“These Guys Are Like Diamonds” – America’s Trucker-Shortage Hits A Crisis Point
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Sat, 06/30/2018
Nearly every consumer product – from food, to textiles to electronics – sold in the US at some point touches the bed of a truck. Which is why the shortage of truckers to ferry goods across the US has become such an intractable problem for American companies – and unemployment at 3.8% isn’t helping.
A shortage of workers is forcing trucking firms to raise wages and provide other incentives as they seek to fill an “official” shortage of 60,000 jobs that some industry insiders say is really closer to 100,000.
And as companies become more desperate, they’re willing to take a look at applicants who never would’ve had a chance under normal circumstances, according to the Washington Post.
At TDDS Technical Institute, an independent trucker school in Ohio where Blocksom has considered enrolling, veteran teachers say they have never seen it this bad. They say there may be closer to 100,000 truck driver openings.
“As long as you can get in and out of a truck and pass a physical, a trucking company will take a look at you now,” said Tish Sammons, the job placement coordinator at TDDS, whose desk is full of toy trucks and fliers from the companies that call her daily begging for drivers. “I recently placed someone who served time for manslaughter.”
The Rest…HERE
