L.,

Sorry to read that you have moved on. Times are tough right now but there has been ups and downs in trucking for as long as I can remember.

The recession and fuel shortages back in the 70's caused me a couple of jobs but I was able to find another job and even some part time work to supplement the lean times.

Good luck in whatever you do and don't be a stranger here at TT.

Steve L,

I have always appreciated your comments and participation here on TT. I certainly wish you the best with your new endeavor. (What is it, if I can ask?). Like the others, I hope to still hear from you, your experience as a driver AND in life in general is a real asset here.

You said you lived on half of your driving income and used the rest to pay down debt. That is sound financial wisdom. If only our government could grasp that principle instead of spending America into being a Financial house of cards like it is now.

I’m sure the smart trucking companies have built a cash reserve to help in times like these. My company is pretty much a “no frills” operation and hopefully they are on firm financial footing.

Good luck and best wishes for you going forward.

To put things in perspective... i am down $27,000 from this time last year.

Is that due to low miles, not as many trainees, or both?

Store deliveries for me have stayed consistent. Cases getting shipped out daily seem to be on par as previous years. Before the holiday rush the past 2 weeks we've had too many drivers but that's due to them continuing to hire in hopes of sending some guys down to the new warehouse they're building about 35 miles away for a different subsidiary. Last week I had around 2300 miles with 34 stops in 52 hours which was actually one of my best paychecks on a non-holiday week. Could have made more on Saturday than I did but I chose to take it easy and make sure I was home in time for other commitments.

I got recalled from furlough in the beginning of October and I don't know why.

My approach to work right now is gross 1300-1500 a week and then stop. That's typically a 3 day work week. I could do 4 or 5 depending on the week, but then people under me in seniority wouldn't get any work. Those all the way at the bottom aren't getting anything. I've been meaning to reach out to them just to check in, but it always slips my mind.

We're getting into the slow season with Thanksgiving being next week. Hopefully it's not as bad as I think it's going to be.

Steve, Congratulations on your new job. With a 15 year old son at home, I think you made a wise choice. You'll never get back the time you spend, or don't, with him. I hope you'll continue to hang with us if you choose, but we understand if trucking falls off your radar.

The business climate is crazy right now in a lot of sectors. Trucking is taking an unusual hit, and there is no way to predict exactly what will be happening. The things you said about the economy and the people who have influence right now ring true with me. There have always been swings in politics and results reflecting what's going on. This time period seems a bit severe in so many ways that it's concerning to most of us. We shall see what becomes of all this. We wish you every success in your new job!

Old School; I apologize if I said I have a Son at home. My Son’s grown, with his own family. It’s this beauty I’ve got to man the shotgun over. 🤣

But seriously, y’all are so kind and I’ll hang in here.

Be safe, be aware!

I'm sorry Steve! I don't know how I got mixed up like that.

I understand you completely. I raised three daughters. It's a real challenge.